My removal from Festive Road

The Story of Festive Road and how I was removed

Festive Road was formed as an association in 2005 by Julia Roach, Julie Moreton, Paul Smith, Simon Tipping and myself; five practicing artists, who were working as freelancers on community and school projects in and around Milton Keynes. We were all regular freelancers at Inter-ActionMK at the time.

During the first years the core of our work was supporting local groups and councils while organising local projects, regional arts events and carnivals.

In 2008 the company officially became Festive Road CIC (Community Interest Company). We were covering the rental costs of one of the MK Community Foundation's commercial units in Stacey Bushes and were well networked both within Milton Keynes and the surrounding regions. During this period the company began securing regular grants from both Arts Council and MK Community Foundation, as well as contracts with local councils and other organisations. 

I was key in enabling the funding and development of the company, someone who understood from the beginning the significance of supporting and enhancing the arts within the region. The funding support allowed us to employ a part time administrator, Vicki Arogundade. However right back in 2010 I was already developing the vision of an Outdoor Arts company that created large scale structures and Outdoor shows to tell visual stories. This was evident as I led the making of the giant steaming kettle and directed the touring show 'Brewing Up' in the lead up to 2012. 

It was during this time, late 2010, that we were first visited by Bill Gee, Creative Producer of MKIF. We had begun research and development on the 'Brewing Up', a show to celebrate the English obsession with 'tea drinking' for 2012 London Olympics. The project entailed working with partners across the South East, which enabled Milton Keynes to develop fruitful national partnerships. Many of the individuals involved in this big project still work as freelancers for Festive Road to this day. Bill's support and the company's inclusion in MKIF was a turning point.

Artistic Direction: a clear turning point

My vision clearly had the artistic integrity of the work as the propelling motivation and I have been told that I was the main driving force behind the company!

“Festive Road has always been artist led. I have always maintained that the artists are at the centre, that talent and the nurturing of talent is the most important thing. I knew that the making of imaginative structures and costumes, bringing the best people together through live events and creating transforming performance was what we needed to be doing”.

As I began to develop into an Artistic Director, Festive Road transformed into a professional company with ambitions to tour work to Outdoor Arts festivals and organise large scale events. Many talented performers and artists became associated with the company. They were supported and welcomed into the family. I understood that inviting professional artists from other regions was important to both our artistic development and that of the arts and culture in Milton Keynes.  

Festive Road began to call itself an Outdoor Arts company and it was awarded the London 2012 Inspire Mark two years running as we toured Brewing Up across the South East and Midlands.

Soon after this two of the founding directors, Julia Roach and Julie Moreton, left to pursue solo and teaching careers while I secured several more years of Arts Council funding enabling the company to take on a part time freelance fundraiser and marketing officer.

Effective steps towards the development of Milton Keynes Arts Scene

In 2012/13 the company left the commercial unit, which we had begun to outgrow, taking on an enormous free office space which enabled us to reduce overheads. As well as devising and producing the work, I was also representing the organisation within Milton Keynes and beyond, as was Simon Tipping and Paul Smith. My commitment to the growth of Arts, Culture and Heritage in MK is evident by the number of voluntary roles, committees and 'think tanks' I was invited to be part of locally and on the boards that I have contributed to.

At the same time support locally manifested in diverse ways; through partnerships developed with schools, increased associations with community groups like the Indian Hindu Welfare Organisation in Northampton, and also professional bodies such as ISAN, MK Arts and Heritage Alliance, Creative Partnership organisations and many others. Much of this community work was developed by Simon Tipping, the Walking with Giants Parade for example, with myself bringing in the funding. 

This work was accessible to all and always participatory. It united local schools, regional artists and community bodies to animate Central MK and many other towns and communities; bringing places to life, building confidence and breaking down cultural, economic and geographical boundaries. 
Festive Road was also offering rehearsal and workshop spaces, community events, sector gatherings -Carnival Network South conference for example - as well as scratch nights, training and networking opportunities for artists. We supported a sewing circle, stilt walking group, drumming, carnival making, puppetry, dance, paint jams and theatre groups.

That same year I was appointed Artistic Director of 'Summer of Culture', a Milton Keynes Council funded festival for MK with a large budget to manage. Anita Allen, who has sadly passed away now, played a main role in administrating this project.

