Left, Right
On reflection, it hasn’t been my best few months – and yes, that is understatement of the century. it has been really difficult and exhausting and well.. just sad. If you are kind enough to read some of my other blog posts, you will probably get a sense that I don’t hold back. Yet, in this one, for respect for the process I have to go through, it’s probably best to not go there. I do think it is useful to say that things are tough this end. Both personal and professional, there has been a huge amount of change with me flaying in the wind, trying to find some anchor to ground myself with. when I have managed to find some kind of confidence, it has been in the magic of creativity, collaboration and process, which is currently Squeeze Box!
Sweet…!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahoooooo! Yaaayyyyyy! Good times never felt this good! Yippeeeee! Didn’t I say, get the ball to Kelly! We did it amaazzzzinnnggggg! Never in doubt! Saaaaaaaaaveee! Come out from behind the sofa – it wouldn’t be the same without extra time – so pleased! What a relief…GGOOOOOOOOAAALLLL!.. Beth Mead’s on fire, England can testify, Beth Mead’s on fire! Dancing galore. Nailed it! We are on top of the wooooorrrrrldddddddddddddddd!!
Oh yeah, and we might have just nailed another ACE grant – repeat above!!!
6 weeks to go-ish
8 weeks is a long time! Roughly the length of the election cycle, and God, don’t they drag on … a little bit more than the Ashes, and they definitely drag on… The gestation period of the Little Brown Bat, and they are just adorable … But in this case, in this blog I’m referring to the ACE wait. A moment of celebration when we were finally happy(ish) to hit that submit button for our project grant application, brimming with ambition, creativity, access, engagement, platforming and public showings, workshops and digital archiving (I never do seem to learn to not go overboard with intent). And now this wait … Thank you for reading this blog, and waiting with me, your company is definitely felt and appreciated!
This is All Huge/h Learning
Standing on the shoulders of giants is firstly a loss in translation phrase, but secondly more relevantly, a warm and empowering feeling. One of the many legends of applied practises I have had the unbelievable pleasure to learn from is Sandy Akerman. Sandy is a master of Forum Theatre, a long-suffering lecturer on ‘that degree what I did’ and a disciple of Augusto Boal. She has many devising games up her sleeve, one of which is called ‘fortunately/unfortunately’. This game is typically for 3-10 players and is a way of opening the imagination, getting you to think on your feet, normally quite funny and a way into storytelling. As I reflect on Squeeze Box 24, and an extraordinary 2 weeks which flew past (sometimes for the right reason and sometimes well…we take the good with the not so good!), I am going to try and play the game – I wonder what will happen
I MUST ALWAYS FUNCTION!!!
I MUST ALWAYS FUNCTION!!! asks urgent and fundamental questions of why we demand evermore from people just to ‘cope’ in a society which rejects them and spits out anyone who shows signs of ‘weakness’. It is a timely reminder that social media and avatar-like virtual worlds are, slowly but surely, dismantling our very sense of us, of being human and being able to say, “this is too much”.
Just Round the Corner
This September, I rolled* out of bed and walked less than 2 minutes to work. Through the working morning of Paignton dawn, I walked round 3 corners and into a magical creative space. This definitely needs celebrating! In the centre of a grockle holiday-maker heaven, there is a plane of glass dividing the business-as-usual from radical arts, creative community and workshop. It is up to Filament/WideOpen to find a link to ensure these two worlds communicate, but there is also another world in this mix. Maybe the most important to the organisations mentioned, the people, the locals, the community of Torbay. We live, sleep, play and work in our UNESCO Geo-park** – the rock around us speaks to us, it is our culture – I am part of this community, we are here all year round, not just cheap summer deals for a break away from where ever city folk want to escape from.
Donald Rodney Visceral Canker – A Must Go
‘the empty wheelchair courses through its various trajectories on a sad and lonely journey of life, a journey to nowhere. Its movements repeat, like an ever recurring memory, a memory of another life and another journey' (in Chambers, 1998: 54)