Wednesday, 23 February 2011
E-mail problems
We're having some problems with our main e-mail address right now. Try sending to martin@erminestreetproject.co.uk for now and hopefully our main e-mail will be working properly soon.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Easter Workshops- Update
Thanks to the lovely people at Lincoln University we have a venue for our first Filmmaking Holiday Club.
We shall be holding it at Sparkhouse Studios, Lincoln from 11th-15th April, 10am-4pm.
It's open to all young people aged 11-18 and priority will be given to children with learning/behavioral disabilties or physical disabilities.
12 places will be available at a cost of £150 for the full five days. Full details and a booking form are available- just send an e-mail to info@erminestreetproject.co.uk
We shall be holding it at Sparkhouse Studios, Lincoln from 11th-15th April, 10am-4pm.
It's open to all young people aged 11-18 and priority will be given to children with learning/behavioral disabilties or physical disabilities.
12 places will be available at a cost of £150 for the full five days. Full details and a booking form are available- just send an e-mail to info@erminestreetproject.co.uk
Monday, 17 January 2011
The Internet- Social Mobility or Social Immobility?
I've recently started a big drive to get myself and my various businesses out in the social networking arena. The internet is a wonderful tool for this and it makes me sad that it wasn't available when I started my acting career in '96.
It's got me thinking though, about whether it's really been a good thing. Is the internet a wonderful open market where anyone, from any background can realise their dreams? Or is it a place where dreams are constructed with the promise of new opportunities that never materialise?
If we look at this from the point of view of an actor, for example; has the internet opened up the world of acting to a huge new group of people from every background, reflected in the work we see on mainstream television and in our theatres up and down the country?
I’m not convinced. Opportunities certainly exist in abundance. Low budget films, fringe theatre, even television can offer unpaid work to anyone, regardless of background or training. For some, it’s the only way to gain experience and build a CV.
The problem is that these opportunities aren’t in fact open to everyone. They are solely open to those that can afford to work unpaid. For those saddled with huge debts after drama school, or those that have financial commitments it becomes a struggle to equate one’s art with one’s bank balance.
The Arts in particular are prone to that particular problem. The image of the impoverished actor; chained to a profession that does not sustain them financially but purely creatively is held in high esteem.
There are those who can still claim to be nourished purely by the Art but it reflects a very narrow cross section of our society. Are we heading towards an age before John Osborne where a theatrical career was only for those that could afford it? Are drama schools to become finishing schools for the elite?
There is a huge gap between those who can earn even a modest living in the Arts and those who earn nothing. Some of this unpaid work is genuine collaborative enterprise; creative minds getting together and working towards something new and exciting. This is balanced by companies that can trim their wage bill by employing those that purely need the experience, driving down the cost of an actor to zero. We see it in other walks of life where competition for jobs is high and unpaid internships abound. You cannot stop the personal freedom of one job candidate undercutting the going rate of the next. Or can we?
Is this a necessary evil of a supply and demand labour market? Can perceptions be changed? Are some jobs destined to become expensive hobbies instead of careers? Should we care? Are the National Minimum Wage laws in the country robust enough? Or too harsh on those that purely want to enjoy the artistic rewards and not the financial ones?
My way through this minefield is to find the money to pay every contributor that works on an Ermine Street Project CIC production. I don’t have any personal funds to bankroll it myself, so it’s pretty tough. But my ethos is that nothing worth doing is meant to be easy. I have nothing against collaborations but there comes a time (maybe when you’re galloping towards forty) when you have to make a decision on how you want to live your life and make a difference.
Tweet
It's got me thinking though, about whether it's really been a good thing. Is the internet a wonderful open market where anyone, from any background can realise their dreams? Or is it a place where dreams are constructed with the promise of new opportunities that never materialise?
If we look at this from the point of view of an actor, for example; has the internet opened up the world of acting to a huge new group of people from every background, reflected in the work we see on mainstream television and in our theatres up and down the country?
I’m not convinced. Opportunities certainly exist in abundance. Low budget films, fringe theatre, even television can offer unpaid work to anyone, regardless of background or training. For some, it’s the only way to gain experience and build a CV.
The problem is that these opportunities aren’t in fact open to everyone. They are solely open to those that can afford to work unpaid. For those saddled with huge debts after drama school, or those that have financial commitments it becomes a struggle to equate one’s art with one’s bank balance.
