An Open Letter to Gunther Brouke

ISPA Academy
Brussels
10^th June 2007

Gunther Brouke
Programme Director
ISPA Congress

Dear Gunther,

An ISPA Academy response to "The Kortrijk Conundrums"

This open letter serves as the response of the ISPA Academy to the key questions that you posed for us on behalf of BUDA project and its interactions with the cultural and political leadership of the City.

We claim the privilege of naivety which even the overview of the Mayor, the knowledge of his staff and the BUDA Kunstencentrum Project and the wisdom that you brought to us in our final workshop could not remove. You asked us:

A]                Is Kortrijk making the right choices?

B]                How can the BUDA Project improve its connections to the local community and internationally?

C]                How to invest in spaces for the arts in smaller towns with the biggest possible return?

You – and those we met – explained to us the aspirations of the project and the problems and issues that it confronts. Our response can be summarised under a small number of headings:

1]                 Location, Location, Location,

As a location for creative work within the new Europe, the international connectivity of Kortrijk astonished us. The TGV network places the City at the hub that connects readily to London Paris, Koln and Amsterdam with a low carbon footprint, reliability and frequency.

This connectivity applies to both journeys "to" and journeys "from". We recommend the preparation of isochrones (travel time maps) illustrating this important aspect of Kortrijk’s offer to a variety of target audiences.

For a tourist or short break visitor its proximity to a number of interesting sites/towns/cities in Belgium and France might offer another economic development trajectory IF the basic offer of the City itself as a base for (niche) tourism could be enhanced.

Within the City, but distinct from it, the Island appears to be perfectly located for its ambition, adjacent to both the Heritage and commercial areas, with a growing/changing residential population and with space to expand the creative production/innovation function (due to the relocation of the hospitals) – with secret gardens at its heart but with a 360 degree river frontage.

An Island set within the City Centre, the wider District, West Flanders, the wider Flemish cultural identity (across state borders) and the "outer rim" of North European connectivity (above) creates a powerful picture of a Project for the new Europe and the new century. Islands can also – and positively - imply a degree of separation or "apartness" that it is consistent with part of the project mission.

An island within a city, however, must be served by bridges that connect it as surely as the waters isolate it. Physical connection is provided by the bridges – old and new. What other forms of "invisible" bridge does the project require?

• Bridges to the artists of the world
• Bridges to an engaged audience
• Bridges to the local community

3]                 Connecting to the world

As an international organisation it is perhaps expectable that the ISPA Academy responded immediately to the global potential of the Kortrijk project. Something so quintessentially European offered huge attractions to artists from elsewhere and – perhaps – what came across as a very inwardly European programme of residencies (funding led by the Culture 2000 programme?) would benefit from a wider international perspective which might also inform connection to new incoming communities in the immediate and wider area. We note that Kortrijk is twinned with Lahore – presumably through the textiles connection? Perhaps other "cultural twins" could be found on other continents – perhaps smaller cities also addressing creativity and innovation in a global context?

The Buda Kunstencentrum website is under reconstruction so it is difficult to gauge its range and role but it appears to be very focused on the programme of the building – almost a brochure – rather than being a virtual extension of the programme globally. It is also difficult to find web based information on the wider cultural programme available in Kortrijk or its surrounding communities.

It was impossible –on the web – to find any sense of the scale of cultural project that we learned about from the Mayor. Rather we have a picture of a "Contemporary Arts Centre" engaged with and connected to a particular dimension of European cultural production but somewhat isolated from a wider global creative community and from other dimensions of cultural policy in its own City/Region/Country.

4]                 Connecting to an engaged audience

We really liked the Companeros programme. A genuine innovation and a very interesting one. It’s local focus seemed appropriate for artists on short residencies BUT we wondered whether the idea could not be developed via the web to create – over time – an extraordinary resource for those who come after, in the previous residents who went before.

We also wondered whether the current 3-4 week residency wasn’t likely in too many cases to be too short? Given the focus on creation and production in such a period there is little space for an artist to experience the particularities of Kortrijk and its region.

An additional thought related to young people – we have those in their late teens and early twenties in mind, those who have not yet left Kortrijk for HE – the most culturally inquisitive and talented of these young people are probably already (and in peer group cohorts) a part of the Kunstencentrum’s audience. Is their a "student companeros" programme to be developed for this key group of potential future returnees?

Such a "student" group would also offer potent connections into globalising cultural forms particularly practiced/consumed by this broad age group and offer early intimations of forms and processes of production still to come.

5]                 Connecting to the Local Community – establishing the context

If we were astonished as a group by the ease of travel connection to major and global cities in Northern Europe, we were equally surprised and impressed by the quality and accessibility of the arts to the local community. We learnt of local peripheral villages with Community Arts Centres and of an exemplary music education policy which made instrumental tuition freely available to all.

We visited Museums and some magnificent heritage buildings and were told of plans for a new gallery, a new building for a theatre company, a dance company and – of course – the 20 screen cinema complex that made the Kunstencentrum building available. From the web site there is clearly an extraordinary older theatre. Again, it proved impossible to find a site on the web that brought all of these offers for "cultural consumption" – daytime, evenings, night-time, weekends - together.

The Mayor’s fundamental purpose is economic as well as cultural. He is seeking creative industries to replace what could be a rapidly declining manufacturing sector. His officers attend international conferences on the creative economy, he has succeeded in bringing the National Centre for Industrial Design Excellence to the City but, again, a short search could not find references to a creative industries inward investment strategy.

We are aware that "governance" is at many levels in Belgium and we guess that this must make it difficult for any one tier of local/regional/provincial government to "claim" and promote an overview of the culturql sector in all of its manifestations.

