Deborah Khan -- Creative Inspiration

Great news for the house (or art and money #1)

Congratulations to the well deserving team at The Royal Opera House. The £10 million endowment from The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is however, more than good news. It indicates a potential sea-change in arts funding.

State sponsorship of the arts has generated vulnerability in those whose livelihood depends on Arts Council grants. What’s the alternative? Be dependent entirely on box-office?  For ROH this would inevitably result in endless seasons of La Traviata, Sleeping Beauty… All gorgeous.  Unfortunately leaves little margin for artistic freedom, genuine creativity or experimentation.

Money buys artistic freedom. Lack of money constrains ambitions.

As I understand, the endowment is a capital sum that, through interest and capital growth, provides a long-term income. Effectively a water-tight insurance policy.

Will this unleash a tsunami of demands from arts organisations demanding endowments rather than one off grants? Who knows but it has to be an improvement on the current you're either in or out scenario.

All of the public organisations I know are gearing up for that slightly clichéd expression “a change of administration”. With the prospect of no real increase in arts funding, plus the buoyant public demand for art in all forms, we have to look to new models of sustainability. We need to accept that we are all responsible for the development of our society. Dependency on government subsudy can abidcate responsibility in the wider business community. It is just not something that they "do".

A cultured and creative population is the measure of any civilised society. The ancient Greeks knew a thing or two about that. The Americans appear to have this sussed with a history and value placed on creative philanthropy.

It’s made me think, again, about the relationship between creativity and money. A separate post, I feel.

Whatever debate this raises, it really couldn’t happen to nicer people. Paul Reeve, now Head Of Education, gave me my first break directing (wait for it) a Bollywood version of Turandot. A new commission, we had classical Asian and Western composers, film makers, players form the orchestra, Bollywood choreographers, librettists and me trying to pretend I really knew what I was doing. Plus over 100 young people from Villiers High School in Southall. Wonderful stuff.

This was a very long time before Andrew Lloyd Webber hit the Bollywood trail. Yes, Paul knows the meaning of the word zeitgeist alright. Tony Hall, Chief Executive of ROH, still describes this as a formative experience. In post a few weeks, I will never forget his face, support and enthusiasm as he sat near this very nervous young (ish) director.

 

Well done to all of them. I know their work is about so much more than anyone could ever anticipate.

The power of stuff or where do ideas come from #3

"Photos’re better than nothing, but things’re better than photos ‘cause the things themselves were part of what was there"

David Mitchell, Black Swan Green.

Suggesting clients source an object to prompt ideas is always a big ask. Asking anyone to bring along anything always overloads the task.  People agonise. What will this  say about me? How will I be read? Is it sufficiently intriguing, esoteric, exotic, intellectual… (substitute whatever you worry about when someone asks you to choose an object)

No doubt though that objects are a fantastic starting point for idea generation. Objects have an emotional resonance. They were part of a real story. They hold memories. Their weight and feel engage our senses. Their presence and significance can never be replicated by a photo. They offer potential for metaphor and provide stimuli for linking to an apparently unrelated subject. They can generate genuinely new connections to seemingly unrelated worlds through structured linking tasks.

Show a group of teenage boys a baby’s gas mask from World War 2. It will teach them far more than a text book. I know- I’ve seen it happen 

Black Swan Green- recommend thoroughly by the way. Park your Booker prejudices. Mitchell has a composer’s ear for dialogue. His attention to rhythm, vernacular and idiosyncrasy create characters that jump off the page, nick your curly whirly and ride off on a BMX, flicking the v’s. (He could teach many a presenter a thing or two about writing as you speak.)

A bit of an indulgent 80s nostalgia trip. Describes a- year -in- the -life of a bullied teenage poet, struggling to deal both with his stammer, and the emerging Falklands debacle. Not obliviously a page turner I know but empathetic, honest, hilarious.   

And full of great descriptions of stuff.

Where do ideas come from #2

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
Samuel Beckett

'nuff said. Encourage an atmosphere where it's okay to fail. Fail yourself. Be prepared to always see the value in trying.

