The 21st Century Shed
Derrick Price. Watershed Chair 2007
When Watershed first opened its doors in 1982 it declared itself to be ‘Britain’s First Media Centre’. This sense of being at the cutting edge of things has remained central to Watershed despite the many changes that have taken place since it began. Of course, its development has not been a smooth and easy process. Indeed, its history is best seen as a series of crises that were, with help from all sorts of people, somehow overcome. That it has emerged as one of the most important cultural institutions in Britain owes much to its many supporters, people who love the place and have created the Watershed community. Its success is also a real tribute to the imagination, creativity and dedication of its staff, under the inspired leadership of Dick Penny.
Through their efforts Watershed has become a leading example of a new kind of organisation: one that is not concerned solely with the arts, but does have creativity and the resources of the imagination at its very core. What this means, in real life, is that it lives a jittery existence somewhere where art, technology, media, education and creativity meet. A relatively uncharted place and one that needs to change shape just as the map of its contours is being definitively drawn. It’s an exciting space and one that many other cultural organisations will want to share in future.
'Clark Bursary 7h UK Digital Art Award recipient Nii Obodai's photography
This is high flown stuff, but isn’t Watershed really known in Bristol for having the best café bar and cinemas in the city and do any of the 400,000 people who visit it to eat, drink, go to the movies or attend a conference give a damn about its wider role? Well, I’m more than happy to accept that the Shed is here primarily to give pleasure and provide entertainment, but it does do a lot more as well.
It’s an important dockside space with a role to play in the growth and sustainability of the arts and cultural scene in Bristol and the region. This year’s triumph has been the acquisition of the building so that Watershed will have more control over its environment to the benefit of everyone. And, while this space is important so too is the other place where the Shed exists – its existence online as a Web publisher. Projects such as dShed, Bristol Stories and Electric December connect local communities and organisations with respondents around the world – 3 million of them at the latest count from 100+ countries.
Finally, it’s a place of creative sociability that connects and networks with all kinds of people and groups: major digital companies, universities, artists, neighbourhoods, communities, schools. It possesses an atmosphere that encourages people to want to meet, to hang out and hatch new plans. Whatever problems it encounters I’m confident that it will keep that spirit into the next twenty five years.