Continuing our series sharing what we learnt from our Engaging Science grantholders day, Georgia Bladon explores the role of the curator in public engagement projects. For our Arts and People Awards holders, the ‘Third man’ aka, the producer or curator, can play a major part in the process.
Poised by Dryden Goodwin.
Part of Everything Flows
In this session, our grantholders shared their experiences of finding and working with. Almost half of our public engagement grantholders are artists and as such, the conversation was steered towards the artistic producer/curator. Even within the context of art, the role of both curator and producer varies hugely. With such breadth, many of the tips will be relevant, regardless of your field.
Tip 1: Establish from the offset what part the curator/producer will play in the project.
An artistic producer can be anything from the fundraiser and advisor akin to the film producer, to the creative collaborator offered by a music producer. This variation makes finding a dynamic that works for your project very important.
As a producer coming into an established project having a practical, advisory role can be all that is needed but for speaker Steven Bode’s recent project Everything Flows he offered more than this. He and his team at Film and Video Umbrella instigated the project, bringing together partnerships between scientists and artists to form a group show about the phenomenon of sports men and women ‘getting in the zone’.
This was a project with which he had a sense of ownership, he did not just gloss and spin it, and when explaining his part in the project the analogy of the music producer seemed to suit Steven best. The project was a ‘concept album’, with sci-art as its concept, which he formed by bringing together contributors to establish a larger and more complex arrangement than would have been possible without a producer. Similarly, the speaker Christina Elliott started and nurtured partnerships between artists and scientists for the project Body Pods. The process was documented on film and in the second of the series, The Heart, poet, Francesca Beard, and cardiologist, Dave Hildick-Smith, talk about their collaboration and the science behind the project. The film also highlights the role of the producer.
As an artist this could well be a project you could find yourself working within but may be completely different to what you would expect from a producer producing your work.
Tip 2: Identify the added value that you are expecting from a producer
Consider the benefits that a producer or curator can bring to your project.
- A producer/curator is an outside pair of eyes.
This means an ability to ask the obvious questions and the questions that when you are immersed in the project, may not think to ask.
- A producer/curator takes pressure off the artist so you can concentrate on the art.
They can organise fundraising, find appropriate venues and audiences and help to upscale and get the most out of a project. This can all be done as the project’s content is created saving time.
- A producer/curator facilitates and generates relationships.
This is particularly apt in the science-art collaborations we fund as the producer will often bring in new people when the project changes direction. They can help the collaborations run smoothly and act as a translator between individuals who may approach a subject very differently.
- A producer/curator captures the direction of a project.
To find collaborators, venues and audiences the producer or curator needs to be able to see what direction the project is going in, something that can be challenging from the inside.
Tip 3: Look out for differences in meaning early on and allow time to learn how others work.
Collaboration of all kinds can be very enriching to a project, but the more stakeholders there are involved, the more complicated a project becomes. And of course, different disciplines may have their own vocabularies and methodologies. Even the words ‘producer’ and ‘curator’ mean different things to different people and settling in to common understanding can take time.
Tip 4: Trust and respect your collaborator.
In order for a project to work you often have to relinquish some creative control and trust the producer/curator with your work. If the project was your conception, trust the producer or curator to know when to step back but don’t be afraid to let them know if they are going too far.
Tip 5: The best person to talk about the art work is the artist.
A piece of advice from our artists at the session was that though producers/curators are pivotal the best person to sell the art to a venue is the artist.
It is all well and good discussing the merits of working with a producer/curator, but where do you find one?
Tip 6: Identify work you like and see who produced or curated it. Have coffee before inviting them to view your work.
Another option is to try contacting people who run higher education programs and see if they have any students looking for work experience. Goldsmiths run a masters course in curating and the Central School of Speech and Drama Creative offer an MA in producing.
These tips provide a brief snap-shot into the relationship between an artist and a producer or curator. We would love to hear about your experiences.
Georgia Bladon, Engaging Science Team
Filed under: Science Art Tagged: Public Engagement, Sciart
