Pitch Party

By Lisa

Thanks to everyone who joined us at Jason Bruges Studio on Sept 14th 2022 for the Collective’s first Pitch Party! It was a chance to test your professional ‘elevator pitch’ as you got acquainted; to hear and debate short presentations that challenged the built-environment status quo; and to share ideas, connections and a laugh with a diverse mix of lovely folks who want to deliver better places for people.

The 3-minute pitch descriptions are here:

The debate was lively for all of them; here’s a tiny taste…

·        Scott’s planning-free zones: People wondered if there would just be anarchy; how to guarantee what was produced wasn’t crap; and why it wasn’t already happening. Scott had positive examples for those and other questions, showing that a freer hand with civic spaces, activities and design can work on a local scale if there is enough goodwill and cooperation. Anyone wanting to give it a shot, contact Scott!

·        Hanna’s call for development partners to be accountable to communities, as they are to traditional shareholders involves sharing S106, phasing, budget and other key info with affected people via digital totems to start and hoardings when works begin. Debate focused on who should lead, who would pay, how to get councils and developers to release info and what to do in places with a virulent opposition to any change. She (and others) felt councils should lead for democratic reasons and because the pavements where totems would go usually belong to them; developers would likely want to pay since they could advertise as well; and the hope was sharing the info regeneration opponents demand could reduce mistrust and ASB.

·        Adonis shared Bow Art’s live plans for Thamesmead Lab, repurposing vacant shops for use by artists as making, community, learning and exhibition space. This proven model is pretty far along, and a key question was how it fits with the longer-term Thamesmead strategy to build community and activity clusters (it’s been checked against the strategy).

·        Charikleia asked about the value of temporary vs. permanent art installations, since the Studio is being asked to do more ‘meanwhile’ work. The debate was interesting and wide-ranging, getting into broader questions about sustainable materials, re-use and movement of all kinds of installations, and the rights and responses of people whose neighbourhoods get a new artwork or other installation. 

Thanks again to the Jason Bruges team for their warm hospitality, to our presenters for their moxie and the audience for the insightful questions!

Thanks also to those who completed the feedback form so we can make the next ones as good or better! If you attended and haven’t given feedback yet, please do – it takes just a few minutes: https://forms.gle/aMo2EFpyk7DuoPEp8 

We’ll hold these about every three months, announced via the member newsletter and social media. Keep an eye out if you’d like to pitch!

The Participants: