The next interview for my research into Perceptions of Coaching in the UK Creative Industries was with Richard Scott, founding Director of Surface Architects. Surface was formed by Richard in 1996, in collaboration with philosopher Jeremy Weate and architect Kristen Whittle. Their first project ‘Soft-space’ won first prize in the Shinkenchiku-Sha Residential Design Award in Japan and ‘Aquaphilia’ was one of the ‘Ideal Rooms’ exhibited at the RIBA in 1997. At this time Richard worked for Will Alsop and taught History & Theory at the Bartlett and the AA with Jeremy Weate.

From 1999, Richard concentrated on Surface, winning a competition for the headquarters for new media company Razorfish. Surface’s next project was to be their largest to date. The £6M South Eastern European University in Macedonia was designed and constructed in 10 months, using pre-fabrication.

Andy MacFee, who was the project architect for Will Alsop’s Peckham Library, joined Surface in 2001 as director. Richard and Andy’s work together aims at the emergence or ‘surfacing’ of new experimental possibilities, promoting an architecture of rich experience.

Surface were the highest placed British practice (third) in the Building Design/Corus Young Architect of the Year Award 2004 and were third again in 2005. Significant built projects for Queen Mary, University of London have brought the practice critical recognition. Read the rest of this entry »

 Standard Podcast: Download

The Squidoo Creativity Group is a couple of weeks old and now features a range of excellent lenses. For now I’ve divided it into three categories:

Weird and Wonderful

Featuring Steve’s Creative Generalist lens, about his inspiring blog of the same name, Todd’s Creativity and the Creative Paradox, based on the book Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie (which I’ve now added to my ‘to read’ list) and Rachel’s Vagaries, Whims and Fancies is a bit difficult to sum up but that’s part of it’s appeal. I found Russell’s Creative Spaces lens particularly interesting as I blogged about creative environments in the summer.

Creative Writing

Kimberly has put together a comprehensive c.v. of herself as an author as well as prompting you for The Next Big Idea for Your Book. Angela points us to lots of useful Resources for Writers, and Roshen orders us to Write That Damn Story!. Luckycharms is manager of an online article directory, so it’s worth paying attention to How to Create Content and Articles that Get Results. I’m in poets’ corner with my lens on Writing Poetry.

Visual Arts

Victoria and Elizabeth have both put together beautiful lenses about their artwork, and Mark showcases his photography service for dancers on the 2rightfeet lens.

INVITATION: Showcase Your Own Creativity in the Creativity Group
Squidoo is free and easy to use - You’re welcome to join the Creativity Group by making a lens about:

• Your creative work
• Your creative company or service (e.g. here’s my Coaching Creative Professionals lens)
• Your creative hero
• Creativity tips and techniques
• Any other aspect of creativity

You can also vote in the poll - Creativity: Inspiration or Perspiration?

More about the group on my original blog post, and here’s the Squidoo FAQ. Any questions, let me know…

PS sorry for the blank ‘testing’ post earlier on… was trying out a new blog editor which seems a bit trigger happy!

On my trip to Birmingham to research Perceptions of Coaching in the UK Creative Industries I spoke to Antonio Gould and Sara Harris.

Antonio is an independent consultant and producer working across media. After ten years as a new media producer his work now centres around the creative industries, the future of digital content and the application of creativity and technology to education. He was also a co-founder with Stef Lewandowski of the interactive design agency 3form. His current projects include producing a six month series of podcasted radio shows for Channel 4 IdeasFactory, exploring the potential of new media for creative people, and leading the development of a tool called the Lightbox which will be used in the facilitation of film workshops. His blog is at http://antoniogould.com/

Sara is Director of Media Content Lab, Media Skills, Notion Studio and Screen Media Lab, Deputy Course Director: MA Media Production and Senior Lecturer in Digital Media at UCE. As head of Externally Funded Projects within the Department of Media & Communication at UCE, she leads a team of 20 staff engaging with businesses from the creative industries in a number of ways. Its latest venture is Notion Studio, which offers expertise in animation and digital video with aim of working with new talent to develop projects which use animation techniques as alternative media, looking at different production processes and exploring its uses in teaching and learning. Sara is a Knowledge Transfer Fellow and has recently developed a Master’s course in Media Enterprise.

Their combined range of practical and academic experience made for a lively discussion about managing people in creative businesses. Look out for more interview podcasts over the next few weeks.

