This post details a draft action plan entitled ‘Creating the Conditions for Creation’ which has its genesis in a F13 (network of independent and small scale arts organisations, freelance artists and creative practitioners) workshop. This workshop asked the question: “Where do we want to be in five years time?” – as a way of talking about, and moving collectively forwards from, the collapse of Coventry City of Culture Trust.
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On 3rd July 2023 a seminar was hosted at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, entitled Co-making Futures: How Do Universities and Cultural Organisations Create Equitable Cities? The event was organised by ArtSpaceCity, a research group based in the Centre for Postdigital Cultures at Coventry University, a group which hosts “projects that explore how publicly funded cultural institutions can contribute to the making of more democratic cities”.
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It’s been a rocky five years for many of us. It’s definitely been a rocky five years for the arts. And if you are an artist based in Coventry, it’s been a right rocky rollercoaster of a five – well actually probably more like ten – years.
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Guest blog by Chris Rolls of 64 Million Artists reflecting on the Community Changemaker training he led for a cohort of our Citizens’ Assembly participants
Creative dialogue leads to good things. And Creative Citizen Changemakers, the result of conversations between Coventry-based Talking Birds and 64 Million Artists, is a fine testament to this.
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Guest blog from the Creative Accounting research team, reflecting on their recent collaboration with Talking Birds
On 18 May 2023, an unusual event took place at the recently restored Draper’s Hall, a historic building on Bayley Lane in the Cathedral Quarter of Coventry, built in 1832. Eleven professional accountants gathered for a business-style dinner with canapes, drinks and a three-course meal. However, the aim of the event was not to engage in normal accounting business and networking, in fact quite the opposite.
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Let us accept, for a moment, that the idea of a title like City of Culture, that passes from city to city and gives permission for the title-holder to freely play and experiment – to find out what it can achieve through a concentrated period of arts and cultural activity – is a good one.
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Notes taken at the Meeting of the Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board of Coventry City Council – March 29th 2023 for circulation to F13 and other artists in the city. Please note that these are not the official minutes – those will become available via the City Council’s website in due course.
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Losing the City of Culture legacy programme feels like a bereavement, but what the sector is mourning is not the Trust, but the glittering story of a city lifted up and made forever better by arts, culture and creativity. Not because this story didn’t happen, but because it is currently overshadowed and in danger of being drowned out by the story of the failure of the City of Culture Trust.
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Tom Simkins reflects on his recent Hatching Residency
I finally managed to apply for my Hatching residency at Talking Birds.
I wanted to try out more movement and performance related work, and also explore my synesthesia. After a few initial ideas of how I might explore this, and some helpful and supportive conversations with the Birds I set out to see how I could explore or express my relationship with my senses in synesthesia through movement.
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Co-AD Janet reflects on today’s NPO (National Portfolio Organisation) announcement from Arts Council England.
The short version of today’s news is that Talking Birds remains in ACE’s portfolio at standstill funding which is, of course, both welcome and a huge relief.
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Kim Hackleman reflects on her Nest Residency
“Language is a life raft.”
Amanda Gorman
The Nest is a home base and shared workspace for Talking Birds, a company of artists based in Coventry, England, known for their “gently provocative projects which explore, and seek to illuminate, the profound and complex relationships between people and place”(1). This week I completed a two-week, funded residency inside The Nest, in the wonderful studio called ‘Helloland’.
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In June and September of 2022, B.O.O.K took part in a two-week residency at Talking Birds focusing on access riders.
B.O.O.K (Building Our Own Knowledge) is a working group of Black artists, curators, and researchers based in the West Midlands which re-distributes resources via artist residencies, commissions, and projects – with an emphasis on building sustainable ways of working/living and nurturing the development of ‘slow art’ practices.
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Words from the Birds 