 A Guide to Good Practice in Collaborative Working Methods and New Media Tools Creation Chapter 14 - Performing Arts Lab About PAL PERFORMING ARTS LAB (PAL) is an international laboratory based in Britain for collaborative research between professionals of many disciplines, with proven and wide ranging results. Over the past fourteen years, PAL, a small arts organisation based in London and Kent, has through its residential laboratories addressed this need. By developing access to a diverse international talent pool of expertise, acquiring a unique understanding of the creative process and offering a unique research capability which produces cost effective models of best practice. PAL has demonstrated its ability to become a crucible for cross-fertilisation of ideas and talent in the arts and architecture, education, technology and media. The organisation has produced 70 labs to date and established a network of over 2000 exceptionally talented lab participants from the UK and around the world. Each new form of lab in a given field begins with a period of research, a residential pilot, followed by a series of three or more annual residential labs. The result is a significant body of lab practice as well as a body of new works. Each lab includes similar assumptions and expectations: the creation of a safe space, disturbed by insistence that participants are not expected to repeat what they know, but instead to try out completely new ways of working. Fear, failure, accident and presence, all essential in the creative process in both the sciences and the arts, are rigorously explored and evaluated while experiments take place over 5 to 10 days or longer with follow up meetings, and/or on line mentoring in between group gatherings. All PAL labs include live performers as participants; singers, dancers, actors, storytellers, clowns, musicians, performance artists. New 'pilots' are continually developing fresh collaborations, radical new ideas and unexpected results, engaging professionals of all ages, cultures, and levels of experience. International lab programmes are now well established; for feature film (for talented writers, from different disciplines and cultures who are writing original screenplays for international markets): some screenwriting programmes are genre specific. For theatre (for novelists, poets and playwrights) to fill the gap in making challenging new plays for children as well as adults. For feature film,TV series, animation and interactive media projects (for writers and teams of single drama, television series and interactive media projects for child and family audiences, aimed international markets). For opera and music theatre (for composers, writers, singers, actors and a wide variety of other artists creating new forms of theatre, music and words). For dance (performer led for all dance forms and including artists from other disciplines). For interactive media (to bring together creative teams to develop high quality digital content across platforms (launched by PAL's EU funded European Multimedia Labs1997-2000), and in particular high quality content for broadband networks. For architecture (for architects, engineers, artists, scientists and planners focused on early stages of the design brief and including integrated uses of new technologies. And for teachers to develop new lab programmes focused on the imagination of teachers and their creativity in teaching practice. Three new lab programmes are in development: CHAOS Labs (for scientists and artists), the Food Lab (for scientists, artists, cooks and educators) and the Game Lab (to design the next generation of intelligent games). PAL lab experiences may take place from five to ten days or more, and can include on-line mentoring support in between a number of residential workshops, sometimes extended over a period of nine to twelve months. Each lab is evaluated by participants, nominators and funding bodies as an intrinsic part of the overall methodology. Measurements of success and failure provide useful research for a wider understanding of creative processes in accelerated learning. An overall evaluation is made by PAL to determine the best way to roll out tested models in a specific field, and/or to adapt particular labs to changing needs in a particular field, and/or to abandon some programmes to develop new ones. PAL programmes may happen in the UK, and/or other countries and/or in a number of linked locations. In 2001, PAL launched a four-year Labs of Learning programme in the UK to stimulate the imagination of teachers. Labs of Learning range from Creative Science Teaching, (a collaboration with UK's Creative Partnerships), to an exploration of failure to learn through the insights and experience of professional clowning. Teachers in clusters of schools, teacher training organisations and young people interested in becoming teachers, all take part in aspects of PAL's Labs of Learning programme. The work is based on creativity as a state of mind in which all our senses and intelligences work together to stimulate innovative thinking. The results may be applicable to almost any subject or combinations of subjects at school and in informal education as well as lifelong learning. This aspect of PAL's practice based research is directed by Vivian Harris and her team of lab co-directors in London. Caroline Nevejan, Director of Research at the Hogschool in Amsterdam and PAL Research Associate in Holland, offers action research in collaboration with Dutch teachers. How Does PAL Work? Susan Benn, the founder director of PAL has overall responsibility for shaping the research strategy and appointing each lab director, all of whom are leading practitioners in their field. At this time of writing there are sixteen such lab directors who first identify gaps in collaborative creative practice and specifically design lab programmes to meet needs identified in the research. The decision to create a new lab programme is a process which demands a very high degree of risk taking from all concerned. PAL must continually find and convince adventurous funding bodies to support this kind of work. People coming to the labs are expected to try radical new things and