All in this together

It’s mid January in Margate. Around 20 people circle a mock up of the town. This is a production meeting for ‘Blink’, a large scale performance to take place before 7,000 people, involving choreographer Wayne McGregor and Random Dance, the German action theatre ensemble Pan Optikum, the musician Scanner and around 500 local people. Most importantly, it is a collaboration between artists, arts professionals and local organisations and individuals. Others taking part include the soon-to-open Turner Contemporary, Thanet District Council, Theatre Royal Margate, Kent County Council, Margate Regeneration Partnership, Kent University and Thanet College. Collaboration is nothing new, but when money is scarce and the government is asking us to prioritise localism, it’s never been more important.

“It’s actually a prime time to pool their different resources,” says Verity McArthur, Co-Director of McMc Arts, which is co-producing ‘Blink’ with the Canterbury Festival, “…the danger of the current climate is that people might become inwardly focused to survive”. Sally Abbot, Director of Arts Council England South East, agrees:“It’s kind of a no brainer to make sure there’s a really strong collaborative core at the heart of any project like this.” In East Kent, Turner Contemporary’s Director Victoria Pomery was already working hard to build strong local partnerships; this became one of the reasons they chose Margate as the venue. For Wayne McGregor, the town itself became one of the attractions; he had fond memories of childhood holidays there. Plus Random Dance is enthusiastic about projects involving the participation of young people. In addition to the 100 young dancers McGregor will be working with a further 400 local people are being recruited to work behind the scenes.

Jane McMorrow, the other “Mc” in McMc Arts, warns that it can take a long time to find the right partners: “Things have to happen organically in this process in order to be really solid.” Sally Abbot cautions that collaboration between outside arts organisations and locals is inevitably problematic: “If it’s not a good collaboration between McMc Arts, Canterbury Festival and locals, then this won’t result in a sustainable piece of work. I think McMc Arts has quite a challenge on its hands.” McMorrow agrees: “Only if that collaboration works will you have a piece of work which responds sincerely to the place and the local people. That’s what’s going to allow people to see Margate in a very different way and hopefully inspire the audience to want more. So, next time, the local skills and experience are already there. You don’t have to ship them in. It’s only one little step. It’s not going to solve all the problems or significantly alter the whole arts infrastructure, but it is going to make a difference.”