ࡱ> CEB@ `6jbjb *LF0l|||||||$$$$8\p4$"VXXXXXX,7 Wt|||h||VJJ||||V` :,||J a$$B~ VRVA Note about Prototypes. One of the trade-marks of Welfare State International and one reason why over 38 years we were given reasonable and increasing funding was our proven ability to invent, or re-discover significant prototypes of cultural performance. These prototypes included lantern festivals, street bands, site specific theatre, processional theatre, ceremonies for contemporary rites of passage and a concept of applied vernacular and participatory art researched and demonstrated within specific communities. In the area of Community Art one advantage of these prototypes was that they could be and have been readily copied and disseminated to a wide congregation both at home and around the world. The companys book Engineers of the Imagination by Baz Kershaw and Tony Coult has been re printed five times since 1983 and (brought up to date by John Foxs Eyes on Stalks, Methuen 2002) is still a seminal text for the Community Arts Movement.The other books, the Dead Good Guides on Funerals and Namings written by Sue Gill and John Fox, and also reprinted, have had a similar positive influence on domestic ceremonies and the funeral industry in the UK and Australia. As well as these prototypes the company has in the last five years pioneered three others. Lanternhouse. Lanternhouse, our centre for the celebratory arts opened in at Ulverston in January 1999. A 2.2 million project funded by the National Lottery for the Arts it received awards from the Civic Trust and was short-listed for the Sterling Prize. Originally designed and run by artists, it demonstrated a way in which artists could work in partnership with their local community, providing workshops, networks and self generated models of art works and accessible art practice. The centre became distinct from the standard art house( designed to receive peripatetic art products )because it offered an armature of thematic material linked to specific local concerns in the context of seasonal and cyclical festivals. Any necessary performance and making skills were facilitated by professional artists working with local people in response to the underlying armature. As a gathering point and sometimes a haven, for both community and artists in residence, Lanternhouse has played a role not unlike that of the traditional parish church. In the context of most Art Centres this pattern is unusual and a significant prototype worth copying. Longline, the Armature. Longline the Carnival Opera was premiered in March 2006. It was the climactic event of a three year themed programme which began in June 2003 with a well attended public meeting in Lanternhouse. Using the context of Morecambe Bay, our beautiful and dangerous estuary neighbour, we connected with its geology, history and mythology and gathered stories from communities who live and work round its perimeter. This theme provided a firm armature for an elaborate programme. Although the work grew organically as ideas evolved, (with many people including scientists, musicians, poets, artists, naturalists and children providing information and stories )the thematic armature anchored a series of installations, exhibitions, concerts, books, parades, performances, CDs and DVDs, mostly around Lanternhouse. These were: Longline Act One (2003) when our choirs, (Lanternhouse Voices and the Junior Choir )directed by Ali Rigg, Therese Johnson and Neil Armstrong performed concerts on the subjects of the evolution and ecology of the Bay. One Rock(2003/04) a mixed media installation in our Cruck Barn examined the micro, macro and mythic aspects of a limestone rock on the west side of the Bay. Visited by 3000 people it was described by Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of England as moving, beautiful and profound. An Ocean of Sound (2004 ) , a concert and CD, extended the musical material with internationally acclaimed musicians Inder Goldfinger, Tyndale Thomas, James Squire and Dan Fox under the direction of Tim Fleming. Bay Tales(2004) the exhibition of portrait photographs by Ania Grom Yoncali based on stories gathered by Gilly Adams, Sue Gill and Linda Graham from local people which re surfaced six months later as a fine art limited edition book. Moons in the Mud( 2004/05) was a small but very evocative sculptural installation by Hannah Fox depicting stories and images which were displayed in a henge of fifties domestic furniture. Barebones (2005) was an intense distillation of selected stories presented with a team of twenty during one week of performances of accessible music theatre. Using film, live music and songs, puppetry and conjuring in a specially designed 80 seater cockpit theatre inside the Cruck Barn it was a sell out and could have run for another week. Junk Bands. (2005) A collection of strange but functional musical instruments invented by Dave Young and Dan Fox were assembled, displayed and played on occasion by people from the community. Mad March Weekend.(2005). Noeline Kavagnah our performance director worked over weekly sessions with scores of young people to create a wild street procession leading to repeated promenade performances in our Cruck Barn. The Bay themes were interpreted freely leading to a pageant style conflict between bureacratic sharks and punk sardines referee-ed by a youthful Prospero. July Picnic (2005) The first WSI performance in our amphitheatre lasted a long hot Saturday. With numerous ambient interventions from all Noelines groups including the Stan Laurelettes, as outrageous picnic-ers, it featured a dragon kiln by Martin Brockman, stilt walking crows, with much music from the Lanternhouse choirs and percussion bands and Blast Furness ( the in house street band ) and a 60 strong tuned plastic bottle orchestra assembled for the day by Matt Hill a visiting Australian artist. Also percussion, voice and dragon making workshops were provided over the day for 500 visitors many of whom participated in the evening performance. We received many accolades from people valuing the safe mini festival environment. Also we discovered that a public