Category Archives: Events

Festival of Words 2013

Posted on by

 

Chair photo by Paula Schmidt on Pexels.

The Festival of Words is nearly upon us and it’s testament to the power of volunteering to make things happen. Members of the Nottingham Writer’s Studio alongside our partner organisations at the city council, LeftLion, Writing East Midlands and our two universities, have made this festival happen.

The festival has been led by two separate committees; a steering group and a marketing and communications group. There’s roughly eight people on each,all of whom have sat through endless meetings for the past six or so months as well as the never-ending email conversations that have left me fondly dreaming of the pre-internet days of my youth. Then there are the numerous volunteers actioning each point. We have a small army behind us.

 

SiteLogo7

There is a saying that a camel is a horse designed by a committee and having worked on numerous committees in my time there’s a degree of truth in this, but this has not been the case here. We’ve produced a thoroughbred stallion. It’s been a pleasure to be involved in a project where everyone has the same objective and motivation: to give Nottingham something to shout about and end the ashamedly barren run of forty odd years without a literature festival in the city centre. The fact that we’ve managed this without paying anyone is amazing as it’s been done out of love, which also happens to be one of the themes of the festival.

Although our members would much prefer to be at home writing, I think the experiences generated from working on the festival have added valuable skillsets to their portfolio which will help them survive an increasingly brutal publishing industry that demands more rounded professionals who, in addition to writing, are able to promote their own work, understand social media and are able to organise and deliver public readings to help shift those copies taking up space in the warehouse.

The studio is made up of writers from all disciplines – playwrights, journalists, poets, publishers, copywriters, etc, all of whom have benefited from this process. Anne McDonald of Pewter Rose Press has learned how to add widgets to the festival wordpress site so that a tweet button appears next to articles (as have I), meaning she can now do the same with her own website. Ian Douglas, a writer and journalist, has made many local and national media contacts through promoting the festival, all of whom he can pitch articles to or request reviews for his forthcoming novel. Others have learned how to put together a brochure and the varying costs of the print industry. Then there are the members giving their first public performance or involvement with a festival. They’re learning the nuts and bolts of performance: selecting venues, overheads, audio-visual requirements, marketing, collaboration, creating themed events, and seeing their work in the context of a festival rather than the comfy confines of the page.

Now we need one thing. People to attend. It really is that simple, Nottingham. Let’s not wait another forty years…

www.nottwords.org.uk Twitter: @Nottwords

This blog was first published on the Nottingham Writers’ Studio website

 

The Creative Quarter – A cultural Dragon’s Den?

Posted on by

Illustration by Rob White

The Creative Quarter would appear to be a kind of cultural Dragon’s Den in which money is being made available to local businesses and organisations to pimp up the Lace Market and turn it into a kind of cultural hub that will bring a much needed buzz back to the area. It is part of an initiative called the City Deal, where eight Core Cities were invited to give a pitch for funding and resources from central government. But this isn’t just about glitz and glamour. The main motivation is to make Nottingham a more attractive location with the hope of drawing in high-tech, high-growth industries.

On one level this seems to suggest that creatives are being asked to become court jesters, providing the frills and frippery to keep the big earners happy. A more positive view is that combining forces means strength in numbers and a genuine opportunity to shape the future of the city as well as lobbying local government.

The Creative Quarter is without portfolio at the moment and so many questions asked at an open meeting on Sunday night could not be answered. It needs to develop a proper constitution, strategy and guidance for those seeking investment if it is to avoid the healthy levels of scepticism banded around by those who have become tired of eating the same old carrots dangled from ever higher sticks.

One gentleman shared that he had already applied for funding but had been turned down. He requested a set of eligibility criteria, presumably so that he could resubmit, and hit a blank wall. This is something which the Committee need to address with immediate effect before apathy and conspiracy theories replace enthusiasm. The most prescient comment, for me, came from a man who discussed cultural projects in Liverpool, claiming that the whole city gets behind them and they turn up in numbers to support each other. Nottingham is not very good at this and requires a quick personality change.

Rikki Marr, the first ambassador for the project, seems to have addressed one way to solve this problem already with the suggestion of having a gallery night in which all galleries open late on the same night of the week and put on various events. This is a brilliant idea as it gives galleries a meaningful purpose, it makes them a ‘date in the diary’ as well as offering the opportunity for collaboration from say, music or spoken word inspired by the art.

The Creative Quarter is a bit of an oxymoron because it would appear that money will only be invested in those organisations able to make a return on investments. So where does this leave not-for-profit organisations or art created to inspire rather than commodify? We’ve already seen the universities hack away at the thinking subjects in favour of those offering more pragmatic skills and routes into employment and now the creative sector is subjected to the same principles – though, a good business plan should not be scoffed at and sustainability is something that will stop organisations fizzling out.

Here are a couple of initial suggestions:

  • Gain a liability license for the entire area and make it available for free for all arts organisations and performers. This won’t generate the return that the businesses want but it will enable more people to put on events which will create a vibrant buzz as well as the confidence to try out new things on a regular basis.
  • Help drive down costs by using the Creative Quarter as an account hub. For example, if every organisation went through the QQ for printing flyers, this would drop prices with printing companies due to the sheer volume of work.
  • Hand the QC venue over to one Notts-based organisation each month to put on an event so that everybody has an equal chance of promoting their work. Presumably the Committee will be in attendance at such events and if they like what they see may be able to offer guidance on how to develop their work. As far as I’m concerned the majority of projects that get funded aren’t the best, they are by the people who have the time and willpower to fill out arduous forms and business plans and usually the confident ones. Nurturing and recognising talent must be a core aim of the CQ strategy and you’re only going to be able to do this by understanding culture on it’s own terms.

To read Al Needham’s interview with CQ Committee member Toby Reid