Thanks for listening to The Gathering, a podcast for artists and creatives from Arts Lancashire.

This season is all about remaking and remodelling the role and work of artists and creatives in a Covid world, and the practicalities of creating and delivering at a distance.

We talk about working within the new restrictions, where the opportunities are, how to rip up the rule book and why it’s more important than ever to ensure that our artistic practice, our places and spaces, and opportunities to make and participate are consistently inclusive and representative.

In Episode 4 of Series 2, we’re joined by Kit Abramson, Interim CEO at Ludus Dance, one of Lancashire’s National Portfolio Organisations.

Not long after the pandemic began, Ludus Dance made the decision to give up the building that they had been based in for 40 years to reinvent themselves as a mobile practice, delivering remotely and in residence within community spaces around Lancashire and Cumbria.

Our conversation focuses on the reasons behind their decision and the impact of the move on their organisation, their participants and their audiences. We talk about the practical implications and the big picture opportunities. We explore how much of our identities as artists are wrapped into the places we practice within and the possibilities that come into being when you dare to rip up the rule book and choose a different way to deliver.

Whether you’re an independent artist, or an arts organisation, this episode is a fantastic insight into what happens when you take risks and change your perspective on how you could, and should, make work.

Things we talk about in this episode:

  • How to make big decisions and the implications of making them on people, process and purpose.
  • The importance of research in knowing your audience and bring them with you.
  • How much of an organisation’s identity is wrapped up in the space it inhabits and the community its located within.
  • The practicalities of delivering dance at a distance.
  • Opportunities that mobile delivery brings for organisational and workforce growth and development.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Arts Lancashire

Ludus Dance

Kit Abramson – Interim CEO, Ludus Dance