“We were a formidable team and worked on many projects together -including MK Festival Fringe of which I was also Artistic Director. Anita's professionalism, her attention to detail and her administration skills were remarkable. Most of all she respected my decisions and always supported me as the driving force of the company”.

Over 2013 and 2014, Festive Road, along with five other MK based Arts organisations, became part of the Arts Council funded MK Catalyst Consortium. The company was well supported by Arts Council and many other individuals and bodies in the Carnival and Outdoor Arts sector. We were also and one of a few local arts organizations given annual grant aid funding from MK Council. 

An array of successful projects which focused on supporting the local arts and talents were yet about to come; the Festive Road trainee scheme began in 2014, for example, which I developed in order to seek, train and retain local talent in MK.

“We worked with people who had different interests, gave them 1:1 support, provided shadowing opportunities and also paid work so that they could gain experience. It was a way of making it worthwhile for people to remain available for freelance work and for us to pass on skills and expertise”.

Some of these trainees became freelance artists -Clive Doherty, who was at the time signing for job seekers allowance, was one of them. Others include: Jessica Flowers, Lauren Mitchell, Michaella Smith, Shelly Colbourne and many more.

In 2014 I secured a large Arts Council grant for Artistic development to give Festive Road artists, our trainees and other lead makers across the sector the opportunity to work and learn from each other. 

Part of this was a research trip to visit La Machine in Nantes, France, as well as exchange between artists like Mike Patison, Emma Garofalo and Nick Garnett.

The visit to La Machine was inspiring -it set a benchmark. It had a huge impact on the group that went, not least both myself and Clive Doherty.

At this time I had independently begun to develop some stilt walking costumes; I was making two dinosaurs skeletons - these were then taken forward collectively and on returning from France work began on a new production:  'The Jurassic Jockeys'. Several makers were part of this including the three Directors and lead artists at Festive Road, as well as Clive Doherty, Nick Garnett, Emma Garofalo, Mike Patison and others.

Over the next few years I championed Clive's work, as I did many artists. I enabled opportunities for him to work on large scale projects, in schools and alongside other makers. I recognised Clive’s capacity and dedication within Festive Road. I introduced him to a network of artists and producers of Outdoor Arts who would encourage his ambition and I persuaded the other directors of Festive Road to acknowledge his input and to pay him a full freelance artist fee. As result he became a valued member of the team.

Clive and I collaborated together producing some important pieces, including Harminder the Elephant, commissioned for Northampton Diwali in late 2014, Shanti the Bird, Gwynhaff the Dragon (and several versions of her), The Culture Coach and on many other projects. (I have blogged about some of these projects previously). I continued to develop new commission opportunities, funding and partnership opportunities and continued to devise and direct new Outdoor shows: Best Company (a WW1 Centenary project) and Paraffinalia (annual winter festival event and show), as well as supporting Simon Tipping to develop the annual Walking with Giants parade. The creative output of the company went from strength to strength: the combination of my sculpting skills mixed with Clive's mechanical skill, created a very productive chemistry.

But Festive Road’s work wasn’t just about creating mechanical puppets, street shows and art commissions. There was also the research work and training that was done as part of the MK Catalyst Consortium which included: considering our legal status as a CIC, developing a wider Advisory board, re-branding and 1:1 fundraising mentoring for myself as the Artistic Director, among many other things. At that time my efforts also secured an extraordinary grant from MK Community Foundation to create a marketing strategy, produce new print and appoint a marketing person which was to include in house training. 

However, sadly, some of the above things were put on the back burner, as towards the end of 2014 a great deal began to change.

Overcoming the difficulties

My marriage with fellow director and friend, Simon Tipping, began to break down, which led to a re-defining of the company and a difficult period for everyone. Soon after this, our Administrator, Anita Allen, left to relocate in Manchester with her husband's job. From then on the company had a series of administrators; Jitty Marwaha and Louise Evans. Despite working hard and under difficult circumstances the day-to-day systems lost consistency. And on top of this, in the fall of 2014, Festive Road was given a 30 days' notice to leave our free space in Linford Wood.

