After getting into a bit of a routine – panic about what to do for festival/festival happens/panic about what to put into Kalender/Kalender happens and feels OK after all/panic about what to do for festival … well, you're getting the picture – I thought I'd better make some effort towards sorting out the bigger picture. Like, what happens when the year ends?
So, I've managed to arrange to meet my Arts Council case officer and will also hopefully get the chance to catch up with my long-lost mentor, Jo. As an aside, yesterday I discovered the sad news that Babylon Gallery in Ely is to close permanently in June. What a major loss to contemporary art in East Anglia; I can hardly believe it.
I've also applied for a short-term residency which concludes with a solo exhibition for the chosen artist – feels like a long shot but, well, might as well give it a try.
And, the Candlemas Kalender is currently at the printers' so, barring cock-ups, I'll be collecting it tomorrow afternoon! Yay! And HOPEFULLY also our expresso machine which is currently being fixed (not at the printers' I hasten to add). Even bigger YAY!!
I did the Radio Norfolk interview. And this time I managed to remember to mention the Arts Council, the Festial website and Trevor's role in the project!
It started inauspiciously when the presenter clearly had no idea whatsoever what the project was about, despite having some sort of info in front of him (couldn't read it from where I was sitting). 'So we've missed the medieval festival? Is there anything to talk about, then?' He phoned his wife to make sure she remembered to pick up his prescription (he had a shocking cold). Then I handed him the two most recent issues of Kalender and he handed them back, saying they would only confuse him further.
I returned them to him firmly, saying, no, I really think they will help. 'Do you really think so?' he asked doubtfully. ' Suddenly he became intrigued by the free gift on the Christmas issue – a (very) miniature Yule Log, to be burned and the ashes scattered to ensure fertility during the coming year. 'Ooh, I'll try this!' he chortled.
The record ended – something bland and innocuous, such as is played on local radio stations up and down the country, I suspect. The presenter hadn't been listening to it, having been talking to his wife on the phone and getting up to speed on the Festial project. 'Ah, wasn't that lovely?' he enthused to his listeners.
After all that, the interview went fine, I think. To the presenter's credit, he did get more-or-less to grips with the basics of Festial in the minute or so I was gabbling away to him, and it all seemed to flow reasonably well. I was given a copy on CD but I doubt I'll ever feel brave enough to listen to it! Must try to work out whether hits on the website have increased since Friday.
www.world-tree.co.uk/festial
I've just been invited by BBC Radio Norfolk to go into the studio on Friday afternoon for an interview about Festial's progress. This is likely to be the result of their having received the latest edition of Kalender (one of the 30 I posted to galleries/media) which by my reckoning will have arrived with them on the day they phoned me. So, that counts as a good result, promotionally speaking!
By complete coincidence, Friday is also the date of next festival I'll be marking in the project – Candlemas. That's fine, though, as I can go up to St Andrew's in the morning to do whatever I'm going to do (she said mysteriously – or is it just that further planning is required?!)
Something that I really need to do is to contact my Arts Council case officer to see if I can arrange a meeting. When I first planned Festial, I envisaged making lots of work during the year in addition to compiling and distributing Kalender. In practice, Kalender has been 'the work' in itself, and thinking of it in that way has been the only way to retain my/our sanity. That means that I don't have a physical body of work to curate into an exhibition at the end of the year, which is Phase 3 of the project according to the Arts Council funding I was awarded. There are plenty of ideas I want to develop, but having got to the ninth festival of the twelve, I need to work out what to do next.
Oh yes, I meant to mention a new improvement to the website – an aerial map showing the location of Wood Dalling with a link enabling anyone to discover how far they are from St Andrew's!
www.world-tree.co.uk/festial
imogenashwin[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk
Disappointment on Friday: having struggled across a raw, sleety Norwich through the rush hour, acutely aware that it was only five minutes before the printers was due to close for the weekend, I arrived to find that Kalender hadn't been printed. I can't blame the printers, even though I'd phoned them on Tuesday to confirm that they could do the job and emailed the pdf to them straight afterwards. Although the email definitely didn't bounce, it didn't ever reach them, and they can't be expected to have thought to phone me back to ask where it was when it didn't arrive. Can they?
So, there I was, panting in the doorway explaining what I'd come for, while the staff sat round with their glasses of wine (end-of-the-week ritual) looking at me in bafflement. Sigh.
I've sent the whole thing again now so I'm hoping that it will be sorted out tomorrow when the working week jolts back into action. I'll have to make a special journey to collect it now but I think it will be worth it as I'll be able to crack on with rubber-stamping and stapling a miniature Yule Log to each of 180 covers. Then I'll be able to get the usual 30-odd copies out to the curators/publications on the mailing list.
The Festial residency started last May. So far, I've received very little feedback and would really welcome comments if anyone out there has time! The new Kalender has just been uploaded onto the website at:
www.world-tree.co.uk/festial
imogenashwin[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk
