Programming + Planning

Artist Recruitment

I’ve spent a lot of time emailing and on the phone to potential PM Studio residents and artists I think we could work with on this project. For instance, I contacted the team in charge of The Ice Book performances about their availability and rates for our Magic Show launch day. They had performed at the Watershed 30th Birthday Party and were a huge success – miniature paper-cut pages of a book are transformed by projection mapping, and you follow tiny characters (creators Kristin and Dave) through a narrated wonderland. It would have tied in perfectly with the essence of what we want to bring to a family audience (art, science, technology and pure wonder!).Unfortunately the Ice Book Show was not available at that time, but I talked to Dave and Kristin’s Tour Manager about a lotus-making workshop which they have run for families in the past that could work really well if we screened the beautiful Tales of The Night by French animator Ocelot, which I am really keen to do.

I also contacted Constance, who works in the PM Studio about a robot making workshop (using hex bugs and household items) and we were all set to go, but unfortunately she was not available in the end as we changed the date we had originally asked if she could do. I would love to organise a workshop with her in the future: I had researched different robot films for a family audience and there are lots of great ones – I particularly liked the idea of programming The Iron Giant and talked to Maddy in Programming about this.

I also liaised with Kathy Hinde via phone about her Bat Boxes and Vocal Migrations project as a possible workshop or installation, but it was going to be too expensive to get the Vocal Migrations installations and we needed a room for longer than we could probably have it. I also contacted Stand + Stare about getting their amazing Theatre Jukebox involved, perhaps in the Cafe/Bar as I found out they had recently made an Alice in Wonderland themed one and I thought that could be pretty wonderful for kids to use over the course of the festival. Unfortunately the jukebox is going to be in Oxford over the dates required.

I have had lots of contact with Laura Kriefman about her Rolling Stones – magical spherical sculptures that make music according to how you move them. They were also really popular at the Watershed Birthday Party, so I thought they could be good for a season based on letting your imagination run free.

I also met with Opposable Games and we chatted over what they could do for us and costs. I liked the idea of their Occulus Rift headset which has an AR walking game on it where you can explore different environments (they even said they would let us test an environment they could create for our theme!). In the end we decided it could be risky for young children to be using it as it can make people feel nauseous. Clockwork Racers was decided on instead, which is a multi-screen game where you race wind-up toys around a track. I was thinking this could be a longer-term installation, but it takes at least two people to man and would take up quite a lot of room if we were to have it in the bar for instance. If we have a festival day then we can hopefully get them on board to share their game with the families. Becca Rose had already been contacted by Maddy in the programming department and the format of the workshop is worked out, so we will liaise with her at a later date.

As part of The Imagination Lab we will be hosting a Magic Show (perhaps a Magical Mystery Show?!) where we will host different installations and workshops – we are not sure where it will be held or how big the event will be, but as a group we have contacted lots of different artists to see if they want to be involved. For instance we have contacted Nikki Pugh with her makey makey’s, Ad Spier’s with his Origami Fox workshop (which I want to screen Fantastic Mr Fox before), and I have been in contact with Victoria Tilltson (an iShed producer) about getting the new magicians in residence involved in the magic show (as a pre-promotion for their project showcase in December). I have also been talking to a young magician, Rishi, who had got in contact with the PM Studio when they did their call for magicians but was too young to apply.

I really want all the events we do to be a fun, fascinating showcase of all the amazing work that goes on in the PM Studio and raise the Studio’s profile with a family audience. It would also be fantastic to offer a platform for Rishi to share his talents and do something that challenges him.

Contacting lots of people has been tough but really enjoyable. It’s important to put out lots of feelers as I found people were not always available, which has meant our artist confirmation deadline has had to be pushed back a bit. It was hard negotiating on price because you want to make sure the artist is getting a fair deal and at the same time you have a budget to stick to. Learning more about their projects and discussing how they could fit into our programme or idea is great fun, and all the people I talked to were really helpful. It has been important to get as much detail from the artists as possible at this stage so I can figure out what might be possible and what will not be due to budget, time, space or other restrictions and considerations. I am lucky because the brief calls for me to work with PM Studio residents, of which there are many amazing projects that are perfect for this season – fun, wacky, weird and wonderful projects that seem to have come right out of an Imagination Lab. It is going to be really important to get families being creative together and seeing, doing and discovering new things.

Programming

I researched films for this season using IMDB, the BFI website, Filmbank and lists of films (e.g. in the Guardian and other publications) on the recommendation of Maddy from the Programming department who met us to talk about where to find films and hear our initial ideas.

