always too late

We are in the middle of the third week here and I still haven't collected thoughts from the last one... It can't wait longer.
There was the real English weather (melancholic, misty) in one of the mornings last week, when I found myself in front of the Civic Centre in Stoke (not Stoke-on-Trent, just Stoke - you, from Poland, will never guess what I mean...) an hour before the meeting... I spent it walking around the church on Church St. (not surprising, doesn't it?).

That was the beggining of the week. At the end I learned how to use English doors and locks. There is one normal handle and above it you can find the second that blocks the machanism of a lock - happily my Penny (who demonstrates that a weather here is usually better than in the stereotype - Penny, I am not sure if I have your permission to use your image?..) managed to explain me that by phone when I stayed alone in the office on Friday afternoon.

Between this two events many things happened. I took part in millions of meetings (maybe a bit less...) introducing myself to millions of people: from the City Council, housing associations, uni staff, local art organizations (B-art), residents, volunteers and so on. I read the reports about some projects implemented in Stoke thanks to uni (Quality Street; digital stories). I collected a lot of observations. A few of them:

• The main point of many meetings was connecting the university with other institutions from public/private/volunteering sector (and also the role of CCU is connecting poeple and institutions rather than direct action).
• As well important is never-decreasing interest in involving poeple (especially those with learning disabilities, excluded somehow) and communities in activ citizenship.
• A person that we call in Poland "animator" here is called "facilitator" - it changes a lot. Animator is more in the cetre of the process of animating, facilitator only ficilitates...
• Nobody works here - everybody runs the projects :).
• I heard that in Japan they spend 80% of the time planning project and 20% putting it into practise - and that it is a kind of an ideal. Here you spend 40% on planning, 10% on carrying out and 50% on evaluation and reflection - the new ideal I am learning.

(And it is also my job here - I am collecting stories about good practise: how to involve poeple, how to cross the border between the university and the rest of society/community [the differance between this two words is difficult to explain as it turned out today...].)

One of the bigger event was the Heart of Engagement Cafe that tought participants how to use the World Cafe method - how big suprise when a few days later I saw the effects of this workshop during 10th anniversary of REACH (tables covered by paper that poeple used for writting down their ideas, feelings etc.). What I realised during REACH meeting is that here you do not divide problems into more and less important - solving even the smallest helps to tackle with the general one.

During the weekend I visited the second theatre (I guess o.o. has just written about it) and the second time I was in the backstage (that is unbelievable how my experiances here connect with my classes at Warsaw University - the comment for my not-forgotten here lecturers from Section for Theatre and Performance). And on Monday we watched in Film Theatre "The Titfield Tunderbolt" - amusing Ealing commedy from 1953, the great atmosphere of this place. I am still surprised that all of the cultural institutions I visit are "commited to the community" (as it stayed in presentation about REP Theatre).

I still do not remember that "Thank you" does not mean "No" (spoken in a polite way), so my colleagues in CCU are a bit confused with my replies for questions about tea... When will I learn that?

o.

New Vic

The last letter is “j” and it stands for Julianna, so now it’s my turn.

I’ve landed in Liverpool on 20th of September,

so I still had 2 days for sightseeing and to tidy myself up.

In Liverpool I ran into Biennial, so for a whole day I was visiting galleries and talking with artists.
That was a very good start.

In the evening I went to Stoke-on-Trent where I met my lovely landlady. She took me to my beautiful house (I’m speaking like the English, but it’s actually true, my landlady is lovely and my house is beautiful)

For the whole next day I was exploring Newcastle-under-Lyme (that’s my town, here is my Theatre and my home). It’s a very nice, small town with all the facilities (shops, swimming pool, library, promenade, restaurants, pubs etc).

On Wednesday I went to the New Vic Theatre (that’s where I work) where I met two Olas, Sue (my boss and British mum), and Penny (first Ola’s carer). We went all together to the University for an introduction meeting:

10.00am Introduction and introduction to the University . Sharing aspirations and answering
any initial questions
10.15 Registering correct local contact details/ emergency numbers etc and copying police
checks (Susan) General questions about orientation.
10.30 Talking through the aims of the of the programme and the general picture of how it will
work.
10.45 Health and Safety and keeping safe during the placements. Responsibilities of the
individuals and of the placement agencies. (Mark)
11.15 Introduce the individual projects (Penny, Paul, Sue)
11.30. Learning Objectives and recording learning
12.00 Talking through the Joint timetables. Any other organisational issues. Communication Etc
Lots of information, lots of people, but in a good atmosphere, and with a happy end.

