Jurassic Jockeys do Dino Dressage

Story so far: The Jurassic Jockeys are an ancient and indigenous clan with a special gift. These extraordinary explorers, (otherwise known as the Dino Whisperers), navigate time on the most wonderful bespoke bicycle-like contraptions! Once they arrive in town they round up and bring to life the skeletons of Dinosaurs which have lain dormant for billions of years. They have been known to tame and even train these old skeletons, so watch out for the most amazing Jurassic ‘Dino Dressage’ displays!

At the Festive Road workshop in Milton Keynes I've been working on a prototype for a new production, The Jurassic Jockeys. 

The ideas have come from our stilt walking group, The Extreme Ramblers, who meet regularly at Festive Road for some wild stilt walking adventures. 

Over the last few months a couple of us have been working on designs and testing out different materials; we are almost at the point of going into full production... pending on funding!

I've been carving our first polystyrene dinosaur skull,(I've named her Vanessa) and Zena has been cutting and gluing. Clive has been working out how to best animate our dino-puppet.

The final piece will be in two phases of production. Firstly, the creation of a herd of stilt walking, raptor-like, creatures (of which Vanessa is the first), which will premiere at Luton International Carnival in May this year. Secondly, the creation of a very large scale creature which will be designed over the summer by a group of lead artists from Festive Road, in collaboration with Theatrical Engineer, Mike Pattison.

The ideas for this piece are still in development and we would expect that over the next couple of months, during the devising and rehearsal period, the narrative, characters and designs would develop further. 

We are thinking that the jockeys will have the feel of a cross between cowboy midnight robbers and steam punk palaeontologists.

We are aiming to create a part promenade, part site-specific show which will feature stilt-walking dinosaur puppets, physical performance and some large scale bicycle based and motorised structures. We're also thinking about a specially designed sound-scape created by Steve McDaniel, a Milton Keynes based artist.  

For the Luton outing, our Jurassic Jockeys will also be riding some wonderful bicycle-like contraptions which we are borrowing; they were fabricated by Mike Pattison for the Para Olympic closing ceremony.

 
So, look out for a herd of Jurassic Jockeys doing Dino Dressage at a festival near you this summer! And take a look at the video of Vanessa causing havoc at our workshop this week!

Finger crossed we'll get the funding we need to go into production...

Milton Keynes Festival Fringe 2013 -Headline Data!

Milton Keynes Festival Fringe aims to champion the arts and people’s perceptions and expectations of the arts, animating unusual spaces and staging experimental activity which engages, challenges, surprises and entertains audiences.  The 2013 MK Fringe inspired and enthralled audiences and participants alike; a very successful four day event was delivered seamlessly, in time and on budget.




In contrast to those surveyed last year (who just happened to be passing), visitors to Milton Keynes Festival Fringe this year were visiting specifically to engage in the wide range of events available. Over 90% rated the experience as “good” or “very good” and 91% would be likely to recommend the events to others.

Most strikingly less than 5% of those asked, were ‘accidental audience’ ie had ‘stumbled upon’ the Fringe. In comparison, last year over 60% of those asked were just passing through and had ‘stumbled upon’ the Fringe -on the way to shop or attend the International Festival. This represents a huge increase in our dedicated audience or following. In fact, some of those asked had come specifically to an event because of the “reputation of the event”.

The largest number had come to ‘be entertained’ and because ‘the children wanted to come’! Furthermore, there is more evidence to suggest a growing trend in our audience following: There was a 20% increase, from last year to this, in people who responded ‘yes’ to having attended a similar event previously.


Nearly half of those asked had found out about the events by ‘word of mouth’ (including social media) and there was also an encouraging increase in those who had seen printed material (including press). This is in comparison to last year when most had ‘stumbled upon’ the events and only 10% had seen any press coverage or posters. 

The press coverage generally, was excellent when considering the amount of summer festival activity, including music and arts events, which were happening over the same weekend as the Fringe locally.

