Since launching Common Ground Leaders, the group have been busy taking part in loads of different activities…
Masterclasses
We run monthly masterclasses for the group, where they learned sector-specific skills from industry professionals.
- How Heritage Inspires Creativity
Our first masterclass took place on the evening of March 4 over Zoom. Katie Green, creator of The Imagination Museum, led a one-hour masterclass that explored how heritage can inspire creativity. She covered how she works as a freelance creative, why she chooses to work in heritage settings, and how to find and harness inspiration in these spaces.
The masterclass was followed by a one-hour action group, where the Leaders put into practise what they’d just learned by designing a Common Ground event for the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Katie’s masterclass provided some great inspiration and got the group thinking about how to creatively represent heritage in their upcoming Festival event.
2. Creating an Artist Brief
This session was run on 29 March by Grace Davies, previous Contemporary Arts Programme Manager for the National Trust, and their current curator in South Wales. After covering the processes behind hiring an artist, creating a brief, and selecting an application, Grace helped the group begin writing their own artist brief for the Festival event. By the end of the action group, the Leaders had nearly written a whole brief for their callout for artists – pretty impressive, right?!
3. Copywriting in Arts and Heritage
As part of the continuing preparation for Living Landscapes, our third masterclass focused on writing copy in the arts and heritage sector. Steve Forster of SFP Communications taught the group how to effectively write copy and sell their event for Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2021. After covering topics such as research, audience, content and editing, the Leaders went on to create their own copy to advertise Living Landscapes.
4. Didn’t We Do Well? A Masterclass in Evaluation
How do you determine success? Evaluation Consultant Andrea Spain led this masterclass to guide the group through the various ways of evaluating projects in the arts and heritage sector. She covered the quantitative and qualitative methods, before showing the steps involved in monitoring, feedback and triangulation.
As part of the action group, the Leaders helped to consider ways in which Common Ground can evaluate future projects. The ideas the group generated for using social media as an evaluation tool were taken on board by Andrea and will be put to use by Common Ground!
5. Running Your Own Workshop
Run by creative Rose Feather, the two-hour session taught the Leaders all they need to know about preparing to deliver their own workshops. Rose covered basics about workshop planning as well as giving detail about approaches to learning and making a career out of it.
6. Nature Conservation
Run by wildlife presenter and conservation ranger Ajay Tegala, the two-hour session gave a great introduction to nature conservation, what it means and how to get involved.
During the masterclass, Ajay covered…
What is conservation? How he got into conservation Protecting wildlife Rewilding How you can join in
7. Freelancing in the Arts
Led by London-based based freelance theatre director, actor, and facilitator Lexine Lee, the 2 hour session covered everything you need to know when setting out as a freelancer in the arts!
The session started with Lexine sharing her amazing knowledge, then participants worked on short tasks to get them thinking about themselves as creative freelancers!
8. Collaborative Project Planning
Community curator and facilitator JMCAnderson led a masterclass on how to collaborate with others to successfully plan & deliver creative projects and events. Jade shared her background the projects she’s worked on. Then participants looked at their own ideas and discovered the basics of project planning through zine making!
9. Heritage + Tech
This session was led by Liam from Collusion, an arts organisation which creates public artworks through the creative use of emerging technologies. It was an opportunity to get hands-on with the equipment Collusion works with like, as well as learning about skills such as visual mixing, projections, interactivity and mixed reality. Participants discovered new ideas about how you can use technology in your work & learnt more about creative industries
Living Landscapes
Common Ground Leaders were tasked with putting on an event at 2021’s Norfolk & Norwich Festival to represent Common Ground (no pressure).
From deciding the form and commissioning artists, to marketing the event and helping with production, the Leaders had full control every step of the way.
The Living Landscapes exhibition ran from 24 to 29 May at the Undercroft in Norwich. See the results of their event here.
Cley Marshes Exhibition
Throughout November 2021, the Leaders curated an exhibition at Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Cley Marshes using content from Common Ground’s summer project at Roydon Common.
The group got involved in selecting the photos to be displayed, curating a theme, visiting the exhibition space and much more. You can read more about the process over on our blog.
Commissions
- Photography: one of our Leaders, Jordan Hunnisett, led a photoshoot of the group and got some cracking headshots for individuals to use. Check out his work here.
- Illustration: another Leaders member, Callum Ritchie, worked on illustrating a bespoke Arts Award pack created by Common Ground.
- Workshop: Artist and Common Ground Leader Ellen Harling was commissioned by Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Common Ground to deliver a workshop as part of Cley Calling 2021. Check out Ellen’s website and view the results of the workshop on her Instagram.
- Workshop: As part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival in 2022, we commissioned 5 Leaders to curate, design and facilitate a creative hands-on activity at the Garden Party – an open event in Chapelfield Park with activity stalls.