outcomes cannot be predicted in advance. The mix of talent and the process forces the unexpected. A track record of award winning achievements has helped to make it possible for PAL to continually invent new forms and to grow from the first pilot lab for Playwrights in1989 (with a Gulbenkian Foundation grant of15,000 GBP) to an average of 8 to 10 labs a year supported by an income of 700,000 GBP in 2002/3. Rigorous evaluation of the results over a period of months and sometimes years, provides a sound basis for future policy and practice. This is achieved by: - identifying talented creative individuals in the performing arts, film, the visual arts, architecture, networked media, education and in science; - nurturing cross disciplinary talents in a safe, non-prescriptive but professionally challenging rigorous environment; - encouraging initiatives between the arts, architecture and the built environment, as well as the sciences, technology, education and cultural development; - working in partnership with other agencies and institutions to identify and encourage participants who might otherwise not have the opportunity of exploring their creative potential in a PAL lab; - ensuring that this practice is distributed throughout the regions and nations of Britain and abroad, and when appropriate, replicating or adapting the lab process for the specific needs of partner organisations or institutions in the UK and abroad; - seeking new fields in which to test PAL research, methodology and pilot labs in response to client's defined needs; and - developing international practice based research projects with like-minded peers throughout the world. PAL is especially interested in addressing people normally excluded from risk taking social and cultural and cross-disciplinary educational opportunities. Future labs, bearing this in mind, focus on creating new opportunities for developing the role of the imagination, with particular respect for human dignity and democracy in shaping the information society of the future. What Makes PAL a Unique Organisation? The idea of PAL began in 1989 on a 500-acre dairy farming estate in Kent, in the South East of England (an hour from international airports and 35 minutes by train from central London), with very little competition in the UK. This 'wired farm' is now internationally recognised as a unique creative centre for interdisciplinary research. There are also many international workshops, courses and/or 'labs' around the world now. Many of them are supported through institutional funding frameworks. PAL remains a small independent not for profit charitable company, with very slim resources for core costs and lean project budgets for all the work it does. International organisations resourced by well-endowed charities and/or corporation 'think tanks' may appear to have similar objectives to PAL. Some, on the surface, also appear to have similarities to what PAL does. Several recent UK government funded initiatives have been directly influenced and inspired by PAL models and practice. Most creative hot-housing workshops, despite appearances however, differ fundamentally from the way PAL actually works. Other workshops may be non-residential, for short periods of time, commercially driven for market driven products, and/or open to all fee-paying participants. They may offer anything from personality driven public 'how-to' lectures for a substantial fee, to 1-2 day 'how-to' courses offering formulaic promises for success in a highly competitive creative industries 'marketplace'. Creativity, a buzzword currently in fashion in the UK and much celebrated by the Blair government, is now a prized commodity in education and commerce. Some post graduate modular courses in universities and art colleges in the UK offer interdisciplinary 'practice based research' as a featured component. These may or may not be residential, and/or for carefully selected professionals. But rarely do they bring together artists and creative individuals from allied social fields. Assessment of university research programmes, made by academics in the arts and sciences, who might be unfamiliar with high quality standards of cross-disciplinary professional practice, especially where new technologies are concerned, may be not be appropriate people to evaluate adventurous experimental work. PAL's work may make a contribution to new critical frameworks and language for appropriate evaluation in this field. What makes PAL special is firstly the way talent is sought and selected. This happens in part through nominations from PAL's ever-growing talent pool. A wide database of producers, agents, university departments and arts organisations ensure a rich mix of perspectives, ages, experience and abilities. Open calls through the PAL website also attract talented participants. Participants are chosen solely on the basis of their talent, the quality of their ideas and suitability for collaboration. Places are mostly free (or subject to a modest fee as a requirement by some funding bodies). The way the group is finally balanced by the Lab Directors and their mentoring teams has often been compared to fine 'cooking'. The way the environment (the lab) is designed from scratch each time, to meet defined creative needs of small groups of talented people of all ages and disciplines, is an art in itself and an important part of PAL's overall methodology. The fact that PAL mentors are proven practitioners and not specifically 'teachers', although some may do some teaching along side their professional practice, also makes a significant impact on the quality of results. Each mentor shares their extensive track record of success in direct response to needs identified by each lab project and person. The group is therefore always highly motivated, generous, and intensely productive. Unexpected outcomes consistently surprise everyone on each occasion. The success and evolution of PAL is largely due to the quality of lab participants and the alchemy created by them. The intensely focused lab experience equips everyone with a personal accelerated learning process which can inform and sustain working practice long after the labs have happened. R&D Funding for