The audience numbers were also up on last year, although we ran a much shorter festival period this year. We once again used a sticker system to count those who were actively engaging directly with events (not just walking past).
We counted 11,805 but this figure does not include the Walking with Giants parade which we estimate attracted an additional 8,000-10,000 people.
This figure does not include the on line audience either which was also good; we received 4275 hits on the website during the week of the Festival with a peak of 1015 on the final day.

We recruited over 30 volunteers and we programmed over 20 events, mostly in the Theatre District over the four days, which involved the staging of over 50 artists, all of who gave us brilliant feedback and many of who are keen to return next year. 

The Fringe was very good value; 80% of the total budget was artistic expenditure i.e. artist fees and staging costs and less than 20% was spent on admin, management and overheads. This was down to the good will of our volunteers and also the dedication and commitment of the Fringe team.

The programme showcased outdoor arts, dance, walkabout theatre, vignettes, visual arts, music, workshops and events, staged in unusual spaces that aren’t always associated with the arts. It included a mix of invited and open call commissions with opportunities for local regional and national artists. About 50% of the participating artists were local to MK.

The Fringe supports local arts organisations to come together to collaborate, share skills and evaluate practices and resources. A successful Fringe Festival can benefit arts organisations, independent producers and venues by bringing in new audiences and extra income opportunities.
We are looking forward to working closely with some of these organisations again and hopefully others too.

Fair Play

This was my first experience of directing a show without having a co-pilot! 

And this is what the bumf said:

 “A small show with a GIANT message, Fair Play is fun and thought-provoking. Plus it’s suitable for all the family!

Festive Road is keeping it local with their new theatre piece Fair Play.

This is the story of two sisters who begin their journey on the family farm but everything changes when the Trickster comes on the scene (cue: boo, hiss!)

The characters tell the story of trade, taking the audience from the fields and power houses of past and present, to the most recent incarnations of market places; the disconnected shopping experience presented by faceless corporations. And as the sleeping giant is gradually revealed within the ever transforming landscape, hand held puppets, projections and larger than life characters are played and animated with physicality and humour. The show even uses a cycle powered generator!

A positive future is in sight, in which we are all responsible for the giant that commerce has created; the solutions remain in our hands." 

The ideas grew out of a round-table discussion among friends. In hindsight the subject was fairly predictable for me: consumerism, the take over of public space, the faceless face of modern commerce. The older I get the more I realise the latent Maxist within! 

In my role as Artistic Director of MK Festival Fringe, I had been working with various people in marketing companies who safeguard the commercial interests, (the shopping zones), in central Milton Keynes. There is an on going battle to place art and stage performance in these 'seemingly public' spaces but I was also interested in the idea that our huge chain shops have become unable to respond quickly to demand. Their production is so far away from the consumer (literally in another world) that they have to create the demand for products, ie tell us what we don't realise we need, predict (or subliminally set) the winter fashions in the previous Spring etc. 
I was imagining how, if only people understood the mob power they had, simply deciding that the fodder-fed fashion of the day wasn't what they wanted, maybe they could break the whole chain? 

The discussion extended to world food production, the disconnect from reality which now exists in the developed countries and the reliance on long distance imports, cheap labour and other unethical goings on...

It wasn't that there was one simple narrative we could pull out, at least nothing chronological like the revolution from agricultural, to industrial Britain -it couldn't always be blamed on the Victorians! Empire building, mass production, exploitation of people, industrialisation and consumer rich societies are not restricted geographically and pop up and down throughout time, they rise and fall like the sea.

Beyond the initial discussion of ideas (which may have been more about me getting the opportunity to have a good rant?) a group of performers were gathered -all people who I'd worked with before so we had a head start: Natali Bass (physical performer), Manuela Benini (dancer) and Allan Davies (story teller). The next stage was to create a narrative and we approached this collaboratively, all coming from different angles!

I already had a clear idea about creating a transforming set which turned from rural, to urban, to digital and which finally became a standing faceless giant so with a couple of other team members; Nick Garnett, Emma Garafalo and Paul Smith (all makers), we created the story, designed the set and sketched the characters -two sisters who begin on the family farm,  the trickster or middle man (based on the Trinidadian Midnight Robber) and the various extras; marketeers, robots, shelf-packers -which the three performers all doubled up as.

