A conversation about developing talent

Rohan GunatillakeCaroline BowditchSorcha CareyDiarmaid LawlorRebecca EgglestonDavid Simoes-BrownJoshua SofaerLucy ConwayRoanne Dods Stuart MacDonaldCatherine LargeMark Cosgrove

21– 22 August, 2012 Summerhall, Edinburgh

‘If you persist, you’ll always do it, if you’re mad enough for it. And then once you’re in, if you’ve got any talent it will get sought out.’Danny Boyle, Director Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics

Lab is a conversation about developing talent. This symposium provides an opportunity for us to come together to share experiences and learning, and to explore possibilities and potential. This is an active environment. You, the participants, are here not just to listen, but also to talk, debate and connect. By the end of the two days we hope to be building and progressing ways of developing talent in Scotland and beyond.

All around you are people who work across the arts, screen and creative industries. Some of you work independently and others are employed by arts organisations and creative businesses. You’re sitting amongst a cross‑section of makers, producers and administrators who work in different disciplines and come from across the UK.

Over the next two days, we will look at four themes – success and failure, context, diversity and resources. We hope to use these themes to develop our understanding of and evolve the ways we develop the talented people we know about. We want to find ways of accessing those we haven’t yet encountered.

We have invited three speakers to talk to each theme. You’ll notice that each of them asks a question or two. Following each set of talks, you have the opportunity to respond to these questions in hour‑long workshop sessions. There is no need to come up with highly refined solutions, to design a fully functioning future. However, we want to record and share some of the ideas, projects, people and organisations you reference. You’ll find some luggage tags on each table, please jot down any soundbites you feel are relevant and add these tags to the washing lines you see suspended in the room. Once Lab has finished, we’ll compile these tags into a resource library that we’ll share with all of you.

We hope we’ve designed a platform that can accommodate and address the full creative sector ecology, making space for ideological and practical dialogue around a more sustainable, healthy future. We know August is a busy time, so feel free to drop in and out of sessions as necessary.

Lab is funded by Creative Scotland and builds on the success of Talent Development Symposiums held in 2010 and 2011, hosted by Festivals Edinburgh and Arts Council England.

Welcome to Lab

Moira Jeffrey

Moira is a journalist and writer based in Glasgow. She regularly comments on the visual arts for both print and broadcast media and is currently art critic of Scotland on Sunday newspaper.

In the last decade she has published reviews, articles and catalogue essays for publications including The Guardian, Tate Magazine, Contemporary Magazine, Modern Painters, AN and The Map. She is a regular talking head on the arts for BBC Scotland TV and radio and an occasional voice on BBC Radios 4, 3 and 2.

In 2004 she wrote and presented the BBC Scotland documentary Hanging in Parliament on the visual art programme conceived for the Scottish Parliament building. Recently her short fiction has appeared in the magazine 2HB. Moira has sat on a number of advisory boards including those of the Glasgow International Festival and the Scotland pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

In 2006/7 she spent a year at the Scottish Arts Council specialising in support for individual visual artists. She currently teaches features journalism at Glasgow Caledonian University, is a guest lecturer at Valand School of Fine Art in Gothenberg and recently undertook a critical writing residency at Cove Park. She has degrees in art history, politics and law and is a former solicitor specialising in family law.

Hilary Carty

Hilary is an independent coach and consultant specialising in leadership development, management and organisational change. Consulting projects include international research for Creative Scotland; MA course development, Australia; organisation development, Nottingham; and facilitation for organisations, projects and programmes nationally.

Prior to working independently, Hilary was the Director of the Cultural Leadership Programme www.culturalleadership.org.uk, a £22m government investment in excellence in leadership within the UK cultural and creative industries.

Earlier roles include Director, London (Arts) at Arts Council England; Director, Culture and Education at London 2012; and Director, Dance at Arts Council England.

An experienced Facilitator, Chair and Speaker, Hilary is a qualified coach with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; and a qualified Organisation Development Consultant with the NTL Institute, UK.

She is also a Visiting Professor at Kufstein University, Austria.