Here are a few notes I made about films.

We talked about getting a Buster Keaton film which includes some scenes of rolling stones to accompany the Rolling Stones dance workshop. We also talked about availability of films and getting the rights, and that Watershed is part of Europa Cinemas so we foreign films are particularly good for us to screen.

Maddy thought our ideas were good, but that we needed to be realistic about what we could achieve. I agree that we should try to do fewer events well and I feel responsible for upholding the Watershed quality of past ventures and was keen that ours live up to this standard. This meeting will help me to consider going forward what might be feasible or not – I especially think that the Magic Day needs to be carefully thought out so we do not try to over-program it. This does depend on whether it is a whole day or just an afternoon, so I will have to wait and see about what spaces are available before deciding what I would consider was too much for the time/space/intended audience. I also think that this is the nature of the project at this time, in that we have so many different ideas and quite a lot of flexibility with our theme. The deadline for getting Ellie at Arnolfini her information for the joint marketing is getting close now though!

Location

I have found out via our Events and Programming departments which events spaces and cinemas are available during the Oct half term so we can move forward with planning. It looks like we can do our launch event on Sat 19 Oct using Cinema 3 (our second largest screen) and then Waterside 3 (our largest event space), followed by the Svankmajer event on Sat 26 Oct (which has already been programmed by Watershed), then we can run an event on Wed 30 Oct in Waterside 1/PM Studio, and finally an event in the PM Studio break out space on Sat 2 Nov. It was important that the events were at regular slots, so I pushed for a 13:00 start for all events which is in keeping with the Cinekids work Watershed already does. I think it is better to stick to what we know and try to build on our existing audience whilst trying to target new participants.

This means we can now go back to Ellie with dates and times – but we were yet to figure out titles for our events and firm up with artists about what they were doing. We have a meeting soon with the other seven organisations taking part in the Bristol FAF (SS Great Britain, Bristol Museum and Gallery, Bristol Old Vic, Children’s Scrapstore, MShed, The Architecture Centre – and of course Arnoflini) so I hope we can have everything to do with our programme sorted by then.

I am feeling a bit worried that our branding is not strong enough at this point. We have been trying to write copy for the general programme and for some events that were more firmed up but when I am writing and editing, I just can not get the ‘offer’ right. It does not seem very strong and I am a bit worried about how we will attract families – “Are we being too techy/sciencey?” is a real worry of mine. It feels like it is going to be a bit of a hard sell, even though I am super excited about the events!

 

New Branding

I have now firmed up our event locations and to some extent the artists we can work with and so we met with iShed director Clare Reddington to discuss the programme and our branding of the strand. Clare has worked with organising and promoting National Science Week and has extensive experience working at the PM Studio where art and culture meets science and technology. She thought that the inclusion of the word lab in our existing ‘Watershed’s Imagination Lab’ strand title was not a good idea as it could alienate people who were not really interested in science and technology, which was not the point of the events. It was interesting to hear her feedback and suggestions, and she said she thought that our theme of imagination, discovery and invention was great, but that we should re-work our title and our existing season copy.

After our meeting with Clare, the group met with Hannah Higginson to discuss changing the branding. We talked about the BFI Gothic event Alice + Magic Ink Workshop and we all agreed that an Alice in Wonderland theme could work really well at bringing together our existing themes and artists. Using this already popular story and theme would help families to identify with the (relatively hard to sell as science to a family audience!) work of the PM Studio.

I suggested Down The Rabbit Hole as a season title, as I thought it connoted an adventure for families where they could see the impossible become possible – a key theme at the PM Studio. So instead of the PM Studio being an Imagination Lab it would be a kind of Wonderland! The group liked it and so the the Magic Show became The Mad Hatter’s Magic Tea Party and we decided that we wanted to screen Disney’s Alice (the 1951 version) beforehand. I wrote some draft copy for the season and its events and sent it round to the group a few days later. I received their edits and continued to work on it. I feel so much happier with this theme and I love where it is going already. It is going to fit in perfectly with what we already have programmed for autumn/winter as an organisation (we are cooking up a season of magic films for December for example).

Here is a Tea Party ideas powerpoint and a workshop ideas powerpoint I made and sent around the group for general theme/event/copy ideas and below are a few screenshots – I got so excited I had to get my ideas down. Here’s also an example of draft copy and some more here.

Initial re-brand copy

We also met with Claire Stewart to go through the existing copy we had and she gave me lots of pointers on how for refine the messages and bringing the theme together.