The devising and rehearsal process was also very collaborative and Natali, Allan and Manuela were very supportive of my 'learning journey'. Having co-directed a previous Festive Road production, Brewing Up (but in reality it had been more like shadowing), I was an inexperienced director. As the process continued, I became more and more confident about my ideas and how to shape the show -to make it work. It was an interesting dynamic to work with; Allan -the archetypal source rich, language reliant story teller, Manuela -the abstract, non-linear sense of a dancer and Natali -the 'turn it on its head', mime world of the physical clown. 

If I'm honest I had no idea how hard it was going to be holding all of that! But the end result was pleasing and was well received at all the schools which we performed at. 

By the time we came to share the work at a public performance, hosted by The Chrysalis Theatre in Milton Keynes, the piece had been tweaked many times and was really quite well resolved. 

I had the idea to bring in a bit of a local produce sale as a wrap around, to create a whole audience experience which fitted with the Chrysalis Theatre ethos. The Camphill residents sold their fresh picked raspberries, home baked bread and local veg box schemes spread their wares in wheelbarrows in the theatre foyer as people entered. 

Unfortunately we experience a bit of a technical mess up on the first performance which as luck would have it brought in the largest audience! The second showing was pretty perfect... we haven't performed it since but it's available for bookings. It would be great to perform at a summer food festival? Take a look at the promo video

Artists space; pop-ups or permanents?

I was very surprised to hear Duncan Smith director of ACAVA studios say, at a recent gathering, that there is more demand than ever for artist studio space. I was under the impression that, due to migration of practise from oil painting and sculpture, to project based or desk top activity, the days of community studios were declining...I'm pleasantly surprised. Perhaps I had been basing my assumptions on the set ups I have seen in Milton Keynes where there are no groups of 'fresh out of college' zealots looking to create 'love-in' Bohemian art movements to change the world. There are the few however, who do wander back here with big ideas but unfortunately they seem to quickly become diluted by those whose practise has not been challenged or moved on since the dinosaur times! 

Red dress, public performance with Manuela Benini

Perhaps if I am honest though, my perceptions may be more to do with my own practise having moved on from painting, sculpture and installation towards performance, into the realms of street theatre and dare I say it...'social engaged practise' (otherwise known as community arts!) I gave up the dream of creating the 'Bohemian love-in' after so many 'dinosaurs' had worn me down. I moved on or went underground...anything to get away from the snobbish, hierarchic, categorising of art forms which seems to get magnified in the inward looking collective. 

For many artists, choosing an 'art house' or studio environment to make work within, understandably, has less to do with physical facilities and more to do with levels of quality and professionalism, which at best is essential to keeping work invigorated but at worst creates a stayed and unchallenged environment. 

ACAVA (The Association for Cultural Advancement through Visual Art Limited), grew out of initiatives started in the early 1970’s to provide facilities for the support of the visual arts in the Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush areas of West London.
In 1973 artists, politicians, local authority officers and the visual art officer of the Greater London Arts Association met in the first public consultation in Britain on artists’ needs, it was called “The Hammersmith Art Experiment”.

If there are any young (or old) bohemians out there by the way, who do still have that dream, I recommend you make use of ACAVA . Sign up for membership, make good use of their expertise and latest news. 

The artist gathering which I was attending was hosted by the South East arm of NFASP (National Federation of Artist Studio Providers) which is another support organisation well worth linking up with. They have published many useful documents and undertaken a great deal of research over the years, into the nature of artist studio space.
The discussion was about Finding and Managing Property and there was representation from artist groups from across the country, all with different pictures to paint of spaces, funding cuts, opportunities and differing artists needs and solutions. There is the regional differences for example; large empty factories and ware houses which are available in the North are scarer in the South but demand for space is higher as you get nearer to college overspill areas like London.  
Interesting there are approximately 15,000 artists in studio spaces in the UK at present, only 7,000 of whom are in affordable space. Affordable space equates to paying one third of the commercial rent for a space.