Innovation in Creative Practice Potential developers and investors are invited to come to see lab work-in-progress at the end of every PAL lab. Some lab programmes include pre-paid funding for post lab follow up and on-line mentoring support with several non-residential mini-labs covering a period of nine to twelve months. Some follow-up project development support may also be offered by production companies, especially in film and media, where established freelance professional training and development funds exist for this. Much more work needs to be done to create sustainable funding for infrastructures in cross-disciplinary practice in the live arts and performing arts world where funding R&D is either ad hoc and/or non-existent, stretching the limits of slender resources of small independent production companies. It is ironic that some of the most celebrated undergraduate and postgraduate environments for education and training in the world may be found in Europe, but major European opera companies rarely commit budgets for talented composers coming from these conservatoires and universities to try out adventurous new forms of music and theatre. Similarly in dance, there are few, coherent CPD (continuous professional development) production company funding models for choreographers and dancers. Where dedicated CPD funding in production companies in the UK does exist, it is usually tied into an 'education programme' and therefore is not a part of 'main stage' programming strategies for the development of new works. A recent report launched by the American National Research Council and the Rockerfeller Foundation on Information Technology, Innovation and Creativity calls for re-examining funding private and public policies and practice in an international context. This report offers a clear framework for change to policy makers. Policy makers engaged in high risk funding for cross-disciplinary collaboration and experimentation require a long-term commitment. PAL people and their lab projects may achieve international acclaim, sometimes many years after a lab has taken place. Many PAL people like Simon Beaufoy, the screenplay writer of the successful film, The Full Monty, has come back at various points in his creative life to subject a new idea and a way of working that is new to him to the rigours of the lab experience. CPD funding of this kind must be seen in the context of a 'food chain' to take an idea to its market place. It is a complex landscape. Low cost bursary schemes are needed for creative professionals whose work falls between disciplines and outside funding guidelines which restrict collaboration. A new funding framework needs to be invented to bridge gaps between European Commission programmes, and government departments funding science, arts and culture, education, social regeneration and inclusion. Is it possible to achieve coherence and interdisciplinarity between so many different beaurocratic sectors to establish solid funding structures for CPD? PAL Director Susan Benn instituted a small case study in 2000 for a dedicated bursary fund across art form departments within South East Arts (the regional funding body for the Arts Council of England at the time). The scheme offered cross-disciplinary 'skill sharing and learning' to 25 people from the region to come to PAL labs in 2001. This plan saved money and time and ensured PAL of a prescribed number of funded lab places. The scheme was successfully repeated in 2002/3. More substantial support for PAL's work was endorsed at that time through a four year NESTA award of one million pounds to PAL (2000-2004), for core funding for expansion and seed funding of new pilot labs. This major award to PAL from the UK's National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts is their largest Education Award given to date and it demonstrates the risk taking forward thinking of a unique UK government funding body designed specifically to support individual talent and innovation. NESTA has brought about effective results in bringing artists and scientists together and in overcoming some of the limitations imposed by narrow art form driven policies as well as breaking down some of the inevitable class barriers which are an endemic part of the British life. Marking the end of PAL's NESTA award in 2004, the Arts Council have recently granted the organisation a further 2 years funding as from 2004-2006 to meet some core costs. PAL is developing the consultancy side of its activities to produce additional income and has received several commissions from NESTA's Fellowship programme as well as NESTA Futurelab in Bristol, the blue-sky incubator for developing educational software of the future in the UK. The pace of change in technological, political, social, and economic affairs worldwide, creates a clarion call for many 'radical safe spaces' such as PAL provides. For reflection, for developing thinking skills, for discussions between policy makers and artists and scientists, for producing innovative ideas supported by practical production design documents, and for prototypes for viable outcomes and ingenious applications through creative teamwork. For best results PAL believes this work must be driven by people who will be able to sustain a satisfying living, by doing what they most want to do and what they are best at, in a digital age. Analysis of PAL's Methodology Between 2002-03, PAL plans to undertake an objective analysis of its overall methodology. The analysis will test the value of specific lab processes y tracking results over time in relation to current and foreseeable gaps in provision. It will also examine opportunities for PAL models to be rolled out more widely and to create a number of viable business models and organisational structures to support the delivery of these lab programmes. PAL is also identifying specific research projects in areas that fall outside current activities. The focus of these remains, as always on the imagination of individuals and the structural synergy between the worlds of culture, business and learning. The labs are case studies in this overall approach. The analysis will focus on four aspects of PAL's work: Research + Evaluation