20 venue promoters, 3 cathedrals, 21 projects in four artistic strands ? Eastern Touring Agency?s (ETA) The Creative Promoter was always going to be big, explain Viv Ewington and Catherine Rose.
The sheer size of the picture can now be grasped through our new CD-Rom. But why take on such a huge endeavour? The answer is that we wanted to find a way to tap into the huge reservoir of knowledge and skills within the venues of the East England and Lincolnshire.
Funded by the Arts Council of England?s ?Arts for Everyone? scheme and supported from many other sources including the Gulbenkian Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust, The Creative Promoter sought to build on ETA?s touring and audience development work over the past 9 years. It aimed to bring about groundbreaking changes in the way in which promoters engaged with audiences, specifically with young people.
The project structure allowed venues to work with each other and to learn from best practice within the region. For each of the four distinct artistic strands, there was a lead venue and a group of associate venues. The leader carried out a project in Year 1 (1999- 2000), followed by the associate venues taking these ideas into Year 2 (2000-01) to create their own projects.
Including the Excluded enabled disadvantaged groups to engage with the challenges of social exclusion and to increase their self-esteem ? led by the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. Collaborating with Theatre Centre, they developed ?Look At Me? by Anna Reynolds, a new play researched with people from the local Pupil Referral Unit, exploring the experience of being excluded from school.
Get Wired explored what new technology can bring to the arts, through developing both creative and marketing opportunities ? led by the artezium, Luton. During a 2 month residency with IOU Theatre, HND Performing Arts students from Luton University explored relationships between digital media and live performance.
Arts sans Frontières developed international partnerships and exchanges ? led by The Junction CDC, Cambridge. In partnership with the European network of venues, Trans Europe Halles, The Junction CDC brought together practitioners, academics and arts managers from across Europe to explore Art and Conflict.
The Big Event was a co-commission with The National Youth Music Theatre in three cathedrals. A huge young cast of singers, dancers and instrumentalists was joined by the Suffolk County Youth Orchestra, the St. Edmundsbury Cathedral Choir and a local choir from each community in performing ?Creation?, a new work by Richard Taylor.
Year 2 projects included graffiti art, an online soap opera, theatre, film, sculpture in concrete, contemporary music, DJ-ing, digital art and contemporary dance.
To try to communicate the sheer excitement of The Creative Promoter, the new CD-Rom examines all 21 projects, looking at evaluation, marketing, partnerships, audience development, access and participation, and new modes of creativity. It makes the processes and results of all this work available to artists and arts managers across the country. Accessible for Mac and PC formats, with a text-only version available for people with visual impairments, we hope that it will open a window on some exciting developments unfolding in the arts world.
Vivien Ewington is Creative Promoter Manager, and Catherine Rose is Education Development Manager for Eastern Touring Agency. Extra copies of the CD available. t: 01223 500202 e: viv.ewington@e-t-a.demon.co.uk