STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Street Artists in Europe
Creation centres vary in style and what they offer companies and expect from them. They each
have an artistic policy of the kind of work they want to do, and what they can offer – this may
vary from offering accommodation and travel to money for costumes/props and sometimes
money for artists. There is often high quality technical support and usually very well stocked
workshops. Some places expect artists to perform for the public at the end of a residence,
sometimes not. Occasionally students and others come and work with artists to watch them.
Artists companies send written proposals to creation centres that interest them. If accepted,
artists may be invited in residence for between 2 and 4 weeks.
‘There are many more available resources for creation in France as opposed to here (the UK),
whether that be:
a) money just for creation (ie not tied in with / dependent on touring – and at the end of a
creation period, the work may just not be ready to tour);
b) residency opportunities for all stages (from early on to full-scale rehearsals);
c) a wider range of funders in France although the amounts each give are less (as opposed to
larger whacks which are possible to get from the Arts Councils here);
d) more commissioning from festivals in France, more festivals taking work in its first year. ‘
“Companies in France are used to the opportunities and demands of working in creation
centres – living together for long chunks of time, everyone together. Greater involvement of
everyone within the French team in the creation of the work (perhaps this is just a difference
in company ethos or the fact that French companies have had more experience of working
with larger groups of people)”.
There are other cultural differences that affect the success (or otherwise) of artists work. In
France again:
‘Longer development times are standard in France – Metalovoice were really surprised at the
regime we imposed as they (and they are not atypical) are used to developing work over a
couple of years with regular developmental periods where the entire creation team comes
together for a week or more... and I would say Boilerhouse’s approach was also not typical of
the UK where development periods tend to be short or non-existent... and in some cases, UK
companies do not even devote much time to rehearsal. In France, continued development of the
work once it is on the road is the norm with directors touring with the work even if they do not
have a touring role, at least in the first year, since touring provides opportunities to develop the
work.’
Artist companies and programmers from other parts of Europe are investigating the success of
France’s creation centres; people are considering whether this extremely successful model may
be adapted for local use. There is useful information on Lieux de Residences in France, Belgium
and Spain, on HorsLesMurs website www.horslesmurs.asso.fr.
Much can be learned from the French experience of developing larger projects – the necessity to
‘take a long view’ of the time it takes for a new show to be ‘finished’; testing work on live
audiences is an essential part of the development process , which means that shows develop
once on the road. The French are very aware that ‘reworking time’ must be built into the life of
a show and methods for funding this process form part of the thinking within Le Temps des Arts
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