Things have been steadily creeping along in regards to what I will now refer to as I.D.P.I.J.D.I.M.S – I Don’t Protest, I Just Dance in my Shadow. May have to rethink that catchy acronym.

Anyway, one such notable thing that has happened since my last blog post was getting whisked off to Derby, about three weeks ago, for our second meet as the DRIVE Five (this should be on matching sweatshirts, I feel). We also had to pitch our ideas to a panel of industry specialists. Not before waking up late and nearly missing the whole event…

The panel comprised of Ben Cook of LUX, Steve Fletcher of Carroll/Fletcher, Adam Pugh from the Independent Cinema Office, Caroline Smith, an independent arts consultant and creative producer, and Camilla Brown, a curator and writer. The idea was for the panel to grill us on our project ideas and their potential. It was an… interesting panel to pitch to. The feedback for my particular project was more about how I need to present myself as an artist and how doing so will open doors to funding. This advice did help me to think of how to frame my project outside of the commercial boundaries and the many avenues that this could lead the project to, financially. Finance is not something I tend to think about when it comes to my work but it is necessary to do so and the advice from the panel made me re-assess my attitude to financing my art.

Following this, we all attended a DRIVE professional seminar about presenting artists’ moving image, with most of the same panel as mentioned above. I found it useful to see a discussion take place about the intricacies of curating animation and artists’ moving image in general. Could ‘I Don’t Protest…’ be more interactive? More of a showcase of the artists I interview? Am I just opening a huge can of worms thinking about how I can make it bigger? Food for thought.

Finally, we were all privy to the preview opening of Animate Projects newest exhibition, Parts & Labour: a collection of experimental animation selected from an international open call. And it was brilliant. Such a variety of films were selected and I found this, by far, the most inspiring aspect of the day. It just wanted to get me back in my studio and started on my film instantly. I also got to meet some of the artists involved in the show, one such being Sean Vicary, whose film Ascension Ceiling, about the operators of combat drones and their testimonies of their jobs, had me mesmerised.

In terms of ‘I Don’t Protest…’ I’ve had a chance to meet with three excellent people so far over the past 2 months, who have opened my eyes to the potential of this project. One is a curator, one is an artist and one is a documentary film-maker. But I’m going to leave that for a future blog post…!