Culture Colony - Why?

The Culture Colony logo (see below) is an arrow leaving a rectangle. When we thought of this as a graphic representation of Culture Colony there were three main influences on our thinking.

One, it represents the idea of a colony, a group of people leaving the main population and forgeing ahead to new lands with new challenges to overcome. It's a confident, purposeful arrow as we see the pioneers as people armed with the new ideas to take on whatever confronts them in their careers. The internet we see as a 'new land', a place where new communities can be established and flourish. It's a situation unlike the colonisations of the past, where indiginous peoples - who were there already - often suffered, and territorial disputes were unavoidable as borders became established. The new pastures of the world wide web are new lands without the negative consequences of the past. And you don't need to leave home. All you need is the drive to explore and try out new things.

Two, the arrow leaving the rectangle motif also represents 'thinking outside of the box'. We want to encourage new ideas and new practice to help us establish these new creative communities we believe can be formed on the internet.

Three, the rectangle can also represent a television set. The arrow can represent the ideas that take us further. At Culture Colony this is where we are mostly aligned and we call the logo - 'beyond television'. Our broadcasters are not serving an audience looking for creative and cultural programming. We see the future of Culture Colony as an alternative to television, where this  audience can find cultural content created by the artists themselves, broadening the constituency currently available for this dialogue.

To compare 'views' of the same films that appear on both Culture Colony and the Arts Council of Wales 'Vimeo' site* (and were posted at the same time) we see examples of viewing figures featuring a number of artists videos such as :-

Helen Sear 274 views on Culture Colony, 52 views on ACW's Vimeo

Bedwyr Williams 296 views on Culture Colony, 60 views on ACW's Vimeo

Wil Roberts 302 views on Culture Colony, 16 views on ACW's Vimeo

Holly Davey 236 views on Culture Colony, 61 views on ACW's Vimeo

Tanja Raman 192 views on Culture Colony, 40 views on ACW's Vimeo

The list goes on, but you get our drift. And with pro active use by the uploader or featured artist, these figures could be much higher. The film Profile Pictures about Sonja Benskin Mesher for example, uploaded around the same time as the Creative Wales films, has a viewing figure of 1477*. Benskin-Mesher copied and pasted the link to the video on her social networks on line, thus increasing the traffic to the film.

These figures are not very high when compared to television viewing figures of course, but they are significant because the users viewing the content have already made a number of active decisions to access the content and are more likely to be the kind of people that the artist wants to reach in the first place. A significant aspect of viewing habits on the internet, it must be remembered, is that views are accumulative over time, whereas on television you need to see the broadcast at the time of transmission, or catch up online for a limited period. By logging onto either Culture Colony or the Arts Council of Wales' web sites viewers have already demonstrated that they are pro active in their search for creative and cultural content. The comparison between Culture Colony and ACW viewing figures demonstrates that there is value in uploading content to Culture Colony where there is a growing audience, viewing on demand,  wishing to learn, experience and consume creative content online. Making practical use of the facilities available on Culture Colony is worthwhile. And this, of course, is applicable to the other functions that members can use on Culture Colony such as Profiles, ArtLogs (blogs), Galleries, Diary Posts, etc, etc. that brings added value to the content.

How many events have you been to where only a handful of people attend, but what was said and done has relevance to a wide constituency? One of the driving forces to create Culture Colony was the number of times I heard people say 'that was very good, did anyone record it?'. Indeed, the viewing figures of conferences that have now been recorded by Culture Colony and uploaded to Platforms, such as Emergence for instance (a conference about sustainability in arts practice), show that more people have engaged with what the speakers were saying through Culture Colony than attended the conference in the first place. Using Culture Colony in this way enables more people to be involved in the debates that we need to have among our creative communities today. Emergence were also able to use the online record of their speakers contributions to write transcripts that then appeared in a publication (that can also be downloaded from Culture Colony HERE). It is also worth mentioning that curators have been using the content on the Culture Colony web site as research material. It is therefore important that a high level of production is put into the videos that represent artists and their work.