“These were very challenging events and I could see we needed expert help, so I called a meeting of all those who supported and advocated the company. This included Arts Council officers and MK Council officers, as well as friends and stake holders. I presented the achievements, challenges and the potential of Festive Road and opened the meeting up. Afterwards Yvette Lamidey approached us and offered to Chair the organization. She took this on and began to manage finances, staff and oversee the spending of the funding I had brought in”.

Over the next year Festive Road moved to several temporarily spaces; a cow shed and then a farm unit just outside MK, with separate office space at MK Play Association. We had extra storage costs, commercial rent and bills, as well as relocation expenses. The reserve that the previous administration had built up was depleted.

During that time I remained an effective Artistic Director of MK Festival Fringe as well as working on the new Festive Road commissions and projects and fundraising for the annual Walking with Giants and Paraffinalia festivals which were being produced and which I project managed and devised work for. 

Director Paul Smith stepped down from office, after many years as Treasurer, preferring to remain an associate artist and leaving the management to be done by Simon Tipping, Yvette Lamidey and myself.

Eventually, after much persistence, director Simon Tipping managed to successfully negotiate a 'forever' home for Festive Road; an MK Community Foundation unit on Kiln Farm. This was the space I had dreamed of for so long; a large workshop with office space and facilities for metal working, textiles, public workshops and events, etc.

However, soon after the space was secured our Chair, Yvette, was asked to step down and I asked Martine Frost, who had been supporting the company through these difficulties to be an acting Chair. Director Simon Tipping also then decided to leave the company to set up on his own with his new partner elsewhere.

By 2016 I became the only director and the last of the original subscribing Member of the Festive Road Community Interest Company.

Because the company required at least two directors, Martine suggested she become a director which at the time I was glad of. And in order to preserve the collective spirit of the company I also invited Clive Doherty to become a director in order to recognise all that he had put into the company. I trusted them both to help me to take the company forward again and to finally start the business of organisational development. 

It seemed like the new start that we needed. Martine worked very hard to sort out the finances and make the company profitable again. Clive and I continued to work collaboratively in the workshop creating some phenomenal work together.

The new Directors

But the new board of directors didn’t quite work as I had envisioned. I continued to develop projects and secure opportunities to tour our work and build on our successes. I wrote proposals and bids and our work began to be booked at festivals and events across the country. I worked hard to bring the ISAN (Independent Street Arts Network) to MK, so that Festive Road could host this important national gathering of the sector, along with The Stables Theatre. I was also invited to be part of the MK European City of Culture bid team (before it was taken off the table by the EU).

However, while I wrote bids, networked and presented proposals, my role as Artistic Director began to feel undermined by the other directors.

“My position as Artistic Director was utterly misunderstood. It was treated as a self-appointed position, as though my knowledge, expertise and experience within the company were irrelevant. I trusted Martine's abilities within business, but understood she underestimated the importance of artistic development and seemed not to share the same ambition to grow artist-led events or to create the outward looking company that I was aiming for."

My drive had always put the artists, the development of new work and new partnerships at the heart, but despite my project management and extensive business skills, despite my artistic qualifications, I progressively found myself having to justify all my decision making.There was still no board development, no proper procedures or business plans and the fundraising for new projects was not happening as planned.

I made attempts to get directors meetings minuted and agendas planned in advance, to encourage projects which brought artists together to work collaboratively to develop work. I attempted to voice my concerns about Martine taking on too much: the Marketing and Communications which she was being paid for initially as well as taking the role of both Chair and Treasurer, also her then taking on the Admin temporarily. I insisted we properly recruit and appointed a new administrator which eventually we did but work continued without complete hand over of the role. I tried to initiate more studios being created to build an artistic community and many other things which I always felt I had to fight to achieve.
Meanwhile the projects were not being taken on by a range of makers and performers. I was having to justify bringing in professional performers who required extra travel expenses and collaborations with other makers and puppeteers who Clive seemed unwilling to work with. 

The outcome of these discrepancies had an abrupt climax point on January 31. I had been working from home on an Arts Council application for organisational development which was almost complete and involved partners such as EEA and Mandinga Arts as well as in-kind consultancy to help with management structures and governance...I arrived at the office for a meeting that had been arranged with some partners in Northampton -this had been cancelled I heard and Martine Frost insisted that there needed to be an immediately and urgent directors meeting. Together with Clive Doherty and without warning, they pressurized me to renounce my position as a director saying that: Festive Road was broken, that the relationship between the three directors was irretrievably broken down and that if I refused to resign they would forcibly remove me. This they could do according to our Articles. I since asked them to put their case against me more comprehensively, to no avail.