Chairs

How important is failure to success? What role does risk play in developing talent?

Caroline Bowditch

Caroline is a Scottish based independent disabled performance maker and choreographer who has been making work in the UK for 10 years. She is passionate about creating work that is accessible to audiences using clear ideas or concepts.

Her most ambitious project to date, Leaving Limbo Landing, is an ambitious new outdoor production in water, on land and in the air. It explores journey, placement, displacement and settling. It was included as part of this year’s Made in Scotland programme at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Having majored in performing arts for her education degree (Deakin University, 1990) Caroline retrained at University of Melbourne and worked as a Genetic Counsellor from 1997 to 2002. She has been dancing in inclusive companies for 14 years.

Caroline has choreographed and performed work as girl jonah with Fiona Wright (British Dance Edition 2006, Dance Umbrella 2006, Dublin Dance Festival 2008). She was commissioned to produce a site-specific piece, Elevation, for Trafalgar Square as part of the Liberty Festival (September 2006). From April 2008 to March 2012, Caroline held the post as Scottish Dance Theatre’s Dance Agent for Change. In 2011 she was awarded Creative Scotland’s Arts and Business Award for Nurturing Talent.

Rohan Gunatillake

Rohan is an innovation producer and entrepreneur based in Glasgow with two main specialisms. The first is the cultural sector with current and past projects including Culture Hack Scotland, Edinburgh Festivals Innovation Lab, Sync and Mission Models Money.

Rohan’s second innovation specialism is modern meditation and 21st century Buddhism with projects including Buddhist Geeks and buddhify – the world’s first urban meditation app. His previous employers include IBM, Accenture and NESTA and he is currently setting up Meditation By Design, a company which makes contemplative products for a digital generation.

Rohan also works on a freelance basis on exciting projects, is an award‑winning blogger, has written for the Guardian and Herald Scotland and has yet to score a competitive touchdown for the Glasgow Hornets. He is a popular speaker and has recently spoken at SXSW, Future Everything, the Buddhist Geeks Conference in Los Angeles, Shift Happens, the Dutch Government’s inaugural creative industries conference and British Council events in Berlin and Istanbul.

Oh and Wired magazine named him in their 2012 Smart List of 50 people who are about to change the world.

FailureRohan GunatillakeCaroline BowditchSorcha Carey

Sorcha Carey

Sorcha is Director of Edinburgh Art Festival. Prior to joining the Art Festival in October 2011, she was Senior Adviser, Arts and Creative Industries at British Council Scotland.

Between 2003 and 2008, she worked on three editions of the international contemporary art festival, Liverpool Biennial, curating temporary art projects for public spaces across the city. These included a series of major commissions for Liverpool’s year as Capital of Culture in 2008, by international artists and architects, including Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, Atelier Bow Wow, Ai Wei Wei, Annette Messager and Jesper Just.

Other projects have included co‑curating an artistic exchange programme between Liverpool and Stavanger, Norway (2005–6), and project managing the loan and installation of Antony Gormley’s Another Place on Crosby Beach (2005).

She studied Classics at the University of Cambridge, and has an MA and PhD in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Where are we developing talent? Who are we developing talent for?

Rebecca Eggleston

Currently FORM’s General Manger of Operations, Rebecca also leads the organisation’s urban and place strategy work, combining her background in creative cities, city strategy, creative industries and community development.

Rebecca was previously a Program Director at CEOs for Cities, a US based national network of urban leaders, where she developed the organisation’s creative cities work and consulting, as well as designing and delivering new programs and national events to advance thinking on a range of key city concerns.

Prior to this, she managed creative industry and creative city development initiatives in Western Australia.

Diarmaid Lawlor

Diarmaid is Head of Urbanism with Architecture + Design Scotland. An urbanist, with a multi disciplinary background, he has worked on projects involving the shaping and implementation of change for clients in Ireland, the UK and Europe, for the public, private and tertiary sectors.

He has almost 20 years experience of helping clients make well informed decisions about complex, connected urban policy and investment challenges. He is an educator, communicator and collaborator who writes and speaks on creative approaches to making better places.