The Arts in particular are prone to that particular problem. The image of the impoverished actor; chained to a profession that does not sustain them financially but purely creatively is held in high esteem.
There are those who can still claim to be nourished purely by the Art but it reflects a very narrow cross section of our society. Are we heading towards an age before John Osborne where a theatrical career was only for those that could afford it? Are drama schools to become finishing schools for the elite?
There is a huge gap between those who can earn even a modest living in the Arts and those who earn nothing. Some of this unpaid work is genuine collaborative enterprise; creative minds getting together and working towards something new and exciting. This is balanced by companies that can trim their wage bill by employing those that purely need the experience, driving down the cost of an actor to zero. We see it in other walks of life where competition for jobs is high and unpaid internships abound. You cannot stop the personal freedom of one job candidate undercutting the going rate of the next. Or can we?
Is this a necessary evil of a supply and demand labour market? Can perceptions be changed? Are some jobs destined to become expensive hobbies instead of careers? Should we care? Are the National Minimum Wage laws in the country robust enough? Or too harsh on those that purely want to enjoy the artistic rewards and not the financial ones?
My way through this minefield is to find the money to pay every contributor that works on an Ermine Street Project CIC production. I don’t have any personal funds to bankroll it myself, so it’s pretty tough. But my ethos is that nothing worth doing is meant to be easy. I have nothing against collaborations but there comes a time (maybe when you’re galloping towards forty) when you have to make a decision on how you want to live your life and make a difference.
Tweet
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Easter Workshops
Fingers tightly crossed for a good outcome in the latest round of funding applications to finally get "My World" off the ground after Easter. In the meantime, we're hoping to run a week long filmmaking workshop in the region for children with physical disabilities in the Easter break.
Exact date and venue to be confirmed, but it will open up the world of filmmaking to even more young people. More workshops that run in tandem with our work in Special Schools are planned in the summer too.
With other projects such as "Witchcat" on target for an autumn shoot and various film festivals in the pipeline we're going to be very busy.
Exact date and venue to be confirmed, but it will open up the world of filmmaking to even more young people. More workshops that run in tandem with our work in Special Schools are planned in the summer too.
With other projects such as "Witchcat" on target for an autumn shoot and various film festivals in the pipeline we're going to be very busy.
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Promoting parish councils
We've had a great response from the East of England Association of Parish and Town Councils to our recent promotional video that we shot for them.
It encourages us all to get out there and get involved in our communities and change things for the better.
Never a better time to get involved, as so much is being de-centralised by the current government to put the local decisions in the hands of local people. That can only be a good thing and we're doing our bit to help communities get the message across. The film will be made available on YouTube shortly and we'll get some clips up online ourselves, too.
It encourages us all to get out there and get involved in our communities and change things for the better.
Never a better time to get involved, as so much is being de-centralised by the current government to put the local decisions in the hands of local people. That can only be a good thing and we're doing our bit to help communities get the message across. The film will be made available on YouTube shortly and we'll get some clips up online ourselves, too.
Monday, 6 December 2010
New Years Resolutions... early
These are pictures from Lincolnshire County Council's "Community Leaders Celebration", which myself and Martin were delighted to attend.
Many new friends and contacts made. Which got me thinking.
ESP are entering a new chapter, I believe and it seemed a good time to make some positive changes in the form of "new year resolutions" about a month earlier than normal.
We've just had our first AGM and what has come out of that is a desire to get out there and tell the world about what we do.
So that means more blogging!
More networking, especially now as I am officially a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts through my work with ESP.
And generally more getting up there and shouting about what we do!
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Busy Busy Busy...
It's been a while since the lasy blog, which is a sign that we're busy!
The screening went well and lots of positive response from our invited guests. The next step is festivals and both Lateshift and Blackspot are in consideration for several. We should hear by August whether we have been successful in any of those.
Witchat has been postponed until the Spring as we need to raise some more finance for that. Despite that small setback, we're still busy on setting up community projects and developing one of our features.
More news soon.
The screening went well and lots of positive response from our invited guests. The next step is festivals and both Lateshift and Blackspot are in consideration for several. We should hear by August whether we have been successful in any of those.
Witchat has been postponed until the Spring as we need to raise some more finance for that. Despite that small setback, we're still busy on setting up community projects and developing one of our features.
More news soon.
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