Fear of failure kills the flow of ideas dead.

Where do ideas come from #1

 

Another day, another post about creativity. Except this one from Brandtarot has immediate application.

Concise, provocative, useful and inviting contributions. All good. I loved lots and will plagiarise shamelessly.

A lot of the work I do now is isolated and isolating. Very different to a lot of my work in the theatre where I am surrounded by teams who build the design and development of ideas beyond belief.

I need prompts like this to halt the slippery slope into formulaic models that produce tired, formulaic responses. The last thing clients are paying me for.

For me nothing replaces conversation with others to stimulate ideas. Plus feeding my own creativity by watching, reading, visiting, listening to, experiencing...

Interesting question though. Can you structure and formalise the process at all? Can you adopt a slightly mechanistic approach to extend exploration beyond the immediate and obvious?

I totally agree with the premise of no hard and fast rules. For me it is about more than company culture. No two situations are ever the same. Group dynamics, personal politics, external pressures, degree of response are always variables we can never predict.

All of these would affect what I would do. I am wary of using any model without adaptation and sensitivity. Obvious I know but you need to align yourself with what’s happening in the room constantly.

Here are a couple more additional tips that are very do-able:

Approach the challenge from someone else’s perspective. We tend to be surrounded by people with a very similar world view to ourselves. We may argue about the finer points of last nights Apprentice or the travesty of Leeds United’s relegation but on the whole we are pretty similar. What if we approached the challenge from the view of someone with an oppositional political perspective?  Or a very young child? Or a different point in history? As the post describes “Homogenous teams come up with predictable ideas.”

By considering what the perceptions of these people could be, we add a whole new option of possibilities. Ones that we rarely imagine or perhaps we have begun to censor or feel uncomfortable with. The value is where this thinking leads.  This is very different from a focus group

 

Explore different media. Never fails. Be a bit careful- most people get slightly hung up once the pastels come out and far more preoccupied with their lack of artistic skills then the ability to use imagery to stimulate ideas. You need a warm up to democratize drawing.  Different media (fonts, colours, formats) are linked to different states of consciousness. Do not sit around a large sheet of paper or an endless word document. Capture responses as images, random words, blocks of colour etc. Do not worry about presenting finished ideas. This short circuits options of exploring the rich possibility of where the right side of our brain could take us.

There are hundreds more.

 

I would always avoid unstructured discussion. It is rarely productive and a lot of time is not about the development of ideas but around finding reasons to block.  There are lots of sensory exercises to heighten awareness I would do in silence or suggest a range of music/sound as an underscore.

They all get us out of our head - in the best possible way.

Any exploration needs boundaries, a clear objective and speed or we loose concentration.

But these are merely words on paper. Delivery is all. You have to lift them.  I work hard to inspire an atmosphere where people feel able to take risks. This has taken years of experience, skill and constant reflection. Getting it wrong loads and learning from why we never delivered.  It also requires energy, presence and an understanding of creating possibilities that afford everyone equal space and time to contribute.

It isn’t just keeping the ball in the air. It’s ensuring everyone has an opportunity to hit it as well.

I would be fascinated to see how these tools(horrible word- sorry- can’t think of a better one right now) suggested by Brandtarot  work in practice.

BTW- my absolute favourite but of the post Early on you need a lot of ideas (100), later you should work up (7), these then condense into 3 broad options. These are always the numbers - eg in the case of 3 it is a choice (2 is a dilemma, 1 a compulsion), in the case of 7 that’s how many items people can remember from a list.

Excellent suggestion

A thought. Perhaps Naked’s research refers to Ken Robinson’s thinking that we have creativity educated out of us. Getting it back takes practice. We’ve also lost the confidence to be open with our ideas.

 

 

Good timing Channel 4

MAKE ME A TORY - Channel 4 at 08:25am  on Sunday 13th May 2007

A clunkingly obvious transition from the previous post but let’s tackle the big question. Where do we go from here? Cosying up to Mr Cameron I fear…

Try and Sky + this irresistibly titled documentary. Here’s the billing:

For Daniel Cormack, the thought of nailing his colours to the Tory mast is nothing short of horrific. But can this disillusioned Labour voter do the unthinkable and turn Tory?