Issue 1 of this e-zine, The Pioneer, Culture Colony's local newsletter, was opened over 100 times in the first hour of its publication and readers were already clicking the links and forwarding to friends. By the end of the first day, after only 24 hours, The Pioneer had been opened 600 times in 24 countries around the world. 

So Why use Culture Colony? That's up to you.

It's beginning to prove itself as a destination for users to find creative content - whether your work is there for people to discover or not depends on whether you think its a good idea to use the facilities Culture Colony provides so that you can reach this growing audience hungry for new ideas. By using Culture Colony and uploading content you are joining a supportive community where everyone's contribution benefits everyone else. And by giving the audience a veriety of work, that is continually changing, brings them back time and again. A more positive environment than a random blog or web site where the artist has to spend as much time trying to generate traffic to the site as the artist spends making work in the first place. So get your content up onto Culture Colony and share the experience.

*the comparison of viewing figures took place on 18 November.

Writing The Future

The last month or so have been incredibly busy and it’s going to take me a while to catch up, but two things have happened recently that raise a lot of questions and signal some potentially very positive things, so I’m going to try to weld them together.

The first happened when I went along to the New Critics Day at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. This was the  culmination of a joint initiative put together by Literature Wales and National Theatre Wales to stimulate critical writing about theatre in Wales. The first cohort of mentored new critics came to share their experiences of covering NTW’s first year of productions with their mentors, The Guardian‘s Elisabeth Mahoney and Lyn Gardner.

Now with the focus of the day on Welsh theatre and largely reviews, or the lack of them, in the (UK) national press, plus the inevitable kicking of The Western Mail‘s critical engagement, I wanted to consider how what was said related to the visual arts. If Theatre thinks it’s got it bad, contemporary art in Wales and its communities can seem invisible.

One transferable thought came through, that without reviews and a wider critical dialogue around work, we lose opportunities on all fronts. Artists and curators don’t get the feedback they need to help them move on; potential audiences miss out on conversations that offer a way in to work that can often be challenging, daunting, perplexing but often inspiring (not a word I use frequently). Without the access to ideas, to critical conversations, how can audiences be expected to engage with contemporary practice? And if they can’t engage who will advocate for the arts in a climate where the chilly winds of the recession are whistling up everyone’s jumpers?

Hold that thought for a moment, as I go on to event number two. The launch of the rather sexily entitled strategic vision from  Stevens & Associates and Holder Mathias architects for Cardiff Council – Establishing Cardiff as Europe’s Largest Contemporary Art and Design Gallery: A Clever, Creative and Collaborative Cardiff Solution (yes, really). I say strategic vision, but at this stage it’s more of an ambition as the meat isn’t on the bones of how it will be delivered yet. However the aim is  to get Cardiff on the European contemporary art and design map in five years, using existing organisations and resources to create a critical mass and profile for the plethora of activity in the Capital City.

This, I’m reasonably convinced, comes out of a pragmatic response to the Arts Council of Wales and National Museum of Wales’ joint study into the Future Display of Art in Wales, by consultants DCA  and the subsequent report, by ABL  Consulting (who seem to have vanished, along with all traces of their report), that looked specifically at a National Centre for Contemporary Arts (non-collections based) for the Arts Council of Wales. That report concluded that a) such a centre should be in Cardiff and b) that it would cost around £40m, which put the wind up everyone in 2008, with then Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones parking it as something to be considered in the future.

In the interim the National Museum has been able to deliver their stunning new galleries for Modern and Contemporary art, creating a new focus and context for contemporary art in Cardiff, but with no municipal art gallery to match the ambitions of The Depot project (part of the close, but not close enough bid for Capital of Culture 2008 bid) there is no real focal point (Chapter Arts Centre aside) for the fizz of activity in Cardiff.

So, it was a rallying day, with lots of feedback and suggestions from those present, including a heartening number of artists and curators, in stark contrast to the launch of @Creative Cardiff, but no real clear way forward. Now it seems to me that this could go several ways – it could end up being a joint marketing exercise (although we were assured that this wouldn’t be the case) or it could signal real investment in the visual & applied arts and design in Cardiff from Cardiff Council, focussing on supporting activity rather than infrastructure (those with long memories are still smarting from the collapse of the Centre for Visual Arts). Where this investment will come from remains to be seen, but it’s obvious that Cllr Rodney Berman, Leader of Cardiff County Council is quite passionately and emphatically behind this.

