Join Leeds Creative Timebank!

Leeds Creative Timebank is a formalised system for its members to exchange their skills, knowledge and experience with each other, valued in units of one hour of time. Once a member, your time-credit hours can be regularly deposited and withdrawn to support and develop your own practice or research activities, and resource projects in new and novel ways.

Benefits to participation include:

• Realising projects
• Undertaking professional development
• Opening up new collaborations
• Research and development in thinking and practice 
• Repositioning and extending practice
• Enhancing income generating opportunities

(These are all benefits members experienced during the pilot phase 2010)

See http://www.leedscreativetimebank.co.uk/ for the Leeds Creative Bank demonstration video describing how the Timebank works and what it can offer you.

TPNE has been working with Leeds Creative Timebank, which is now mentoring Teesside Creative Timebank, managed by Platform A and funded by Turning Point North East.  Another Northern Creative Timebank is goiung to be rolled out in the next six months.  Sue Ball, Director of MAAP, will be discussing the Creative Timebank scheme at the Turning Point Network summit on 10th May at City Hall, London.

After running the pilot phase and with 30 active members, we are now looking to double the membership by inviting you to learn more about its potential for you and for the wider creative community in the city.

Through submitting an Expression of Interest form by 2.5.12 (see below), you'll be invited to the next induction event in early June where you will find out about the Timebank, and can join up there and then.

LCT Membership Criteria April 2012

• We are looking for new members who:
• Are interested in the ethics of the Timebank
• Have time to give to other members
• Have projects and ideas you'd like Timebank support with 
• Live and/or work in Leeds (the Timebank operates within the geographical limits of Leeds)

We currently have skills gaps in these areas: social media, photography, makers (carpenters, metalworkers), allied theatre/performance artists, musicians, writers, administrators. We are particularly keen to recruit emerging artists/designers etc and recent graduates.

We can only sign up 30 new members this June, so your name may be placed on a waiting list. We plan to continue to expand Timebank membership over the next few months. 

Leeds Creative Timebank has been developed for the creative community and supports the ethics associated with the arts - flexibility, transparency, free-sharing of information, self-reflection and the production of alternatives - as part of its values. Leeds Creative Timebank is not a stop-gap measure; it is an ambitious project which values professional development and the building of trust and social capital as a critique of and alternative to the cash economy. It is self-sustaining and not reliant on the vagaries of external funding regimes.

We are aiming to build a diverse and balanced constituency of members, in terms of age, background and levels of professional experience, from across all art-forms areas, such as dance, visual arts, music, theatre; allied disciplines such as architecture, arts professionals, administrators, marketing officers; academics and social activists.

Leeds Creative Time Bank members offer each other advice, mentoring and training, to professional skills, and to general 'hands-on' help, via simple reciprocal exchange.

From Leeds Creative Timebank Management Group:

Andy Abbott, Garry Barker, Sue Ball, Phill Harding, Jonathan Lindh, Sarah Spanton

Manchester Salon Weekend, 19-20th May 2012

Contemporary Visual Arts Manchester is pleased to announce the programme for the Manchester Salon Weekend, which will take place on 19th and 20th May 2012.

The Salon is being delivered as part of the North West Visual Arts Open 2012 and will be manifest in two days of artist led discussion, curator insights, technology and popcorn.

Full details of the programme are included in the press release, which can be downloaded here...

The Manchester Salon Weekend has been coordinated by Contemporary Visual Arts Manchester (CVAM) for the North West Visual Arts Open 2012.

Knowledge Sharing events kick off with a successful day in Newcastle

Turning Point Network's series of Knowledge Sharing events kicked off in Newcastle yesterday, and continues today in Liverpool.

The event in Newcastle began with Dougald Hine offering an inspiring talk to a packed Riverside room at the BALTIC in Gateshead. He spoke about the human nature of knowledge sharing, referencing a number of his own projects - including Space Makers, School of Everything - as well as examples by peers with whom his work has overlapped, since he emerged from the London School of Art and Business. 

"A good meeting should feel like a conversation in the pub, and not make you feel like you'd rather be having a good conversation in the pub." - Dougald Hine

Following on from Dougald, Michael Craven, an experienced Change Manager with a track record of developing and delivering knowledge initiatives for the likes of Royal Institute of British Architects and New Contemporaries, led a series of facilitated conversations between attendees. The session resulted in a map of knowledge and 'knowledge needs'. The hope this that this map will be used as a tool to support peer to peer sharing between attendees.

Videos from the day will be published on this site soon.

In the meantime, check out this post from one of the Newcastle attendees, about the value they got from the event: http://crowdweaver.co.uk/2012/04/19/knowledge-what-is-a-fair-exchange/

Yorkshire & Humber bursaries for Turning Point Network Summit

Registration has opened for the 3rd Turning Point Network National Summit, to be held at City Hall London on 10 May. You can read the summit programme and book places HERE. 

Delegate places at the summit are free, but the Turning Point Network is also offering a small number of bursaries to offset expenses for visual artists based in Yorkshire and the Humber wishing to attend.

To apply for a bursary, artists should email Steve Manthorp, Coordinator, Turning Point Yorkshire and Humber at [email protected] by Sunday 22nd April, explaining why you wish to attend the Summit and how you would disseminate your experience of the Summit to other artists and/or visual arts professionals.

Contemporary Art of Walking and East Midlands Visual Arts Network present: Encounter, Lincoln.

