STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

5. Means of production available – studio space, creation centres, ‘run-in time’
5.1. Resources available
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Street Artists in Europe
Artists need spaces to make their work – from initial devising and design (which may take place
almost anywhere) to making space and rehearsal areas. Where companies are using large scale
structures and props, they need correspondingly large spaces, with tall entrances and ceilings,
‘dirty workspace’ for metalwork, welding and carpentry. And once shows are made, there needs
to be adequate storage facilities at reasonable cost.
All these things are extremely hard to find in most countries. Artists usually resort to renting bus
garages, old warehouses or disused industrial spaces. In the UK these are getting harder and
harder to find, as former mills and warehouses are being converted into expensive apartments.
Recently a couple of French companies had to leave their workshop base in Paris as the value of
these properties for conversion was too high to enable artists to continue to occupy them. This
will happen more and more as land values rise, across Europe.
‘The main thing that emerged was that companies had found spaces to work in, but often with
zero security of tenure so there were several (even many) stories of them getting evicted from
their space at very short-notice, often because of regeneration. Even cultural regeneration still
seemed to result in street companies getting thrown out. It was shocking how often this had
happened.’ (England)
Currently there are few specialist creation spaces:
In Ireland: ‘Macnas and Spraoi [the country’s 2 largest companies] both have their own
creation studios and they produce narrative based parade work.’
in England:
‘The Stockton Space is very new, it only opened last summer. It has good workshops and making
space, a huge barn and kitchen facilities. It is a little bit far from civilization – but that is good if
you are making noise. For its first year artists will be fully supported to be there. Stockton BC
are monitoring how people find it.’
Additionally, just this week the London Olympic organization has commissioned a survey into
the feasibility of setting up a creation centre in London, as a legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games.
In Spain, there is one public access centre, owned and managed by Catalan company Els
Comediants. In Belgium there are a few places – La Roseraie (the base for the FAR), Espace
Catastrophe, Latitude 50, Dommelhof; other big festivals – Namur, Gent and Antwerpen - have
access to workspaces for their artists at vertain times of the year.
France is the leader in this aspect of street arts development. There is a network of 11 Centres
Nationaux pour les Arts de la Rue (CNAR), that are mostly grouped around towns where large
festivals take place, including Chalon, Aurillac, Angers, Sotteville, Cognac, Brest. Lieux
Publics, in Marseille, is the most important of these, hosting a continuous programme of
creations, and stimulating conferences, debates and publications, all with the purpose of aiding
the development of street arts in the country. In addition to the CNARs, there are another 86
artist residences where work is created, they are smaller and owned/managed by individual
companies.
PE 375.307