71 / 124
69
Growing the Kent Economy 2016
/
17
The group was successful in securing
a commission and LV21 has now
changed its business model and is
now actively seeking partners to bid
for other commissioning opportunities
as they arise.
Transformation Board
membership
Artswork
South East Museums
Turner Contemporary
Jasmin Vardimon Company
Kent Music
Applause Rural Touring
Marlowe Theatre
People United
Gulbenkian Theatre
Strangeface
Screen South
Creative Foundation
University of Kent
Canterbury Christ Church University
Kent County Council (Culture and
Creative Economy, Public Health,
Economic Development)
Canterbury City Council
Maidstone Borough Council
Medway Council
Arts Council England
Historic England
Visit Kent
Kent and Medway Economic Partnership
Maidstone Studios
Ideas Test
Royal Opera House Bridge
Choreographed by critically-acclaimed
director Jasmin Vardimon, the project
saw designer, artist and architect Ron Arad
collaborate with installation artist Guy
Bar Amotz to create a huge foam structure
of industrial proportions. Audiences
were invited to journey through the
structure where they experienced a
feast of sights, sounds, smells, textures
and actions - with some movements
intimate and moving and others
embracing the spectacular - creating
an incredible sense of the unexpected.
This exciting new piece of work bridged
dance theatre and visual arts, inviting
audience members to explore a world
of surprise, wonder, delight and, on
occasion, unease, as they met the
dancers inhabiting the intriguing
labyrinth structure.
The self-contained environment was
inspired by Arad’s visit to a foam factory
in China and provided audiences with
the opportunity to navigate their way
through a variety of paths enabling
them to create something themselves
that they can enjoy multiple times as
they vary their journey.
Commissioning
Led by a project group as part of the
Transformation Board structure, Kent
County Council’s Arts and Culture and
Creative Economy Service developed
and managed a pilot commission in
partnership with Royal Opera House
Bridge, Artswork and Public Health.
The pilot delivered improved wellbeing
for young people using creative
interventions, and capacity building for
cultural organisations to prepare the
sector to become commission-ready.
The pilot resulted in the Arts & Cultural
Commissioning Toolkit, an animated
online resource to guide providers
through the commissioning process, and
led to KCC being selected as a national
partner on the Arts Council funded
Cultural Commissioning Programme.
The work through the Cultural
Commissioning Programme has
opened up dialogue with a range of
services across the public sector and is
changing the way positive outcomes
are being delivered for Kent communities.
The involvement of cultural organisations
and the opportunity for larger service
providers to collaborate is leading to
delivery becoming more innovative and
locally focused and providing ‘pick and
mix’ solutions which can be tailored to
meet the needs of individuals.
Organisational development
LV21, a small arts organisation working
on high quality community engagement
programmes, was interested in applying
for a commission through the pilot
commission but decided it did not have
the capacity. A conversation with some
similar organisations revealed similar
concerns but led to the decision of two
organisations, Cohesion Plus and The
Grand Healthy Living Centre agreeing to
work in partnership with LV21 to bid.