Is your business mobilising its creativity as productively as it could?

Wysing is offering a series of inspirational one-day workshops for early stage ventures and more established businesses that take place from March 2013.  Business innovation and entrepreneurship is a creative process; the successful development and exploitation of a new idea, thinking laterally to improve business process to increase efficiency and productivity, or using creativity to overcome problems or issues. 

Wysing‘s Creative Accelerator Workshops apply our significant experience of running international artist-development programmes to offer a new approach to the development of business talent and excellence within the east of England.

The programme has been funded by a grant from ideaSpace Enterprise Accelerator at The Hauser Forum in Cambridge, and the workshops will be led by acclaimed contemporary artists at Wysing’s campus outside Cambridge. The programme is being delivered in association with Cambridge Event Management Ltd.

‘The economy of the future will be about creating value and appropriate forms, and no one knows more about the process for doing that than artists.’  Professor Rob Austin, Harvard Business Professor.

Downloads
Creative Accelerator Workshops Programme
Booking Form
Frequently Asked Questions
David Gill's speech from the launch event 

David Gill, Managing Director of St John’s Innovation Centre, Cambridge, says: “Cambridge often hosts visits from clusters overseas asking how they can bottle creativity to use when they're back home. We ourselves don't fully understand the inspiration behind innovation and entrepreneurship. Creative Accelerator Workshops represent a rare opportunity to see how businesses can learn to deal imaginatively and consistently with blockages and overcome persistent barriers.”

The workshops offer the opportunity for businesses to test or think laterally about new business ideas, projects or products. 

Businesses in the region came to a launch event to hear more about the project and to network with other businesses at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, on Thursday 29 November. 

Follow the project on Twitter #creativeaccelerator @wysingartscentr
Click here to read about the project on Cabume

For further information contact Lucy Wilson by email here

EAST Contemporary Visual Arts Network (ECVAN) is working under the project title Eastern Pavilions to achieve a stronger, sustainable visual arts sector in the Eastern region that has greater visibility and influence, increased capacity and a joined-up approach.

Eastern Pavilions is a collaborative project with visual arts organisations across the eastern region. It aims to deliver an excellent programme of activity that includes artists’ commissions, exhibitions and collector and market development for art through special events.  It explores new ways of working together and builds on the diverse and exciting range of activity that is being undertaken in the region.

Eastern Pavilions has to date delivered a series of talks exploring contemporary approaches to supporting artists, the production of a print portfolio supported by a network of patrons and region wide events that include opportunities to purchase artworks.

For more information visit www.easternpavilions.org

The Eastern Pavilions print portfolio is available to buy online here and can be viewed at the following venues:
ICA, London
Wysing Arts Centre
Norwich Castle Museum
Art Exchange, University of Essex

The Eastern Pavilions organisations are:
Art Exchange, University of Essex
BCA
Ipswich & Colchester Museums Service
Firstsite
Kaavous Bhoyroo
Kettle's Yard
Norwich Castle Museum
Outpost
Smiths Row
UH Galleries
Wysing Arts Centre

ECVAN is coordinated by Wysing and is part of the Contemporary Visual Arts Network, supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Citizen Power Peterborough was set up in 2010 to explore the link between place and identity and develop new ways for people to influence and participate in civic life. This innovative cross-organisational partnership is jointly funded by Peterborough City Council, Arts Council England East (ACEE) and the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce (RSA). There are six strands of projects which provide opportunities for citizens to build attachment to their surroundings, and other people, forming the basis for a more sustainable future.

Wysing Arts Centre was invited to devise and deliver a series of artists’ residencies as part of the Arts and Social Change strand of Citizen Power Peterborough, which aims to place artists at the centre of re-imagining social change within the city, through facilitated discussion groups, one to one engagements, commissions and residencies.

Wysing guided and supported a number of community groups through the process of hosting an artist in residence and liaised with and supported the residency artists throughout year-long delivery process.

Grennan and Sperandio have been working with the Street Pastors of Peterborough to develop a comic strip about their work which has been published weekly in the Peterborough Telegraph whilst artist Joshua Sofaer has been working with the residents of Morland Court to re-imagine their living environment and build relationships with their surrounding neighbours.

See Grennan and Sperandio's project here

See Joshua Sofaer's project here

Wysing is working in partnership with consultants Futurecity to support the selection and appointment of artists to deliver the public art strategy for the new Great Kneighton housing development in Trumpington, Cambridge.  The Great Kneighton development comprises a number of different settlements including Clay Farm and Glebe Farm. 

For Glebe Farm, artists London Fieldworks were appointed to create and deliver a five year public art plan, combining community engagement, performative art and architecture installations and a major film project exploring the location as a future community of people and wildlife.  For Clay Farm Wysing worked with Futurecity to appoint Jeanne Van Heeswijk as lead artist; Nils Norman, Simon and Tom Bloor, Sean Edwards will also be working on the project.  To inform the initial stages of the project, Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination ran a series of creative workshops to collect ideas about the arts and their place in the lives of existing Trumpington residents.

The Luton Hoo Walled Garden, established by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, in the late 1760s was second only to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew but had fallen into decline from the 1908s onwards.  The garden is now in the process of undergoing an extensive re-visioning and restoration project to revive the garden and repair its structures for the enjoyment of future generations.

As part of the re-visioning of the garden, the Luton Hoo team spent a day at Wysing Arts Centre with the curatorial and development staff to explore how to further develop their artistic and residency programme.

The Collective, the founding members of which are the accountancy firm Price Bailey, insurance brokers La Playa and law firm Taylor Vinters, was formed in 2010 as a new way to collect art and to support Wysing’s work. The Collective, all of whom are based in Cambridge, equally contribute to the funding, trebling the buying power of individual members. The Collective make joint decisions on what art to buy and the purchased work is then shared between the members. Members of the Collective have been making regular visits to Wysing over the past year and under the guidance of Wysing’s curatorial staff have undertaken a number of studio visits and purchased work for their offices. They have also begun to commission work.

Ed Turner, Managing Partner of Taylor Vinters says “This collaborative approach to collecting art has been a lot of fun and has empowered staff from the three businesses involved to take real ownership of the project and work together as a team, share ideas and make decisions on what purchases are being made.”

“This is a great way to for all of us to strengthen our working relationships, to involve our staff in something creative, and to support emerging artists – not to mention being a FTSE-beating investment opportunity!” says Mark Boon, CEO of La Playa.  “We’ve partnered with forward-thinking firms with creative and entrepreneurial individuals at the helms.”

Wysing currently has groups established and is keen to form new groups to begin in late 2012.  Click here for more information about Collecting Art with Wysing.