Future Boards Accelerator – Want to get more involved with leading arts & culture organisations?

| 6th February 2023

Thought about being a Board Member?

Then the Future Boards Accelerator is the short course for you

What will you learn?

  • Why boards exist
  • How organisations make decisions at board level
  • What’s expected of Board Members
  • How you could contribute to a Board

Dates:

The course will run from 17th February to 17th March 2023

This is a FREE course but to take part you will need to be available, in Birmingham, from 12.00 till 5pm on Friday 24th February and for an online Zoom session on Friday 3rd March from 3.30pm – 6pm

There will also be 3 personal 1-hour online coaching sessions – at times to suit you

Bursary:

A bursary of £500 to cover time away from paid employment/ other commitments.

The bursary will be paid in two payments:

£50     when you start on the course

£450   when you complete the course

Who are we looking for?

  1. Six people who would like to join a board
  2. People with some experience within the cultural sector (around 1-2 years’ experience)
  3. Aged 20 – 30
  4. Ideally, self-identify as any of the following: – Global Majority/ Black/ Asian Heritage; a person living with a disability; experiencing socio-economic disadvantage 

To Apply: https://forms.gle/jZj3o7W6mmhMdNGz9

Please apply by 12.00 noon, Monday 13th February, by either:

  1. Video – Zoom recording, Loom or similar – maximum 3 minutes OR
  2. Written Form – maximum 300 words

Please let us know if you have any access needs. We are open to any other form of application, please contact us at info@hybridconsulting.org.uk to tell us how you would like to apply.

This training will be delivered by Dr Samina Zahir, a consultant, trainer, producer & curator who has been working in the arts & creative industries for over 20 years.  

This training programme is commissioned by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and initiated by the WMCA Cultural Leadership Board. 

Guy’s & St Thomas Charity

| 23rd September 2020

For Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, Hybrid is working with David Bryan to deliver consultation on two statues held by the Charity, Robert Clayton and Thomas Guy. Both were Presidents at the hospitals.

These individuals and their statues are now the focus of attention similar to the Colston Statues in Bristol. The wealth generated by these individuals was made through their investments in the trade of human beings.

As with many institutions around the country and abroad, there is rightly a discussion being had about what should, if anything, happen to the statues and the histories that accompany them.

In order to inform decisions about the statues, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity are interested in hearing from a wide range of individuals, local residents, local community groups, and those that live in Lambeth and Southwark.

Our questions are modest in number, but they are more than should the statues stay or go, they also ask us to imagine, if they should go, what should fill the space?

Keyhole Wires: New public artwork for HS1 in the iconic St Pancras International, London

| 23rd September 2020

Hybrid was commissioned to help HS1 realise a new public art project in St Pancras International Station.

 

The commission relocates the existing public art programme (featuring artists such as Tracy Emin and Conrad Shawcross) from the iconic train shed roof to the new extension called The Keyhole due to its design.

HS1 wanted to work with artists who were less well known to the wider public – providing an opportunity for artists under-represented in mainstream visual arts. Commissioning Hybrid, a consultancy with a history of working with under-represented artists was therefore appropriate.

Wendy Spinks, Commercial Director at HS1, said ‘We are excited to add the brand-new Keyhole Wires art installation to our host of arts and cultural experiences on offer at St Pancras International.

As we prepare to launch this new initiative, which follows iconic installations from some of the country’s most prestigious artists, we look forward to offering a new wave of talented artists the opportunity to showcase their work at a world-class destination, where many visitors will be able to enjoy it on a daily basis.”

The commission, called Keyhole Wires, was to offer a platform, a step up, or a sideways move, for the artists, in profile, scale and ambition.

The selected artist will be announced in January 2021, with the commission installed in Spring 2022.

Director of Hybrid, Samina Zahir, outlines “we use bespoke creative engagement to understand people’s needs, we believe that art can remove barriers and encourage people to talk, listen, share and learn.”

In 2017, Charlie and Samina (Hybrid) worked together to develop Camden’s London Borough of Culture bid, achieving the largest Cultural Impact Award for the borough. Discovering a shared ethos it felt right to continue to work together to deliver the commission for HS1.

Charlie Levine is an independent curator working across the UK and internationally. She is interested in in/visible networks, working with feminist histories, creating and bringing together communities, and working site responsively.

Of the partnership, Zahir commented “We loved that Charlie proactively celebrates artists, she creates opportunities for those crucial tipping point moments that can shape careers, so she is the perfect fit for us working with HS1”.

Hybrid and Levine invited artists directly to submit proposals. They also partnered with arts organisations served by routes from St Pancras Station, namely QUAD in Derby and New Art Exchange (NAE) in Nottingham, to ensure that the artists being approached were representative, diverse and ready for a career step change.

From a long list, discussions between HS1, Hybrid and Levine, in February 2020, resulted in a unanimous short list.