I wrote to the Advisory Board: 

"Festive Road has taken almost 13 years to get here; hours and hours of love, passion, talent, time and my own resources; much of it unpaid and for the benefit of others -in short it has been my whole waking life. This is not to belittle the contribution more recently of Clive and Martine but just to say it didn't happen overnight and that I believe that I more than deserve to benefit from, and to be credited for its successes over the years.

I am not prepared to resign the directorship of the company I have founded without proper process. Whilst I understand that there has been conflict between the directors I do not recognise the surmise that this is irrevocable and I would like to ask my fellow directors to reconsider their decision and would like to request a proper mediation process."

Instead of opening a conversation to face and liaise the differences on the management and creative direction of the company, Martine and Clive initiated a 14 day Notice of Removal. They inexplicably confiscated my paperwork, changed the locks of the Kiln Farm workshop and prevented me from accessing my company email, (which was my primary account for the last 6 years or more).

Putting aside the personal loss and hurt that I felt, I think it is a great shame that the vast experience I have as an arts manager, divisor, curator, producer, bid writer, artistic director and as a maker, may now be lost to the company and that the special skill set that I have has not been valued. I would have thought that the directors would have acknowledged the vast contribution I made to the company, the financial benefits that they continue to enjoy from my creative work and also the opportunities and advantages of my networks that I have afforded to them for the last few years but this didn't seem to be the case.

Many people have contributed to the development of this pioneering company, many artists and supporters, (including my fellow founders). 
The Outdoor Arts sector is a very supportive, collaborative and nurturing network of people. I hope I have helped in some way towards growing that community and can continue to do so  in the future. I have certainly benefited from all the mentoring, the training and exchanges between so many of the generous and talented people within it.

I hoped for some fair treatment: for a properly managed and negotiated Exit Plan which would take into account the investment of time and creative energy I had put in; a period to discuss the terms of my departure, some acknowledgement of my creative works, as well as a proposal around the sharing of creative assets. 

Unfortunately, despite requests, this did not happen and I was left with few means to begin anew...that is apart from my unstoppable creative drive and determination to put right a wrong.

I decided to seek legal advice and discovered that both the process and the reasons of my removal were invalid. A letter was sent from my lawyer asking Martine and Clive to recognise that this was the case; that as I remained a director I had a right to access the company premises and email account, and that I also have Intellectual Property rights over the things I have made or co-created. Despite this, these points have still not been addressed and I have little hope that they ever will be. At present I am unable to take things any further due to complete lack of finances.

Over the last few weeks I have resisted the urge to go public and to tell the world of these injustices, as I don't see that destroying a company that I have put so much creative energy into, would be of benefit to anyone - certainly not the audiences and participants who would loose out by its demise. However by remaining silent I leave room for whatever mis-truths are bound to develop in the attempt to put reasons behind all of this unreasonable behavior. As I am starting out again, trying to put this whole nasty episode behind me, I feel that I am left with little choice but to use my voice, it is my only defense. It is important to me that I am not misrepresented, that I am heard and that my good reputation remains in tact.

It is going to take some time for me to get back on my feet but eventually I hope to be creating exciting new work. I'm looking forward to the new partnerships I'll be making, new collaborations, new opportunities and hope to be working with some of you in the future. 

Epilogue

The hardest thing for me has been the loss of the workshop; the dream studio that I worked all my life to get, with the freedom and the space that doesn't come easily to a solo freelancer.

And within that having to leave projects midway through that I had started; the City Fox for example, which I was creating for Nottingham Puppet Festival. 

Our involvement in Nottingham Puppet Festival began two years ago when I was on a volunteer project in India. I got to know Alison Denholm of City Arts, Nottingham quite well while I was there. 

I was making a large horse puppet out of bamboo and rubber with articulated legs and we started having conversations about possible City Arts and Festive Road collaborations. 

At the time Alison had the sketch of a plan to partner with other Nottingham based organisations on a puppetry festival to celebrate the national tour of War Horse. 

Several phone calls, skype calls, emails, submitted funding bids and a couple of visits later and we were given a budget to create a new large scale puppet, as well as lots of engagement work leading up to the festival.

