Tim Wilson was going to lend me his notes to type up but in the process turned them into an article which we’re publishing here. follow Tim via twitter @timmy666 or contact him: tim@creative-knowledge.com
The use of empty space is very important for the cultural sector in Birmingham. In fact, it’s an essential part of the sustainability of the creative and cultural sectors for towns and cities across Europe.
Over recent years, in Birmingham, the use of empty space has been a pivotal part of its cultural activity. For example, take the clever use of shop space over recent years, from Friction Arts’ Curio City Shop to Birmingham City Council’s ‘Art in empty spaces’ programme to the We Are Birmingham shop.
The focus of Biting Back’s session on empty space was the use of industrial spaces, especially important to major cities like Birmingham. In the Jewellery Quarter and Eastside, multiple examples of the use of empty industrial space, from Minerva Works to the Custard Factory to Fazeley Studios have shown the cultural sector’s ability to innovate in the face of resource and financial pressures.
Such ability can be contrasted though with the realities of maintaining a space under the mounting pressures of resource and a changing funding ecology, as the recently announced closure of Ikon Eastside has sadly demonstrated.
So, is art in empty spaces, an opportunity or a liability for artists?
Biting Back introduced two examples, one from Madrid and one of Birmingham, each showing the use of industrial empty space, and how creative communities use the resources available to them in an appropriate manner.
Stan’s Café is a Birmingham based theatre company with a burgeoning reputation for creating some of the most original and exciting work in theatre. From Be Proud of Me to The Cleansing of Constance Brown, the company’s work has been thrilling audiences in Birmingham and across the world.
Stan Café’s James Yarker introduced his use of space as an important part of his career journey, from putting on performances in his bedroom (what James referred to as his ‘Kids from Fame’ moment) to the organisation’s desire to realise a more flexible and suitable venue for the highly acclaimed theatre company – which ultimately led to their move to a unique industrial location in the Jewellery Quarter.
AE Harris in Birmingham Ltd is the installation space and location for Stan’s Café and, as the theatre organisation explains on their website, “for reasons of scale, expense, messiness or outrageous oddness (they) could find no other home in the city.”
The journey to getting to this point has been an adventure in itself. Took on initially as a two year project, the venue has been a very important part of Stan’s Café’s growth. Using an industrial space in the Jewellery Quarter to put on highly acclaimed productions is indicative of how the creative communities of Birmingham have occupied empty spaces as part of its growth.
In outlining the key aspects of the brief for using the space, James demonstrated that the space was in itself reflective of the ethos of the organisation:
- being able to share with other people;
- building a theatre scene in Birmingham;
- helping other people to have a space to rehearse and present work;
- allowing for things you cannot do in other spaces or architectures;
- not being proscriptive.
Stan’s Café has made full use of this empty space to create an environment for fun, freedom and ideas, through which an artistic community can grow and thrive, and through which new people from artists to audiences can take advantage of the resource available.
Equally, in his presentation such positivity was tempered by the challenges of maintaining an space, such as:
- Cost: it is expensive to take on a building and ensuring revenue streams to maintain it is vitally important.
- Politics: James described himself a “benign dictator”: the need to get things done quickly, to know where to draw the line, and to ensure that things happen.
- Resource: a team of three hyperactive paid staff can often struggle find the time to do maintenance work, fill in an application form, let alone maintain the venue on a day to day basis.
Indeed, when asked what success looks like, James admitted it would be having the ability to take on a fourth member of paid staff to manage the venue.
Nonetheless, it is not surprising that an edgy and vibrant theatre company like Stan’s Café would create an equally edge and vibrant space through which to create its productions.
Built in the 18th century, La Tabacalera was home to the Royal Tobacco Company until 1999 when 400 years of industry ended and the building became an empty space.
Out of an empty industrial space, a collaborative self-managed art space was born with the cooperation of local artists and the Spanish ministry of culture.
This is a huge building (about three times larger than the mac) and the place operates as a vibrant cultural centre and a raw canvas for artists and communities to come together and be creative.
