One of the breakout sessions was Developing Successful Partnerships, run by Red Ochre’s own Penny Daly.  The aim of the session was to help social enterprises start thinking about how they might form consortiums in order to access projects.  It was even suggested that forming partnerships to respond to tenders might soon no longer be an option but a necessity.

As well as the advantages of collaboration (efficiency, improved thinking, diversity, wider reach), the session looked at the ways people form partnerships – sometimes because it feels right, sometimes because they’ve been forced upon us.  But either way they can be both chaotic and powerful. If you get the right people and processes in place, partnership working can be successful, but it takes trust and preparation at the early stages.    Attendees were advised to start thinking now about who they might like to partner up with and start networking to develop those contacts.  To help with this, Red Ochre has developed a Cultural Diagnostic which asks 100 questions around 9 key dimensions (such as communication practices, vision/mission/values, and decision processes) to help identify an organisation’s culture and suggest who they should be working with.

The session also covered the different structures that partnerships might work under – from setting up a separate legal entity to give the collaboration it’s own identity, to having a lead contractor, or even an external non-delivering organisation that manages the partnership.  But overall, the workshop emphasised the importance of understanding the ‘people’ element of collaboration, as this is where most problems arise.

For more information on Red Ochre, visit www.redochre.org.uk

How will it work?
A team of self-employed creatives will get together w/c 31^st May to brainstorm and develop ideas for an online presence and marketing campaign for Bracket.  Through a mixture of face-to-face meetings, workshops and web-based communication, the team will deliver a solution by 4^th June (see Social Innovation Camp, the 24 Hour Book Project and Launch 48 for similar projects).

This is part paid creative project, part workshop/learning experience/experimental lab!  BracketLab will also be documented in film and image.

We are looking for a:
- web designer
- web developer
- graphic designer/illustrator
- copywriter
- filmmaker
- (also open to other disciplines that can contribute)

All team members will need to be available on 31st May*, and 2^nd and 3^rd June, and have access to the internet on the other days of the project.

What do you get?
- You get paid for your creative input
- Develop your skills in effective collaboration – skills development, peer learning and exchange are a large part of the project
- Be part of an experimental process and new way of working – explore new methods for your business
- Get coverage and exposure – the project will be promoted widely and you will be credited for your work

For more info:

If you are a self-employed creative, open to collaborative and new ways of working, and would like to be involved, e-mail alison [at] bracketprojects.co.uk for more information and to arrange an informal chat.  We aim to have the team confirmed by Friday 21^st May.  If this isn’t for you, please feel free to pass onto others you think may be interested.

*UPDATE: the 31st is a bank holiday, so intro day will take place on 28th May or 1st June.

Although this may seem like an obvious post to some, it seems like a good time to reiterate that the reasons that creative practitioners collaborate become even more prominent during an economic downturn.

When I studied for my MA, some of the first books I read were The Independents (Leadbeater & Oakley, 1999), The Creative Economy (Howkins, 2001), and The Rise of the Creative Class (Florida, 2002). All outlined the collaborative nature of the creative industries and the reasons for it, and most of the points are still relevant for the current situation:
- Individual’s and businesses’ resources are tighter – if we get together with others, we can share/exchange resources and achieve more with less
- Maintaining an organisation can be expensive (working space, staff, business overheads etc). Resources can be saved by bringing individuals together to form teams on a temporary, ad-hoc basis
- Access to new and larger opportunities that might not be available to or achievable for individual creative practitioners – schemes are popping up that suggest we might need to focus on our ability to collaborate to really engage with them. A couple that spring to mind are:

• The empty shop scheme – encouraging the use of vacant retail spaces by groups of artists to showcase their work. Getting together and getting organised will be essential to success.

• London 2012 ‘Compete For’ programme – enabling businesses to compete for contracts related to the Olympics. To be able to respond to larger tenders, individuals will need to work with other others to remain competitive.

Furthermore, UK government has identified both the creative industries and digital media as key drivers in addressing the recession.  So if we ensure we make the most of social media to connect with suitable collaborators, use our creativity to come up with great ideas and innovate, and develop our collaborative project management skills to put them into action, could this be a way of moving forward?