As the summer is approaching there are various future projects with We Are Epic that are coming together, and this has meant a lot of meetings with potential partner organisations and artists.
Buffalo Boy, our international collaboration with Epic Arts, will hopefully be in the UK this summer for R&D, and this looks to be a very exciting project with potential collaborators such as Dan Daw, Attenborough Arts Centre, Dance4 and City Arts.
Trip to Nottingham!
Most recently myself, Ant and Lou took a trip to Nottingham and met with Tim Chesney, a digital artist working with City Arts and Paul Russ, Chief Executive/artistic Director of Dance4.
Having the experience of attending these meetings and being part of the discussions, has been really interesting and invaluable. One of the things that stood out to me the most, which I didn’t feel as much when working as a performer, is just how small the arts sector is and how many connections there are between different organisations.
The Meetings…
The meeting with Tim Chesney went very well, I’ve known Tim for a couple of years and introduced him to the We Are Epic team when we were looking at developing the visuals and projections for Buffalo Boy. Tim understands the importance of working inclusively and embedding access into everything that he produces and works on, this along with his talent for digital arts makes for an exciting collaboration. City Arts have also expressed an interest in hosting workshops and scratch performances for Buffalo Boy, working with some of the participants in their community projects. So watch this space!
Following this meeting we took a speedy walk around the corner to Dance4 to meet with Paul. Ant knows Paul well, and it also became clear that Lou and Paul knew a lot of the same artists and organisations. Paul was very interested in the international element of our work, and had some great contacts and suggestions, as well as offering support from Dance4, the details of which will be confirmed shortly! Paul suggested that we make contact with Serendipity, a dance company also based in Leicester, which we are following up on.
Final Few Thoughts
Something I have taken from these recent meetings is that making partnerships and alliances with the right people, is probably one of the most important parts of working in this sector. It opens up doors, connects you to other artists and helps strengthen the work that you produce. These partnerships also allow us to bring our expertise and values to other organisations, to help develop a more diverse, accessible and robust arts sector.