On the surface, this seems like a simple brief, indicative of the Spanish proletariat culture which lends itself to a notion of free community, sharing and of togetherness.
Yet its simplicity isn’t a coincidence as literally everything is free, hence presenter Antonio’s bold assertion that “if you give for free, people accept responsibilities”. He backed this up in examples of La Tabacalera’s activities:
- there is no commerce or money exchanged in the display or presentation of art (nothing is sold);
- there is a shop but people exchange possessions i.e. you bring an item in and take one away;
- use what is on the site by reusing or recycling materials.
Antonio was confident in the power of the collective and spoke throughout as “we” and not “I”: “we build everything” and “everything is decided together”, he proclaimed.
Amongst many anecdotes, he said that the space is full of unemployed architects, who are victims of the property crisis, sketching and plotting in the space. Additionally, everyone in the collective works to keep the space maintained and learn the skills required to maintain the space from plumbing to decorating.
Once again though, such a huge space has its pressures in terms of time, resource and limited budgets:
- the responsibility is on the venue’s communities who use and share the space to maintain it;
- in a community, there have been certain problems with violence or drug taking, but once again the proletariat culture has meant that these people have been identified and relevant actions have been taken to root these problems out.
Clearly, whilst La Tabacalera is a business model which reflects the environment it is in (as a proletariat of Madrid), it also demonstrates the differences of Spanish laws, rules and regulations compared to those of the UK.
Yet La Tabacalera has received very little funding from the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry obviously approve of the business model – and so they should.
As Antonio confidently asserted, “if you propose a good deal, it works”.
So, what does this tell us?
Whilst both examples operate under two very different business models, both studies demonstrate the entrepreneurialism of passionate and authentic leaders looking to bring people and communities together.
It shows that on a basic level, rather than empty properties being left and exposed to vandalism, crime and squatting, empty spaces are being used. After all, empty properties impact on surroundings and also market value.
The spaces also reflect the importance of diversity and distinctiveness as a catalyst for creativity, and seek to make the most of the talent available across all sections of the local population.
Furthermore, as Anna Douglas highlighted in the session, both examples demonstrate the importance of the aesthetics of a space. Both examples also show how creative people are true innovators of space, and that a disused industrial space can be the lifeblood of artistic opportunity and collaboration.
Spaces that are authentic and unique and also embrace artists and creative people help a community to develop an identity that is distinctive.
So in Birmingham, with buildings being left unused and development sites remaining empty, do we leave spaces empty or do we make the case for the creative and cultural sectors to innovate in the use of space further?
Before jumping to a unanimous ‘yes’, such opportunity needs to be contrasted with the pressures which Clayton Shaw highlighted when summing up the session:
- the need for flexibility of Space
- the liabilities of space such as building and maintenance costs to ensure that space is affordable
- the problems of time, commitment and energy of people
The speakers were up front about such pressures, but also demonstrated the resourcefulness that creative communities have in dealing with these pressures, even under the most difficult of circumstances.
In Birmingham, such ingenuity and flexibility in the use of space has been creating real value and service to our vibrant and diverse cultural offer for years – from pop-up culture through to a more permanent use of space.
A strong narrative needs to be created to reflect the values and ambitions of creatives who use these spaces. This blog piece isn’t a rallying cry but rather a nudge towards making a strong and relevant value proposition to demonstrate to other sectors, new audiences and key decision makers how very capable creatives are in using empty spaces:
- how the effective use of space through culture and creativity is a key driver of regeneration and job creation and that in a time of fluctuating economies;
- how, in turn, this language of creativity in space can be engrained in business development and management per se.
Furthermore such a narrative could also possibly make a case to ensure that any future changes in urban planning and building regulations do not hinder or jeopardise future use of space.
Here represents the opportunity for the cultural sector to advocate for how it successfully uses ‘space’ as a tangible, economically viable and sustainable part of the changing urban fabric of Birmingham.
