ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [15 May 2009]

We’ve set up this blog because this project is about giving artists a voice in the Cultural Olympiad, and we want to make sure there’s a place for you (the artists!) to talk - to us and to each other, and for us to give you more of an understanding about the project. If you haven’t heard about it yet, Artists taking the lead is offering 12 commissions of up to £500,000 each across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Games in a creative way. This is a very different project for the arts councils, and we’re really excited about it. Here are just a few reasons why: this project is open to any artist – of any art form, at any stage of their career. Don’t be scared by the size of the commission, if you have a great idea we can help you deliver it. The projects are being chosen by artists and arts producers – there is one member of the arts council on each panel and the rest (up to 7) are artists or producers. We are simply looking for the most brilliant ideas, that best suit the region, and fit with the project’s deliberately broad criteria. The application process is really easy – you just need to describe your idea in 400 words and you can upload images, film or audio clips to support your idea if words just don’t quite do it. But you don’t have long – the application deadline is 29th May! Organisations and collectives can apply, as long as the idea is led by an artist* (* n.b. this is a self-defining term) So this is your space – you can ask us or the other members of this group any questions, share ideas amongst yourselves, see if there’s anyone else out there who you could work with - anything related to Artists taking the lead. Now get thinking! Go to www.artiststakingthelead.org.uk for more information and to apply

# 2 [22 May 2009]

 This is Emily, here to help and give you a bit of guidance on your applications…I’m getting lots of calls and emails from people asking about what information they should include in their applications. It’s great to know there’s so much interest out there and if you do have any questions please post them here so anyone can read the response and understand more about the project, or email me at: Emily.oliver@artscouncil.org.uk , but we aren’t offering any pre-application support, because we aren’t assessing the applications. It’s the artists and producers on the panel and we couldn’t predict what they will look for even if we wanted to. However we are being absolutely open about the guidance we are giving the panels - which was strongly influenced by their feedback when we first met them to discuss the project. We are simply looking for the most brilliant ideas, that best suit the region, and fit with the project’s deliberately broad aims. So those 400 words really are to focus on communicating the artistic strength of your idea to them. What is so visionary, exciting, inspiring and challenging about your idea and does it show potential to meet the project aims? There are no hidden agendas or a long list of tick boxes that the applications need to meet. We are looking for  brilliant ideas that will celebrate the spirit and ambition of the London 2012 Games. So by all means briefly outline any commitments, plans, collaborations etc you have to demonstrate how you’ve thought through the idea or to help bring it to life, but there really is no need to go into logistical detail. Remember these are artists and producers on the panel, what’s likely to grab their attention is cracking ideas that are so good they jump off the page and scream out to be made. Not budgets, business plans or technical information – we’ll look at all that fun stuff in the development stage for the shortlisted projects. So we can’t guess what the panel members may chose, and one thing that was clear from meeting them is that each panel has it’s own character and dynamic and may be excited by very different things depending on what is important to them and their region. The one thing that really struck me when we met, and it happened in each panel, was the wonderful moment at the end of the day when all the panel members looked around at one another (some slightly surprised!) and all said that it was beginning to dawn on them just how open the project was, how this really could be anything, and how excited they were that they would be taken completely by surprise and blown away. So go on, get those applications in!    

# 3 [8 June 2009]

Wow! We had over 2000 applications so thank you to everyone who put in an idea. We've been having a great time reading through them and now it's over to the artists and producers on the panels to read their way through them and select the 3-5 shortlisted ideas in each region. 

As requested here is the break down of how many we received in each region (n.b. the numbers may have changed slightly as we delete duplicates etc).

East – 115
East Midlands – 119
London – 732
North East – 80
North West – 172
Northern Ireland – 67
Scotland – 98
South East – 210
South West – 239
Wales – 65
West Midlands – 133
Yorkshire - 133

# 4 [8 June 2009]

Wow! We had over 2000 applications so thank you to everyone who put in an idea. We've been having a great time reading through them and now it's over to the artists and producers on the panels to read their way through them and select the 3-5 shortlisted ideas in each region. 

As requested here is the break down of how many we received in each region (n.b. the numbers may have changed slightly as we delete duplicates etc).

East – 115
East Midlands – 119
London – 732
North East – 80
North West – 172
Northern Ireland – 67
Scotland – 98
South East – 210
South West – 239
Wales – 65
West Midlands – 133
Yorkshire - 133