So Many Exciting things!

It is a Monday morning in Lancaster. It is raining. These thoughts can conjure up the feeling of why do I want to get out of bed and leave my comfy and warm bed? After 3 years I still don't know why I can't hibernate and avoid the cold and the rain that inhabits Lancaster like no other city in England. In a way it is Lancaster's most distinguishable selling point (if it can be called that!!), its what gives it its unique and wonderful character. Working and living in Lancaster is such a creative and inspiring place to work in, not just the city itself but our close transport links to other great places like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow are all very close on the train. In this week's post I have got so much to talk about what has happened since I last blogged, its going to be a real effort to try and edit it all down into one post!.

My week started off with a meeting with the Chief Executive of Lancaster based company Folly. Folly specialise in the creative use of Technology and in arts participation online. The meeting was about becoming an administrator on the Folly created website 'Love Culture' a social networking based site which has brought together several leading arts organisations from the Lancaster area such as the Dukes Playhouse, The Storey and Live@LICA. Signing upto the website is free and enables users to post, discuss and chat to other members of the network. It is a fantastic service especially as the arts in Lancaster are at a really interesting point of working together and creating such a vibrant and dynamic cultural landscape for artists and audiences alike. On Wednesday afternoon I had a meeting with PANDA (Performing Arts Network and Development Agency) who are based in Manchester. about doing a placement with them this academic year. PANDA are a really important organisation for me as they are very passionate about the development of artistic relationships, development of artistic practice and ensuring artists can grow. I went to two of their 'Spotlight On' events in March and June of this year, at the Nuffield Theatre and in Chester respectively. The essence of these events is to bring together a panel of speakers, provide networking opportunities for the participants and allow for discussion and debate on the nature and work of artists. They came at a really interesting stage for me, because it was just after I had graduated and therefore the change from Undergraduate student and moving into professional development was a place of uncertainty and one where networking opportunities and a place to contact other people who were in similar positions was invaluable and one which I could recommend highly enough to emerging or pre emerging artists.

Work wise on Thursday I had a meeting with Matt Fenton my supervisor, who is also the director of Live@LICA. It was a good session in which I was able to show Matt what I have been working on since I last saw him. I showed him my 'Remapping Lancaster' exercise (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=244771&id=524662090), also the outlines of a social persuasive game I have been working out.

General notes I took from the meeting were:

Take more photos in Lancaster so I have more of a pallet to play with.

Is there a narrative I could draw which draws all the pictures together (i.e a fictional one like the history of Lancaster or a non fictional one. Or there is an autobiographical element for example having been at Lancaster for 3 years there are a lot of personal stories which I can talk about). On Thursday I have another meeting with Matt where he has suggested I write a text to accompany the photo presentation along with a possible soundtrack, (which I spent Friday rehearsing), I will update you with progress on the next post!.

Over the last week I have seen two performances. The first one 'Hetain Patel : TEN' was at the Nuffield on Thursday night, and I had the fascinating opportunity to chat to Hetain before the show in an Artist talk with Matt Fenton. These sorts of opportunities are so important and also so rare, so whatever I am doing I always make sure I can attend these sorts of events. Hetain seemed such a down to earth and lovely person and he gave me some really interesting and thoughtful insights into his working practices. Ideas he says always come to be involved with the specific medium in which he sees as the right medium for the work he is trying to create. He is a trained fine artist and has worked in video, painting and 'Ten' is his first venture into live performance work. He also looked to the question of working as an artist - why do I work creatively? A question which has so much resonance with me, a question I ask myself several times a week. I have always felt bad for wanting to follow a career in the arts because I don't really see what benefits it can give me, but then I realise (not to get too soppy) that my early adult years have been dominated by arts based activities(either that being education or spare time activities) and that arts based activities have been the cornerstone of everything I have being doing, and it is the only career path I want.

The second show I saw was 'Hypothermia' at the Dukes Playhouse on Friday evening. A truly wonderful theatre spectacle, which momentarily put me back in touch with why I so enjoy the live experience of theatre. Its ability to take you away from your real world and transport you into a world where you can find out more about the world you inhabit. In the case of 'Hypothermia' it was the blending together of shocking tales of brutality of the NAZI regime in the Second World War with the affect it had on individuals. The play set in a hospital climaxed with patients being chosen to be moved on and the hospital being closed, a play about real human feelings. The drunken state the lead doctor: Dr Erich resorts to, the lack of almost any human emotion high ranking NAZI official Dr Katscher has for anyone who does not have blonde hair or blue eyes. In history we hear about these horrible events, but often we don't get to hear or see the personal accounts of the people involved, theatre offers us this fantastic opportunity. A fantastically gripping story.

What is the plan of attack for this week then? Well today (Monday) and Tuesday are probably research days in the library, and trying to keep up the ideas surge which is happening at the moment and trying to get as much material gathered as possible. Wednesday I am in the studio rehearsing hopefully, Thursday I have a meeting with Matt and on Saturday I am very excited to be going to see the critically acclaimed Ockham's Razor at the Nuffield.

See you soon!

Marcus

Websites / Links that maybe interesting for you to look at:

http://www.loveculture.org.uk/lc/
http://www.folly.co.uk/
http://www.panda-arts.org.uk/
http://www.hetainpatel.com
http://www.nuffieldtheatre.com/events/detail.asp?eventIdentifier=2010715_83826846 - Ockham's Razor 'The Mill'