The meeting was at Phoenix Space in Brighton, a long running artist studio facility itself, which, it became evident, is not without its own funding problems at present. As the picture became clearer stories came out of: cuts to some of the longer standing studio facilities, councils taking back properties, sliding levels of discretionary business rate rebates and collectives unable to pay to maintain expensive properties...it became clearer that perhaps my initial instinct was right, that the age of the 'permanent' studio space is at least under threat but perhaps not for the reasons I had first thought.

, 

Paintings by Dan Brodie on WHITEWALL, until recently an exhibition space in the heart of Milton Keynes shopping centre which I was curating

Since my trip to Phoenix, I've heard of several wrangles going on at this very moment, between local authorities and artist studios across the country, all disputes over discretionary rate rebates. It seems that unless these artist groups have full charitable status they now have no leg left to stand on and councils are attempting to charge full business rates. I wouldn't be surprised if we see The Artist Information Company following this story up quite soon.
 
Even if these studio groups become charitable trusts and do everything they can to prove their benefit to the community, there is still no getting away from the fact that permanent buildings are expensive to maintain with out the dwindling Arts Council subsidies or without organisations being forced into charging higher studio rents.
 
It is time to get clever then, artists must be much more business like. (where have I heard that before?) There is no shortage of empty buildings after all and many of these spaces are owned by landlords who, since a change in the law, are now paying full business rates for their empty properties. They can actually save money by housing arts charities who can claim rebates from local councils. There are many already taking full advantage of this regulation on empty property, the East Street Arts organisation for example who currently run three studio complexes in Leeds, CADS (Creative Arts Development Space), based in Sheffield and my own space in Milton Keynes, Centric MK, which now houses several artists and artist organisations including Festive Road, MK Festival Fringe and The Drawing Machine.

Appropriately we heard next from Dan Thomson who I've been following for a while. He set up The Empty Shops Network, and has spent time building mutually beneficial relationships between retailers, councils and artists to make use of the increasing number of empty shop units across the country. Dan has also written a very interesting book, 'Pop Up for Dummies', I keep meaning to get a copy. This is a fast growing area, as you can see from the recent Arts Council commissioned research into 'Pop-up people' and Dan is doing some incredibly exciting work. Most of these potential 'pop-up' spaces, if you are interested in making use of them, are more and more likely to be in retail areas, empty public buildings, dis-used churches...a symptom of our dying high streets. 

So if these spaces are increasingly temporary this means thinking in a more flexible way and I'm sure this is not going to suit us all but as Dan Thomsons work demonstrates, the age of the 'pop-up' is here. 
"A man's vision is his own responsibility..." so go out and make it happen! 

From Beardy to Birdy or Weirdy to Nerdy?

"And remember; a bird in the hand...is not worth a criminal record, so don't touch the birds!!" 

There I was kicking my heels around after a full on summer, when how exciting, I was called up by my old friend Mary Eddowes, to be told that her application was successful and that the Research and Development work on her new show the 'Nerdy Birdies'...is to start the following week! How could I resist?


My role in the 'flock' was to create costume ideas, supply materials and be on hand to dress, make, create, respond, advise and buy the bird seed.

The Birdies gathered at South Hill Park Arts Centre for the week leading up to the 'Big Day Out', which is an annual one day performing arts festival in Bracknell.

The Birdies were directed by Matt Feerick who helped each of the performers build real characters; both bird persona's and bird watcher personalities. He carefully managed the potential over comedising of the subject matter so that the characters that the birdies explored were more than surface parody of 'Bird watchers' or hilarious over acting birds.

They explored the motivations behind the act of bird watching, they looked at documentaries and on line sites. They worked on the classical flocking characteristics of birds through dance and used the neutral bird masks which I created during the week to look at movement.


It was a real in depth look at the motivations of 'birders' and the cross over behaviour of the watcher and the watched, the bazaar behaviour of both, when taken a little out of context. The 'birder' characters were asked to build nests and the birds were dressed up in green parkas and hats.

