Solving The Corinium Mission
In 2021 Gloucester Libraries commissioned two pieces of work to test new and innovative ways for libraries to engage virtually with families when the library wasn’t able to host groups and activities. Brave Bold Drama, an award-winning theatre & community arts company created by Paul Lawless & Gill Simmons was one of the commissions. They brought their project ‘The Company of International Artists’ to children in Gloucestershire. We talked to them about the project, working with Gloucestershire Libraries and what they learnt changing their work from a live experience to a blended model of delivery - incorporating creative packs personally delivered by library staff, video downloads as well live online content.
What did you make for this Gloucestershire Libraries commission?
We worked as our alter ego, The Company of International Artists, and created The Corinium Mission for 40 children at Ampney Crucis Primary. This involved collaborating with The Corinium Museum in Cirencester. We selected three artefacts from their collection and built a creative mission around them, encouraging the children to explore the artefacts and create in response to them.
Agent Kahlo (Gill Simmons), Agent Dali (Paul Lawless) and Agent Bourgeois (Chris Harrisson) ready for action.
The creative packs waiting at Cirencester Library ready to be delivered by staff to the children to complete their mission!
We created 40 creative packs which included things like modelling clay and art books to help the children create. We made a film featuring three creative agents: Agent Kahlo (Gill Simmons), Agent Dali (Paul Lawless) and Agent Bourgeois (Chris Harrisson) to encourage the children to take on the mission, and ran two online live workshops with the three agents where children could show the agents what they’d made and also create new things.
Their artwork is currently on display on the Company of International Artists online gallery and at Ampney Crucis school. We hope in the future to find exhibition space for their work at the Corinium Museum and possibly other public spaces in Cirencester too.
Why did you get involved with this project with Gloucestershire Libraries?
Before 2020 we were very hyperlocal, working predominantly in-person in one area of south Bristol, Hartcliffe & Withywood, which experiences high levels of deprivation. It’s where we’re based and where our artistic director grew up. We still have this focus, but since April 2020 we have been developing The Company of International Artists to have a much broader reach through a blend of film, live online content and postal deliveries. We have Company of International Artists subscribers now all over the country and even one in America!
This commission was an opportunity to apply the existing infrastructure of our multi-faceted family art project The Company of International Artists to a new audience, geographically speaking. This commission also gave us the scope to work with one of our associate artists, Chris Harrisson, who is a performer and illustrator. He joined us as Agent Bourgeois.
We were also really excited to be able to work with curators at The Corinium Museum in Cirencester through this commission. The concept of the Company of International Artists is that we are a top secret, quirky and eccentric art organisation of creative agents all over the world who can see hidden messages in art and make art with messages themselves. This makes us a very natural companion for museum and art gallery collections. We selected three artefacts from the Corinium Museum and invited creative agents from Ampney Crucis Primary to explore these by taking on the challenge of The Corinium Mission.
What was it like working with the library team?
This commission would not have worked without collaboration with the library team. We worked particularly closely with Lisa Saunders, Children’s Librarian for Gloucestershire Libraries, who took on the delivery of The Corinium Mission creative kits. We took these to Cirencester Library and Lisa took them to Ampney Crucis Primary on one of her regular school visits. Lisa also attended both online workshops and was able to encourage and support children to get involved.
“The packs went down a storm and the reaction to all the art activities was quite remarkable. Children described the workshop as ‘wicked’ and particularly loved doing the gargoyle drawings!”
How did you find the process of running workshops online?
We’d already run several live online missions as The Company of International Artists prior to this commission, so we largely knew what to expect and we used Zoom for the online elements of this commission.
Key things that we find helpful are:
Multiple co-hosts/facilitators helps in case someone has wifi issues, it also means someone can have an eye on the chat box whilst others are focused more on the screen
Background music (we have a CIA theme composed by Gill Simmons) to help break the ice
Changing participants’ names to a creative agent name is fun and also offers important anonymity which makes online facilitation safer
Dressing your background thoughtfully so you look the part. We have pinboards with lots of CIA maps, artworks, previous missions, codebooks, photos of other agents...it helps to build the world.
It’s tiring to focus the energy you’d usually express in a large space to a live audience into a tiny zoom screen, but that’s what you have to do. People on previous online CIA missions had commented on how they appreciated the high energy of the zoom. You can be pretty playful, bringing unexpected items into shot, occasional extreme closeups for comic effect… different mediums present different opportunities as a performer. It’s best to exploit the medium rather than work against it.
Can you tell us a bit more about where people can find you next?
The Company of International Artists is an ongoing offer. People can join at any time and receive monthly creative missions through their door. This summer we’re also making a Company of International Artists outdoor playable family show called The Munch Mission. It requires families to work with Agents Kahlo and Dali to solve an art heist and retrieve a missing work of art.
People can also find out more about what we’re doing by:
visiting our main website www.bravebolddrama.co.ukSigning up to receive our monthly newsletters
Brave Bold Drama were commissioned as a continuation of the Art of Libraries programme. The programme was piloted in 6 libraries over 3 years and encouraged children and young people to take part in a range of creative activities from circus workshops to animation workshops and to watch live theatre - and claim their place in these spaces in the heart of the community.
In 2021 Gloucester Libraries created two commissions to test new and innovative ways for libraries to engage virtually with families whilst the library wasn’t able to host groups and activities.
The artists have shared their experiences in this blog series (their creative journeys and some top tips) so that other performers can gain insights into making the transition from a live to digital space.
You can read Jonny Fluffypunk’s blog about his experience taking his first family production online, watch theatre company Can’t Sit Still’s videos about their experience had when they of taking a live show and turning it into a digital interactive theatre performance as well as Rizpah Amadasun’s blog about creating fairytales with children in interactive online workshops.
All this insight will be gathered together to make a new chapter in the Art of Libraries toolkit which is coming soon! The toolkit will share a plethora of both creative and practical ideas to support artists and library staff to work together to co-create an irresistible creative programme for children and young people.
If you are inspired to work in libraries and would like to find out more please email libraries-
libraries-readiscover@gloucestershire.gov.uk