rehearsal in the late afternoon (for the evenings finale ) could hold a big and appreciative audience. The Lantern parade. September 2005 The 23rd (and last WSI) parade was also linked to the central thematic armature. Hundreds of Ulverstonian participants made lanterns based on Our Morecambe Bay and the WSI finale featured four giant lanterns ,a heron, a moon and a prehistoric elk rising in a ship of fools. This was a symbol of WSIs own farewell journey and linked with the imagery from both the Mad March weekend and the ultimate Carnival Opera. Winter Rising the Second. December 2005 the penultimate event of the whole Longline sequence was an exorcism in carnival style. It was another wild and fiery street parade this time featuring a giant silver motorised Do nut owned by the Dodgy Skeleton Company who were taking over Lanternhouse . The audience followed to attend repeated performances in various rooms of Lanternhouse, a Cloak room of Dead Souls, a Board room/ Interrogation Centre of No Return, a Haunted Cinema and a Croupiers Ballroom. Although the model was similar to the Mad March Weekend all the performers and singers were stretched to a more sophisticated level and asked to devise and improvise around a complex surreal scenario and script. As preparation for the final Longline, the Carnival Opera in March 2006 (See prototype 3) it was ideal training ground. ________________________________________________________ The principles behind this method are simple yet MOST precise. M. Maintain and accelerate momentum over a sustained period. Probably years O. Ownership of source material must be acknowledged and developed in partnership with the participants S. Skills are crucial and it is the responsibility of the facilitator(s), where appropriate, to discover, develop/train and stretch the potential of all participants. Where the participant has more skills than the facilitator the facilitator still has the responsibility of placing those skills to their best advantage. T. Trust is essential. The process presumes a gift relationship where every member of the team feels valued and supported by everyone else in an open working non-competitive environment. 3. Longline, the Carnival Opera. This work was presented over four evening performances and one matinee between 14 and 18 March 2006. Premiered in a hired circus tent in our amphi-theatre the show lasted two and a half hours with an interval and involved 140 professional and amateur performers, most of them local, playing to an audience averaging 250 for each performance. This final gig of Welfare State International was the summation of the three years work described above. Although The Carnival Opera was written by John Fox WSIs Artistic Director with an original score by Tim Fleming, the Musical Director the process was one of continual distillation with source material passed back and forth between groups. While taking regular risks and experimenting with forms we created specific stepping stones (such as performances or installations) at key stages. So the whole work grew organically to become, eventually, an elaborate and unique example of music theatre. It finally encompassed a seven piece multi instrumental band (including four singers ),a thirty strong choir, street bands, acrobats, bunraku-style puppets, sculptures, scenery ,props, giant lanterns, pyrotechnics and sixty young performers from both secondary and primary schools. Although this final manifestation of the Longline armature was difficult to mount (because of a limited budget, short rehearsal time and snow) and we were forced to open without a proper technical or dress rehearsal, it still held together. We certainly had a team of extremely experienced, talented and energetic artists working very long hours but we also had massive support from an equally dedicated, loyal and committed team of volunteers from the community. The division between amateur and professional melted away and despite or because of this, everybody on the ground helped everybody else. It was a good example of MOST ( see above )in action. This gave the event a particular ambience. More of a gathering of like minded souls rallying together to achieve a necessary objective (as in rite or ritual ceremony,) than most contemporary theatre. Frequently this congregation of people also became an audience but they were also friends, fans and even pilgrims in a network or on a journey. Conceptually it was the most difficult gig in WSIs long evolution because there were three potentially conflicting agendas: the entertainment for the punters, the climax for the community (after three years work)s and the farewell for and with WSIs artists, members and friends. In the end I believe we created a gathering, an entertainment AND a rite of passage but above all we made an Affirmation and it is in this area where I think we can claim a new prototype. It was a Celebratory Affirmation witnessed by everyone present, including those random strangers who were drawn in as an audience for theatre. We were affirming a community, shared values of anti excessive consumerism, a comprehension of the global in the local, respect for and understanding of the history and geography of our hinterland, simple beauty and the sheer pleasure of being alive with our friends, acquaintances and neighbours. The Longline project could not be described as religious, as religion demands deities and priests, neither was it an act of worship as that usually implies idolatry and the word spiritual is too vague and clichd. However inLongline, the Carnival Opera we achieved connection between people of all generations and people and their environment; we also discovered peace of mind and travelled well away from the mundane. I am happy to call that a Celebratory Affirmation. Its one kind of ART. A useful prototype. Maybe a reflection of our earliest manifesto (1968): An entertainment, an alternative and a way of life. _______________________________________________________ John Fox. 26 April. 2006. The Loft. 53 The Gill, Ulverston. Cumbria. LA12 7BL. 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