Starting a network is an exciting and difficult process. Everyone wants to go in a thousand directions at once, there is so much to be achieved, and not yet a real sense of what the capacity of the network is to achieve anything.
The challenge for the first meeting of the Turning Point South East network, held on the 18th May at the Lighthouse Digital Media Studio in Brighton, was to gather all that energy and all those ideas, and to try to get some sense of priorities.
20 people, with widely varying opinions and agendas came to discuss how they, as a network, could support the development of visual arts in the region.
Ideas ranged from high-tech projects (using a region-wide bluetooth or sms network to reach new audiences) to the simplest possible solutions (a shared email mailing list). But there was an overwhelming sense that this network had huge potential to cultivate new audiences by organising as a network, sharing information and resources, and working together regionally, nationally and globally to promote the world-class visual arts happening in the South East.
Over the next few weeks, this blog will be summarising key elements of that discussion, and opening them up for further comment on the TPSE google group that was set up after the workshop.
To get involved in the discussions – you can subscribe to the group on the right – or leave comments here if you prefer.
By mid-June, all the feedback will be written up as a roadmap for the technical and social development of the TPSE network.
