More than Meanwhile Spaces
More Than Meanwhile Spaces is a series of 3 conversations and events that aim to explore long-term models for creative practitioners in the city.
A new collaborative project between researchers at Newcastle University and The NewBridge Project, funded by ESRC IAA block funding, is to challenge the use of ‘meanwhile’ or short-term spaces for creative practitioners in Newcastle/Gateshead. The project will bring together an invited network of key stakeholders across a series of three strategic conversations in 2018/19, each focused on a different area of current and future practice and policy, both within Newcastle and abroad.
The project aims to move beyond current debates and to explore innovative, long-term possibilities and models for creative practice in the city of Newcastle. A freely available publication will follow each conversation, which will be designed to act as a toolkit for those wanting to host similar conversations in the future.
If you are interested in joining the conversation, please contact Dr Katie Markham on katie.markham@newcastle.ac.uk with a short statement outlining their suitability for, and interest in, the workshops (this is due to restricted space at the events). To get the most out of the programme of events we recommend that members try to attend all three events.
Details of the workshops can be found below:
Workshop 1: More than Meanwhile Spaces
Tuesday 16 October, 9am-12pm
Location: Partners Room, The Business School, Newcastle University
Workshop 2: Creative Change in Changing Cities.
Monday 26 November, 1-5pm
Location: The NewBridge Project
Workshop 3: Looking to the future.
Tuesday 15 January, 1-6pm
Location: The Boiler House, Newcastle University
Dr Emma Coffield (Principle Investigator), School of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle University, said: “Creative practitioners are often invited to set up in locations that are at high risk of re-development, and which require exhaustive relocation every couple of years. This in turn exacerbates vulnerabilities already present in the cultural and creative industries. The More Than Meanwhile Spaces project offers an opportunity to challenge this narrative through open and sustained cross-sectoral dialogue, and for the co-development of new possibilities and models capable of supporting creative practitioners in Newcastle/Gateshead in the long-term.”
Rebecca Huggan, Director of NewBridge, said: “Newcastle and Gateshead are home to a vibrant collection of artist-led initiatives and studio spaces that provide vital support and space for artists to make and present work, and to develop their careers in the region. Many of these organisations are occupying buildings that won’t be here forever. The More Than Meanwhile Spaces project is an opportunity for us to have constructive, cross-sector conversations, that will enable us to work towards genuinely achievable and innovative models that will support artists to find sustainable, long-term spaces in the future.”
Dr Paul Richter (Co-Investigator, Newcastle University Business School), said: “The project seeks to make a positive contribution in a policy space that profoundly shapes the working practices and possibilities of a significant community of creative practitioners whose work generates social, economic and civic value to the immediate locality and beyond. Our ambition is for the workshops to create a setting for open and constructive conversations among a range of interested voices with a view to generating a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives and leading to real actions.”
The NewBridge Project (est. 2010) is a is an active and vibrant artist-led community, supporting the creation of new and pioneering contemporary art practice through an ambitious programme of exhibitions, commissions, events and artist development. It creates platforms for audiences to engage with the creative process, while nurturing artistic and curatorial practice in an engaged and discursive creative community.
