pledges http://www.createdinbirmingham.com Fri, 17 Aug 2018 17:05:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/wp-content/uploads/cropped-CiB-Google-copy-32x32.jpg pledges http://www.createdinbirmingham.com 32 32 Those theatre pledge cards http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2010/02/03/those-theatre-pledge-cards/ Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:18:08 +0000 http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/?p=5025 [Read more...]]]> I was in Coventry at the Institute for Creative Enterprise (home to companies like Imagineer Productions, amongst others) when I spotted the Stan’s Cafe theatre pledge cards sitting in a tidy pile on the reception desk.

The process by which they came to be there is quite compelling and seems to have gone something like this:

  1. Attend talky get-together
  2. Have idea
  3. Take action

Whether they achieve their stated aim or not doesn’t matter. If nothing else they stand as evidence that 2 (coming out of 1) can lead to 3.

Tangent – this reminds me of the bit in Scott McCloud’s utterly excellent Understanding Comics that talks about the action all happening between the panels.

]]> Notes from the Challenge of Change http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2009/12/10/notes-from-the-challenge-of-change/ http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2009/12/10/notes-from-the-challenge-of-change/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:58:23 +0000 http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/?p=4506 [Read more...]]]> Challenge of ChangeThe Challenge of Change was an event about the future of West Mids theatre. All the notes have been written up and presented quite nicely on this website.

I’ve only had a glance through the discussions and the proposals put forward but the Birmingham European Theatre Festival sounds interesting. A lot of discussions seem to feature the question ‘Do we need an equivalent of Theatre Bristol?’ (which could be very nice) but, as I said before, I think the idea of everyone taking The Pledges is a good starter, mainly because it depends on no-one else.

]]> http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2009/12/10/notes-from-the-challenge-of-change/feed/ 1 The challenge of pledges http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2009/12/04/the-challenge-of-pledges/ http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/2009/12/04/the-challenge-of-pledges/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:38:29 +0000 http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/?p=4439 [Read more...]]]> A couple of weeks back there was a meet-up of West Mids theatre folk – the event was called The Challenge of Change and (from what I understand) there were two days of workshops and discussions around the future of West Mids theatre.

Graeme Rose (Stan’s Cafe, The Modified Toy Orchestra, etc) has written up some notes about the first day.

There’s talk of Action Plans coming out of the event but I’m yet to find anything online anywhere just yet. Until they turn up, I rather like this list of pledges sketched out by James Yarker (also of Stan’s Cafe):

  1. Attend 12 theatre shows in the next 12 months, 4 by West Midlands writers/artists/companies you haven’t seen before, 1 in a West Midlands Venue you’ve never been to before.
  2. Take 12 people who have never been, rarely go, or don’t ‘do’ Independent Theatre to a show. Share transport.
  3. Host a meal/party for 8 people 4 of which you barely know.
  4. Write 12 comments/reviews/blog entries about theatre on other people’s sites.
  5. Attend 1 mid*point or return to the next Open Space event.

They seem like common sense things that you’d hope people would be doing anyway but probably aren’t by everyone. I’m sure very similar things could be drawn up for many different artforms. James explains where the pledges came from. It’d be nice if they really were written up in some formal way. Michelle Knight has opted in. Is anyone else prepared to be held to these? If not, how come?

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