The idea of creating a Fox puppet was formed. I invested some hours to sketching and making drawings and looking at wildlife films of foxes!

I had already created the back of the fox -a ladder for mounting-, the leg joints, the steering wheel and had begun to sculpt the head and the tail in steel rod, just as this whole sad chapter erupted. 

Not being part of the fox's completion is one of the hardest things. Investing so much love, envisaging a finished thing, having ideas about it's construction flowing through your head over and over, and then, having that removed, is hard to come to terms with creatively.

Not knowing how, or who, will finish sculpting the body, whether my plans for the hessian coverage to be sewn on in neat panels will be carried out, not being able to finish sculpting the legs, the tail and see the tail mechanism that I made working, is very difficult. 

This and many other projects that I had invested so much creative energy into, that I had initiated or been part of the development of, all of them are gone and I have no way of knowing how they will be worked on in my absence.

I'm very sad that I won't have the opportunity to be part of the Puppet Festival now and I won't get to see the City Fox finished in Nottingham on 22nd-25th March. 

I won't see Nemo perform in Peterborough or take Gwynhaff to Kent for St Georges day. I have no idea if the funding I applied for to paint the homeless peoples kitchen/shower block has come through. I have no idea if Cranfield university have funding to work in partnership with Festive Road or if Acrojou or Vital Exposure will still be coming to do R and D. I won't be working with my friend Neelam on Northampton Diwali or taking the Jurassic Jockeys to Birmingham. I will miss Harminder's two day excursion to Waddeston Feast...I could go on and on but what's the point in making things worse, besides I really wanted to end this blog on a positive note.

After the last few weeks I have come to understand something: no-one can take away my creative force, it's like a precious thing, a breath of life. It's not so much about the stuff you make, the structures and systems you create, it's more about the energy you put into what you make. It's about the intention, the love, the purpose behind the animation and the interaction. It's about working with the honesty and the richness of the people around you; it's about cooperation, recognising the synergies, and the differences, and appreciating, sharing, and giving meaning to all the beautiful moments in life -what else it there?

Shanti ShantiGuruda Bird

Shanti ShantiGuruda Bird

The Garuda is a legendary bird or a bird-like creature found in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain mythology. 

In Hindu he is described as a divine eagle-like sun bird, king of the birds, and is also ridden by the god Vishnu. The Garuda is generally a protector with the power to swiftly go anywhere, ever watchful, an enemy of the serpent, with powerful wings and the ability to shape shift...

My company, Festive Road, has been working in partnership with the Northampton based Indian Hindu Welfare Organisation (IHWO), for many years now. With their support and through their commissioning we have been able to create some amazing things for the annual Northampton Diwali celebrations over the years. 
This year we were commissioned to create Rama and Sita, giant lantern puppets which were paraded at this years Diwali event. However, in September last year they commissioned us to create a Guruda bird for the parade.

We began with a scale drawing: The plan being to have two mounted cyclists; one driving the creature forward and the other driving the wing mechanism.
Clive and I have learn't so much over the last few builds, we have a good collaborative process, so that we were able to complete this in just over three weeks!

We often begin by drawing the outline of the frame to scale in chalk on the floor. This enables both of us to continue with different parts of the build and have the drawings and chalk lines for reference.

Whilst I started to create the birds body, head, wings and tail, Clive started to work out the steering and the wing mechanism. This proved to be an enormous challenge, not least because of the limited space for mechanisms within the body. We really wanted to keep the frame beneath, which we shaped like a 'wish-bone', as pure as possible. Which meant arranging the steering in a very creative way!
I made the wing and tail parts using bicycle rims and the feathers from foam and fiber rod which I sprayed a design onto.



I also created a steering wheel (I've made all the steering wheels on our cycle powered creatures!) and welded the head, body and neck into shape using steel rods. I incorporated paisley shapes into the body design. The design of the frame was important as the body was to be covered with a semi transparent skin and the metal shapes would be visible once the creature was lit from inside.
All of these parts had to be created separately so that the creature could be taken apart for transportation. 



Meanwhile Clive continued to work out an ingenious wing flapping mechanism using the wing pieces that I had created and we decided to take no chances -having seen a couple of wheels buckle under some weight previously - and we beefed up the rear drive wheel with steel rods!

