News
PAL announces Four Movement & Meaning Lab bursaries
PAL is delighted to announce the winners of our research and development bursaries as part of The Movement and Meaning Lab. This laboratory is an on-going experimental research process begun in February 2011 by Gill Clarke MBE, the pioneering dancer, movement specialist and teacher who inspired a generation of intelligent contemporary dance artists. Gill started her enquiry, in partnership with PAL, to examine the relationship between Movement and Meaning with a group of dance practitioners, artists, scientists, philosophers, psychologists, social anthropologists and others interested in ‘embodied practice’. She continued to work with us to extend our exploration beyond the world of dance until the day before she died on 15 November 2011, at the age of 56, after a long struggle with cancer.
New Year message from Susan Benn
Susan Benn, PAL’S Founder Artistic Director writes…
All of us at PAL hope that this New Year brings you, your family, our friends and colleagues the very best of health, enough time, space and resources for what you most want to do and much love and friendship.
PAL’s Achievements in 2011 pave the way for bold plans in 2012 and beyond. Here are a few of our 2011 milestones which you will read more about, along with the new opportunities to take part in PAL’s work, which will appear on out site in the coming months.
Movement & Meaning Bursaries
We have received a wide range of exciting proposals in response to
our call for exploratory research (rather than finished works) offering
support to two trans-disciplinary creative teams to explore the first
stage or pilot, or testing of ideas for future development.
REMEMBERING GILL CLARKE MBE (1954-2011)
It is with huge sadness that we write here of the loss of Gill Clarke MBE.
PAL and the Comino Foundation
PAL has recently been awarded a grant by the Comino Foundation to launch a new strategic strand of activity focused on supporting young people to develop their creative, communication and leadership abilities.
Movement & Meaning: Call for proposals for collaborative research grants
The PAL Movement & Meaning Lab is seeking proposals from emerging artists / researchers for trans-disciplinary collaborations. Each collaborative team must include at least one dance artist. Two grants to a maximum of £2,500 each will be awarded. The deadline for receipt of proposals is 22 October 2011.
Movement & Meaning: join the conversation
We’re delighted to invite you to series of talks which are part of the Movement & Meaning Lab programme. Learning scientist Guy Claxton, social anthropologist Tim Ingold and human geographer Nigel Thrift will be joining Lab Director Gill Clarke here at the Siobhan Davies Studios.
PAL Lab Director’s film released to acclaim in India
PAL Lab Director Nila Madhab Panda’s international award-winning film I AM KALAM has opened in its native India. It has garnered rave reviews as reported in the on-line site Glamsham.com.
Cultural Exchanges: PAL’s work in India
If you’re in Manchester this autumn go and see the exhibition Made for Manchester: Craft Objects of Exchange which opens on 17 September until 12 November at the Manchester Craft & Design Centre. Made For Manchester will show work from British and Indian makers, who have explored, united and utilized each other’s creative worlds.
Manchester Craft and Design Centre will showcase the craft outcomes from a series of cultural exchanges, completed by makers from the North West of England and Ahmedabad, India. The exchanges gave the makers the opportunity to investigate current international craft practice.
We are Ready to Jump
We are now half way through our project If Not you Who Else? Here’s what some of the young people are saying about their experience so far.
“Taking part in this project has given me a new perspective on life, in regards to allowing myself to embrace change. It has also taught me the importance of remaining stout-hearted to see my ideas accomplished especially if any challenges arise. I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to form a relationship with people that are like minded, and value the importance of making a positive impact within our environment. “
Kieron
Rehana Mughal joins PAL Team
We are delighted to announce that Rehana Mughal has joined PAL for a period of three months to develop and strengthen its offer both nationally and internationally. Rehana will work together with PAL Chair Roanne Dods, founder Artistic Director, Susan Benn, Members of PAL’s Board and others to build upon the company’s 22-year experience and to develop new cross-disciplinary front line cultural services.
New PAL Lab Model Launched
If Not You, Who Else? has launched a new model for PAL. There is no residential element to this Lab programme and the test for PAL is to see if it is possible to achieve the depth of exploration and challenge which characterize the PAL Lab process and make it so effective in generating new ways of working and new work.
Initial feedback from participants indicates that we have every chance of success - a testimony to the commitment of all involved.
“I feel I’ve been given a gift and now I feel like I’m equipped to go into all the ideas I’ve had and I’ve got so much more inspiration and resource to tap into. Indigo
Read PAL’s STEM Fluency Brochure
Our latest publication is the PAL STEM Fluency brochure. This illustrates our approach to working to encourage the creative teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths. PAL_STEM_Brochure.pdf
Movement and Meaning: Propagating Connections
Looking forward to Sunday 19th June, when the roof studio here at Siobhan Davies Studios will be packed to capacity with dancers, neuroscientists, anthropologists, artists and many others.
