by Tracy Shaw, Loca Creatives Director
We've been spending a lot of time lately making connections in one way and another - getting out and about for meetings, conversations and seed-sowing; reading and digesting; dipping into loads of topical and interesting stuff on Twitter; showing up at conferences and seminars. Our work aims to contribute to a wide spread of social agendas and 'big themes' and trying to keep in touch with them all is a stimulating challenge. Too stimulating sometimes - all this connection-making generates platefuls of food for thought and sets the brain buzzing with links to be made, debates to plug into, cases to find a cogent way of articulating.
Just in the past week or so food for thought has come from being at a couple of cross-sector events whose focus was absolutely not about arts or creativity and where - with a couple of honourable exceptions at one of the gatherings - Loca Creatives was , so far as I could tell, the only attender with an arts hat on. In those kinds of forums, where professionals and voluntary/community sector representatives have converged to talk about - for example - the Troubled Families agenda, or how to engage people in disadvantaged communities in caring for the places where they live, it's not uncommon to be met with a blank or bemused look when people clock the name of your organisation on your lapel badge. There's been many a time - on introducing myself and what I do in a breakout group - when I could swear I heard the metallic tinkle of a pin dropping to the floor. I rarely sit in one of those forums asking 'What am I doing here?' because there are always worthwhile things to take from them and, I hope, useful things to contribute; but I do often sense an unspoken 'What are you doing here?'
Being at those recent events brought home to me that despite many years spent championing - and helping to put into practice - the kinds of work that Loca Creatives stands for, I've not yet mastered the art of conveying it in a soundbite. 'Arts and regeneration' sometimes gets close with people who know something about that field, but for most ears it's a wholly inadequate phrase for conveying the principles, practice and broad - very broad - applicability of our work to a wide range of policy themes and social issues. It's something to continue working on, methinks. Not so long ago I listened to a speaker at an event (one attended by lots of arts people, as it happens) challenging the audience to 'find your diamond' - the attention-grabbing and memorable three- or four-word phrase that sells you and your USP. Loca Creatives needs an equivalent.
In the meantime, having a blog provides a bit more of an unlimited space in which to try and articulate that which cannot be said in a soundbite, so I'm going to devote the next couple of posts to just that. (Actually it's got potential to be a whole thesis and I'm sure there are many people out there who've done brilliant work in that respect - if any of you are reading, we'd love a guest blog post.) See you next time - hopefully spring will be with us by then.
Just in the past week or so food for thought has come from being at a couple of cross-sector events whose focus was absolutely not about arts or creativity and where - with a couple of honourable exceptions at one of the gatherings - Loca Creatives was , so far as I could tell, the only attender with an arts hat on. In those kinds of forums, where professionals and voluntary/community sector representatives have converged to talk about - for example - the Troubled Families agenda, or how to engage people in disadvantaged communities in caring for the places where they live, it's not uncommon to be met with a blank or bemused look when people clock the name of your organisation on your lapel badge. There's been many a time - on introducing myself and what I do in a breakout group - when I could swear I heard the metallic tinkle of a pin dropping to the floor. I rarely sit in one of those forums asking 'What am I doing here?' because there are always worthwhile things to take from them and, I hope, useful things to contribute; but I do often sense an unspoken 'What are you doing here?'
Being at those recent events brought home to me that despite many years spent championing - and helping to put into practice - the kinds of work that Loca Creatives stands for, I've not yet mastered the art of conveying it in a soundbite. 'Arts and regeneration' sometimes gets close with people who know something about that field, but for most ears it's a wholly inadequate phrase for conveying the principles, practice and broad - very broad - applicability of our work to a wide range of policy themes and social issues. It's something to continue working on, methinks. Not so long ago I listened to a speaker at an event (one attended by lots of arts people, as it happens) challenging the audience to 'find your diamond' - the attention-grabbing and memorable three- or four-word phrase that sells you and your USP. Loca Creatives needs an equivalent.
In the meantime, having a blog provides a bit more of an unlimited space in which to try and articulate that which cannot be said in a soundbite, so I'm going to devote the next couple of posts to just that. (Actually it's got potential to be a whole thesis and I'm sure there are many people out there who've done brilliant work in that respect - if any of you are reading, we'd love a guest blog post.) See you next time - hopefully spring will be with us by then.
