I was asked to participate in the State of the Arts Flash Conference, answering the question 'in an environment in which success is too often only measured by perpetual growth, how do we ensure that small remains beautiful? I didn't get to give my 1 minutes response (mic issues) but here it is:

Small is beautiful, so what responsibility do we larger institutions have to ensure that artists and cultural producers of all shape and size can produce work and flourish? I believe that responsibility is great and its something i take seriously. This responsibility could take the form of fronting funding bids, shouldering bureaucracy, always paying on time. It might be more about advocacy, profile, introductions and sometimes its simply about permission - its amazing how transformational some words of encouragement can be to an artist working on their own.

It is almost always about being open to new ideas from wherever they come, being willing to take a risk and being patient, for sometimes great things take a while to gestate.

It is also about listening and about protecting independence. It is never about claiming credit, although glory hoovering is something our sector is sadly too good at.

Watershed's pervasive media studio hosts a network of artists and micro companies as well as well as researchers from academic institutions and industry.

Everyones contribution is literally valued on the strength of their ideas, their open ness, generosity and brilliance. Our audiences want to engage with work that is challenging, distinctive, great. Our networks are enriched through diversity and i believe it is only through collaborations which disregard size, profile and resource that we can have continue to produce and offer exemplary cultural experiences.