EMVAN is working with Contemporary Art of Walking (www.contemporaryartofwalking.com) to hold a series of netwalks. Taking place in, going to or leaving from the locations of the recent 'On Tour' events, the walks will offer the opportunity to develop the conversations that were started or connections that were made at those events. The first will be from Washingborough to Lincoln on Thursday 26 April, 1-3pm.

Alison Lloyd of Contemporary Art of Walking will lead the walks, which are designed to bring people together to walk, and in walking together to share an experience. The walks will feature art in a variety of ways, upholding a long-practiced artistic convention of using nature as a catalyst for thought and creativity, Alison has designed and led walks for and in collaboration with Beacon Bi Monthlies, Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, QUAD, Skegness Arts Festival, New Research Trajectories, and the Still Walking Festival, Birmingham.

The other walks will take place over the coming months, the dates of which are to be confirmed. 

Visit www.derbyquad.co.uk for booking information.

Registration has opened for the Turning Point Network's 3rd national summit

City Hall, London: host venue for the 3rd national Turning Point Network summit

We will hold our 3rd National Summit on 10th May 2012. Hosted by the Greater London Authority at City Hall, London this event promises to be an exciting event with a range of debates both timely and relevant to the sector.

Register your place now: http://nationalturningpointsummit.eventbrite.com/   

This event is open to Network members, visual arts networks and people interested in knowing more about our work to date, and the topics we think as a Network the visual arts should be discussing.

We have great speakers lined up, and some still to be confirmed, so keep checking the website for further information - we'll be launching a page for the event, on this site, early next week. 

ICA, London are also hosting a debate on the eve of the Summit to get us all thinking about key issues in the visual arts. It will be led by Will Gompertz, so if you plan to come the night before the Summit, make sure you book a place at this event (you will be asked if you plan to attend when you register on EventBrite).

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Opportunity - Turning Point East looks to recruit an experienced sales and PR manager

Eastern Pavilions is seeking an experienced Sales & PR Manager

£34,000 pro rata/ part-time 22.5 hours per week/ 10 month contract

The Turning Point East (TPE) group, funded by Arts Council England (ACE), is working together under the projec title Eastern Pavilions to achieve a stronger and sustainable visual arts sector in the Eastern region, that has greater visibility and influence, increased capacity and a joined-up approach. Eastern Pavilions’ mission is to deliver an excellent programme of activity that includes artists’ commissions, exhibitions and collector and market development for art through special events.

Following the development of the Eastern Pavilions programme and the production of a print portfolio, Eastern Pavilions is looking to recruit a part time Sales & PR Manager to work across the Eastern region to market and sell the print portfolio. The role will involve working with Eastern Pavilions organisations to cultivate and develop current and new potential collectors and patrons, coordinate a major London launch event and potentially regional events, to generate portfolio sales. The position is managed by Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge. Office location flexible.

Closing date for applications: 26 April 2012

For a recruitment pack or more information email: [email protected]

www.easternpavilions.org | www.wysingartscentre.org

Network Knitting in the visual arts - Turning Point Network's knowledge sharing days

~Flow, a project by Owl Project and Ed Carter. Part of Artists Taking the Lead

Turning Point Network is pleased to announce the programme for a series of knowledge sharing events taking place in April 2012.

• Thursday 19 April at BALTIC, Gateshead 10.00am-4.30pm
• Friday 20 April at FACT, Liverpool 10.00am-4.30pm

These events are open to anyone working in visual arts organisations, artists and freelancers wanting to explore practical knowledge sharing solutions to help them in their daily jobs, and who want to make the contemporary arts more sustainable. People who are members of Turning Point groups or other arts committees and management groups will find these sessions particularly valuable.

The programme for both days will be led by Dougald Hine and Michael Craven. Through inspirational presentations and equally inspirational and hands-on activities participants will explore knowledge sharing providing them with ideas to take back to their own environments. 

Dougald Hine is a writer, internet entrepreneur, informal learner and a founder of organisations including the ‘School of Everything; and the ‘Space Makers Agency’. He likes to tell stories, explore ideas, bring people together and make things happen and says: “If I'm good at anything, it is making connections - between people, between ideas and between worlds” http://dougald.co.uk

Michael Craven has extensive experience developing and delivering knowledge initiatives in the non-profit and public sectors and leading organisations through major change and development. Consultancy clients include the Royal Institute of British Architects, New Contemporaries, and national advice agencies. Michael was Director, Organisational Development, Arts Council England, Head office 2004/06 and Director Visual Arts, Arts Council, South East 2000/04.

Explore the visual arts

Each event will include a visit to a landmark project:

• Newcastle: visit ‘~Flow’, a collaboration between Owl Project and Ed Carter, the North East’s Artists Taking the Lead project moored outside BALTIC.  Also visit BALTIC 39, a new cultural hub for contemporary art that includes a public gallery programmed by BALTIC and artists’ studios. 
• Liverpool: tour FACT and see the giant spectacular ‘Sea Odyssey’ by Royal De Luxe. Sea Odyssey is a magical tale of love, loss and reunion played out on a gigantic scale. It will take place in key city spaces. 

FREE of charge. Book places and more information Claire Pollock and Ali Brown, Turning Point knowledge sharing coordinators:

e. [email protected]

t. 0191 440 4915.

Both venues are fully accessible:

www.balticmill.com/visit/facilities  

www.fact.co.uk/visit/accessibility/

When booking, please state any requirements you may have that would enable you to participate such as signer or material in large type, etc. 

We have up to five bursaries of up to £75 towards travel costs for each event for artists and freelancers who are registered as self-employed. If you are interested in a bursary email [email protected] outlining what you think you will gain from attending.