Live Art In Lincoln

I thought i’d go into more detail on our development weekend, and the benefits of using some of our Arts Council budget to employ a mentor.

The 11-12 of September saw us reside in Lincoln for 2 days to work on developing the organisational side of the Lincoln Art Programmes well as looking forward to our future plans / projects.

When writing the ACE application for this period of activity we decided it would be beneficial for us to use some of the funding to employ a mentor that would guide us in things we have limited experience on, such as organisational development, and financial planning. we took the decision to ask Lincolnshire based artist and curator John Plowman, head of Lincoln universities MA course and co-director of lincolnshire based art organisation Beacon Art project, we felt his experience of developing an organisation in the region and dealing with audience development in low engagement areas was a resource we felt we could tap into.

In the first meeting we had with him, during our development weekend, it soon became clear that his advice was invaluable, he was able to advise us on the decisions we had already made in relation to where we want to take the Lincoln Art Programme, as well as giving us advice on things we hadnt thought about or considered. If i could give any advice to other new art organisations, it would be to think about utilising other people experience who are willing to help your own organization grow, in a mentor role.

As myself and Anneka attended the Lincoln MA Show we have spent some time thinking about the possibility of commissioning some of the MA graduates to develop their practice further through a Lincoln Art Programme project. It seems odd planning for future events next year, even tho we haven’t started the upcoming events, but to develop projects and work with artists there is a need to start somewhat in advance, i think this is an important lesson learnt, as the planning time for the art jacking event has being a bit short.

Other news to report, My Dads Strip Club have sent through their publicity material, titled ‘Bite The Hand’ we have commissioned them to create a comedy Esq evening at the dog and bone pub, in Lincoln on the 26th Nov. here’s a bit of info on the event.

Bite The Hand

Enjoy an evening at the Dog and Bone with My Dads Strip Club as they demonstrate to you ‘the art of reclaiming space’. Putting embarrassment aside, they will address the delicate subject of carnal knowledge of Coke machines. The comedy in the work runs very close to anger, and excites all kinds of stuff in on-lookers.

My Dads Strip Club has mostly shunned traditional arts spaces, preferring to operate in the public realm with a focus on criticising consumer culture. Working with others they are known to carry out un-authorised, issue-based urban interventions.

Art jacking debate is only 12 days away….

So, last week was the week of the mammoth Lincoln Art Programme development meeting. Lots of discussion was had about current and future activities. Seems crazy that we’re already coming up with ideas for next year before our first event (Art-jacking Debate on 7th October) has even happened! But I guess that’s how these things go…

We also met with our LAP official mentor, artist/curator/lecturer extraordinaire John Plowman, and with a lady from the Collection regarding our second event (Feng-Ru Lee’s exciting commission on 7th November).

In other news, Alan and I attended the MA show at the Fine Art department of Lincoln University, the very lovely Greestone building. The show was truly remarkable- please go see it if you get the chance! Notable works include Gwen Tooke’s ‘info exchange’ and George Hardy’s ‘Trio’ group of sculptures. Review to appear on Interface soon.

So, we’re all busy bees right now preparing for the debate, doing advertising and marketing and all that malarkey. Much to do!

Anneka

I call this entry : A Challenging Day.

There seems to be no shortage of stressful events in the Lincoln Art Programme, and today seemed to be the pinnacle of the previous weeks stresses.

I am still awaiting confirmation of certain details of the Art-Jacking Debate, which cant be confirmed until next week, not through any-one’s fault I may add, it just adds to the pressure.

The biggest stress arrived in my inbox this afternoon, and it was monetary based. I think it was an accumulation of post strikes and good old bad luck. One of our funders cant release funds until the end of the month due to problems with our bank account. I seem to have sorted it out but will mean a delayed payment, making the expenses coming out of my personal account which I will have to invoice for at a later date.

I guess this highlights the reliance that organisations such as ours have on funding bodies. With out their support we cease to function. I have delivered many unfunded projects previously through my own practice, but often with limited capability due to financing. Funding can be an absolute God send to creating or at least making happen an exciting programme of activities, but that can have an adverse effect in as much as we overly rely upon these funders.

I guess the trick is not to get into the mind set that you need money. An interesting related project comes from Plan 9. I was reading an email I got this afternoon, and they are funding a project through bar takings what ever the amount that is take 1p or 100,00p will be the financing of the show.
http://www.plan9.org.uk/

Amelia B-H

This week seems to have been taken up with confirming details for the Art-Jacking Debate, of which most are now completed. Its actually very exciting we have some fantastic speakers! So now begins unrolling the big press wagon! Now I have discovered how to turn the press release into a PDF it should all be plain sailing (hopefully).

We had our first ever Skype meeting this week (as we are spread across the country, Nottingham, London, Manchester) which went relatively well. Apart from not knowing when to speak and experiencing delays in conversation it seemed to go smoothly. We are now planning for our development meeting which happens next week, and will be attended by our mentor John Plowman. The development meeting will focus on the here and now of the programme, alongside future planning / long term goals / programming etc, its going to be a two day marathon.

Notable activity to mention in Lincoln next week will be the University’s Fine Art MA show, which I have on very good authority will be the best one yet. Anneka and Alan will be going to the opening, and I will catch it during the week, so if your in Lincoln pop in its on Friday night.

That’s all for now
Amelia B-H

We at the Lincoln Art Programme have set up this blog in an attempt to allow an online audience to follow the organisations development throughout the coming months. After initiating our inaugural event in March we have been busy writing various proposals to fund our future plans. We have been fortunate enough to recently acquire Arts Council funding in which to commission a series of events throughout Oct – Nov. I hope this blog documents the successes and shortfalls that the coming months bring. As we aim to build and develop the Lincoln Art Programme into a regionally established commissioning programme of exciting live art.

The idea behind starting the Lincoln Art Programme was to attempt to increase the level of artist led activity in the city. Myself and the three other people who direct the Lincoln Art Programme all graduated from Lincoln University and were a little miffed regarding the lack of activity in the city in comparison to other surrounding cities such as Leicester, Nottingham and even Stoke. So like most other students we moved away (although not too far) but since leaving we have always had that urge to return to tackle the ‘lack of activity’ problem, if people don’t start doing things then I guess people will continue to leave after graduation and the trend of nothing happening will continue. Our aim with the Lincoln Art Programme is to make people aware that stuff does actually happen in Lincoln, and to inspire students alike to initiate their own projects and ideas.

We are focusing on working with artists and fellow organisations to develop events and projects that take place in accessible public spaces in and around the city. We are creating events that we think are both exiting and appealing, and critically engage with issues associated with the role of live art in public environments.

The coming months will see us publicising our events that we have hidden up our sleeve, and shining some exposure on Lincoln, all of which you can follow on this blog!

The idea is that the four members of the Lincoln Art programme team will blog independently; creating various a blog that looks what we are doing from various perspectives.

Alan