Read our latest Annual Report
PAL’s 2009-10 Annual Report is available to read now. Just click on the cover image to download a copy. We hope you enjoy reading about another busy year. If you would like a hard copy or two for yourself or to give to people you think might be interested in our work, just .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Movement and Meaning Lab gets underway
Led by dance artist Gill Clarke, PAL’s Movement and Meaning Lab got underway down in deepest Dorset on Wednesday evening. It is the first part of a programme of work which aims to put movement, perceptual experience, creative interaction ‘in the middle’ of a creative exchange between practitioners and policymakers. It is the beginning of a cross-disciplinary enquiry into our embodied nature, bringing together the physical and sensory curiosity and intelligence of dance artists, with scientists, social scientists, and influential policymakers and opinion-formers across culture and education. Together they are examining the question: ‘What might closer attention to the centrality of movement to our learning and relationships in the social world bring to current thinking and debate at the forefront of other disciplines, and what new ways of creative thinking and working might arise from a trans-disciplinary hothouse with movement at its centre?’
Award for PAL Lab Director Gill Clarke
Congratulations to PAL Lab Director Gill Clarke, recipient of the Jane Attenborough Dance UK Industry Award at the 2010 National Dance Awards, which took place at Sadler’s Wells, London on January 24. Characteristically, Gill stressed collaborative venture, “we are very good at that in dance”, and accepted the award on behalf of independent dance in the UK.
Serious STEM fun in the snow
The third East Midlands STEM Fluency Lab was a resounding success. 19 science, technology, engineering and maths teachers and one English teacher, two scientists and four artists came together in a snow-bound Rutland for five intensive days of work and serious fun.
PAL’s New Chair of Trustees
We are very excited to welcome Roanne Dods as the new Chair of our Board of Trustees. Roanne is a long time critical friend of PAL and has been working closely with us on the development of our Artist as Leader programme. Her dynamic commitment and engagement with PAL’s work strengthens our confidence in shaping our future.
Awards for PAL’s Children’s Film Lab in India Director
We are delighted to pass on the news that our good friend Nila Madhab Panda, co-director of PAL’s Children’s Film Lab in India programme, has been awarded a number of prestigious prizes for his first feature filmI am Kalam:
• “Best feature film” from the Indian Panorama, selected by the Young Jury at the 41st International Film Festival of India, Goa 2010
• “Best feature film”, and “Don Quixote Prize”, International Cine Club Federations, at the Lucas International Film Festival, Germany, 2010
• “Audience favorite choice”, London Children Film Festival 2010.
• “Special Jury mention”, Cinekid International Film Festival 2010.
• “Best Actor Award for Harsh Mayar, Minsk International Film Festival 2010.
• “International Jury’s Special Mention”, Ale Kino International Film Festival, Poland 2010.
PAL Lab friend Sugata Mitra on TED Talks
Professor Sugata Mitra has joined us on several of our Labs in Learning. His ‘Hole in the Wall’ experiments which show how, in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they’re motivated by curiosity, have intrigued, moved and inspired his fellow participants. You can hear him talk about his work on the wonderful TED Talks platform. http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html
Inspired and Delighted
Now an essential part of PAL’s R&D process, our recent Art of Enquiry Lab was a welcome counterpoint to the prevailing bleak view of the future of arts. As theatre practitioner Ola Animashawun remarked, “Here’s to the power of thought, action, vision, listening, feeling and moving together as one. United, inspired and delighted”: a neat summing up of the principles that underpin PAL’s work.
PAL’s New Trustees
We are very proud to announce the appointment of three new trustees, who have joined the PAL Board this month. They bring with them a wealth of experience in arts practice which complements the skills of the existing trustees.
PAL in ‘A Place to Think’
PAL is featured as a case study in Graham Devlin’s new report, ‘A Place to Think’, launched on 24th June. The report was commissioned by CIDA International in its role as a partner within the EU consortium ECCE Innovation.
PAL and the Mystery of Fullerenes
Andrei Khlobystov is Associate Professor and Reader in Chemical Nanosciences at the University of Nottingham. He took part in the second PAL-Ignition STEM Fluency Lab in November 2009, working with teachers, artists and other scientists to explore and challenge their own practice in relation to teaching and learning science, technology, engineering and maths.
Growing PAL’s R&D - Artists commissioned
We’re delighted to have poet Jacob Sam-La Rose, theatre director Ola Animashawun and arts practitioner Roanne Dods working with us on the research and development of three new programmes of work. By opening up the early developmental phase of our programming to artists and arts practitioners, we aim to increase our capacity to respond to artists’ current concerns.
Couscous Global Lab artists’ timely play opens
Couscous Global Lab participants Mimi Poskitt and Ben Freedman, otherwise known as Look left Look Right Theatre, timed the opening of their new work, Counted, immaculately. The documentary play, which Mimi and Ben were talking about at the Lab in May 2009, is about British democracy. In a country where people are more likely to vote for X-Factor than for the next Prime Minister, the piece comes right to Westminster’s doorstep, shedding light on why – in a world at war over democracy and in economic meltdown – so many people don’t vote. You can catch it until 22 May 2010 at The Debating Chamber, County Hall, London SE1. For booking details go to the Look Left Look Right website.