“We are thrilled to announce the six shortlisted artists for this new public art commission. They are Rachael Champion, Shezad Dawood, Yinka Ilori, Janetka Platun, Dan Rawlings, and Melanie Tomlinson. Each works completely differently and have approached the project in unique ways.” said Levine, Curator

The final decision was due to have been made in March 2020 but was impacted by Covid 19. “We can’t wait to bring these proposals to the decision panel next year and select the artwork for installation in 2022” said Levine

In January 2021, the six shortlisted artists will be going to a decision panel made up of HS1, Hybrid, Levine, Stephen Beddoe, Director of External Relations, Central St Martins, Louise Fedotov-Clements, Artistic Director – QUAD & Director – FORMAT International Photography Festival and Cliff Lawson, Senior Curator, Hayward Gallery.

Arts Festival

| 6th November 2017

Produced a large scale festival in just 3.5 weeks, delivered on time and within budget. Employed 21 artists who worked in 7 venues, delivering a successful marketing campaign reaching over 1, 500 children from a wide range of backgrounds in socially deprived areas.  Children and parents were freely able to participate in art as diverse as tabla playing, textiles/3d, silk printing, mehndi, drama, beat-boxing vjing and djing.

Happiness, Social Responsibility and Diversity

| 6th November 2017

Delivery of a high quality programme of activity from project development to realisation. Facilitated five artists’ commissions with Walsall New Art Gallery; The National Trust; Shire Hall, Stafford and Multistory, Sandwell.  The programme developed out of research that Hybrid had delivered. Produced a series of events for those crossing the arts, community and business sectors, audiences of between 60 and 120 with all events fully subscribed. Speakers included Ed Vaizey, MP, Mel Larsen, Consultant, Professor Andy Miah, Arts Council England and gallery and museums staff. Organisations benefited from access to shared critical thinking and new artists engagement. The BST marketing and communications campaign resulted in national, regional and specialist radio, on-line and print presence.  The programme included a comprehensive evaluation with tracking to clearly identify artist’s development.

Community based pilot events

| 6th November 2017

Stakeholder engagement, pilot testing and recommendations for Westminster City Council. The work contributed towards the regeneration of the Church Street area, NW8 and shaped Westminster City Council’s Social Enterprise Strategy and five year action plan.

Programme Delivery

| 6th November 2017

Partnerships are an essential part of our work. In producing a development programme for Birmingham City Council, we worked with staff across the third sector and local government departments. Collectively, we analysed the effectiveness of existing programmes, considered service redesign, piloted new models for service delivery and assessed their effectiveness with young people. The research framework and performance management approach was achieved through action research, ensuring buy in from the outset. The programme operated on the basis that insights/ ‘bright spots’ are best identified when gathered from service users/ delivery agents. The findings that emerged have been embedded.

Inhabit / arTea rooms

| 6th November 2017

Hybrid successfully delivered a programme of arTea rooms in five empty spaces across Birmingham. The aim was to revitalise local high streets and explore how co-production and the transfer of community/ social assets might support this aim. Hybrid negotiated contracts and agreed use of spaces with commercial, community and small traders. We worked in partnership with neighbourhood fora, local community groups and delivered a cross section of services with youth groups, artists and places of worship. We recruited over 30 artists who delivered 16 new commissions, ran regular workshops over 400 days, which were attended by almost 2500 people, many of whom hadn’t previously participated in arts activity.

We produced the Marketing and Communications Campaign for Inhabit, as a result of carefully targeting journalists and identifying the right story, the initiative was featured on national TV, in national newspapers and radio programmes such as Woman’s Hour, BBC Breakfast TV and The Guardian. We successfully generated a strong web presence through social media and blogs, writing by commissioned artists generated considerable online interest.

Speaking Truth to Power: Identity, Aesthetics & Ethnicity

| 6th November 2017

Speaking Truth to Power was a forward thinking paper on the theme of ‘Identity, Aesthetics and Ethnicity’. To reflect the complexity of the terrain, Hybrid delivered Arts Council England’s first epistolary report. It was informed by national and international critical debates on the subject. It drew together qualitative research involving focus groups and one to one interviews with individuals from across England. Dissemination of the report included a filmed discussion with Bonnie Greer and Gus John and a ‘question time’ style launch with Baroness Professor Lola Young.

Mapping the African, Caribbean and Asian Visual Arts Sector, (An action research project)

| 6th November 2017

For Arts Council England West Midlands, Hybrid delivered a programme of action research, mapping the African, Caribbean and Asian Visual Arts Sector and consulting with a wide range of stakeholders. The action research led approach included intensive mentoring/ coaching for five artists, identifying specific projects to explore avenues for success alongside key challenges. The strength of the report and its findings encouraged ACE to commission Hybrid to develop and deliver British Summertime (through managed funds of over £50k). The programme was carefully evaluated and demonstrated strong learning outputs and outcomes.