Event Planning Masterclass

We were really lucky that this week we had a really useful session with Clio Beeson from the Watershed events department who clarified all the different procedures we would need to go through in order to get our event on sale and okayed by events. It was very helpful to have all this events department information, floor plans etc. and advice about past events and I feel moe confident now that I can seriously think about what is feasible.

We also had a great session with Festival of Ideas organiser Zoe Steadman-Milne – which really helped me to understand the different stages of delivering a project involving lots of different artists and events. Below are some notes I took during the session. In summary, I learnt tips on how to plan, prepare and deliver events successfully (e.g. going through every stage of delivering a project and making a timeline, as well as imagining you are the visitor and thinking about what you want and need, plus finding out about Zoe’s trick of having an event toolbox which has all the bits and bobs you might need on the day). I found the talk totally inspiring, partly due to the detail of Zoe’s advice, and partly because of her incredible enthusiasm! I loved her honesty and good humour, especially when she said: if it is too complicated, it is not meant to be!

It was also great to be able to ask Zoe some specific questions after her presentation as she used to organise the Bath Children’s Literature Festival so has experience in engaging children and families. She advised that we be really specific with the age-ranges and information we gave online; that we consider capacity in workshops and ratios between children and adults; and make sure the events are value for money. Lots to think about and lots of great advice to use going forward when I start confirming the artists and their requirements as well as all the event details. I also think Zoe’s advice will inform the copy and the branding.

Meeting with the other Bristol FAF Organisations

Today we had a great meeting with the other Bristol FAF Organisations (Arnolfini, SS Great Britain, Bristol Museum and Gallery, Bristol Old Vic, Children’s Scrapstore, MShed, The Architecture Centre). Lastly we discussed plans for our joint marketing and Ellie has given us another week to get our workshop titles together. We discussed what the FAF was, collaboration between our organisations in general and that we want to foster it in this strand and also in the future, as well as how to promote the events on social media and online (e.g. Netmums).

We then discussed the joint marketing and Ellie showed us some drafts mocked up by Arnolfini’s in-house designer. We all liked where it was going, but felt that the design could be much more family friendly and pick-up-able (brighter, more festive and clearer). We also talked about have a passport system like the popular Gromit maps that took over Bristol in the summer, where kids could collect stamps for Gromit spotting. We wanted to emulate this with a similar sticker collection space on the back of the flyer around a map of the Harbourside with the different institutions marked out. The idea is that when families visit the different organisations or attend events there then they can collect a sticker to fill in the map. It also turns out that we did not need to have short copy ready yet, as between the 8 FAF organisations in the city we have so many events, they can just about squeeze onto an A4 flyer in the middle section. This was a relief to hear, because I think it is important we get the copy right – even if we add to it later, we want to be able to sell our workshops in one or two sentences, and at the moment it still sounds a bit vague. The flyer itself has such a short lead time before it needed to go to print because we are going to have it distributed in the Primary Times when the schools start – amazing targeted marketing! We also talked about outreach, further than Bristol city centre and outlying residential areas, e.g. in Hartcliffe or Withywood. Due to time constraints and the rushed nature of this first year’s festival we will not be able to put many resources into this, but Ellie hopes to lead on this next year which is excellent as the FAF is all about expanding new audiences.

The meeting was very good for me personally because it meant I could meet representatives of other Bristol arts organisations and see how they like to do things. I definitely noticed that at Watershed we rely heavily on our website and email (which goes out to 20K people), but this really works for us.

The next week we gave Ellie rough titles for our workshops and dates and times to be printed in the flyer. This gives us time to refine our ideas before rushing into anything that we cannot later deliver. The next steps will be finalising artists and their workshops, spaces, tech and other requirements, and then we can get the events on the FAF website (the deadline, again, is soon!) and then start promoting the season – which I cannot wait for!

Continuing to Liase with Artists

I have continued to iron out the details with Laura Kriefman for her Rolling Stones event with us on Wed 30 Oct. I know we need at least 4m x 4m space for her to lead the dance workshop and some tech for her sculptures (e.g. speakers).

When Constance’s robot making workshop and Ad Spier’s Origami Fox workshop fell through, I needed to find another artist to fill this slot. Initially, I was really keen to do a guided narrated walk/storytelling event and when I found out about PM Studio resident Ben Gwalchmai who is the creator of the app Fabler, which plays you stories as you move, and learnt about his e-books and other narrative experiments, I was really keen to talk with him.