ContextDiarmaid LawlorRebecca EgglestonDavid Simoes-Brown

David Simoes-Brown

David co‑founded 100%Open, spinning out of NESTA where he led Corporate Open Innovation. A biology graduate, David has a background in advertising, branding and design, having held strategy directorships at DDB, Seymourpowell and Moving Brands.

He has helped diverse clients from Christian Aid to Unilever to innovate their messages, brands and products. David is currently writing a book that investigates the role of human emotion in decision‑making.

Twitter: @deeyesbee

How can talented people speak from, with and on behalf of the full cross‑section of society? Who hasn’t realised their talent and why?

Lucy Conway

Based on the Isle of Eigg, Lucy has worked in the creative and arts sector for the last 30 years. Working with individual creatives, small businesses and organisations, she has provided project management, advice, training, and showcasing opportunities for a wide range of Highlands & Islands and Scotland‑wide initiatives. These include Channel 4’s 4Talent Scotland, KEO Films, North Lands Creative Glass, Six Cities Design Festival, Arts & Business Scotland and HI~Arts. She has also raised funds, organised and coordinated events, training courses, conferences, theatre and music tours for clients across the UK.

Since October 2011 Lucy has been developing Eigg Box. Planned to open in 2015, Eigg Box will be a cultural enterprise hub, bringing together local creative businesses with artists from around the world. Eigg Box turns on its head the notion that a centre of entrepreneurship and creativity needs to be at the centre of population. Eigg Box makes the remote central.

Established as a self‑sustaining social enterprise, Eigg Box will be a powerhouse of creative activity, entrepreneurship, inspiration and collaboration. However, unlike its urban counterparts, Eigg Box’s eco‑built studios and creative workspace are on the Isle of Eigg; a community‑owned, renewably‑powered island, off the north-west coast of Scotland with a population of less than a hundred.

Joshua Sofaer

Joshua is an artist, centrally concerned with modes of collaboration and participation. Often with an irreverent use of humour, he plays with established forms of production, appropriating and reconfiguring the chat show, competition, lecture, or museum display.

He has shown internationally including at Tate Modern, London; SFMOMA San Francisco; HAU, Berlin. He was a winner of the first Bank of America CREATE Art Award, the largest participatory art award in the UK. Joshua was the first Artist Fellow on the 2010/11 Clore Leadership Programme, and is currently artist in residence on the RSA, Arts Council England and Peterborough City Council initiative Context Matters.

After a BA in Drama & English at Bristol University, Joshua went on to complete an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and was subsequently awarded a PhD from Dartington College of Arts.

> Image credit: Wait Tai Li

DiversityJoshua SofaerLucy ConwayRoanne Dods

Roanne Dods

Roanne is currently Deputy Director at the Dovecot Foundation, and supports a number of other arts organisations through change management processes.

She was Director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation from 1998–2009, whose primary remit is to support emerging and talented artists and pracitioners through a range of programmes across all sectors.

At the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Roanne oversaw the expansion of our activities across all artforms. In 2004, she was thrilled to be presented with an Angel Award by ISPA for ‘innovative and spectacular work across the artistic spectrum’ by Sir John Tusa.

A founding co‑director of Mission Models Money with Clare Cooper; Roanne also supported the start of The Work Room (for independent choreographers at Tramway, Glasgow); and IC: Innovative Craft (with Amanda Game and Elizabeth Goring). She is currently the Chair of PAL, and a board member of Cove Park. She was, until recently, Chair of BAC, Vice‑Chair of Scottish Ballet, and on the boards of Sistema Scotland, Fuel, Young Vic and the Jerwood Space.

How can talent be supported in a sustainable fashion? What role can networks, collaboration and spaces play in developing talent? Where do training, education and mentoring fit in?

