This is my first blog so I write with some trepidation. However I feel that reflecting on my work in this way will help me retain my center. Collaborating with Schools presents lots of challenges to the Artist particularly over a long period of time. I hope this blog will make the process more transparent to me so that I can find my way through and remain true to the core of my work.
The project has been running for 7 months now and it has been very frustrating so far as there have been many false starts and fallen hurdles. We are now at a junction in our partnership with the School after they cancelled a session that had been booked for months on the morning of the day. There seems to be a lack of true commitment to this project from the School…I find myself wondering whether they would take it more seriously if they had to pay for the sessions themselves. (the project is externally funded)
The project brief is very open and we have endeavoured to give as much ownership of the project as possible to the children. However this amount of freedom seems alien to the School and the children. I feel that perhaps there is a fear both of the potential of this freedom and the responsibility of it.
There is a tension between the emergent way many artists prefer to work and the goal driven outcomes orientated world of the School which I find fascinating. How can we learn from each other? What can be created through finding the balance between such opposing worlds?