We went back to the theatre, where we had lunch. After lunch I went with Charlotte (my new friend from work, Borderlines administrator assistant) round the theatre. I was introduced to all staff members and I saw all workshops, stores, offices, stages. The theatre is on a circular plan so after this trip I felt dizzy.

Next day my work began.
1. preparation of workshop for next week
“OK, so what is your way of working? Give us some warming up games/exercises”...
2. Two workshops with youth theatre.

I was thrown into the deep end, but that’s good. I’m learning fast. No time to hesitate.

On Friday I went to a high school with a group

working on All our daughters  project about forced marriages.

I was helping with lighting and all technical issues.

I saw a very moving performance,

and then I was watching how Borderlines team lead workshops - I’ve learned a lot. 

For the whole next week I was leading workshops

in Newcastle-under-Lyme College with
Chris (Borderline theatre practitioner)
and two volunteers (Sid& Whitney).

It was very hard, but also a very important week.

I learned a lot, I met lots of interesting individuals
and found self-confidence
even though it was the last thing I expected.

Entertainment:

singing, parties, snooker, long walks, stilt walking, poi spinning, talking...

As OlaW wrote in the evening we went to see

Desire under the Elms - old school, naturalistic performance

(as my friend said “it was a good, old fashioned, sit back and relax and watch night”) 

Junction 15

My firsts weeks in Stoke-on-Trent.... very intensive.
Everything is new, exciting and surprising . Town, people, work. I’m  Ola  - the second "o", who is on the scholarship in Junction 15, the company which produces films.
 
First of all-Stoke on Trent, six rather small towns connected with each other. So you have to use underpasses often, which (what can you see on the photo) aren't grey and terrifying like that one in Warsaw, but are totally  domesticated. Town - not big, but traffic jams here are the same, or even worse than in our city. It is much more easier to go on walk, than to use a car. People - who are always smiling, helpful.

My work in Junction 15 is really near photography, 

because they use camera-Canon D5 to make movies. Work in the company like Junction 15 is connected with waiting and making repeats all the time, with off-specification working time, sometimes really surprising, also with taking part in more than one projects. But I like it very much – I do not have time for boredom. Mostly during this week I helped making the commercial for Faculty of Health at Staffordshire University. I saw how to work with Canon D5, how make the interviews.  I learned also  how to record the voice.

That was interesting how people were prepared to shoots. Sometimes they prepared what they should say on a few sheets of paper.  Besides that we was making shoots by movie camera  (I had chance to do this myself) in a local school, where a teacher showed how prepare healthy food. However the mostly exciting was making the video-movie for the dance school.  A married couple who are in the middle age dancing in underpass or two builders dancing tango on construction intrigued people on the streets. I took part also in the photographic workshop with children with disabilities – this was very difficult for me, but educational as well.

After work we have with girls intensive time too: play “Desire under the Elms”, tour around the backstage in The RepStoke on Trent Repertory Theatre (there was the open day there) and meeting with Loud Mouth Women – it’s only a part of this what we made.

o.o.

creative communities unit

Let me start... I will be the first "o" like Ola from the title of our blog. I said "our" because we are three: three from the University of Warsaw, three studing in the Institute of Polish Culture (Faculty of Polish Studies), three attending courses from the specialization "Culture Animation", three just during the Erasmus Placement in UK, three in Stoke-on-Trent/Nwecastle-under-Lyme. But I am the special one...
I work at Staffordshire University. My way to the university is much shorter than in Warsaw (you can compare 40-minutes walk here with the distance from Białołęka to Krakowskie Przedmieście..,), but I am still confused with local public transport...

Everyday trying with the other buses (remember to pronounce here with "u" just like in Polish) causes my everyday delay... The Faculty od Art, Media and Design's building pretends to be a theatre... but it is not. Inside you can find Creative Communities Unit

where I have my own desk with my own computer with my own account and professional e-mail address: A.Wisniewska@staffs.ac.uk. Use only for serious correspondation. 
And today Staffs is even in my room:

o.