The first day of CIDA at Bar Lane Studios!

The first day of the CIDA course seemed to be a great success, reflecting on yesterday’s events we are very pleased to have Lee Corner and her dedicated team of mentors work with us at Bar Lane. A range of topics were covered,  all catering to support the creative entrepreneurs that have chosen to take part in the course. Those involved in yesterday’s events included York-based photographer Keith Findlater, Carl Letman of Agathon Productions and Six Lips Theatre along with many more talented and interesting people.

Topics covered in the opening session were balanced to take into account the creative mind at its best and the good points including the art of Strategic Thinking (the fact that creative people are very good at recognising opportunities), as well as Commercial Aptitude (the fact that creatives are also good at understanding the best practice within their chosen profession and then learning from it and improving), Persistent (the idea that they are determined enough to operate from out of hope of success rather than fear of failure) and, Making Things Happen (the fact, [and we enjoy this the most] that creative people are very good at turning ideas into reality.

Obviously as the programme’s director, Lee is no stranger to motivating people through truth and what’s quickly established through a nice balance of humour, real-life experience and community is that CIDA, will be able to help most of (if not all), the representatives that have chosen to attend from York St John‘s Phoenix Centre, DesignWorks and Bar Lane Studios over the next six months. It’s not all positive stuff mind, the talk also examined the challenges that creative people face on a daily basis trying to make a living as painters, writers, designers and photographers. Such challenges include the fact that creatives don’t always conform to traditional industrial processes like distribution and reproduction when going into business and as such, they tend to be much more collaborative, also that they can be perceived as being “flaky” by banks, friends and other important people in their lives (don’t you love that word? Click for a definition!) It was also discussed that creative people can often have difficulty accessing finance, which of course is a massive problem for anyone starting out, or even someone who has been in business for many years.

One of the highlights to come out of this part of the discussion though, was the examination of individuals’ values as Lee went around the room in an effort to familiarise the “class” with each other and to get them to talk about their projects and the ideals that inspire them to continue despite adversity. Supported by worksheets those in attendance responded well by listening to others and offering feedback where appropriate in order to offer constructive and welcome advice.

Another interesting point in the day came when those involved were asked to examine their own “toolkit” which meant that each person was required to examine their key characteristics, attributes, behaviours, skills and resources along with a group of other people from different businesses. This was particularly effective as it gave those involved a unique insight into each other’s personalities and from out of this discussion we saw many people offer to support others and extend help, support and resources that could help benefit their business.

The CIDA course successfully brings together a variety of different businesses, people and skill-sets to support each other under the “wing” of the Lee and also with the help of personal mentor sessions from friendly and experienced industry professionals. It is the hope that with the skills people learn from these sessions, they can become self-sufficient and can learn to support themselves by making profit as a creative person within their desired industry.  We managed to catch up with Lee once the day had concluded to talk a little bit about what has kept her inspired to continue helping creative people over her 35-year career. She explains that while managing 25 people is much more of a “tall order” than she has been used to in the past, she is more than ready for the challenge. “I do prefer speaking to individual people and catering for their needs usually, but with all of my experience I have been able to learn about dealing with a variety of people in a range of sectors,” she says. “The people who are a part of this course just need more confidence in their abilities.” Moving on to talk about her inspirations and what has kept her going, she examines how creative individuals benefit people around the world and not just in York. “The contribution that the creative community has made to society seriously improves on the quality of our lives,” she adds. “I will fight to the death for creative freedom.”

We would like to wish every participant on the CIDA course the very best, and good luck in the future. Especially considering that there will be a session coming up which will examine finances and the concept of survival and business income! It’s a fine balance!

Kindest regards to all of our readers and best wishes,

Bar Lane Studios

A lovely August update from Bar Lane!

Hello!

We are back with another wonderful update for you this month and we hope that summer is treating you well?

Our fantastic summer exhibition opened up this past Sunday (you can see some pictures of that below) and the feedback we’re getting is amazing. It’s always been the team’s goal to have the public involved in the project as much as possible and so it is great to see so many people taking the chance to exhibit, coming to our showcases and popping in for a coffee each day. Thank you!

Speaking on the opening, Bar Lane‘s Director Ben Clowes says, “We had around 200 people come down for the opening, and the standard of the work was incredibly high – the exhibition is made up of local artists and I can say that all of it is really great, solid work.”

