West London Story Forums Summaries: Collaborations – how can we encourage collaborations between artforms and between creatives and others? (23rd Feb, Lighthouse)
Leader: Tonnny A
TonnyAjoup@googlemail.com – sweetsnsour291@yahoo.co.uk
Key Points of Discussion
• We all introduced ourselves one by one.
• We talked about our experience sharing our practice with the communities – in particular, our experience of working with kids, in schools, in depraved areas etc.
• Some of us, in that context, gave examples of collaborations: i.e. in one project the artist got the young people to interview the elderly.
• Two ideas –key to make these collaborations happen emerged strongly from this first part of discussion: a) partnerships b) Self-sufficiency
• It was thought as a another result of sharing our experiences that having a regular group meeting make these initiatives for collaborations more energising. And this idea got us to the next stage of the discussion and how to initiate collaborations.
• We brainstormed for a little while on the idea of arranging a regular group meeting. Having a sense of unity was another idea which emerged as a result of this brain storming.
• Communication was another point raised during the discussion and we thought about connecting ways to connect the original theme with the current discussion.
• Some of us suggested using a website, however there were a few objections related to the need to keep certain independence. Other suggestions revolved around the idea of setting links: i.e. each person would put a link (to a common page or group’s website?) on their website.
Key Actions
• We agreed we should meet again to discuss how to make it happen.
• We also decided to exchange each other’s contact details with each other.
• Facebook is another strong option to explore: we thought about creating a group for creatives living or working in West London.
• Steph offered to take everyone’s details and to send a group email with a summary of what we talked about so that we keep in contact.
• As a result, keeping in touch is the next key action to take.