The Arts Council are a nice bunch.
Not only have they moved a mountain to mobilise £160 million to provide emergency and project funding for the country’s arts and cultural organisations, business and creative practitioners but have made £50 million available via grants of up to £35k for organisations like STEAM Co. - not individual artists as such (they have a £20m pot) and nor are we one of their National Portfolio Organisations - like the establishment monsters such as the National Theatre and Tate or smaller and as critical set ups like 1927 Theatre in Margate who all get £90m between them.
I must admit I was pleasantly surprised to learn that our friends over at Continental Drifts are an NPO.
They do killer work with their Global Local project and the way they connect and inject amazing creative talent into festivals across the UK.
One of their co-founders and directors, Chris Tofu is a legend and has been a rock to us, well he was until he asked me to pop down to Lulworth Castle in Dorset to do a DJ set on the incredible Caravanserai set he helps run there as part of the Camp Bestival Easter Weekend Sleep over with Fat Boy, Dick and Dom and Mister Maker!
Well I thought that’s what he said!
As you can see from the film here, I should have read the email!
BUT I digress
Regular readers will know that we’ve set up a #CommuntyLockIn as our artistic response to Covid19 - a Content Creation and Community Collaboration Hub (Web TV type thing) with Four Channels:
#ArtConnects - continuing our work to Campaign for, Inspire and Action Creativity in our Schools, Work and Lives via Social Media and the #ARTCONNECTSshow >>>
#RocketKidsClub - a safe online community where Kids and their Creative Carers can be Inspired, Create and Share their Art >>>
#UKArtTakeOver - a programme of local activities and pop-up events, kicking off with a month of activity in May after a Parliament Launch event on the 1st May >>>
#Co-Conferences - engaging, informative and connected online events with high production values on our hub, like the LGfL #CoCurriculum20 Conference 7th May >>>
Did you see me ‘on’ BBC Breakfast the other Day, 1st April I think it was (film above).
HELP!!
After all our work was cancelled for the foreseeable future when the lockdown came in March, but we were really grateful to LGfL for being the first sponsor of all of the above so that we can deliver their event.
But we need much more help to deliver ALL of the above and keep it going through the summer.
So we applied to the Arts Council yesterday for a grant to help us deliver not only the month of activities on the tour bit of our #UKArtTakeOver but three or more months thereafter and not on our own either.
SHARING IT AROUND
STEAM Co. has always wanted to be/provide a platform to generate work for what the Arts Council now call ‘Creative Practitioners’ and we call ‘Creatives’, either way, people for whom their art is their livelihood.
The idea is that schools pay them to come in to be part of a STEAM Co Day, maybe with us, or to lead one that the school runs themselves.
The days we ran at our founding school, St Saviour’s C of E Primary in Paddington usually saw between three and five outside artists paid to come in and help and the school community fund raised to cover it.
But it’s been slow and hard.
We ran a full STEAM Co. Day in Northern Saints Primary in Sunderland and were delighted that they booked local artist and creative educator Paul Carney who ran a wonderful workshop making art with recycled materials. See him talking about his concerns for creative education in the film above.
If we get the full grant we have applied for we will be able to pay artists to help us for the month of May only.
We will be reaching out to organisations to see if they will sponsor the other months and even help us put a trial network of our STEAM Co. Pop-Up Day Drop Trucks and STEAMsters on the road.
ART FOR ALL
One thing we’ve also always wanted to include in our STEAM Co. Days are activities developed in conjunction with the UK’s leading galleries, museums and other institutions, especially around their temporary shows.
These activities would be delivered on STEAM Co. Days run by and for communities that could often never dream of being able to see them for real.
We were really grateful when Ann Coxen, a curator at Tate Modern made a film for us about the Alexander Calder exhibition that was running in London, which we could show alongside an activity run by local artist Paul Merrick who ran a wire sculpture activity.
Paul and other artists ran about ten activities in all at our Arts Council supported ‘Inventors ‘Regional Launch event in Sunderland with Dominic Wilcox who had just started working with children after meeting us at a STEAM Co. Day we ran at the top of the BT Tower before speaking at our Liverpool regional launch event and running an activity on our stage at the Festival of Education.
But it’s not all been plain sailing.
Sadly the Royal Academy put us on their email black list after we asked a few times if we could borrow the 40,000 Lego bricks Lego had given them (they only use them once or twice a year , the rest of the time they are warehoused in Slough - go figure!)
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED
Click the image above to see it in 3D. Try it on your Google Cardboard 3D viewer!
We are really keen to include some activities in our #CommunityLockIn that give virtual access to some of the amazing art shows and exhibitions that we’ve been lucky enough to see, not only here in London like the ‘Moving to Mars’ show that just finished at the Design Museum but also the Keith Haring show when we ran a week in Liverpool before Christmas.
We have enough photos of both to be able to create really exciting, inspiring and engaging activities.
Have a look at the film we made below of the Design Museum show and click here to go on a 3D Virtual tour of part of the Keith Haring Show.
And get in touch if you or your organisation would like to help us make thsi happen all summer. Or all next year. Or all the way through 2022 which is set to be the UK’s National Festival of Creativity.
THE STEAM Co BOX SET
If you like the look of all this and are done with Netflix, click the image below to binge on the STEAM Co. Box Set
The #ARTCONNECTS SHOW
Take a look at the trailer for our first #ArtConnectsShow below and click here to see the whole thing.