Our visit to mac was facilitated by Daniel Whitehouse, producer of Next Generation, the youth development strand of mac's programme aimed at providing artistic experiences and services for 14 – 24 year olds. Dan identified three main categories of young person he engages with – Art GCSE and A Level/Further Education students; young people with some interest in the arts who occasionally go to the cinema or concert, and unengaged young people who might go to the park but feel uncomfortable accessing the arts centre. Widening engagement is one of the aims of mac, who want to build an identity that is as inclusive of people from Balsall Heath or Saltley as it is of those from Moseley or Edgbaston.
The main strands that Dan identified as running through his work and that of mac as a whole, were:
Outreach
Developing artists, curators, promoters, entrepreneurs, techies and designers – currently experimenting with different methods which might include bursaries, a youth theatre or a youth board
Courses in digital and creative media – harnessing digital media awareness and creativity and developing a learning programme Internships – an offer currently under development
Work placements – which will begin with Birmingham School of Acting students next term
Mentoring – utilising the skills and experience of artists who are featured by mac for the development of young people
Of particular importance to Dan was the question of how to encourage young people to get involved not only as participants but as programmers and producers. Having a youth board might be a good step, but might reduce the role of young people to voters. He would like to get them involved in the running of events from beginning to end. Integral to the approach Dan would like to develop is the idea of experimentation, piloting programmes and moving around the city to engage with new people.
We asked what opportunities the mac offers for artists and how they decide who to work with. Dan said that there are no hard and fast rules and that artists are selected in a number of different ways. For the learning programme they use a call to artists and also approach artists they think will be suitable. They also work on recommendations from others and respond to artists who have approached them. They receive a lot of correspondence from emerging artists and can’t respond to them all, but they do like to give opportunities to less experiences practitioner. Dan thinks it is about striking a balance between taking risks with artists and their work, and maintaining the integrity of mac as a high-quality arts organisation and venue.
Dan’s advice for obtaining jobs and opportunities was:
• Approach people and organisations directly to pitch them your work. Even if you can only get five minutes with them, have a portfolio and CV handy.
• Be open and flexible about your practice. Adapt your work to the opportunities that are available. Even if the work you take on is down a slightly different route you will meet new people and build up your reputation.
• Collaborate. Genuine collaboration means working with other people who can balance out your own weaknesses and bring a new perspective to the project.
• Do other things outside your usual practice. Teaching, volunteering and arts development work are all good ways of getting new skills and keeping your finger on the pulse.
Post new comment