The most challenging part was devising the drive system to the wing flap, which all had to be done within the body of the bird, whilst still being safe and leaving space for two cyclists. This took some working out. It was managed using a long shaft which took the length of the bird and some trampoline springs.

The time ran out as usual and we were left with a couple of days to complete the creature who was now known as Shanti. 

The idea came to me to create a parasol cover for the pilots, so we purchased a canvas umbrella from Argos which definitely looked the part!

The surface was cling wrapped for strength and then covered in wet-strength tissue -like a large scale lantern and we air-brushed some hints of colour on too.

However, although this was an excellent finish and Shanti made a spectacular appearance at Diwali 2016, I realised that the finish was not a permanent solution; tissue and glue has a shelf life and more time was needed to create the finish I was looking for. 

Thankfully we were able to find some funding earlier this year to re-cover Shanti. All the panels of the steel rod frame were painstakingly filled in with odd bits of white net fabrics -including an old wedding dress that I bought second hand. I also had a delivery of trims which were specially selected by a friend who was travelling back from India. All of this was sewn on by an amazing team of hand sewers and it took ages!



It was well worth it to see him in all his glory, flying around at the Walking with Giants Festival this year and then again at Diwali 2017. He has even been featured on BBC Look East!
Shanti, shanti, shanti, to you all xxx

How we built an Elephant in 30 days!

How we built an Elephant in 30 days!

It was in the week beginning 15th September 2014 that I received a call from the Indian Hindu Welfare Association in Northampton. They had been successful with their Arts Council application and we were to go ahead and build an elephant for the Northampton Diwali celebrations. We had 30 days to complete the task; from the drawing to the actual event.


Initially, because of the timescale, Clive Doherty and myself had been thinking to use the 4-wheel chassis that was created for our Dinosaur, Hilary. But we quickly decided to make the elephant from scratch and made some sketches, worked out the scale and made a plan.

We decided on a 3-wheeler with a wide wheel base, a single rear drive wheel and rider whose weight would be just behind the front two wheels. 

There was to be a platform for a dance performer and a series of cables and ropes to operate moving parts. Clive was keen to link the movement of the legs with the drive action of the mounted cyclist.This was the first time either of us had attempted to create something like this and we learnt a great deal along the way.

Clive began to work on the chassis which was no mean feat without proper metal working facilities in the free office space that we occupy. We were working on the first floor too so we had to ensure that everything could be taken apart to be loaded into a service lift and would fit through a regular double door to outside. The welding was all done outside in a landscaped office courtyard!

Many of the components were built from scratch using recycled bicycle parts and without guillotines, pipe benders or even a flat surface.

We achieved the curved shapes by part cutting slices through the tubes, bending the gaps together and re welding -a satisfyingly organic finish!

Working from the scale drawing, I began work on the main body and the head which was done with aluminum bar riveted together. At the time we thought that this would reduce the overall weight but in hindsight it was alot of riveting, the shapes were complicated and not as rigid as it could have been in light box steel -my arms became pretty strong though!

I filled in the body shape with hours and hours of spiraling wire work design, onto which I sewed a flexible steel mesh to create an elephant skin. The idea was that we wanted to create a partly transparent finish so that the a mechanical parts would be seen.

I made the eyes out of syrup tin lids and the tusks were the cast-off horns from the Triceratops head that I had carved previously and replaced in wood. At some point she became known as Harminder -an Indian name for both boys and girls, as we weren't sure if she could be a girl elephant with tusks...

Meanwhile Clive tackled the steering and drive to the rear wheel. He also worked out, though a series of arms, chains and pulleys, a way to mechanize the walking movement so that the elephants legs were jointed and lifted as it moved forward and backwards. And a clever articulated trunk design which didn't completely work because of the weight of the materials and lack of time to develop it.

We were working around the clock to get Harminder completed and lots of friends came in to help. I remember nodding off on the job a couple of times and near to the deadline we did a few 'all-nighters'. It was worth it though.


One of the main problems was not having suitable facilities. 
The weather was turning, there was no under cover space for the frame and there was no space for test runs or time to keep taking parts up and down to the ground floor.


Two days before the Diwali event, around 16th October, we took Harminder the elephant in lift-loads to the ground floor and outside, where we rigged her up to test.

