gregklerkx's posterous

Bourne Again

We can finally (finally!) talk about the exciting gig we're going to lead this summer: a site-responsive, slack-space, community-driven happening in Sittingbourne (Kent) that we're calling re:bourne. Nominally, this is a community festival...but it's so much more. Re:bourne has narrative content, hidden spaces, surprises, interactivity and wonder; it's visual, aural, performative and experiential. All of it, though, is in service of a very clear and important goal:  to allow the people of Sittingbourne and Swale to re-experience a familiar and economically-challenged part of their community (we're using an entire section of the high street as the event space, including unused commercial spaces). More, the community will have created and directly inputted into what results in the final event. While we're leading it, they're creating it. When we're gone, they will carry on with what's been created.

The 'we' in this context is more than Nimble Fish; we've partnered with a new Kent-based arts organisation called Workers of Art, which includes some friends and colleagues we've known and respect for some time now. We've never embarked on a collaboration on this scale, in which we are joined at the hip artistically and financially. Scary? Sure. The level of communication required to keep all of us on the same page is remarkable. But as previous posts have underscored, we think this is the way of the future in the cultural sector. Watch this space: we'll be blogging a lot about re:bourne itself, the process of collaboration, and any number of things brought to light therein. Let us know what you think.