Talk:Subscriber Meeting 24-09-2007

From NodelWiki

(JulieF) Some thoughts>

Brand Umbrella : The seems to be the continuation of last years model but without the commissioning element? A media arts season is still a great idea - it got loads of people active and focused on delivering work so I'd like to see another one. A concern would be that it does have potential to suck the energy from other areas of development, and 18 months after the happening we find ourselves here again!

Supper Club : What I really like about this is the value it places on what we get out of meeting people and getting to know them on friendship level rather than in a work-related 'we have a mission' context. I find a lot of productive stuff comes from the informality of gatherings like this with no pressure to perform :) I'd like to see this element weaved into whichever model we opt for.

Agency : For me this has the greatest potential for successful knowledge sharing and longevity. By acting in an advisory and partnering role it is likely (expected?) that commissions and events will emerge. In this context Node would become a platform for discourse on all different levels - from practical to theoretical - which would work for a wider audience.

Commissioning Group : Of all the models I think this is perhaps one that would be hardest to solidify in the short-term but should possibly be kept as a long-term objective. It may also be interesting to look at a different structure for a commissioning agency that doesn't rely on the traditional power of the board framework to select works but has an open, more democratic ability to commission. Objectives could also include personal/professional development and not just focus on delivery of work. In this sense a gap left by NESTA's retreat from funding artists might be filled.

I'm personally and currently very interested in alternative ways of funding people to do things from a bottom up perspective, lots of little amounts, contributed by those who want to. Setting up this kind of mini-patron system will take time and relies on a wide reaching promotion and trust buy-in, so again a long-term strategy is required for it to work and be sustainable.

I think it would be possible to get commercial sponsorship for another season based on the previous one, perhaps in combination with some administrative funding help from ACE London. The Supper Strand could happen anyway for those up for it, and a long-term strategy can start being drawn up for NODE to move into being an Agency and then eventually a Commissioning / Funding Agency.

(/JulieF. I've been up since 5am, this is what happens:)

I like Julie's approach, ie start small and build something up. I don't know much about arts funding but I suspect there won't be much of it around until after the Olympics. As regards the 'brand umbrella' event sucking energy from other things, well, yes, but it gives us a presence and an excuse to start building a 'wide reaching promotion and trust buy-in'. I like the 'brand umbrella/ festival' idea precisely because it does help to keep things in front of people and it does establish 'node London' as a central focus for certain types of events, and it will provide opportunities for those events to take place. Also I agree that the 'Supper Club' idea is something that can co-exisst with any of the other three models. --DavidU 12:50, 16 October 2007 (CEST)

[added by anna c on 23 october 2007] Looking at the four proposed models of NODE.London, I agree with Julie and David’s opinion that NODE.London would work best as an agency model to share its expertise and network, and partner up (on the level of ideas, knowledge and technical resources, rather than financially) with other initiatives. I also agree with the fact that, beyond its role of interlocutor and mediator, NODE.London also needs to initiate activities of its own to generate new ideas and content, and the Supper Club seems like a great vehicle for such purposes.

But I'm too new to fully identify the potential future roles of NODE.London. Coming from an art organisation keen to broaden its field of activities, but admittedly not so well connected with practices that sit outside the so-called visual arts field, accessing such a network as NODE.London is helpful to keep up with the current debates and meet the contributors to those debates. This can allow projects (organised by non specialists) to be positively informed by such encounters, as opposed to retrograding to the level of our debates and that of our audiences, often unaware of the discussions that happen in the field next door.