Catherine Large

Catherine is Joint CEO at Creative & Cultural Skills, supporting the skills and training needs of the creative and cultural industries. With colleague Pauline Tambling, Catherine leads delivery through the Skills Academy, a growing network of employers and training providers who are committed to the provision of high quality creative education and training, apprenticeships and careers advice. Creative & Cultural Skills is licenced as a Sector Skills Council by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. For further information, please visit:— www.ccskills.org.uk

Catherine has been at Creative & Cultural Skills since 2006, previously in the role of Director of External Relations, where she led engagement with employers and practitioners to create key skills strategies for craft, cultural heritage, design, literature, music, performing arts and visual arts.

Before joining Creative & Cultural Skills, Catherine was Head of Development at Booktrust, a national charity promoting books and reading. Catherine’s career started in the theatre industry, most recently as Development Manager at Battersea Arts Centre, a theatre in South London. Catherine served as a Trustee at Apples & Snakes for a number of years and is now on the Board of Uninvited Guests, a Bristol‑based theatre company.

Stuart MacDonald

Stuart is Director of Creative Frontline, his company specialising in creativity, design and innovation:— www.creativefrontline.com

He is Emeritus Professor, Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen; and was the founding director of The Lighthouse, Scotland’s National Architecture and Design Centre.

His new book, Designs on Democracy: Architecture and Design in Scotland Post Devolution will be published this autumn by Zero Books.

ResourcesStuart MacDonaldCatherine LargeMark Cosgrove

Mark Cosgrove

Mark has worked in independent film exhibition for over 20 years. He has always worked in mixed art form venues where film is one part of the visual arts spectrum. He is currently Head of Cultural Programme at Watershed in Bristol.

He and his team work with a range of partners to deliver Watershed’s cultural programme of festivals and events such as Afrika Eye, Cycle Screen, Slapstick and Festival of Ideas. Most recently film projects have included a UK wide retrospective of French director Claire Denis, Ulrich Seidl and a focus on film composer Bernard Herrmann.

Mark is interested in the creative relationship between film and music and has developed a number of live performances ranging from improvisation to a live score to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc by musicians Adrian Utley (Portishead), Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) and conducted by Charles Hazlewood.

Talent development is a key part of Watershed’s activity and he has set up a regional talent development network:— www.filmworks.org.uk with partner venues Showroom in Sheffield and Broadway in Nottingham. He is also Artistic Director of Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival.

He twitters @msc45 and podcasts:— www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/podcast

Agenda

Tuesday 21 August

10:30 Registration

11:00 Opening thoughts: Moira Jeffrey

11:15 Failure— Rohan Gunatillake Caroline Bowditch Sorcha Carey

12:10 Discussion 01: all participants

13:15 Lunch

14:00 Welcome back: Moira Jeffrey

14:15 Context — Diarmaid Lawlor Rebecca Eggleston David Simoes‑Brown

15:10 Discussion 02: all participants

16:15 Summing up: Moira Jeffrey

Wednesday 22 August

10:30 Registration

11:00 Opening thoughts: Moira Jeffrey & Hilary Carty

11:15 Diversity— Joshua Sofaer Lucy Conway Roanne Dods

12:10 Discussion 03: all participants

13:15 Lunch

14:00 Welcome back: Hilary Carty

14:15 Resources— Stuart MacDonald Catherine Large Mark Cosgrove

15:10 Discussion 04: all participants

16:15 Summing up: Hilary Carty

Funded by Creative Scotland

Designed & produced by NT Creative Arts Ltd & Trigger with support from Shift

Identity & graphic design Owned and Operated / Rydo

Programme print Hato Press

Documentation Beyongolia

Catering Blue Sky

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NT Creative Arts Ltd is an arts consultancy run by Nicola Turner, working with associates and specialising in the support and development of people across the arts and creative industries. Committed to working internationally, services offered include project development, event management, facilitation and coaching.

Trigger is a producer‑led arts organisation that collaborates with makers and organisations to create new forms of engagement where artforms, sectors and interests collide. Trigger are co‑producers of PAR+RS, Scotland’s public art resource and Sync, a two‑year prototyping and innovation programme for the cultural sector in Scotland.

www.TriggerStuff.co.uk

> Elements of Lab will be video and audio recorded

so we can share findings with a wider audience.

Please let a member of the Lab team know if you

have any concerns about this.