Collectively Creative - A Mapping Workshop with York Open Studios
Facilitated by Joanne Rule, YoCo ran a creative mapping exercise at Spark:York on 24th Jan 2024.
14 artists – all participants in York Open Studios – worked together to build a vision of how artists in York could share space, equipment and skills.
York Central offers potential for larger scale, shared equipment and workspace – which could make it possible for artists to work at larger artistic scale, at lower costs or in more collaborative or companiable ways. YoCo is proposing community-led development of two existing buildings on the York Central Site: an economic incubator in the smaller former foundry building, and initial work to develop a community and business makerspace in the adjacent larger one.
The evening comprised three rounds of activity and conversation: the first looking at how artists collaborate now; the second on what equipment, skills or spaces they would like to share; the third pulling everything together by producing a visual image and presenting the shared view of small group discussion.
What the artists built
The first group to feed back created a building comprising a very large workshop together with smaller workshops. The café is for artists and the community alike.
Participants emphasised that their building is part of the community and not separate from it: people pass by on their way to and from work, school or railway station.
There is outside space for a market to sell artworks (think of the River art market); there is greenery and it is nicely lit. This is a lovely inspiring building with skylights, moveable walls together with a teaching space and social space.
It is a big, friendly space surrounded by housing where creativity happens where you live.
The second group to feedback built a collective space inspired by Spark’s shipping containers and the idea of pods in different sizes over multiple levels for different artistic disciplines. These could be used both to work in and also to display work.
There would also be larger open spaces. Part of an artistic and maker community is a good online presence and an atmosphere of sharing knowledge and ideas and the group emphasised this aspect of what they had built. There is a café, plants and greenery.
The funding model of subscription or pay as you go is partly inspired by what is happening elsewhere, for example Bloqs in London https://bloqslondon.com
They considered how artists could generate income through teaching and skill sharing and reduce costs through sharing tools. They also mentioned having a ‘trading space’ where people give something and take something (everyone has something they don’t need.)
In wider conversation, participants mentioned the amazing buildings in York – communities buy pubs, maybe artists could follow the same model, and with crowd funding and private benefactors and sharing costs – they wanted to work towards an artist owned and run space. Could start renting but could eventually becoming artist-owned.
The third group to feedback described what they had built over two or three floors. This is a big open access studio for a lot of disciplines. The model exists elsewhere offering open access through membership and paid for time, for example at Turning Earth which has been going since about 2013.
There is also the print workshop in Derby which uses open access and where people either have a permanent place, or use for a couple of hours or have membership to access specific equipment.
Participants included everything - even a sculpture garden offering indoor/outdoor space. Exhibition space draws in the wider community and the whole place would draw together the local community.
Downstairs would be open access together with all the heavy equipment and could also offer framing and other services.
Upstairs there would be one big teaching classroom for all the different disciplines – artist studios on a mezzanine around that space. Teaching would bring in revenue and it must be dedicated teaching space. Participants again emphasised that what they had built came out of the community; “enriching the community and not separate from it.”
What equipment, skills or spaces would you like to share?
Participants want space - large spaces but also flexible spaces which can be used in different ways and which enable them to build their own community and connect to wider communities. When thinking about space, participants also think about the different functions which could happen in those spaces. From the Post-Its…
When considering equipment, participants thought about a range of artistic disciplines and functions and about fostering collaboration between them. They also thought about skills and collaborative resources:
Sharing isn't limited to that particular space, for the participants. Many emphasised wider connections and possibilities or the economies which sharing space makes possible:
Participants mentioned the importance of supporting new artists and wanted to be inclusive and open. This was one of the several ways they considered the example of Spark:
In thinking about funding, participants were concerned about keeping low costs and also being ambitious about the possibilities.
How do you collaborate with other artists in York: specifically, what equipment or skills do you currently share?
There was a great deal of knowledge sharing and a willingness and interest to share even more. There were collaborative networks in the room ie members of York Printmakers and some sharing of equipment but participants noticed that knowledge was the main shared currency.
The workshop finished with a snapshot of where YoCo is up to in shaping ideas for a collaborative place on York Central. There are big challenges ahead – the existing Foundry buildings would provide an ideal base for these proposals, but while we’ve had general support for our ideas from owners Homes England, we have no certainty at this stage.
There could be other opportunities as proposals for the massive York Central development are still only in outline, but again turning these into something real, and raising the money necessary to fund it, are hoops still to jump through.
YoCo is working with a wide range of groups who share aims around building on York’s existing creativity and rich culture, and building “a hub to catalyse York’s creativity and innovation” is one of the key elements of the public vision for the site. We’re working to build collaboration – across creative and media industries, artists and makers – in order to clearly articulate these shared needs to the developer, landowners and the council.