specific pilot labs for the exploration of new forms and collaborations in practice based research and development, to include new technologies. These labs are usually non-project based with unlikely combinations of practitioners from widely differing disciplines. PAL Generated Labs based on established practice through which new works are developed in a specific field. Externally Commissioned Labs designed to meet the specific needs of a particular client. These involve a process of consultation to identify clients' needs, bespoke lab design, post lab mentoring in some cases, and evaluation of results leading to agreed models for future development with the and/or by the client. Contracted Consultancies through which PAL works with funding bodies, arts organisations, companies, universities and/or agencies wishing to work with PAL to design collaborative lab process to bring about innovation in creative thinking and practice for policy makers. A number of international symposia will begin the process of disseminating research and analysis of this work over the next 3 years. Some of these symposia will be small residential projects to design a new programme of labs. Others will be larger more public gatherings with a possible on-line presence designed to launch the publication of material gathered from lab programmes and/or to debate key issues arising from them. An electronic interactive book is being compiled by Susan Benn to document PAL's longitudinal study of action research. New Research Partnerships and Future Plans PAL intends to remain a small responsive organisation functioning as the provider of the lab programmes, for which it has established its reputation, as well as being acknowledged as a research engine, capable of designing new models, with and without partner organisations. Specific research carried out for appropriate industry, education and philanthropic partners with defined needs will be published in a variety of media. In order to be able to remain small, PAL will expand its work programmes through collaboration with partner organisations in business, the social sciences and health and in academia, who are committed to joint-finance the research and roll out tested models. One example of one of these new partnerships, where lab participants would be people normally excluded from social and cultural opportunities, is collaboration with Cardboard Citizens. This is the only professional theatre company in the UK working with the homeless and ex-homeless people, including refugees and asylum seekers, as creators, participants and audiences. Britain has the lowest social spending and the highest poverty in Europe. PAL and Cardboard Citizens are currently designing a programme of participatory theatre followed by 5 day labs to improve conditions in a housing estate in central London, working with residents, local authority agencies and building contractors. Another PAL collaboration to test the model in a new environment has come about through a consultancy for the On the Edge project in Scotland, with an team of artist researchers from Grays'School of Art, Robert Gordon University, in Aberdeen. They are engaged in a four-year AHRB funded project which investigates the value of art in remote rural locations in the UK. PAL recently produced a pilot Langerin' Lab in Shetland for knitters, artists and designers as a part of this research. The work of this first Langerin' Lab will be further developed by local people on the island. These sorts of collaborations are a major part of PAL's development strategy over the next decade. Partnerships with PAL and university postgraduate research departments currently in place, as mentioned previously, are in Holland with the Hogschool in Amsterdam (for PAL Labs of Learning), and more recently in Spain with the University of Valencia (for PAL Screenwriters Labs). In London, the School for Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of Westminster has recently formed EXP, four research clusters closely linked with talent in industry, teaching and practice. EXP is co-directed by Research Fellow, Samantha Hardingham, a trained architect and writer on architecture and one of the four founding Co-Directors of the PAL Architecture Lab with Will McLean, who also teaches in the Architecture School at Westminster. EXP and a book, published in 2003 to mark its launch, called Experimental Architecture: Ten Tall Stories, written by Samantha Hardingham, are direct outcomes of the work of the first PAL Architecture Lab piloted in 2002. Encouraging new international developments with scientists and artists and a variety of institutions, including a gallery in Switzerland and a hospital in England for example, are the outcomes of an international PAL CHAOS Lab colloquium held in 2003 funded by London Arts. NaNo Labs are artist led, creating a network of different lab activities between artists, scientists and a variety of thinkers and makers and supportive institutions who will assist lab projects which are all focused on the use of and effect of nano techologies in our lives. NaNo Labs and other PAL labs may be able to be linked electronically in the future through a 'V Lab', a prototype which currently needs further investment to test it's potentially robust technology. If investment can be found this year, PAL's 'wired farm' in rural Kent may well be in touch with other labs across time and distance by 2004/5. Underpinning all of these initiatives, PAL's Board of Trustees, Director and Lab Directors want very much to work with major commercial and philanthropic funding partners to encourage international frameworks for sustainability to support good cross-disciplinary practice. Ensuring proven CPD models may be available to a freelance workforce of over 400,000 people in the creative industries alone in the UK, who are generating 400 billion pound sterling annually at this time of writing; is as central to PAL's overarching purpose as is the individual design each of new PAL lab programme. Susan Benn susanbenn@pallabs.org - continue to CH 15: Transformation of the Internet: The Worldbuilding Project at the Institute for Learning Technologies - return to the table of contents |
