Lunch 3: Derby, Friday 18 July 2014 Topics for Discussion

So. This event is a bit of a stylistic aberration. Not only does it have the temerity to take place on a Friday instead of a Sunday, it is also the only event to solicit questions under a unified theme. It's being hosted by Derby Theatre as part of DEparture Lounge's Bumper Artist Development Day, so all questions are going to be focused on how we might make the world better for emerging theatre makers.

So. The topics of conversation for this month's Sunday Friday Lunch Project are:

• What kind of message do we send out to the government and other funders when we put our ideas into practice with little or no funding?
• Commissioning funding pots of venues/organisations seem to be shrinking, but Art still needs to be made. How do emerging Artists/theatre makers continue to lever commissioning funds from venues and partners in order to match fund Grants for the Arts applications when there is a will for venues to support but ever decreasing cash to invest? Can we work differently or more collaboratively with venues to achieve this is other ways?
• How do you take the step from part-time freelance to full time free-lance and is it natural for this to fluctuate? When is the best time to do this?
• Does age affect the ability to emerge as an artist of some kind?  Is the innocence of youth the best? Or does maturity give you more material?
• What opportunities or challenges does the current trend for co-productions pose? Does it impact the individuality of organisations or does it enhance the creative process?
• Emerging artists are pressed to limit the scale of their ambition and ideas due to limited resources. Once you find some success, how do you then re-learn the habit of having Big Ideas and build the skills to make them work?
• I'm just starting out and I keep hitting a brick wall with my creative partner. She is vetoing every idea. How do I get around this?

That feels like a lot of quite meaty conversations. Watch this space for the transcripts.


In other news, I know that I haven't got the last entries from the last event up here yet. It's because I need to edit the recordings for confidentiality and its proving a bit fiddly. Bear with me - I'll get there I promise!