From swilling port with the pampered Hooray Henrys of the Oxford University Conservatives, to picking up litter in a muddy field with the gung-ho teenage Tories of the Wirral, to a one-on-one chat with David Cameron himself, Daniel travels the country to find out exactly what it is that modern Conservatives believe and how they see the future of this country.

Sharp and entertaining, MAKE ME A TORY is an accessible and genuinely revealing look at the political movers and shakers who form the future of the Conservative party…and one man's journey through their world.

Declaration of interest here.  Many years ago I taught Daniel his A level that got him swigging at Oxford in the first place. I also directed him as Christopher Ishwerwood in a production of CABARET  that I remain proud of to this day. (see below).

It’s his first independent commission. He is using every ounce of energy and creativity to carve a career in that notoriously hostile and competitive environment - film production/direction.

Dan secured funding from Lord Puttnam and Nick Jones amongst others for his previous short AMELIA AND MICHAEL.  And nabbed Buffy’s Anthony Head as a lead to boot  Check out the one of favourable reviews here. Even managed to snare a positive review form the notoriously picky Hotdog.  Despite my harsh criticism. Sorry Dan but ‘twas ever thus in the past.

I know Dan’s star is on the ascendancy. Then I am a tad biased

BTW- CABARET’S  MC was Dominic Cooper who some of you may know from the original production and film of Alan Bennett’s THE HISTORY BOYS. Another lead was Sam Spruell. Catch Sam in the extraordinarily visceral LONDON TO BRIGHTON. My film of 2006. I was lucky. CABARET had a cracking cast

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Bye Blair, and thank you.

Big day today. Sad and yes, farewell to someone who has effectively been our spiritual leader  for 13 years.

Whatever your feelings and how you will remember him is not to be judged.

What I do know is that no other government in history have committed as much resources – yes, money - to the understanding, development and promotion of creativity as this one.

I doubt if it will happen again.

 

No Seth no...

Love him. Read him daily. Try and animate what he says regularly. Yet let's just look at a few flaws in this great post from Seth Godin

• Most of us do struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff on the spewing shelves of the business section
• Lots of people do read. That does not imply they have learned anything. How do we know what has been absorbed? Or will be acted upon?
• At least two thirds of us need more than words to change our behaviours, skills, values, thinking...
• These people struggle with books as the sole source of their development. They need to experience, see, question and explore concepts.

Of course I would say that cos that's what I do. The practical bit. And I read avidly. And buy Seth's books. And subscribe to the view that we all need to rejuvenate, keep up to date with, understand and embrace what is happening in our area.

I have written a 96 Page pack for one of my courses. It took me forever. The participants are academics. I have yet to meet one of over 200 people who did  the course who has read it all.

A lovely day with AKQA

I'm a bit of a purist and as a Peter Brook fan, always subscribed to the concept of theatre as any time, any place, any where. The Empty Space is a lovely exposition on the processes of a great creative individual. I recommend.

But I have to endorse and support Mark's position on the value of Creative Spaces. As ever he writes an  invaluable post and highlights a useful new idea that may finally end the tyranny of swirly carpets and duff lighting in "corporate" venues.

Still working out how we define a creative space. What I do know is that natural light, architectural interest, vibrant location and provocative external stimuli  have a positive effect on how we feel about ourselves. Working in those spaces gives our ideas value. When we work alongside people whose product excites, provokes or intrigues, it raises our game.

This vague thinking (like most of my cognitive processes) was endorsed yesterday at Sadlers Wells with the lovely people from AKQA. Great to work with; smart, creative, productive and not afraid of taking risks. The result was of course real progression in their development. We looked at how we manage clients.  Creative ways to achieve our objectives with an audience. How to design content and how to plan work that has a clear story, supported by rich imagery and sound.

Phew...

