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!
Huge thank you to Bibi, Jen and Nat as the core writing team. Regardless of what happens, your genius in the text and wider support with project planning and reaching out to partners has been immense, and a real highlight to what can be a stressful and demoralising process. See with Arts Council, there are quite a few questions, with nitty gritty ones in between.. they all had relatively small character counts, which leads to this weird frustration when you are just getting to your point and then realise there is no room left. Every question needs a structure, and somehow it must link to the other answers – we are already at 1500 characters in this blogpost… most questions are limited to that many characters yet demand an accurate and full description of what we will do, how we will do it etc etc. Yes, it is the actual characters which are counted including spaces between words. I like to think this is because it stops people who like big words having an easier time of it, but I think it is annoying a fact of having a clunky, all most out of date as soon as they purchased it, application software! Much as it is stressful and complex I have to say, when we do get it right the opportunities ACE gives us are amazing and beautiful and bring a wealth of diverse creativity into the limelight. Also, their commitment to personal access costs and equality is both vital and refreshing. Words like cuts and austerity 2.0 are in the air, but we are in a country with state supported arts and people that believe in the necessity of us creatives to bring truths, imagination, entertainment, connection and purpose to all those we engage with. Sometimes it is to learn or make peace with something and other times it is just pure escapism, but life without this would mean no creatives and that would not only make it dull but very much more challenging for all.
The language of these applications is unique – not quite small enough to use bullet points, but in that frame of using a really clip sentence - if you handed in to your English Teacher they wouldn’t be impressed, but the ‘average Jo’ can follow the text. It is a bold, little bit uncomfortable to getting your thoughts down way of writing. Really efficient, arrogant, without any sub-text or soft introduction or sub-clause or… well doubt*. The Human impulse to express another point of view, or show empathy and understanding along with a balanced point of view is a huge No No. Even in the risk questions, you know, the one where you are meant to say you are not perfect in a wider system that is far from perfect itself, the answer you give is still dismissive of any gaps in your project plan… This could be a risk and mean the whole thing (all to often, hanging on by a thread, blue tack and sticky tape) could derail if this significant, and part of the fabric of creativity, risk comes to fruition… But thanks to the magic of word play, the risk is actually our biggest strength. Dare I say it, at times it is almost like an AI thought process (not like huge data crunching reinforced learning systems have thought processes). The genius mentioned above is finding the human warmth, creative spark and magic in this efficient, almost clinical like text. As there are people on the other end reading your blood, sweat and creative tears. We all work in a creative sector and the ACE panel are just the same. Somehow, we have got to a system where there is so much more emphasis on budget management, project planning and target setting, that the writing becomes dry, void of meaning and any human touch. What is your artwork saying? How are you going to go on an extraordinary journey, with extraordinary people? What is the collaborative process? Even a question on what the audience/public will take away from the art is now missing, replaced by numbers and £ signs. It is an art in itself writing these bids and often seen as time wasted which could be used to create, engage and share. Yet, somehow there is an excitement and I am lucky enough to work with someone who actually enjoys these challenges, but still lets keep everything tightly crossed and try not to hold our breath till we go blue.
While we wait, can I share with you exciting stuff coming up away from ACE anxiety? This week, Jen and I with the brilliant Jade have run a workshop with the equally brilliant Pelican group. This is part of an ongoing collaboration ahead of deeper engagement together later in the year. We are together in the space to become more familiar with how each other creates stories. This feels like a meaningful partnership and will set the way for an amazing process together.
The Pelican’s were, as always, on form and gave so much back to us whilst thoroughly enjoying our magical box of items… well, their magical box, brought alive through imagination and commitment to the drama. No, more like theatre - the game in which we pass around an imaginary box had everyone as audience and artist, edge of our seats wanting to know everyone’s story of their own magic.
Secondly, we are platforming at the first Totnes Fringe Festival! So excited, over the second weekend of July, we will be running our anon workshop – a celebration of individuality, community and what happens when these are taken away. Do join us on the 11th, 12 noon, and look out for equally brilliant works all over that weekend. We will all benefit in multiple ways from a vibrant and sustainable festival like this, so your support is valuable!
We have no idea at this point whether the answers we have bodged together will strike a chord with ACE. It felt like a strong application – the numerous budget lines all add up, the project plan dates were all in order. We have just this week received an email saying our application has made it to the panel, but being realistic means we must realise that ACE cannot fund all eligible projects…and worryingly, we have been ‘strongly advised’ to consider what we will do if we are not successful.
In some hidden away spreadsheet, I have a bit of an idea on plan B, but not really, how can you? The creativity, collaboration, community and connection are the life blood of Squeeze Box. From: Tim and Jen’s endless ideas about transforming space into an echo chamber of care; the Northcott’s ambition to see a totally new work and new way of working taking over their building; the wit and humour and general creativity of the Pelican Project…the funding makes this possible and much more besides.
individually, of course each of these elements will continue to happen: ACE support brings it all together in a cacophony and celebration which will reach hundreds of people in such meaningful ways…it’s the difference between surviving and thriving
Come on ACE, do say yes
*The latest Doctor Who series has been epic. The first black and queer Doctor with the writing of Russell T Davies and co, and the might of our BBC, has created a masterpiece. Needless to say Ncuti Gatwa is now my favourite Doctor. We went on a journey through time and space, understanding and unpicking some of the most pressing questions of our time: social media manipulation, the rise of popularism, genocide, fragile state of the UK’s fostering service and the detrimental impact on children’s lives, fake news, misuse of power, racism, mental health… and disabled politics and doubt! All bunched up in thrilling sci-fi action.
I shed all kinds of emotions watching the last two series, and of course all the bonus episodes in between. The double bill finale was spectacular, horrifying at times, exciting at others, darkly humours and then gentle at others…and there were lasers, brilliant. For a good 5 minutes, I was muttering in disbelief at the screen, “where’s Poppy?”, and how many fictional tv series has one that engaged, totally confident that they can hear me in the Unit facility…
Throughout the tenure of Gatwa (where he was allowed to cry on numerous episodes, it took Tenant numerous seasons to shed a tear and that was only when he knew his time was up**) Davies platformed the intersect of many oppressed groups, from working class communities to colonised people…with the last episode showcasing disability and how we are the ones to see the crumbling of society the most. Always on the fringe, with a rich language and humour, we see things that others don’t want to. This understanding of individuality was the thing to allow doubt to build momentum and start the revolution against this fairy tale dark world – apologies if that was a spoiler!
Although this was glorious and made epic tv, I do worry about the image of the wheelchair user with a mug begging for money. Watching the episode back, give me a break I’ve only seen it 4 times, this image could be a double irony. The money collected was for the fight back not for equipment or medication – because as we all know they were oozing through the fabric of reality, a memory of the real earth…God if you don’t like sci-fi, these couple of paragraphs must be quite dull! Anyway, I do worry about the image of charity will linger in viewers minds…at least it wasn’t a cap in hand – small mercies – that was such a cringey afterthought!
**ok,ok….that episode at Torchwood where Rose Tyler was sucked into another universe, destroying the Daleks in the process, Tenant’s eyes were pretty watery… But the point is the Doctor Who franchised (for want of a better word) was geared to the idea that the hero is meant to be tough, able to shrug off setbacks, strong and stiff upper lip. This Doctor shows us that bravery comes in many more forms than this!