Being R and D, meant that the options were kept open throughout, so it was virtually impossible to create any permanent costumes -all was play and experimentation. I'm sure that this underlying belief and understanding, in their own characters which has been built up over this week, will pay off, whatever shape the final show takes.

The Nerdy Birdies were invited to share their work at a special scratch night which I organised at Festive Road HQ in Milton Keynes. They had a excellent response from the select few...but watch this space because the Nerdy Birdies will be coming to an event near you... And remember; a bird in the hand...is not worth a criminal record, so don't touch the birds!! 

A Festival of Fringe in Milton Keynes

"The birth of the long awaited and long needed Milton Keynes International Festival in 2010, brought a complete sea change to the new city." 

How did I get here?!! Director of Milton Keynes Festival Fringe 2012. It was a bit by accident but when I looked around, all I could see were people around me who seemed to need me to fight their corner, to represent the unseen and emerging.  

When I tested the temperature it seemed to me that the Arts community in Milton Keynes was fed up. Tired of the warring factions and empire builders, fed up of the silo mentality which grew up organically in a frontier town where historically, the Council had little centralised power and if you had an initiative you hung on to it like the mast of a sinking ship - every arts organisation for themselves. 

Terrible Shamen, Fringe performance (photo by Legge)

 The birth of the long awaited and long needed Milton Keynes International Festival in 2010, brought a complete sea change to the new city. This ambitious outward looking vessel on the landscape brought about a call to arms from those open minded and metropolitan enough to see the opportunity for the arts in Milton Keynes to 'up it's game'. This could and can only be done collectively in my view.

 
Suddenly it was time for working together, for connected programming, a time to nurture the emerging talent and bring them into the big tent to feed the old roots. The voices in the wind were calling...'collaborate or face extinction!'

Partly this was down to survival of individuals in the financial climate and a need to respond to the 2012 Cultural Olympiad projects, also a defence against the 'culture commute to London', a disease which exists in many places. But among the collective which became 'Milton Keynes, Summer of Culture' this year, there were some genuine team players who could see the bigger picture, 'for the greater good'. I wonder if this was also a symptom of a young city which is finally maturing?

Shake n Speare, one of the 6 Beach hut commissions

It was obvious, what was needed was a broad tent so that no body felt excluded but a tent which could also provide a system of appropriate placing of work; less of a 'curation' role and more of a 'facilitating, staging and framing' role, so that everything could be included without quality being compromised or without, what has been described as, the 'bun fight' that goes on at other Fringe festivals. 

I think I spent 2 months in meetings just listening to people, trying to gauge the climate. One of the first things I did was to sketch a framework together, something which all art forms could find a place within and which provided opportunities for all levels of professionalism and quality to find an appropriate artistic platform. It included open entry artist markets, open mic and busking, to commissioned installation and performance. There were also some invited artists who created links and relevance to the overarching themes. This framework provided a useful working document which was circulated for the arts community to respond and contribute to. I was also able to present this working plan to the guardians of the so called 'public spaces' otherwise known as shopping centres, the various retail consortium's which seem to have mushroomed up in the UK with no national strategy or any overall body to answer to...Always the profits over the prophets and the answer always seems to be 'it's what the people want', (just like they want trash TV and junk food)...oops I'm ranting. 

Walking with Giants, community parade produced by Festive Road

The other thing which I did early on was to talk to Monica Ferguson, Milton Keynes International Festival Director and Chief Executive of The Stables. It was important to find out what kind of Fringe would support the International Festival, how a Fringe could complement the Festival and what we would call it? I also had regular chats with Bill Gee, the International Festival's Creative Producer, mostly to ensure that our programme content was truly providing a 'fringe' to the International Festival and that there were no serious clashes. 

From the point of view of the International Festival and others in Milton Keynes, the growth of a healthy, thriving, locally/regional focused Festival Fringe, is of great concern, as, without one, there is always the more negative contingency of the local arts community, the 'moaners on the sidelines' who make life difficult. There is always a need for somewhere fringey, edgy and seemingly 'outsider' to focus creative energies. This allows the International Festival to focus on International horizons but it also provides a supportive space for new and experimental work to develop and get showcased.