We had a fantastic phone conversation where we discussed what a digital storytelling workshop could look like and how we could make this work for the Alice theme and make it fun and engaging for both adults and children. First Ben talked me through what it was he did, and I explained about the festival and the season and what I had in mind. I explained the requirements of the workshop (1.5 hours) and that we could screen a short film before, but that there was no longer going to be a feature length film in the cinema beforehand because the ICO screening days were in all the cinemas – so I explained that the workshop needed to be really strong to make sure people came, considering it was going to be a different format and offer to what we usually do at Watershed for children.

It was great having such an in-depth conversation about digital storytelling and it was during this process of liaising that I really felt my skills in curation come out. I realised that my role was all about bringing the best out of an artist/practitioner for the organisation, the programme and the audience, as well as helping to showcase their work and talents. Because Ben’s work is really aimed at adults, producing a workshop for children with him was a good exercise in understanding concepts, context, and relevance when producing.

We came up with a few rough ideas for the workshop and I then made draft workshop plan and sent it over to Ben to see what he thought. He was happy and gave me some feedback on the tech requirements and how long he thought things would take and so I adjusted things a little, then sent it off to the team to see what they thought. I then drew up the artist contract.

The key performance indicators which I have identified for this workshop are engaging both adults and children in the creative processes of writing, introducing them to at least two new ways of creating digital stories using free online platforms, and making sure the project has some kind of legacy (Ben and I hope to incorporate parts of people’s stories into a digital storytelling app which he makes called Fabler). I am really excited about this workshop and I now need to find out about tech requirements (potentially new or different software/apps and the different devices required).

We have already talked about ages and I think 8 – 12 years is perfect (nice and specific). Capacity wise, I am very keen we do not overbook this event as everyone needs to have access to the technology we have (I know we have 8 project laptops and I think there should be maximum two persons per laptop). If I could, I would still screen Ocelot’s Tales of The Night because it is all about an old storyteller who lives in a dilapidated old cinema and tells old fables and fairytales, which a little boy and girl enter into – in other words, its all about imagination and storytelling. It is probably more likely that we will screen just a short film before the workshop begins just to settle everyone in and introduce the themes of storytelling.

Catering

Alongside organising the storytelling event, I have liaised with our Events department about catering costs. I want us to have high-tea or at least tea, coffee, squash and cakes and they have given me a quote of £3.95 per head for cake, sandwiches, tea and coffee, with jugs of squash at £2.95 + VAT each. Hannah Higginson, our course facilitator, went back to Events and managed to negotiate us a better deal – meaning we can get some more people along to the party. I am so happy! Our budget is still looking really stretched though, and so myself and Hannah WW have set up a meeting with Clare Reddington, iShed co-ordinator, to discuss potentially getting some funding through the PM Studio.

Meeting with Clare Reddington about Budget

I drafted a very rough budget with my team member Hannah and met with Clare Reddington about getting some iShed funding for this strand of events, as we had the skeleton of our events and it looked like we were going to have to completely scale back the Tea Party. Clare offered up some new ideas of what to explore, but essentially told us that we had not asked for the money in the right way – to go away, prepare a proper budget and tell her exactly how much money we are asking for. It was a steep learning curve and has made me realise how prepared you need to be for meetings like that: you need to know exactly how the money is being spent, where it is coming from in the first place and what you are missing. You also need to explain really clearly how the funder is going to benefit from giving you the money and have this really clear in your head.

So myself and Hannah WW in my group wrote a proposal to go alongside it to present at our second meeting with Clare Reddington and we included a proper budget this time.

Luckily, we got the funding – £200 pounds extra meant we could keep all the artists we wanted at the Tea Party (Nikki Pugh who we wanted to give some travel money to, Opposable Games and also Tarim and his Miniature Cinema installation). It meant we could get Rishi and the two magicians a present each, and have money for catering for up to 60 people.

Here is the final budget and proposal we sent, along with some emails.

Continuing Film Programming + Copy Writing

This week I have also liaised with Maddy about the film and she said we could get the rights to Tim Burton’s Disney Alice in Wonderland from 2010, which I saw at the cinema when it came out. It is a good example of how a story like Alice can be updated and reinvented for a modern audience so we ran with it, even though we had concerns that the film might be a little scary for very young children (its rated a PG). I said I would make sure this went in the copy.

With the finalised budget in hand, the films we are screening all sorted and booked out, catering nearly all confirmed (we can confirm nearer the time), I can now finish off the copy, get the events on sale and online, and begin promotion. I cannot wait to go public with our events and see what Bristol families have to say!!