Working out loud: the squad's priorities over the next weeks

With @natalia_skoczylas and @alex_levene we are overseeing and splitting the work as follows:

1. Development and networking

Our calendar for the remaining of 2018 looks like this, tentatively:

2. New project: TRUST IN PLAY: European School for Urban Game Designers

Involving citizens in co-creation of urban games over 2019-2020 to regenerate social cohesion, build trust among very different people and tear down cultural barriers. A Creative Europe grant we just won (!) where Edgeryders is a partner of Goethe Institute Athens and others; led by @matteo_uguzzoni, with part of our work due to happen in Matera and Plovdiv, both European Capitals of Culture.

More about the implementation work when we know more :slight_smile:

3. Growing the conversation on the Edgeryders Culture

Latest blog post here, led by Alex. To continue through one on one chats with Nabeel, Bridget, Juha, Annette, Yannick… many others! Alex will extract key insights into hopefully clearer actionables?

This conversation is our core driver. Let’s not forget we are rebooting the Culture Squad to find a direction which comes from the true aspirations of our community. While it is sustainable to go where opportunities are (i.e. working with cities), it is also important to not forget to do what gets us most excited about.

What am I missing? Anything here or elsewhere other people want to get involved in?

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@bob: A little more context. Since June, this is what has lined up at our door and events we came up with to get going with structuring the team work around arts for social change. Strategically, we are exploring possibilities on 2 fronts: looking at what artists in our community are doing, and looking at larger bodies or organisations who could provide resource, guidance or partnership for organising Edgeryders led projects, way beyond consultancy.

We are taking it step by step, and envision a big kick off of our independent work starting next year with an edgeryders event pulling in these threads and showing, rather than talking, what we do, as community. We see the event as a community art camp looking to solve structural social problems, or to investigate community cohesion through artistic and cultural expression.

Do you have advice? If writing is too heavy now, we’d be grateful to have a call with you, Alex and Natalia. I can’t believe you’ve not met Natalia yet, or not properly. Also about Rijeka, which is new and where we could use a check in with you :slight_smile:

@noemi: Thanks. I’ve been extremely busy with work projects and assessing the Masters’ theses of students on my cultural planning course. So have had no time to engage on the platform. I glanced at post @alex_levene and would be happy to meet up with him during the Edinburgh Festival. I’ll be in Edinburgh most of the month of August. Meanwhile, if a short call would be helpful. I could probably manage this week on Weds or Thurs. Happy to meet Natalia. Concerning Creative Europe, Culture Action Europe, IETM, Rijeka etc, I know about all these. It’s just at the moment I don’t really have much time to engage.

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Thanks, appreciate the responsiveness anyhow :slight_smile:
I will then leave it to @alex_levene to catch up with you in Edinburgh since it’s not that far away and nothing is burning on my end… then we will see! Keep me posted…

Hi Bob,

Yes please. I’m up in Edinburgh from this Sunday all the way through to the beginning of September. Lets compare diaries soon and work out the best time over the festival period

Sure. Can’t meet before 7 August but around after that. Quite a busy time for me, but late morning coffee may be the best option. Keep in touch.

Hiya all,

Sounds really exciting and hope to work with ye on this from the Irish side.

In terms of networks here, we had an interesting failure this last year with a community arts proposal on the placemaking - community culture - commons through pop-up villagism agenda with Voluntary Arts Ireland, within which we were a node. I know they’ve expressed interest in pushing for more of the same for the next 2 years, so that network could probably be leveraged, especially if there was a toolkit or format.

Here is what they are currently doing, for a feeling-tone of where they are at.

I should be talking to them tomorrow about where we go next with it, and they are definitely favourable to an EdgeRyders approach and have a national/all-island reach, so could be an asset.

Apologies for not being in better touch, tough year personally, hope to catch up soon.

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Hi @thom_stewart, good to hear from you again,… it’s been a while.
Re: Forest Stacks - just this week I got news of this art documentary called Eternal Forest filmed by some connections of ours in Portugal which looks at reconnecting people with a local natural forest. If you wish to continue with your proposal and some of us could help, would be happy to read through.
Do you know anything about their Social Art Summit in November this year? Would it be worth for some Edgeryders to attend you think?

Check. We can count on being able to host a LOTE in Stockholm in early 2019, most likely at the future home of Edgeryders Nordic.

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I have filled in the form and sent to @noemi to check over. Once i submit i will need to authorise the payment for the membership. I would like to do this before the end of August so that i can book onto their mini-plenary in Wales in September and the main plenary in Munich in October.

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