First Arcola Report

a working document used to compile the formal report

M21 ran a workshop for Arcola Theatre. This was very ambitious
Ideally, it was to explore the idea of Arcola as a new entity that would look good from each of the following angles:
- 1) Funding agencies (Arts Council/banks/government grants sources)
- 2) The engineering-related industries (commercial opportunities that connect to wellbeing)
- 3) Education (partners in schools and universities)
- 4) The ecological dimension at the global level (carbon-reduction/slowing consumption)
- 5) Social wellbeing at the local level (police/social services
- 6) The creative industries (Recording/filming/broadcast/
- 7) The Arts (i.e. professional face behind London's cultural verve)
- 8) The artists (playwrights/actors/directors/young people searching for their dreams)
- 9) Arcola Theatre as a public, working organization comprising real people
A great deal was learned, on this occasion. It enabled us to plan for subsequent work.
It now seems realistic to see the workshop as the first of four, subject to agreement wth Arcola.

Four Workshops

The first Arcola workshop was dedicated to exploration and inquiry
The second workshop - will use Constellation tools and playfulness to create new opportunities for synergy
The third workshop - consists of a 'languaging' process to interpret what was discovered in the 'new knowing' session
The fourth workshop - creating a metadesign brief - to be evaluated from a 9-point perspective

This was/is/will be a preliminary exploration that cannot be expected to deliver guaranteed managerial solutions
It is part of an ongoing research project at Goldsmiths, University of London
Although collaboration between m21 and Arcola is, in effect, a case study we undertake to offer practical recommendations if possible
(N.B. metadesign embodies elements of design and planning in a consensual, self-reflective, self-managed form)