This blog post is sharing some of the behind the scenes from our current project Be Part of Things: we are the project.
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Welcome to our brains – stuffed full of questions, not so many answers (yet).
In no order and without explanation (or even much context) here are some of the questions each of us are kicking around at this point in our project/s and process.
Kirste Vandergiessen (Barmera):
What does it look like to pay artists to think?
What does it mean to document the process of developing a project or event?
What kind of documentation is important in this context?
What does that documentation look like in a creative sense?
What does it mean to thread this thinking and documentation into every project?
How does this project contribute to community?
How are we contributing to the conversation?
How do you figure out if other events are happening on the date you choose (ha)?
How to find fantasy friends?
How to make an event everyone-friendly and not just creative-friendly?
How do you develop a sustainable event? (environmentally and professionally)
What does Portal look like over the next five years?
What other kinds of events can we host in a laundromat?
What unorthodox places can we host a staff show?
What does a staff show look like for independent artists and business owners? (Eliza’s question but I didn’t want it to get lost) (also I really love this idea)
What else do we want to see?
Eliza Wuttke (Port Lincoln):
How do I talk about this project in a way that makes sense to everyone, not just creatives?
Is the laundromat actually a good third place example or am I just attached to the name?
What else can a third place be?
How can I as an active community member and artist activate third places like the laundromat?
What is a sustainable practice? Energetically and environmentally
When is the right time to start promoting a project?
How do we balance curation with creative freedom?
Why is public space so often tired looking?
How do I want to show up, as an artist, as a person and as a member of my community?
What do I want to achieve with this project?
What is the long term vision? Is there one? Does this feed into that in any way?
Why is it so hard to commit to an idea?
Alysha Herrmann (Riverland/Mount Gambier):
Why this, why here, why now, (what next)?
How am I creating pathways and future opportunities for everyone who comes next?
What are the boundaries of this activity?
How much is enough?
How can I communicate the thinking – the intellectual curiosity – that lives underneath and informs all of the decision making and final forms things take?
Themes: prescriptive or broad? How can I push myself and others to think beyond the literal when it comes to a theme?
Should I be providing snacks? If so, how do I pay for that?
Why poetry? (like I know why for me internally but I need to be able to explain it)
How can I invite non-arts people behind the scenes and make their experience of the final outcome welcoming and interesting and useful?
How do I embed an ethics of care in my work (and make it practical and real)?
How can this project be leveraged into future opportunities for us and our communities?
Who else should I talk to?
Who else needs to be involved?
What am I missing?
Follow our other updates via social media and the Part of Things newsletter to see what answers we discover over the next 12months.
Be Part of Things: we are the project is made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.
#regionalarts #creativeregions #regionalartsaustralia #regionalstories
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