feBRUARY 17th – 24th 2013

peopling the palace

WHAT WE INTENDED We set out to produce a ten-day festival of art, film, performances and other public events to celebrate the re-opening of the People’s Palace, mixing entertainment, education and socialising in a twenty-first century revival of its original ethos.

Our objectives were:• To put people into the People’s Palace;• To begin the work of establishing the People’s Palace as a key London venue for innovative multi-disciplinary artistic and cultural work;• To present the innovative research and professional practice of staff and students to a wider public;• To develop the Palace as a space for participation, conversation and discussion;• To enhance our relationships with key cultural sector partners and to develop new ones;• To function as a pilot for future events, and to develop relationships with external funders to facilitate them.

WHAT WE DIDThe initial proposal was for a ten-day festival in November 2012. Delays associated with the availability of the space meant we had to postpone until February, and made it impossible to make an application for Arts Council funding in time. However, we were able to go ahead, with a slightly reduced programme (without some international artists whom we had initially approached with invitations to participate).

We presented an 8-day Festival of arts and culture in the People’s Palace featuring:

A Poster Exhibition, created by graduate students in the Department of Geography, exploring the context of the People’s Palace development, key people, and activities and its history up to the present day.

An Intergenerational Tea Dance with Ragroof Theatre (Including GHack’s installation of Sound Mapping London Tea Houses)

“I read about it (Intergenerational Tea Dance) in East End Life and that’s how I knew, also the woman I’m sitting at the table with, she lives nearby me and we usually go together to a dance. I would come back again…it was beautiful. And I would pay a fiver next time!” Olga Stevens, Tower Hamlets resident received free over 60’s ticket

A Social Cinema event including a performance enhancement around the themes of the film Deep End (1970) by the Figs & Wigs theatre company.

An opening drinks reception in the People’s Palace to launch the Festival.

A series of three early evening conversations, with invited speakers and the participation of the general public.

Life After Work 1: What’s it worth?Life After Work 2: Working LivesLife After Work 3: Utopia.

The Film Department/Mile End Films commissioned compilation film ‘Working Day’ was shown throughout.

Link to Working Day http://vimeo.com/59895190

(Re) Fresh an evening of intergenerational live art commissions, dialogues and invited performances and top tips for younger artists. Featuring Sheree Rose & Martin O’Brien, Bette Bourne & Paul Shaw, Franko B & Jamie Lewis Hadley, Julia Bardsley & The Famous Lauren Barri Holstein, Tim Etchells & Hester Chillingworth, Scottee, Andy Field and Mel Evans.

Performances by 2boys.tv from Montreal, Canada as part of a residency for the 8 days: 6 presentations of their performance, Phobophilia.

Performances by Simon Vincenzi whose company presented 2 performances of one of the two final pieces in his Operation Infinity Series, Luxuriant.

6 performances of Geraldine Pilgrim’s performance, Handbag, with 189 dancers populating all of the Great Hall to close out the Festival for us in a truly celebratory performance totally appropriate for the space.

“A big thank you to you all for making both Luxuriant and also the rest of Peopling the Palace Festival happen, Your team was great and everyone was so very supportive and made Simon’s time here very smooth. Thank you, thank you. Simon was so pleased to have the opportunity to show Luxuriant in the UK/London”Nicky Childs, Senior Artists’ Producer, Artsadmin.

HOW WE DID ITWe collaborated with other Queen Mary academic departments:Geography (Poster Exhibition)Film (Social Cinema, Working Day film, Life After Work conversations)MAT Programme (GHack installation for Tea Dance)

We collaborated with key cultural partner organisations: Live Art Development Agency to produce (Re) FreshArtsadmin to produce a new work by Simon Vincenzi and to further develop a community engagement performance project with Geraldine PilgrimRagroof Theatre to produce an intergenerational Tea dance

We hosted artists of national and international standing at Queen Mary

We developed festival structure, powerful branding, the full integration of professional development through Air Supply for Queen Mary students and recent graduates, and put in place processes for documentation and the development of a lasting media presence.

WHO WE REACHEDWe attracted 1300 new visitors to the People’s Palace with a multi genre programme of ground breaking experimental theatre, music and dance, which filled the hall andbrought new audiences to Queen Mary.

During Peopling the Palace we welcomed the participation of over

36 Artists, 195 Artist Participants, with an audience of over 1300 for 8 days of shows, and 150 participants in our early evening talks.

The festival was produced with the support of 25 members of AiR Supply, staffing the entire festival with the specialist technical support of the Production Manager from the Drama Department and from an experienced crew of 4 stage technicians.

Peopling The Palace

WHAT WERE THE OUTCOMES?