Cycle cinema, produced by MK Independent Cinema

The MK Festival Fringe 2012 was awarded the London 2012 Inspire mark and is also signed up to the Greener Festival Awards' scheme. The themes and strands that ran through the Fringe were an attempt to make links with the Cultural Olympic events such as Godiva Awakes visiting MK, (hence the giants parade and the focus on cycling), The Boat Project, (hence the beach hut commissions, Dip your Toe Bathing machines on tour from Brighton Fringe and the wave paintings of Alexandra Leadbeater).  But the strands also reflected the interests of the people who coordinated and pulled the whole festival together -the team, many of whom were volunteers. And my particular interest in ecology and recycling projects gave the programme a strong 'green' flavour.

The programme -all 220 different audience opportunities; including live performance, street theatre, dance, music, visual art exhibitions and participatory workshops... which were on offer over the 19 days of the Festival Fringe, can be found in the full Festival Fringe brochure which was designed by Allan Davies.

Next years MK Festival Fringe will be taking place 19 -21 July 2013 -get it in the diary now!

Brewing Up -the show

"A show for all, which investigates the quintessentially English action of drinking tea, and tells the story of our multi-cultural history. 
The performance fuses carnival arts with street theatre, facilitates new partnerships and creates experimental new work. Produced by Festive Road’s Director Jessica Rost and co directed by Sian Thomas and Manuela Benini, with musical direction by Daniel Clark, this blend of talent will reach and infuse the parts that other blends just can’t refresh."
 
I wonder if any other outdoor theatre piece has ever developed via such a windy journey, as Brewing Up has done over the last three years?

Three years of Arts Council investment, three years of collaboration and partnership work with artists, funders, producers and venues across the South East and most importantly ...three years of artistic development for Festive Road


Once upon a time we were a small community carnival company but nowadays I look around me and see that we seem to have become a fully fledged street theatre/outdoor arts production company. The core family of creatives, which we've collected along the way, all have one thing in common; they can't be squeezed into any box that's been invented yet!

Our journey is captured in this short video. But the final shape of Brewing Up ended up being a professional, tour able out door theatre piece ...of course we had to try out everything in between from installations to parades and having got to that 'professional, tour able outdoor theatre piece' there are inevitably more questions than answers...

This 2012 production was directed by Sian Thomas, who co-directed, or rather mentored, the show last year. The show became a fixed 20 minute performance in the round with original music directed by Daniel Marcus Clark and with Manuela Benini once again leading the choreography.

 
With the development of the show spanning over two years, it was understandable that we'd attract some interest when it came to auditioning for paid performers, we already had a following. All the previous work had been with community groups and volunteers and we found that we were in the very lucky position to have a huge number of applications from a range of very talented people; physical performers, musicians, dancers, actors...who applied from Nottingham to Brighton. Out of the 40 odd who we shortlisted for audition, eight were taken on initially.



Due to commitments elsewhere, I was unable to both project manage and co-direct as I had done before. So we recruited Helen Wright as tour manager and I became a producer as well as lead designer. This was the best possible scenario for me as I was at last able to concentrate on the creative side of the production; working closely with Sian, Manuela and Daniel to develop the narrative and in response to the work at rehearsals created the designs for the costumes and set.

This was a new way of working for our company -when the visual design responds to a pre-developed narrative and devised performance, although probably the conventional way round to do things in the world of theatre. Our leadership very much springs from our visual arts background; we are used to devising around the visual design and I for one, found the performative lead challenging at times.
The lead artists/directors of the company had been disposed to being mere prop builders...but this is what we had invited people into the company to do, it was the only way to find out what kind of company Festive Road can become.

Perhaps Festive Road's strengths will always lie in our impact visually, the power of our design and inventive use of materials but we watched, learnt and responded to the challenges with relish. The company has successfully assimilated the right people to extend the skills base and I think that we are stronger for it.

Brewing up is now a finished production (as finished as any production ever is). It is ready to tour and looking for bookings for next year at arts festivals and events around the country so please spread the word.