Ben explains that there were about 300 items put in for the show and around 200 of those are going over to the New School House Gallery located at Peasholme Green. He discusses some of the benefits of working as a social enterprise. “It’s great that we can work with School House, and that’s the benefit of us being a social enterprise business.” He adds: “We can work with whoever we want this way whether that be galleries, local and national artists and companies – as a result, we are able to progress and develop ourselves while supporting other organisations.”

Ben happily comments on new developments at Bar Lane over the coming months. He says: “We have been able to raise enough funds to have CIDA [Cultural Industries Development Agency] come and run a course with us which is open to 25 individuals from the creative sector. The organisation has never run anything in York before and we are very fortunate to be able to get involved with them as it will offer our interns and residents the chance to take their business forward and develop their ideas.”

Yes, indeed! We’ve got loads on. On August 18, we have a special PechaKucha event which will provide a platform for Bar Lane‘s resident and local creatives. The artists that take part will have three minutes to show and talk about their work using a projector – it’s going to be a fantastic challenge. You can find out more about this exciting concept here. We are looking to run these events every two months.

Looking forward, in the second week of next month (September), Bar Lane‘s courses and workshops will commence offering a variety of skills including life drawing, print making and photography – for more details on what’s being offered and how you can get involved, visit the website.

Bar Lane‘s brand new interns have moved in now and have at the time of writing been in there for two days! Six Lips Theatre Company are taking every opportunity to showcase their skills and shine, and they performed a small production down in the basement of our studios (which, incase you were wondering is a part of the building we will be hiring out to anybody that wants to use it as a rehearsal space or, for their creative endeavours). On that note, Six Lips will be performing again tomorrow (August 4) at Bar Lane from 7-9pm – be there or be…bored!

Ben has been observing how the new intake are getting on. “Everyone is settling in nicely and each person is beginning to form relationships and bonds that will help to benefit them – we are already starting to work with the Revolving Gallery [resident artist Nathan Chenery's business] alongside We Performance and the York Artisans are also continuing to work with us.

“It’s important for us to encourage young and new artists to showcase their work and promote themselves – we want everyone to get involved and come on board with what we are doing – we are open to helping everyone from graphic designers to film-makers.” To further promote this aim, Bar Lane has achieved funding (around £2,000) to hold a CDP (Continued Professional Development) course in York which also has 25 spaces to support local creative talent to develop business management skills. The course will cost £300. For more info on CPD and what it can do for you, visit the above link.

The studio has also been gaining momentum recently with great exposure in the local press with spotlights in both newspapers and magazines, not just in York but also outside of the city in key northern cultural hubs including Leeds and Manchester. Ben comments: “The exposure has been very positive because other organisations around the country are hearing about us and getting in touch asking, ‘How did you do it?’ and ‘How can we do the same thing?’ – it’s great that we are getting out there and again, it shows the advantages of being a social enterprise, because we are in a position to help out.”

For you dedicated readers are wanting to know if there’s still some space left at the studios to showcase work, it’s important that you realise that if you don’t succeed getting your work a space at this point then try, try again. Ben comments: “We have a constant stream of established artists wanting to come and exhibit, and we also have a constant stream of applicants looking for space for their work.

“If we can’t fit you in this time, please keep coming back because we are here to help you – if you are interested in working with us, we need a well-written proposal and in that, we have to see that your work is quality and we also need to identify the advantage of you as an artist.”

In other grand news, we’ve sold 22 Matisse paintings since his iconic work has been up in our main gallery! We really didn’t expect to do so well so quickly – again, thank you very much!

Last month we also hosted Danesgate Skill Centre‘s exhibition which featured two skateboarding Nun’s right next to our Matisse collection – it was a great experience having the kids in (some of them had never even been inside a gallery) and thanks to some more positive feedback, we will definitely be working with them again soon. As you can imagine, we’re very excited to see what Danesgate‘s budding artists can create for us next!

One veteran creator that would definitely appreciate the Danesgate approach to art is Part2ism – his work will be showcased at Bar Lane in October – it will be awesome!

That’s it for now!

To visit our official website, click the logo below.

Kind regards and best wishes. Come and visit us soon!

Dom Smith and the team at Bar Lane Studios