PEOPLING THE PALACE 17 - 24 FEBRUARY 2013 SUMMARY FINANCE REPORTING Support Staff Producer ( P/T) 10000 Assistant Producer (AiR Supply) ( P/T) 1000 AiR Supply Staffing all events 3000 Documentation/filming/Edit 1750 15750Branding/Publicity/Marketing Design 1000 Printing all 1500 2500Faculty commissions Geography 7000 Film 7000 14000Tea Dance Ragroof theatre 1700 Specialist Catering 800 2500Life After Work Talks Speakers honorariums 1000 Refreshments 100 1100(Re) Fresh Artist Commissioning fees 4500 Speakers honorariums 500 5000Artist commissioning fees 2boys.tv (Canada) 2500 Simon Vincenzi 2500 Geraldine Pilgrim 2500 7500Production support Technical staff 1650 Technical Hires 500 Miscl Production expenses 100 2250

Travel (2boys.tv) 1500Accommodation (2boys.tv & Tech team) 600 2100Estates/porters/electricians 1100 1100TOTAL Expenditure 53800 INCOME BOX OFFICE SALES 3800CPE SUBSIDY 50000TOTAL INCOME 53800

“Peopling The Palace

I am writing in praise of Peopling The Palace. The Live Art Development Agency has had the pleasure of working as a cultural sector partner with Professor Lois Weaver and the team at Queen Mary for 13 years, developing public facing programmes, platforms and professional development opportunities for recent graduates through the East End Collaborations and Fresh AIR initiatives. Throughout this time we have seen the impact of these initiatives on artists, audiences and the cultural sector in London.

Peopling The Palace was a groundbreaking project in the newly refurbished environs of The Peoples’ Palace that built on these artist focused initiatives and on the rich history of the building as a gathering place for culture, education, leisure and well being. The intergenerational themes of Peopling The Palace offered a perfect context for programmes that not only considered histories and futures, but that invested in the future practices of artists and the future of the East End.

Even more importantly for the Agency, Peopling The Palace placed challenging and, for some controversial, work alongside more socially engaged issues, creating an opportunity for both new forms of creative expression and new forms of public engagement.

Peopling The Palace was a brilliantly conceived and exemplary programme.”

Lois Keidan, Director - Live Art Development Agency

WHAT WERE THE OUTCOMES? (cont)

• A stimulating and entertaining week of events• Great employment experience for Queen Mary students• High profile artists appearing on our campus at Queen Mary• Large numbers of first time visitors and participants• Emergence of a new element in east London performance ecology• Tea Dances as a good way of developing the space for community use• Enhanced relationship with ArtsAdmin and their roster of world class artists• Distinctively branded, with a distinctively branded cultural profile: very different from the kind of event presented in, say, a conventional, university ‘arts week’ (Birkbeck, King’s)• Emergence in practice of the “21st Century Variety” concept

Some flavour of what happened can be savoured in 3 short films made as part of the event by Visual Collective. These films will be useful promotional and fundraising tools for future events:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayVQvW6aDmA&list=PLA6of3BJ9kczxoT4ec0_PfvlhcsWQHQzm EVALUATION OF OUTCOMES

• Audience Diversity: The most striking success in this regard was the Intergenerational Tea Dance, in that it not only brought large numbers of people into the campus for the first time, but that it involved real interaction between different people of different ages and background. As a result of this event, the post work conversations brought together an unusual mixture of writers, artists, students, academics and local retired people.• Community Outreach: The events reached various communities and started to enable them to relate to each other in interesting ways: ballroom dancing regulars and live art audiences, for example. Or students and retired local citizens. • Raising Profile of Queen Mary. The profile of the university will have been raised among various communities, including local ones, and most specifically among potential cultural partners. • Developing relationships across industry, the academy and the institution: Existing partners were strongly involved and new relationships, especially with Artsadmin consolidated. The relationship between Film and Drama is considerably enhanced and opens up potential for future collaboration. All external partners and AiR Supply exceeded expectations. Internal staff, especially Porters and security were exemplary.• Providing opportunities for sustainability: We demonstrated again our capacity to produce large-scale events of this kind, which stands us in good stead for future funding applications. We strengthened existing partnerships and initiated new ones. We also developed further human capacity in production and management, through the professional development aspects of Air Supply. As noted above, 25 Air Suppliers contributed to the event, new members of the team were inducted, skills transferred, new relationships with artists forged.• Discussion and interaction between audiences, project partners and Queen Mary: Conversation was at the heart of the event, and conversations about what we might do next have already led to concrete proposals for an extension of the Tea Dances into a regular event, solicitations of funding applications to support related and future work, and strong expressions from partners of a desire to collaborate again.

“It’s a lovely event (Intergenerational Tea Dance) here, lovely venue, I’m hoping to hear of more

events so I can come back. We want ballroom to go on, but it’s down to the younger people to join

us…it’s so nice to see young people here today”Tower hamlets resident received free

over 60’s ticket

“We are writing to express our thanks for the wonderful experience you provided us at Queen Mary University this past February, and how pleased we were to have our work presented at Peopling the Palace.