So back to the first event – I promised they linked up somewhere – the problem with arts activity in Cardiff isn’t its paucity, it’s the lack of critical coverage to draw attention to it, to address the sometimes variable quality of what’s produced and to boost Cardiff up the search rankings for cultural tourists. Supporting new critical writing is all very well, but it needs a platform. Who will be covering this year’s Experimentica, Made in Roath and tactileBOSCH’s colonisation of Cardiff under the MOIST umbrella, which links the two festivals and more besides? Where are the reviews for the current shows at Chapter and g39 (image above from Richard Higlett’s Welcome To Your World at g39′s temporary home in Pontcanna)? It’s clear that the Western Mail just doesn’t have the staffing capacity or the resources to cover these things, except as listings, so a concerted effort will be needed to create outlets for critical conversations.

We’ve got Pitch on Radio Cardiff, we’ve got blown magazine and Culture Colony is proving to be an important online forum across art forms in Wales (I’m not ashamed of plugging three projects close to my heart) and more magazines launching soon, but we need to be getting this stuff into the Nationals, onto the telly and generally out there if the Cardiff initiative is to succeed. And if it does it’ll have a very positive impact on the rest of Wales.

Anyway, read Emma's blog for new developments, and if anyone has the answers, on a postcard (or more digitally, in the comment box) please.

Words - Emma Geliot
Image - Richard Higlett’s Welcome To Your World

Emma's Blog

600 works by Falcon Hildred bought for the Nation

The Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monumants of  Wales recently purchased around 600 paintings and drawings by Blaenau Ffestiniog based artist Falcon Hildred. These works depict buildings Falcon Hildred drew on site, to create a record before they were demolished, and other works showing historical recreations of how industrial buildings might have looked at the height of their use.

Buildings that feature in the collection come from all around the UK, notably Grimsby, Coventry, Newport, Cardiff, London and, in pride of place, a large body of work featuring buildings in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Many of these paintings and drawings will be exhibited together next year.

The Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monumants of  Wales have also commissioned a video to be produced that will accompany the exhibition. The television production company Pixel Foundry are making the film. There will be two versions of the film made. The main film to be shown in galleries where Falcon Hildred's work is displayed and a longer version, giving further insight into the man and his work, will feature on the Commission's Culture Colony Platform.

In the film Falcon Hildred talks about his passion for old industrial buildings. In fact the filming takes place at his home, an old water mill that he has saved from dereliction and restored its water wheel to working condition. Falcon Hildred believes that buildings are 'about people', that human stories take place in and around buildings, fundamental to identity and culture. When a building is removed, demolished, replaced, we lose something of ourselves.

A large section of the mill has been maintained by Falcon Hildred in a state as close to how he found it (with only essential repairs being made to save the building from derreliction). In this 'old part' of the building it has the appearance of a 'salvage yard'. Chimneys, roofing slates, barrels, signs, an old bike and piles of boxes are neatly arranged, yet rusty and covered in cobwebs. 'Thats heritage muck that is' says Falcon Hildred as he stands in the large room still with the gears, wheels and pulleys of the past that drove the machines using the power of the water wheel.

An old fireplace from a local quarryman's cottage has been rescued. Above the fireplace, in a position of respect, is a photograph of the quarryman who lived in the house himself.

In Falcon Hildred's mind this fireplace and photograph serves as a monument, much in the same way we remember the fallen who gave their lives in times of war through memorials to 'the unknown warrior'. Falcon Hildred would like to celebrate and remember the ordinary worker, the millions of men and women (and children), who laboured in industry, brought up families, struggled for social improvements and justice. A way of doing this he suggests is to preserve the industrial archaeology of Blaenau Ffestiniog, it's industrial heritage, the terraced houses and old tramways. Unlike other 'historical' towns, where the buildings of historical significance and character are surrounded by , what Falcon Hildred calls, mediocrity, Blaenau Ffestiniog remains true to it's origins as a working class town.

