Showing posts with label stories from an invisible town. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stories from an invisible town. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 November 2012

Following the audience's lead

One of the constant challenges for arts organisations, especially those that tour work like Hoipolloi do, is building a relationship with an audience that can be sustained - even when work is not out 'on the road'. Talking about 'the audience' all too often means thinking about the people who experience your work as a homogenous unit, when they are anything but.

Hoipolloi has been fortunate that Hugh Hughes, who we've been working with since 2005, so readily embraces social media. This enables some degree of a continued conversation, but we also know that twitter and facebook are not everybody's cup of tea. We've also been open to exploring opportunities beyond the stage, and the recent success of Floating on Radio 4, that that earned Hugh a BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Scripted Comedy Drama, also brought us a huge audience.

We were really excited about opening up Hugh's childhood home online, because we knew this offer was a unique way to experience the magic of Hugh Hughes when and where the audience please. We know, however, that not all Hugh's fans want to experience work in this way, and even those that do have radically different approaches to the site. Some people start on the home page and work methodically through the stories as though they are actually walking through the house; some people jump straight into a story through a link they found on twitter or facebook; some people wander around the online space looking at the floorplans and Hugh's notes without listening to stories at all; some people put stories on 'in the background' whilst they do other things. With the glorious variety of Hoipolloi's audience in mind, we've continued to work with the material that we've made available online at www.invisibletownstories.co.uk in an attempt to make the experience of visiting as unique as each visitor. We've started to offer particular collections of stories, curated by people. My own collection is simply my favourites at a particular point in time that capture something of the whimsy and perspective that I think makes Hugh so compelling. Each collection has a description that will tickle particular fancies - want a flavour of the site without having to make decisions about which story to choose? We've got a single track, curated by Hugh. Or maybe you're fascinated by Hugh's love of pigeons?

Most exciting of all, perhaps, is that we listened to feedback, and have created Hugh Hughes FM. We're delighted to announce this development, which will suit both those who want to listen whilst doing other things, and those who are open to serendipity and want to be surprised. Find it at http://invisibletownstories.co.uk/radio

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Sharing and learning



As creatives, we're familiar with the idea of uncertainty: we readily embark on journeys when the destination is unclear, and trust that we'll not only find our way, but that we'll discover something along the way that we couldn't have planned or predicted. But when we put something into the public domain, we sometimes seem less able to embrace risk.

The last week at Hoipolloi has been full of uncertainty: we took the decision to share the online world for Stories from an Invisible Town, invisibletownstories.co.uk, knowing that it isn't finished, knowing there are things we would change.

When I applied for the Digital Associate post with Hoipolloi, what really piqued my interest was the description of the environment surrounding the website as 'test and learn'. I've had so many experiences with arts organisations that look to digital as the answer to questions that are too narrow, or outcomes that are too fixed. In pursuing answers and delivering outcomes, it's hard to allow room for understanding to emerge, for the form and the content to grow into one another.

At Hoipolloi, we've been encouraged to be open about both our progress and our process by a strong team who understand the value of input from users and audiences. We've employed an agile system of development that focuses on the minimum functionality required to test an idea, and then builds this up in an iterative fashion - which means that decisions don't have to be made before you know what you are making.

It's true to say that you never really know what you've made until you get it in front of an audience. This early sharing of the online world makes a lot of sense at Hoipolloi - after all, we're not making the site for us, we're making it for you and that means that the next set of decisions we make will be based on having shared the site and having learnt about what it is through observing how it is used.

So I hope you'll join in by visiting the site - invisibletownstories.co.uk - and allowing us to share your experience.

Image: a dry run in preparation for data analysis for invisibletownstories.co.uk

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Welcome to 2012

The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes - 001

A belated Happy New Year from myself, Hugh Hughes and the rest of the Hoipolloi team. We're all really looking forward to the year ahead. It's certainly going to be busy and I hope you'll be able to join us along the way.

Hugh has already started the year with some very good news. His afternoon play version of Floating, created with BBC Radio 4 has been nominated for "Best Scripted Comedy Drama" at the first ever BBC Audio Drama Awards. The ceremony, to be hosted by David Tennant, takes place on 29 January and we'll let you know how he gets on.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us during the autumn. I certainly had lots of fun driving Hugh to a couple of places for performances of 360 and the year ended in style with the run of Story of a Rabbit at Sydney Opera House.

At present, we're in the thick of development for Hugh's brand new project, Stories from an Invisible Town. Here's a quick intro from Hugh...

Stories from an Invisible Town - An Introduction (by Hugh Hughes by hughhughes

It'll be both an online space and a live work, which will tour the UK in the autumn. We'll be announcing more information as the year progresses but if you're in Cambridge, you can get some sneak previews by joining Hugh for some further work-in-progress performances at The Junction. These take place on 8 March, 20 April and 25 May. More details here.

We look forward to sharing our work with you in the not too distant future and hope you'll be able to join us at some point this year.

Simon Bedford
Executive Producer, Hoipolloi

ps. if you live in or near Cambridge, we think these might be of interest...

NIE: Clown on stage - a master class at The Junction
This Master Class led by NIE’s Artistic Director, Alex Byrne will explore the physical preparation of the body for performance through work on pure and expressive movement and the playfulness of the actors in performance through games and group work. Alex will explore work in red noses as a way to access emotions, material and playfulness.

Saturday 4 February from 11am – 6pm
Suitable for ages 18+
Price: £35 (£25 conc)

To book: please visit www.junction.co.uk/artist/4058

HOTBED 2012: CAMBRIDGE’S NEW WRITING FESTIVAL
26 - 29 January at The Junction

12 new commissions, live literature, film showings, masterclasses, workshops, a One-Page-Play Competition and free foyer events.

Writers at Hotbed: Janice Okoh (Bruntwood Award Winner 2011); Ed Harris (Writers’ Guild Award Winner 2011); Chris O’Connell (Multiple Fringe First Award Winner), plus many more of the UK’s leading and up-and-coming writers.

Guest Production: Hotbed will host world-class production of SILENT by Ireland’s leading new writing company, Fishamble.  The show was the hit of the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won a plethora of awards, including the prestigious Fringe First Award.

Box office: 01223 511511 or book online: www.junction.co.uk

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Exclusive previews in Sydney

The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes - 003 

Are you in Sydney? Perhaps you'd like to join Hugh Hughes at Carriageworks for some exclusive work-in-progress sharings of Stories from an Invisible Town.

The sharings take place this week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (15 to 17 December) at 8pm. They are free to attend, all you need to do is sign-up here online beforehand to reserve your place:

Stories from an Invisible Town is Hugh's brand new project and an artistic investigation of childhood. It's probably easiest if I let Hugh explain...


Stories from an Invisible Town - An Introduction (by Hugh Hughes by hughhughes

Posted by Simon Bedford, Executive Producer, Hoipolloi

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