Lessons from Melbourne

In March 2006, Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games. The sporting fest was culturally matched with Festival Melbourne, “12 days of non-stop music, dance, circus, street theatre and visual arts”. It was an accessible, free, feel-good cultural bear-hug. Naturally, there are differences between 2012 and 2006, but there are lessons which organisations, both directly and indirectly involved with the Games, can benefit from.
I was Programme Producer at an arts centre in Melbourne in 2006. The venue was neither close enough to be included in the festival, nor far enough away for an umbrella event to be viable. I decided not to force my programme to have a superficial Games focus, believing that this was a short-term view and that audiences would be interested in the once-in-a-lifetime offerings nearby. As a result I cancelled all risk-taking programming for the month. As I sat with the venue bristling with quiet around me, I wondered if I had been just a weeny bit rash. Two months later I stopped wondering: audiences were back and were bigger. At least, I think audiences were bigger – in event surveys I did not ask if audiences had been inspired to find culture locally post-Games. Although there are no accurate audience records for Festival Melbourne, it is believed that it attracted a large number of first time theatre-goers. Data like this is fundamental to an understanding of the importance of cross-industry partnerships. Companies connected with the Games, must collect such data, and use it to justify the importance of future festivals.
 

Riding the wave
Not jumping on the gravy train with Olympic-flavoured arts events worked for my organisation, but that may not have been right for the arts in a wider sense. ‘Next Wave’ festival delivered the youth component of Festival Melbourne. Unlike the other successful tenders, Next Wave was a pre-existing festival, and has no assets other than their audience: it was therefore vital to maintain their trust by protecting the integrity of the artistic output. Aligning the Games’ vision for a youth festival with an edgy, experimental audience was never going to work harmoniously. Next Wave consequently presented twin festivals; one delivering the Games’ aims and objectives, the second filling the gaps. Offering two festivals did more than just respecting an audience, it ensured freshness. There’s no better way to quell concerns about a bland patriotic multi-cultural Shakespeare festival (great though that is) than to know you are catering for a home-grown seen-it-all-before audience. To reflect the vibrancy of UK arts, other programming must not stop while the 2012 games are on. This may mean funded organisations have to gain financial support to present twin festivals, as Next Wave did, but funding bodies and sponsors must support artists and companies to produce non-Games related events in 2012.
Mix and match
For artists and companies working directly with the Games, there needs to be an interface. Hundred-page disaster plans, commonplace in event management, are not the stuff of small-scale theatre. There was no consideration, in the planning of Next Wave’s staff time, of the sheer man-hours such bureaucracy took up. Similarly the Games insisted on their preferred supplier list being used, which tainted relationships with Next Wave’s own reliable suppliers. Two companies with the same goal but different languages: there needs to be, if not an interpreter, at least training for both sides to understand the way the other works.
Finally there is the question of legacy. It is not the buildings and photos left behind that are important, but the relationships. It is money wasted if the pounds stop earning at the end of the Games. Where will artists tour newly developed work? How can newly inspired audiences be catered for? It is the responsibility (and pleasure) of all companies to capitalise on the benefits of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. If they do not, the festival created will be no more than a one-off flare, rather than fundamental structural support for the arts eco-system.