Today (18/02/23), the Cultural Bridge programme has announced 15 partnerships between UK and German-based organisations, who have been awarded funding to develop cultural projects exploring issues facing communities across both countries. The aim of the Cultural Bridge programme is to act as a platform of artistic exchange, enabling artists to strengthen the exchange between the UK and Germany and foster cultural collaboration.
And so - we are beyond excited to announce our continued collaboration with FAIL Institute Leipzig, through the Cultural Bridge platform! Having had the opportunity to connect with FAIL through the Cultural Bridge 2021 - 2022 pilot programme, this year we continue to explore and learn from each other's perspectives and practices as arts organisations through the FAILSTONE project.
"FAILSTONE will create inclusive spaces for gatherings and creative expression in- and outside of the institutional realm with local communities in England and Germany."
This will include the FAIL Institute taking up a residency with Folkestone Fringe, from the Urban Room Folkestone, as well as the FF team visiting Leipzig, Germany to witness and work with a project within the organisation’s own community.
More details to come about our project in due course!
For further information about the Cultural Bridge 2023 - 2024 projects, visit:
Illuminate Together
Co-creating with young voices
Bespoke
Going spaces: forming new connections and fostering collaboration
Growing together to facilitate community stories
Our EARTH Hour
Playing with Audio Walks: Storydive meets Produced Moon
At the Table
Strictly Scottish and Schottisch
Female Spaces
In Each Other’s Company
ENTER
FAILSTONE
Ode to Earth (Phase 2)
Between Moons. Spree~Channelsea Transmissions
Funded Partners:
Written by Rhiana Bonterre
The first morning after the entire FAIL (Fine Arts Institute Leipzig) team had left Folkestone following their month-long residency I passed The Urban Room Folkestone on my way to town. It dawned on me how comfortable and adjusted I had become to them being in the space; which had been fully and completely been taken over by our friends from Leipzig - the spontaneous karaoke nights, the delicious food Jasmine would prepare in the very tiny kitchen for anyone and everyone who wanted to eat, the visits from curious and intrigued passer-bys who would notice the golden room with fog always emerging, and wonder what on earth was going on, or how they could be a part of it…
I felt my own ways of working and thinking, as well as that of the Folkestone Fringe team constantly being shaken up, questioned, challenged, being experimented with. The things we’d learnt and valued from spending time with the FAIL Team previously were truly put into practice and integrated within our own ways of doing things - because of being with them for this extended amount of time. Playfulness was injected into everything. Taking risks and acting on spontaneous ideas became a practice. The Urban Room was transformed into a living breathing thing - a new sense of life was injected into it as something new and different was always happening, and different energies, activities and celebrations were continually passing through.
If I were to describe what FAILSTONE is, what our collaboration has looked like so far, it was a continual learning and experimenting with how to make space for something unexpected. The FAIL team carved out the space for nights of dancing, singing, music jamming, bingo, beach golf communal meals alongside and in between the Urban Room’s Festival of Looking which was simultaneously happening throughout July. The reality of these 2 events occurring at the same time undoubtedly brought up difficulties, in ways we didn’t quite anticipate - but it also led to conversations between the FAIL and FF teams that were always honest and open about expectations, how much we can realistically give of ourselves, and ways we may work differently going forward. It was an important addition to getting to know each other more fully, and seeing sides of each other we had not quite been able to access yet - which may not have been revealed without some of the challenges we faced.
