Culture Detectives

A gala Olympic-style ceremony at the Assembly Theatre in Tunbridge Wells capped several months of work on the Cultural Baton project, in which Greg and artist Sayako Sugawara worked with a Year 4 class at Istead Rise Primary School in Gravesend to explore the meaning and source of ‘culture’. Under the banner of Future Creative, three others Kent schools also participated in the project, which was linked to the selection of a travelling artwork commissioned in support of Kent’s Cultural Olympiad programme.

Our working definition of 'culture'...

‘Culture’ is a complex concept for adults, let alone eight-year-olds, so we decided to give the kids a playful motif in which to explore...thus, all 23 students became Culture Detectives! We focused on asking good questions, and examined all the different components of our world that might constitute culture. In small teams, we spent time capturing the ‘culture’ around Istead Rise using cameras, sound recorders, object gathering, and making shapes with our bodies in the manner of theatrical ‘tableaux’.

Saya working with our Detectives to create individualized badges

Making a tableau of Pocahontas, the famous Native American princess buried at Gravesend

All this hard work was put to the test on 3 December when our Culture Detectives embarked upon a live capture of the ‘culture’ of everyone present, including other students, teachers, parents, councillors, and even British Paralympic Gold Medallist Dan Crates. The findings of our Culture Detectives were presented back to the audience less than an hour after they were captured in the form of a multi-media presentation using iPhoto, iTunes and several inexpensive iPhone applications: one student described it as being like ‘taking the culture temperature of the audience’.

Interviewing audience members about things they find beautiful

A plasticine imprint of an object borrowed from an audience member as part of our live culture capture

The 'opening ceremony' for the Kent Cultural Baton project

We had about 20 minutes to collect, collate and then aesthetically arrange what we’d captured in order to show it at the event, but we managed it. The children were amazingly focused and clever, as most children can be when given the time, space and opportunity.

The Detectives presenting their 'findings' to the crowd at the Assembly Theatre

Reinventing the literary reading

A bit more about the collaboration between Nimble Fish and writer Katherine May. We've just emerged from the first public outing of Katherine's performance piece based on her novel, 'Burning Out', and we're very happy with the results. For more on Katherine's view of it, check out her blog.

As Katherine says, we are aiming to create something that, we believe, doesn't currently exist in the universe of presented literature. Most live presentations of books, whether fiction or non-fiction, hew to a particular form: something approaching a live audiobook, where an author reads excerpts from his or her work and then answers audience questions. I know the form well, as I toured and read extensively when my book was published in 2005.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this form, except that it is rarely challenged...and, as an author, pretty frustrating since one one can only convey the barest sense of a work that is, after all, designed to be far more than the proverbial sum of its parts. We think the 'live audiobook' reading is often boring for audiences, too, as evidenced by the near-extinction of author tours and the dwindling audiences at those still surviving. In these credit-scrunchy times--and with the publishing industry on celebrity-fed life support--we felt there was an opportunity to try something new; something that might give writers a new way to connect with audiences.

In thinking about what we wanted, two performance genres were ever on our minds. 'Live literature', mostly in the form of poetry performance and various forms of spoken word, already occupies a sparky, spiky domain outside the staid environs of 'straight lit' events like Hay and Edinburgh. But most live lit relies on lit written to be performed live, a very different creative proposition than literature written to be read privately. Nor did we want to create theatre; if that were the case, we'd go for adaptation, a successful genre in its own right. In our minds, the live presence of the author was still essential to whatever we created, and we were adamant that he or she should not have to become an actor for the purposes of presenting a different view of their work.

Have we succeeded? Well, as Katherine says, it's still a work in progress. But we think we're onto something and do join us in Folkestone on 13 November to see for yourself, and to tell us what you think. In the mean time, some photos of the process so far:

We began by creating a visual 'map' of the book's themes, moods, locations, and ideas...

...and then added some objects we thought connected with essential themes and characters.

We created a new narrative of the book using only its text, but sometimes in a different order than found in the manuscript.

We played with projection and sound, with the rule being that all 'tech' must be straightforward enough for the author to set up and manipulate without additional help.

Here is Katherine giving it a bash on 30 October at the Canterbury Festival. Special thanks to Peggy Riley and East Kent Live Lit for the opportunity.

Creative Partnerships

In 2009-10, Nimble Fish is working with Creative Partnerships programmes in London, Essex, Kent and Haven Gateway. The common link with our current CP projects is a focus on innovative uses of physical space to enrich and enliven teaching and learning. All of our current CP projects also emphasize co-creation of learning strategies that involve collaboration between teachers and young people. Nimble Fish has a long-standing connection to Creative Partnerships and has advised the programme at a national level. Most current projects are in their early stages, and we'll post later as work progresses.

Learning Town Project

We are still getting positive feedback from the Learning Town Fair, an event that convened 13 Southend schools for a day of shared art and creativity in Southend's Victoria Plaza. The event was attended by an estimated 2,000 people and is believed to have been the largest single education event of its kind in the town's history. For more information, check out the project website. The Learning Town Fair was sponsored by Southend Education Trust and Royal Opera House Creative Partnerships.

Outdoor Play and Learning

Greg continues to have a fantastically rewarding time leading Nimble Fish work for the Early Years Buddying Project, a joint effort of Kent County Council and Future Creative. Using Scandinavian 'forest schools' as inspiration, the project seeks to spark creativity and independent learning in Nursery and Reception children through greater exposure to outdoor environments. The project is working with schools in Gravesend.

Cultural Baton

As part of Kent's response to the upcoming 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Nimble Fish is working with students at Istead Rise Primary School in Gravesend to develop a response to concepts of place and culture. Specifically, we're interested in how young people define and explore what 'culture' means to them on a day to day basis; how it affects their lives, and how they can share what's important of their culture with outsiders. Istead Rise is one of four schools that will present their work at a special event on 3 December at Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells.

Burning Out

Nimble Fish are pleased to be working with writer Katherine May to develop an audience-immersive performance installation inspired by her new novel, 'Burning Out'. With funding support from Shepway Find Your Talent, the performance will have its first run at the 2009 Folkestone Literature Festival. Stay tuned for further details.