This suggests to us that a sectoral overview – a "cultural audit" of assets and development strategies – might be a useful tool for the Mayor to consider commissioning. Such an audit would provide a context for the BUDA project which currently appears to be missing. An outline contents of such an audit is attached.

6]                 Connecting to the local community – plugs and sockets

We believe that once the BUDA project is set within the broader framework of policies, facilities and resources that are targeted at access to culture for the local community, a great deal of the current pressure will be removed and BUDA may be able to be celebrated (and criticised) for what it is achieving (or not) against its actual mandate.

An observation – one we have not been able to check – is that sometimes cities focus their community access cultural provision in the peripheral/dormitory areas leaving the City Centre to provide more specialist facilities for artists and the already engaged audience. A problem occurs when City Centres are also the residential base for a large and diverse population that has as much right to their own "access" facility/programmes as the peripheral estates – and sometimes a greater economic/cultural need. Consideration could be given to the creation of such a City Centre Community Cultural Facility or programme.

This is not a role for the BUDA project or its management, unless the project became big enough to carry a community as well as an innovation wing without imbalancing itself. Token community programmes within contemporary production focused arts organisations almost never work and their fundamental inauthenticity can be an insidious poison.

7]                 Connecting to Higher Education and Creative Industry start-up

We were fascinated by what we learnt of the position of Higher Education in West Flanders. No major institutions but the growth of "Foundation degrees" producing a student body of 10,000 with most leaving for the completion of their undergraduate degrees. We assume that no new major university is in the pipeline and tend to view a period "away from home" as a useful part of growing up.

Given the overall strategy the key task is – therefore – to attract the most talented back at a later (though not too late) period in their lives. It is here that "National Status" – such as that just awarded for Industrial Design – and internationally known cultural projects (such as BUDA) become critically important alongside the geographical connectivity referred to earlier.

Residency opportunities allied to available studio/business start up space and modest start up grants have been shown to be key attractors at critical stages in the development of both artists’ practice and small creative businesses. "Residency" and Research Degrees are also closely allied and there is increasingly no need for co-location with a HE institution during the research degree process in many fields.

BUDA could run specialist seminars (juxtaposed for "smallness" reasons with conferences) in all fields of creativity and innovation. Through such a programme the island can become a key location in identified niche markets/research areas at low cost. It might also seek a reputation for its seminars being longer and slower and more considered than the norm.

"Smaller" and "Slower" will not attract all but it will attract many. Again, ensuring that residencies are long enough for a "fit" to be found (or re-found) with the locality seems important.

8]                 The Island itself – first thoughts

The presence of BARCO intrigued us. There were no signs of the external advertising screens in the public realm that many of us are used to in our home cities. Could something innovative be developed?

The Island is a mixture of secret gardens and "secret" studios.

Could we be allowed into the secret gardens and could they provide a setting for sculpture as well as nature and contemplation?

Could we use screen technology to bring artists’ process closer to the public (see www.artistsatwork.org ) as well as using the screens for the exhibition of digital work?

Some in the Academy argued that such an approach may have a particular – and innovative – importance in the contemporary performing arts where – traditionally – the processes of making work have been closed to the public. Films, Television and Music have discovered huge public interest in the making processes. Could BUDA pioneer the exploration of "how to" share the making process of performance?

Were this approach to the Island to capture the imagination it could enable a far larger BUDA residency project to be contemplated. In addition to the tower block that is under consideration for live-work space for artists, what about the redundant heritage hospital buildings?

9]                 Art, style or culture?

Our final comment comes from another continent and it was voiced with regard and respect for what had been achieved. Perhaps it speaks to the particular art project? Perhaps it speaks to the spokesmen and women that we met? Perhaps it speaks to a far older and more deep rooted Flemish culture? Our colleague suggested that a bit more soul and a bit less "cleverness" would probably aid communication with many of those that BUDA needed to communicate with.

Gunther, we had a truly enjoyable and stimulating visit to Kortrijk. We consider it an exceptionally well located small city that is ahead of the Creativity pack. We hope that some of these ideas are of interest and that at least one proves useful.

Sincerely,

THE ISPA ACADEMY 2007

1]           The approach

A process that involves:

• Listening as well as counting
• Quality as well as Quantity Surveying
• Location in history as well as location on the land

A sector that involves:

• Addressing Values as well as adding value
• Making meaning as well as making money
• Knowing the maker as well as knowing the market

A Report that addresses

• The unique signature of a place
• The future frameworks in which it will operate
• How it can be used to the benefit of the City and its communities

2]           Mapping the wider context for culture

• Geographical Location
• Heritage and histories
• The economy
• Demography
• Governance
• political nature
• structures
• Institutional strength
• Education

3]           The Cultural Context - Institutional

• Heritage
• Performing Arts - Music, Theatre, Dance
• Visual Arts – Fine Arts, Crafts, Design, Architecture
• Media based arts – Cinema, Film, Television, Digital, Audio
• Community facilities
• Integration with education
• Professional Training

4]           The Cultural Context – the individual

• Performing Arts - Music, Theatre, Dance
• Visual Arts – Fine Arts, Crafts, Design, Architecture
• Media based arts – Film, Television, Digital, Audio
• Entry paths through the Community
• Entry paths through Education
• Entry paths through relocation
• Professional Training
• Space, networks, start-up support, Continuing Professional Development

5]           The strategic policy framework

• Cultural Consumption/Citizens & Vistors
• Cultural production
• Heritage protection
• Creative Industries
• Cultural Tourism
• Education and Training
• Housing and work spaces
• Transport

6]           Comparators and Competitors

• Establish a comparator/competitor "club"
• Identify key comparative strengths
• Identify gaps/opportunities
• Prioritise effort
• Benchmark ambition, set targets and milestones
• Future proof where you can
• Hold space back against the market