There is  no doubt in my mind that the wheels were oiled by the stuff around us.  Dutch graffiti artists sprayed the foyer, aerosol cans a gogo, blasting hip hop,  in preparation for this weekends throbbingly happening hip hop convention. (Have a look at the stuff onstage from last years weekender.I cry with jealousy) Detailed, dynamic, technically stunning animations leapt off  walls. A flamenco company stomped (or whatever the technical term is)  below and snake-hipped boys practiced their routines on the stairs as they queued for an audition.

We happily watched and felt part of the action.  We threw around ideas for charitable organizations, we brainstormed ways to enliven brand perception and we rehearsed stories that flung clients right to the emotional heart of what we felt they were trying to achieve.

Sadlers Wells is always worth exploring, irrespective of what's going on and a place I take many clients to. As a subsidised arts venue they need our money. It is a glass, wood and steel temple of architectural porn, standing on 250 years of theatre history. Fab cafe open to the public.  Right near the shops of Upper Street. What's not to like?

All midst a hear stoppingly beautiful London day. Blossom hanging on for dear life, Islington looking as pretty as could be, blue skies and the tow path back to Victoria Park feeling like the best cycle ride ever.

It all felt very special and we felt special to be a part of it. People shift, they were away from their desks, no interruptions and far more ready to learn.They felt valued.

I know they have all gone back to their desks feeling more confident and with things they can do immediately. It's all about action.

We covered loads and I left them in the bar, smiling.

21st Century coffee house

Thrilled Matthew d'Ancona is speaking at Interesting 2007. A big departure for him in many ways and I know he's as over-excited as I am. Maybe we do need to get out more.

He is a client - I hope he will not mind me saying - and an utter joy to work with. One of those rare phenomenal intellects who is at ease with their own creative development and learning as he is editing such an iconic institution as The Spectator. Have a look at his writing. He is always worth reading.

Their digital development will definitely be worth watching - very clever re-visiting of the brands original coffee house origins. Except this time, the ubiquitous Starbucks/Costa/whatever replace the 18th century salons of Squires and Searles.

Fame at last

Hardly. But thrilled and honoured to be asked by Russell to speak at Interesting 2007. So will anyone bother to listen to me amongst such a stunningly diverse bill? As Mr. Davies knows, my worry is that it will be like a series of dodgy turns at Leeds City Varieties. Myself the dodgiest. Of course.

I intend to say very little. I will, as ever, be ludicrously ambitious and attempt to recreate a far lengthier version of a practical exercise I roll out with different clients.

It is a vital question - why do you listen and more crucially, remember. I am fascinated by this question. Responses with any group, from coporate banks, to ad agencies, to headteachers, to school children, have strikingly universal similarities.

How can this information affect how we connect to an audience? It is not what you say, it is what they hear that matters

I have been involved in theatre for over 20 years, directing a range of works from  improvised and devised works with The National Theatre to opera. Leading the eye and ear of the audience are essential elements to supporting the narrative of any piece.Unlike film where you have the luxury of a camera to replace the eye of the audience.. At The Royal Opera House, we talked about how the luxury of music, movement, designs and voice can all lure and engage. And create something uniquely powerful in collaboration. Is there anything more poignant then the juxtaposition of a tentative love scene underscored by music that indicates future tragedy?

But hey - put us in  an entirely different context-say a formal presentation-it all goes out of the window. We allude to some weird, mythical version of what we should aspire to. Often unfortunately dull, dull and duller. Why do we think the power of our rhetoric is enough? That if we bombard the audience with words - visually (in the form of our dense but extraordinarily impressive PowerPoint) and orally (we can't just shut up cos we have to get it all in there) this will connect with them? On a profoundly emotional, intellectual and empathetic level. It just doesn't work. The end result is often formulaic and ineffectvie.

Understanding this can unlock how people shape form and content in any presentation, wherever. People still connect or disconnect for the same reasons.

I will do my best in my allocated 15 minutes of fame. Please smile and roll with it if you intend to be there. I heavily suspect Russell would love to write that you are never 15 minutes from something more interesting.

We intend to have a fantastic day. Please say hello if you will be there. I may be a tad nervous.