 Interview with Antonio Gould and Sara Harris: Download

Keen observers of this blog’s sidebar will have noticed a new section appearing under the ‘Categories’ over the past few days: Books + Links for Creative Professionals. I got the idea when I realised I was writing similar e-mails to coaching clients over and over again, recommending the same books, websites and other resources. So rather than keep reinventing the wheel each time, I thought I’d gather the recommendations in one place for easy reference.

I’ve started the series with pages on Creativity and Intellectual Property. There are plenty more pages in the pipeline, on topics ranging from the imaginative and esoteric to the practical and financial aspects of working as an artist or running a creative business.

Everything I recommend will be things I’ve used myself or that my clients have told me has been useful to them. I hope you find something to help you in your creative work, and would love to hear your feedback about any of the recommendations.

Please let me know if there’s a topic you’d like me to cover in future Books + Links pages, or a resource you think other readers would find useful.

I had an amazing day earlier this month at the Playtime event organised by Tim Wright at 01zero-one as part of the London Games Fringe. I first came across Tim’s work at Warwick University when he was one of the guest speakers on the MA in Creative and Media Enterprises, and showed us his amazing games combining books, websites and mobile technology. It’s hard to explain how they work, but if ‘imaginary total fulfilment’ sounds like your cup of tea, check out Tim’s XPT site.

For Playtime Tim assembled an excellent lineup of speakers covering a range of disciplines and meanings of the word ‘play’. And refreshingly for an event involving computer games, there wasn’t a console in sight.

Pat Kane set the scene by talking about the social and cultural context of play, based on his book The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living, which argues that in rich countries the work ethic that has governed societies since the industrial revolution is now giving way to a ‘play ethic’ - so work is becoming more like play (particularly in creative industries) and playfulness pervades business, the arts, education, politics, education and family life. So far so fluffy - but his talk got really interesting when he highlighted the dark side of play, in the ‘addictive’ quality of computer games, the coercive behaviour of crowds at football matches, and even the treatment of war as a game, in the rhetoric of US officials who have frequently talked about ‘changing the rules of the game’ in the war on terror.

I couldn’t help thinking about my first experience of paintballing on a recent stag weekend - at the beginning of the game, we were just a bunch of hungover thirtysomething blokes lumbering around sheepishly (and getting wiped out by a squadron of 12 year old boys), but by the end we had all somehow become possessed by the spirit of the game and were hell-bent on using all our aggression and cunning on taking out ‘the enemy’. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll be at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on 4th November, talking about my experience of editing Magma poetry magazine. Details on the Magma site and ‘next door’ on my poetry blog.

I’ve just set up a Creativity Group on Squidoo, to connect creative people and share ideas and inspiration. This is your invitation to join in - by making a Squidoo lens (free web page) about your creative work, your company, your favourite creative artist/thinker, or any other aspect of creativity that interests you.

Squidoo is the latest venture from marketing guru Seth Godin. Based on the idea that ‘everyone’s an expert on something’, the Squidoo site gives you a quick, easy and free way to create web pages about your interests and enthusiasms, and connect with like-minded people. Typical lenses include text and images, links to books and websites relating to the topic, quick surveys and blog feeds. Here’s one I made earlier, about Writing Poetry, and this is my lens about Coaching Creative Professionals. Download the Everyone’s an Expert e-book for the principles behind Squidoo.

A Squidoo Group is a collection of lenses on a common topic, with a group host who is responsible for maintaining it. For example I’m hosting the Creativity Group, ‘Boredofeducation’ is hosting the Squidoo Book Club, Seth Godin has a Business Books Group, and so on.

Read the rest of this entry »

The next interview for my research project on Perceptions of Coaching in the UK Creative Industries was with Chris Grant, a consultant and founder of 14A Conversations. Chris has 25 years’ experience of consulting in a wide range of industries, including the Creative Industries sector.

At 14A Conversations Chris and his colleague Ann Lyon work with clients ranging from Government Departments to Community Groups; from PR Consultancies to Global TV Channels. Chris describes his trade as “a builder of bridges” and aspires to be “an alchemist”.

Because of his wide experience, Chris was a good person to ask whether or not the ‘people management’ challenges faced by creative businesses are essentially any different to other industries. Authenticity is a key theme of this interview, as Chris emphasises the importance of managers’ intentions as well as their behavioural skills, whatever the style of management they employ.

Thanks for staying with the blog during the recent hiatus in posting, while I’ve been hard at work on the research project report.

This interview takes us to almost half-way through the series - there will be plenty more posted over the next few weeks, plus I’m looking forward to having more time for writing posts.

Click the ‘AUDIO MP3′ icon below to hear the interview.

 Interview with Chris Grant: Download