BUILDING BRIDGES part 2

Ok so I'm back!



So as I said before we proposed moving out side during lunch and this proposal was welcomed by all.

Workshop afternoon session:
We began the session by asking the question "why do we want to engage in neighbourhood projects?" this was then answered in one sentence or one word by all.
Which then led into a discussion as to the definition of "neighbourhood" the majority of the participants referred to neighbouring communities close to their work places, whether it was residential, industrial or commercial.
We also debated 'What is a neighbourhood project' and what do we feel is important to be present for it to work?

At about 4.00 the sun disappeared behind a looming black cloud and a few members of the group showed signs of feeling cold, so gathering up our chairs and belongings we returned back to our room.

At this point as we were already on the move we decided to split the group into two, with the idea that we would ask the participants of the groups who had not had experience of working with neighbourhood projects what they would like to learn and ask from those of the group who had.

This for me was probably the most successful part of the work shop as we were really able to examine, how to start a project, what might be the problems encountered, what are the reasons for failures and what to do about failures.

BUILDING BRIDGES part 1

I decided to start today's blogging with some images to help you all place yourselves here with us here at TNT Bordeaux. These images briefly document yesterdays workshop talking about how we as cultural operators connect with our neighbours, discussing and present projects we have done, how, where and why. The successes and failures.
Who were our collaborators.
The morning began with short presentations by Karl Hallberg, Guy-André Lagesse and myself of a project that we have carried out with our neighbours, time had been a bit reduced as the general gathering of the days workshop introduction and warm-up had run over time, so it was tight timing for the three of us to impart our joint ventures and as a consequence it was a lot of listening for our participants, with little time for questions.

During the lunch break Karl and I discussed the notion of moving outside for the afternoon session, based on a couple of reasons.....1. We were in a small, warm room, with over 20 participants.......2. It was a beautiful day outside, so why not take full advantage of the TNT garden.

I now have to post this as I am about to loose my connection, I will try to reconnect and continue...

New Contacts

Back to the hotel after the first day and my head is spinning, so many new people!
As I know I will be busy much of tomorrow I grabbed the chance today to make some contacts,
Karl Hallberg from Not Quite, of course! and Guy-André
David Boyd and Eileen Branagh from The Beat Initiative,Belfast
Bettina Lukitsch and David Stelzig from WUK in Austria
Lurdes Fernández Malagón and Flavia Introzzi from Off Limits, who are hopefully to become new TEH members and so many more people.

After the general assembly (seen above)we had a guided tour of the TNT premises and facilities, then a coffee break where I was able to have a chat with Lurdes and Flavia about some more of their projects and in doing so we discovered that we will both be attending SUPERMARKET Artist Fair in Stockholm 2012.

Then it was time for Working the Net, I chose to attend the group A Team which is presenting opportunities for artists in residence projects in Riga, Sweden, Latvia and Bulgaria.

Lastly before the evening program began Karl, Guy-André and I gathered to discuss and plan our workshop.

It's now Thursday morning here in Bordeaux. After a long day of traveling yesterday......leaving Riihimäki at 8.15am and arriving at my hotel at 9.30pm I was some what tired, I had intended to do some work on the computer on the train journey between Paris and Bordeaux but unlike the Finnish trains there were no power points for the computer so instead I did some mental planning.

Karl (our workshop facilitator) had sent out a list of question to our participants as a way of preparing both the work shop team and those taking part.
These are the questions;

What does neighbourhood artistic projects mean too you?
What examples of neighbourhood projects are you familiar with, successful or not?
How could a participatory / community / neighbourhood project be realised from your position?

We would also like you to write two (or more) questions to help us prepare the workshop:

- Which aspects of neighbourhood participatory projects are you interested in?
- What would you like to know about neighbourhood artistic projects?


I read through the the last reply last night, these questions and answers have been a great help to me in being able to structure my part of the workshop and what I might present.
We, Guy-André, Karl and myself were asked to present one of our neighbourhood projects in detail but owing to the nature of the replies sent by our participants I have decided after much deliberation to present 3 projects, all these projects are linked, and show the processes, successes and failures. With out showing the 3 projects and how each one was a result of the previous it would be difficult to concretely address the questions asked by our workshop participants. It's now 9.40am registration at TNT starts is between 11.00 and 2.00, Karl is in a meeting 10-12 so hopefully I'll meet up with him and Guy-André over lunch.

Getting Started

It's now Monday evening, 24.10 and on wednesday morning at 8.15 I will start my journey to Bordeaux for the TEH meeting72.

I decided that it would be a bright idea to document this adventure with a blog......it will also make my job of writing a follow up report a lot easier.

Tonight I still have some documentation material to finalise.