Free resource to help creative industries tackle climate change and understand their role in creating a more sustainable society now available online

Creative industries can play a fundamental role in developing a sustainable future for the planet, both by addressing the direct impact on the environment from their own practice, and through the influential impact their work could have within society.
But for many working in the arts, addressing these complex issues can be a daunting task.  A new initiative based in Wales is encouraging creative practitioners to take direct action to develop a sustainable future for the planet, and by bringing together scientists and artists, the project is helping drive the issue of sustainable practice within the arts to the forefront of the political agenda within Wales.

The project, entitled ‘Emergence’, began as a collaboration between Swansea based theatre company Volcano and Cynnal Cymru-Sustain Wales, supported by Arts Council Wales and The British Council.  In 2010/11 The arts community in Wales attended three major events to raise issues, discuss alternatives, and suggest practical solutions for a more sustainable future.

The series of conferences focused on creating an impetus for change within the arts, challenging practices and motivating artists and creative companies to discuss and develop practical solutions to reduce their environmental impact.  In addition, the project encouraged artists to consider the role of the arts in influencing behaviour, and how they can begin to inspire change within society through their work. 

The project has recently published a conference report in an engaging and informative 30 page document.  This ‘Emergence’ document is now openly available as a free download,  both in English and Welsh, and provides an invaluable resource for all those working in the arts, and anyone interested in the development of sustainable practice within this field.

The document can be downloaded online through the Volcano website HERE

The Emergence document collates inspiring and educative transcripts from expert speakers on the subject of climate change, fair resource use, well being and the transition towards a more connected sustainable society. 

From scientist Jean Boulton to the artistic director of National Theatre Wales, John McGrath, the pioneering talks documented within ‘Emergence’ provide inspiration, information and practical ideas for artistic practitioners, venues and companies alike.

The value of the project and the report has been widely applauded, Louise Wright from British Council Wales says ‘Emergence has worked from the ground up...it has been a creative catalyst'.

The conferences have already kick started investigations into current practice - a study by Cardiff University measuring the environmental impact of ‘Night Out’, an Arts Council Touring Scheme, was initiated by Arts Council Wales following the conference.  During the launch event major key players such as The Wales Millennium Centre and Welsh National Opera agreed on the creation of a focus group to look at sustainable practise within these flagship organisations, actively supported by the Theatres Trust and Julies Bicycle.  In addition many individual delegates have changed behaviour and implemented new strategies to reduce their environmental impact, as the project continues to gather focus and momentum within Wales and beyond.

All of the conference speakers were recorded at each venue by Culture Colony and these videos are available to view on the Emergence Platform on Culture Colony. To join the Platform for free, to comment and discuss the content already available there, and to take part in any future discussion, please request an invitation to join by emailing Alice Cabanas -  alice@volcanotheatre.co.uk, indicating whether you are already a subscribing member of Culture Colony or not (free membership offers some functionality on Culture Colony but subscription offers full functionality and the ability to upload content and share through the platform).

Eginiad - Emergence Platform

www.volcanotheatre.co.uk

Art works for charity

The artist Julia Harris, who regularly portrays farmyard animals, has had one of her characterful cows adopted by a new cancer charity.

After seeing an exhibition of Julias work, the entrepreneur and founder of the new Breast Cancer charity, Nicki Page contacted the artist and asked her to adapt her friendly bovine images to create a focus for the launch of the charity. And so, wearing a pink bra and curlers, Miss Moola La was born and has given her name to the charity.

Julia Harris has a number of works currently on exhibition, and for sale, at Ardent Gallery in Brecon. It was here that the launch of Miss Moola La took place and start the campaign, 'Welsh Breast and Mind', to raise one million and one pounds for the purpose of cancer awareness among women. The event was supported by clinicians and politicians who gave the thumbs up to Miss Moola La.

For more information about the charity and the awareness raising journey that Miss Moola La will be taking in 2012 click on www.page1world.co.uk for information about the artist click on juliaharris.info and for Ardent Gallery, where you can buy a limited edition of Miss Moola La prints (with money going to charity) click on www.ardentgallery.co.uk.

