Making Stuff Happen
Since the birth of my son 3.5 years ago my work has (understandably) gone through a bit of a transition. No longer able to self produce two year performance projects I'm in the throws of finding new work that inspires me, uses my talents and pay my bills.
It is no small feat. In a culture that seems to be obsessed with a limited idea of what work is, many will register themselves to an existence of 'not themselves'. It's no wonder there is so much tension in the world. I have been lucky to have choices as what I do with my life, many do not. For that I am very thankful. That said being a mother, and a lone parent with *limited* resource I have also experienced what it means to have opportunities whisked away from me due to the restrictions of my circumstance. This has made me even more sensitive to the need to create experiences that are available to all people regardless of economic standing, physical mobility or belief systems.
A producer friend said to me, 'how would you describe what you do'? Seeing that my work has (for twenty years +) spanned film, dance, theatre, installation, community arts and writing (not to mention brownie baking ;) ... it might seem that I am without skill or craft or commitment. It occurred to me that I am less interested in the form than the journey. It is ideas that stimulate me and I will pull in whatever resources are best suited to the environment to get us to where we need to go.
This past weekend I facilitated a creative community consultation for the Hidden Gardens (as part of the Tramway's Family Day) using crafts as our medium. They have been wishing to redevelop the Rill space at the back of the gardens for sometime now, as the original design has proven to not be fit for purpose. For this I designed an activity of 'chime making' - each of the materials was assigned a meaning and the participants had to decide which meaning best described how they would like to 'feel' in the new space.
It was a fantastic day, we made between 60-70 chimes and about 120 individuals participated of all ages and backgrounds. In the end creativity won hands down as the primary inspiration people would like to feel in the space. Is this a reflection of the greater desire people feel to have some authorship over their lives, I don't know? But I am happy to initiate that change. Maybe this small action will create a butterfly wing effect of us building the world we want to live in wherein all our creative ideas have opportunity to flourish. At the very least we can have fun in the dreaming.
#thehiddengardens #glasgow #creativefacilator #community #artsdevelopment #communityengagement
