Setting up a much-needed community arts centre is a dream job for many, but there can be many unexpected pitfalls along the way, as Tim Wakefield explains.
Having recently been employed to launch and run a youth arts centre on the Dovecotes estate in Wolverhampton I could not believe my luck: my ideal job and a dream come true. In previous incarnations Ive worked in universities and colleges concentrating on filmmaking, animation and graphics, linking with other disciplines such as music, performing arts and dance. However, this was far too good an opportunity to turn down and I could not wait to start leading what I believed was, surely, one of the most exciting arts project the West Midlands was ever likely to see.
Initial support for the Centre is being provided by the national charity KidsOut. The Centre will form part of a small, but growing network of multimedia projects across the country facilitated by the charity, all of whom must become self-sufficient within three years. What makes this project different from others which KidsOut have backed is that this centre is static their other five projects are all multimedia vans which go into communities and work with young people both in rural and urban settings. The idea for this static version came about through the previous work which KidsOut had done with Dovecotes Primary School. Attached to the school was a disused community centre, which the schools head-teacher was very keen to make use of and she leapt at the chance to be involved.
Naively, I thought setting up the centre would be easy. I imagined wed be raring to go by September; Id waltz in, choose some nice equipment, spend some money, come up with some fancy projects, run some qualifications and never look back. This, I now realise, is simply not how things work. It is damn hard work and, on many occasions, has proved extremely frustrating. These problems have now become my daily bugbears such as: raising sufficient money and spending it wisely; combating community apathy; why does it cost so much to do the simplest thing? Why does the price of a quote seem to have gone up barely 24 hours later? And so on.
Nevertheless, I still believe that Dovecotes Arts Centre will be the most exciting arts project the West Midlands is ever likely to see. Ultimately this is the belief that drives us on; we all know the work we do has a positive impact on communities everyday, up and down the country. The best piece of advice I can give to anyone involved on projects of this nature is to get in touch with others; talk to individuals, groups and organisations both locally and nationally who do similar work. The support and interest I have received has been fantastic. Just discussing the project has helped me no end, not only with future plans and ideas, but also in maintaining my own effectiveness not to mention sanity. n
Tim Wakefield is Project Manager at the Dovecotes Arts Centre in Wolverhampton.
e: tim@dovecotesartscentre.org.uk; w: http://www.kidsout.org.uk