This was all uncharted territory that we were treading and once we had managed to push her to some level ground I mounted her, whilst everyone watched to see what was going on. We really didn't anticipate the weight on the rear wheel and within a few moments it buckled. 

This meant we had a great deal of tweaking and fixing to get done and no time to test her again before the event. We worked all night to finish her. Clive re-enforced a new bmx wheel replacing the spokes with steel rods. And we did the best we could and get her ready for her premiere performance!

Miraculously she performed beautifully. But once the deadline was reached, we knew that there were lots of improvements to be made. I think we'll always be messing around with her.

The Jurassic Jockeys on the road

The Jurassic Jockeys on the road 

So, I managed to secure Festive Road some Arts Council funding for research and production of the Jurassic Jockeys - a concept that I had been prototyping. 

And in the Spring, a group of us -7 artists from the South East and London - went on a Research and Development trip to see La Machine's workshops in Nantes, France. For me this trip was so inspiring. It rekindled my ambitions as an artist and my desire to make big scale sculpture again; to make amazing structures for Outdoor Arts. I needed to get back into the workshop and out of the office! 

On our return from France a core of us went into production. It was a really great opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other; there was studio exchange, skills sharing and lots of creative debate. 

We also went on a research trip to the Natural History Museum where I made lots of drawings and had a good look at the Triceratops skeleton that they have there. Clive Doherty and I built a booth for me to carve the bones and skulls in polystyrene. It's a long time since I'd done any carving and I'd forgotten how rewarding it is turning a block into a 3-D shape -despite it being very toxic and getting everywhere! 

Initially we were aiming to present the new work at Luton International Carnival at the end of May. 

Throughout the make period the stilt walkers came in to try things on and test things out and began to get quite attached to their creatures: There was Clive on Abigail, Zena on Bruno, Vicki on Bernard and myself on Vanessa. 

Meanwhile we were also working on a Pterodactyl which was mounted on a boom from a Pashley 3-wheeled bike. Clive went off to work with Mike Pattison on the design of the bike frame and boom. Mike is a very experience Theatrical designer and maker who has made large scale puppets and structures for Emergency Exit Arts, Kinetika and others. 

The boom turned 360 with a puppeteer operating Terry's wings, head and beak movements. I made the puppet out of polystyrene and latex and the movements were all made through ropes and cables running down the boom. 

Lots of people helped with the costume making. Also the narrative behind the Jurassic Jockeys was developed a bit more to give the performers something to work with -it was all still very much in development!



We managed to get four stilt walking Dinosaurs finished for Luton Carnival as well as the chassis and the head of the Triceratops. It took me about 4 days to carve the head of Hilary, as she became known. The bicycle-powered chassis for Hilary was largely created by Clive in his dad's garage -the first of it's kind.


We also brought in some of Mike Pattison's bikes -a collection of amazing contraptions that he'd been commissioned to make for the London 2012 Olympic ceremony. 

The carnival was long and it was a hot day; a marathon for the stilt walkers and not all of them made it to the judging point!

The Jurassic Jockeys were without doubt the peoples favourite: we were interactive, highly original and oozing with dynamism but we did not fit comfortably within the traditional 'carnival arts'. The judging criteria, which is geared towards Caribbean style, particularly in Luton, doesn't accommodate the kind of work we're doing. 

This has made us all the more determined to start presenting at more Outdoor Arts events where we can properly interact with audiences and develop the performance elemenys.

After Luton Carnival we began to work towards completing the Jurassic Jockeys as a perambulating show which could be toured and hired for events. We aimed to present the finished work at The Walking with Giants parade which Festive Road director Simon Tipping organises annually in central Milton Keynes.

As the project progressed we decided to bring in Nick Garnett's wood carving skills too. Nick created a beautiful wooden rib cage, shoulder and hips, and horns for Hilary the Triceratops.

By the time we got to June we had created a cycle-powered Triceratops called Hilary, a stable of four stilt walking dinos and a flying Pterodactyl on a bicycle. 

But not only had we skilled ourselves up -had the chance to test and try out new ways to make puppets, mechanisms, combine materials and develop a narrative- we had also built a close group of performers, puppeteers and makers, with tones of skills to offer Festive Road in future projects.