The campaign is being supported by Welsh dairy producers Calon Lan who will be putting Miss Moola La on their milk packaging springtime next year. Calon Lan recently won a contract to supply major national supermarket chains, so miss Moola La will find her way onto the breakfast tables of families throughout the UK.

Culture Colony also showed it's support for the charity by filming interviews at the launch with doctors and politicians alongside the artist Julia and campaigner Nicki. Culture Colony will continue to follow Miss Moola La on her adventures next year.

Dust off the old archives...

Periodically, as we rediscover old tapes and images, Culture Colony has been releasing archive videos onto Culture Colony. The cultural networking web site is the ideal place to share these events from the past, especially as we feel they still have significance today.

Pete Telfer who established Culture Colony a couple of years ago was involved in the Welsh language 'underground' scene in the late 80's and then worked as a director on the BBC Wales arts magazine series 'The Slate' in the early to mid 90's.

From his 'underground' days (where the first ideas for what has become Culture Colony were planted), through to his television days, Pete has been maintaining a record of cultural goings on in parallel to making television programmes and generally hanging around with artists. For instance, while working as a freelance photographer he joined the punk band Yr Anhrefn on tour in Czechoslovakia (as it was). Riding in the cold van with the band in the middle of winter, Pete also carried with him a Video 8 camera (a bit better than VHS!) and filmed the concerts. Historically significant as it turned out because Yr Anhrefn were the first West European band to tour in East European Czechoslovakia since the Iron Curtain came down. They performed for audiences larger than they could dream of at home. It's great to think that the first cultural experience many thousands of young people had of the West was a punk band singing in Welsh. Pete also followed Yr Anhrefn in the Basque country, Germany and Austria. These video's were eventually broadcast on television, thanks to Geraint Jarman and the best television company ever - Criw Byw - and led to Pete's career developing into broadcasting.

Later, while working for television, Pete took a small video camera with him and continued to make his own documentation while filming items for The Slate and other programmes. One notable event in 1993 was 'My Home Is Your Home' in Poland. Pete had joined a group of artists from Cardiff who were a part of the international movement called 'The Artists Museum'. At their headquarters in Lodz 140 artists turned up from all over the world to respond to the space they were in and create works of art, not for public exhibition or to please their galleries but for each other. There's a purity to the art experience and Pete's documentation on video appears on Culture Colony more or less unedited to retain the spontinaety of the event itself.

There is also the first video recording of an interview with a very young Gruff Rhys looking for tapes by Ffa Coffi Pawb (his own band at the time) at a record fair in Bangor long before Super Furry Animals. And there are many more gems to come. Pete says he has a gold mine of culturaly significant things that he promises to release whenever he can onto Culture Colony and give them new life.

Artists Museum Lodz Poland 1993

Terrorist Ballet Dancers from Hell concert at Chapter

Ffair Recordiau Bangor

Elfyn Presli a'r Massey Fergusons

Yr Anhrefn concert in Ravensburg

Embrace the new economy!

Culture Colony embraces the new economy as artist Jony Easterby pays for video services with fire wood.

Watch the video 'River Soundings' - a documentation of Jony's research and development for a proposed event on the River Rae next year.

Watch it by clicking HERE

Contributing Articles to this Newsletter

Any subscribing member of Culture Colony can contribute articles for possible inclusion in 'The Pioneer'. Culture Colony has a bi-lingual policy and the articles can be in either Welsh or English (or both). The article, if selected, will be published in the language it is submitted. One jpeg image can accompany the articles (and will appear at the top of the article).

Articles can be sent at any time to pete@culturecolony.com and if selected they will appear in the following edition of 'The Pioneer'. By contributing an article you guarantee that you have the legal right to use the text and any image that you submit for consideration.

Please state clearly at the top of your email - Article for The Pioneer.

The Pioneer 3 will be published on the 14th of December. Potential articles for this issue must be received by Sunday the 11th for consideration.

Acknowledgements

Text and Photographs are the copyright of Culture Colony unless otherwise stated in the articles.