To communicate our stand on Gifting in the Arts, we need to make it clear that we have an agenda. Interwoven Productions, through the Squilometre project, seeks to potentiate positive social change. That's a rather grand way of saying that, like most artists, we hope to make a difference. We'd like to imagine that the work we feel compelled to do is for the good of all and we believe that participatory art is perfectly poised to find new answers to old economic problems.
JoJo has written about this extensively in her blog, found here - www.interwovenproductions.com - but essentially we are greatly inspired by Lewis Hyde’s The Gift – How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World (2006 Canongate Books, Edinburgh). Hyde tells us that transacting a payment for services leads inevitably to the end of a relationship between artist and audience. It cancels it out. The bestowal of gift however creates an empty space "into which new energy may flow”. When a gift is passed on, the energy moves with it, creating friendships, forming bonds and making change possible. We have seen this in action in Heavitree.
So we will not charge a fixed ticket price to see our shows or share our events or exhibitions but we do invite our community to make a voluntary "pay it forward" donation that means the next event can happen.
Community-commissioned arts - we believe it is a beautiful vision, one that gets us up and out of bed every morning with a smile on our faces. It inspires hours of hard work and brings all sorts of unexpected rewards. Come join us ...
JoJo has written about this extensively in her blog, found here - www.interwovenproductions.com - but essentially we are greatly inspired by Lewis Hyde’s The Gift – How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World (2006 Canongate Books, Edinburgh). Hyde tells us that transacting a payment for services leads inevitably to the end of a relationship between artist and audience. It cancels it out. The bestowal of gift however creates an empty space "into which new energy may flow”. When a gift is passed on, the energy moves with it, creating friendships, forming bonds and making change possible. We have seen this in action in Heavitree.
So we will not charge a fixed ticket price to see our shows or share our events or exhibitions but we do invite our community to make a voluntary "pay it forward" donation that means the next event can happen.
Community-commissioned arts - we believe it is a beautiful vision, one that gets us up and out of bed every morning with a smile on our faces. It inspires hours of hard work and brings all sorts of unexpected rewards. Come join us ...