PAL launches A Pedagogy of Curiosity Research in Chicago
PAL will launch its research programme, A Pedagogy of Curiosity, at the international symposium ‘Claiming Creativity’ to be held in Chicago 21-23 April. The conference is hosted by Columbia College Chicago in partnership with the European League of Institutes of the Arts. PAL’s Founder Artistic Director Susan Benn is co-directing the research with Professor Kerstin Mey, Director of Research and Enterprise at the University for the Creative Arts in the UK.
A Pedagogy of Curiosity is an emerging body of cross-disciplinary sensory research, originated in the UK in 2006 by Susan Benn. She was joined in 2008 by Professor Kerstin Mey. Together they are co-directing this international research programme. Research partners will include molecular and neuro scientists; artists and designers who use the senses as their medium; and environmental scientists and educators who are experimenting with sensory approaches to learning and teaching across disciplines. The experimentation is focused on human needs, engaging members of the public of all ages with the aim of sensitising society.
The co-directors of A Pedagogy of Curiosity research are currently developing site-specific case studies and opportunities for collaboration and partnerships with like-minded researchers, policymakers and funding bodies in Europe. Asia and America, where interest has been expressed in this work.
Lab Film ‘The Infidel’ Released
Developed at the 2008 PAL Script Development Lab for production company Slingshot, The Infidel, written by David Baddiel, directed by Josh Appignanesi and starring Omid Djalilli premiered this month, drawing considerable media attention. Jasmin Alibhai Brown of The Independent described it as “Funny, profound and extraordinary”. Baddiel, Appignanesi and Djallili all participated in the Lab, in February 2008
STEM Fluency Lab Reunion
Participants in the 5-day residential PAL/Ignition STEM Fluency Lab in November 2009 got together again this month. Lab teachers, artists and scientists met at a one-day reunion at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham, to share what they had been doing since the Lab.
What next for the Children’s Film Lab in India?
Our first Lab for Children’s Film screenwriters in India, held in December 2009, was a resounding success with one script already scheduled for production later this year.
PAL’s Annual Report 2008-09
We have decided to stop hiding our light under a bushel and publish our Annual Report.
PAL goes to India for the first Children’s Film Lab
Our brand new Screenwriters Lab for the development of Indian feature films for children and family audiences took place in December 2009. The 10-day residential was held in the beautiful hill station of Metheran, outside Mumbai.
Simon Beaufoy, the Oscar-winning screenwriter for Slumdog Millionaire writes,
“I have always been a huge supporter of the PAL Screen Labs. I have taken part in them as writer, tutor, and visiting speaker and cannot speak highly enough of a process that both refines the script and the screenwriter in equal measure. The guiding principles of PAL Screen Labs mean that the writer not only walks away with a much clearer vision of their project, but most importantly, also with a vision of how they can pursue their life and their writing career. PAL doesn’t just improve a single script, it nurtures the writer for the next script and the one after that. I was so excited when I heard that PAL were setting up a new Lab programme in India. There are a million new Indian stories to tell and just as many ways to tell them. This is an incredible opportunity to make films that reach beyond the ambitions of Bollywood, to tell real stories about real people that can still move, provoke debate- and make money at the box office! I can think of nobody better to nurture this amazing potential than PAL Screen Labs”.
Writers for Indian Children’s Film Lab announced
The Indian Children’s Film Lab will focus on the writing, development and production of high quality children’s films. For the first time in India this programme will offer a unique opportunity for developing talent specialised in writing and film production for a young people’s audience.
The Lab will take place in Matheran, near Bombay, from December 4-14 December 2009.
Training Observatory website launched
We are delighted to report that the Training Observatory website has now gone live. The Training Observatory is an information network for professionals working with the arts with children and young people in volatile and challenging contexts. It grew out of PAL’s Volatile and Challenging Lab programme which began in 2005.
Creative Scotland - have your say
Perspectives, a new on-line discussion forum, has just been launched. It describes itself as an evolving dialogue with Scotland’s creative communities to strengthen the purpose of and ambition for Creative Scotland, the new national development body for the arts, culture and creative industries.
Creativity: Luxury or Lifeline?
PAL delivered a workshop at CapeUK’s conference, Creativity: Luxury or Lifeline? Survive and Thrive in a Changing Educational Landscape, held at the National Media Museum in Bradford on 30th September 2009.
PAL’s New Website
Welcome to our website. It is a work in progress and there is bound to be the odd glitch, but we hope that we have achieved our principle aim: to be clear and accessible.
The Art of Enquiry
To mark our 20th year, PAL held the first in a series of one-day Labs, called The Art of Enquiry on 29th June 2009 at our home in the Siobhan Davies Studios.