What made this experience so very different for us was the quality of engagement of the Queen Mary community. The students we worked with were not only generous and welcoming in their energies, but they also brought with them an understanding of live art practices along with a deep respect for the processes involved in producing such work. It was impressive to witness how seamlessly students can be incorporated into an event of this size, and we certainly benefitted from the high quality of their collaboration and willingness to take on leadership roles.

It was also extremely stimulating for us to be in conversation throughout the week with various members of the faculty at Queen Mary. We spend a great deal of time touring our performance works, but so often we are not provided the opportunity to enter into dialogue with the academic community, there just isn’t the time. Here we were both given the time and provided with access through public and one-on-one discussions. It should not be underestimated how valuable this interaction is to us; it provides us with the insight to reflect upon the value of our live art practice and inspires us towards future creations. Some of the conversations we had at Queen Mary continue to resonate and we feel fortunate to still be actively connected to some of the faculty through correspondence and through discussions concerning potential future collaborations.

It should also be mentioned how impressed we were by the quality of the spaces we both lived and worked in on campus. The apartment provided was extremely comfortable and well equipped, and living on campus was so very convenient. The People’s Palace is an impressive facility, and we appreciated how beautifully the historic nature of the space was respected and how sensitively it is has been adapted for contemporary performance. The technical staff was lovely to work with, we were always provided with what we needed and the atmosphere created by them hospitable and accommodating.

Finally, as Canadian artists it was great to be exposed to such a wide variety of live art works from the U.K. through the program of Peopling the Palace. This was our first opportunity to experience the work of some of these artists, and it was remarkable to be given such a dynamic “snap shot” of the scene there. We particularly appreciated the emphasis on cross-generational exchange, it is inspiring to see a community actively stimulating this, indeed it is essential to fostering future live art practices and developing opportunities for experimentation. Interestingly, this emphasis on cross-generational exchange was also manifested in the audiences and we thoroughly enjoyed the wide range of ages present at all the events. Thank you so much for inviting us to the palace. We so look forward to continuing the conversation and hope we can find ways to collaborate with you again in the future!”Stephen Lawson & Aaron Pollard 2boys.tv

WHAT WE WOULD TAKE FORWARD • Artistic programme, developed in Variety Night format that combines the challenging with the familiar and features artists with the boldness and imagination to present their radical work to a broad public in a large-scale venue• Commissions of new work designed specifically for the Great Hall• Public conversations • Intergenerational Tea Dances (throughout the year)• Collaboration between Drama and Film on the continuation of the concept of Social Cinema• Working with AiR Supply and further developing its role as well as the role of the venue as a runway for professional development

WHAT WE WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY • Ideally the event should happen during a teaching week, so that we can achieve a far greater integration with teaching activities, and greater participation generally by QM students. The large majority of participants were from outside the university and participation from the university itself was disappointing.• We will enhance evaluation, ideally through integration with aspects of Drama teaching.

WHAT CHALLENGES PRESENTED THEMSELVES?Uncertainty over issues such as venue access, charges, staffing all presented challenges, most of which were gradually resolved. There are many small issues associated with the practical aspects of the venue (ranging from the bar not taking cards to the inaccessibility of the stage for disabled participants), which we have noted and will discuss with relevant parties. One of the difficulties we would like to highlight is the lack of access to up to date financial information and the length of time it takes QM Finance to pay and reimburse artists and vendors There has been more than a 3 month processing time which has meant we were in breach of some artist contracts. It has been more than 30 days for payment in almost all cases. The backlog in Finance compromises the smooth running of a project.

HOW WERE THESE RESOLVED? A key issue is the relationship of the People’s Palace to the QM Arts and Cultural Strategy. In order to maximize our capacity to deliver key aspects of this strategy, a permanent viable system for management of the space is very important and we are very keen to work with colleagues in all departments to realize this in such a way that arts and culture can co-exist with other demands on the space. We are pleased with the way these aspirations are shared by the CPE team.

CONCLUSIONThe Directors and Producer embarked on this project with doubts about its sustainability. The experience of producing it was not without challenges, as outlined here, but restored our sense that there is enormous potential for this to become a regular annual element in the college’s arts and cultural life and its relationships with its multiple stakeholders, neighbours and partners. We are therefore developing plans for Peopling the Palace 2 (2014).

Directors: Lois Weaver and Nicholas RidoutProducer: Rose SharpAssistant Producer: Lauren DavisProduction Manager: Tracy Hammill Graphic Designer: Zoe Gregory

“Thank you so much – I really enjoyed it and working with you all at Peopling the Palace. The support I had from you

all, the wonderful space and the unbelievable commitment of the participants made it a very very special experience for me.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do it in the perfect space as part of the Festival”

Geraldine Pilgrim, Artist, Handbag