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

A big hello from the two new faces at Hoipolloi!

The once quiet Hoipolloi office has been somewhat busy of late as Bianca and I joined the team last month. We’ve had a lovely time meeting the rest of the team and bonding with the office yak and the Doubtful Guest. Having joined Hoipolloi from the exotic locations of Nottingham and Toronto, respectively, we have been exploring our new stomping ground here in Cambridge and getting acquainted with the Mill Road Massive. As the new company Administrator, I have spent the last few weeks investigating the deepest darkest depths of the office filing cabinets and Bianca is currently developing a dynamic new online space where Hugh Hughes can share his family’s memories. But more exciting than all of that, we have spent much of our time focusing on the important task of convincing Simon to let us get an office dog. Watch this space people; we think we are winning. Woof Woof! 

The gorgeous pictured dog, Tisbe, is courtesy of Olof Werngren from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Could you be our Digital Associate?

 

Just a few days remaining before the application deadline for our Administrator and Digital Associate posts. We've had a really enthusiastic response so far but we are happy to continue to receive further applications right up until 5pm on Monday (12 March).

The Digital Associate post is probably a bit of a unique role even though it's becoming much more common for arts organisations to take on staff whose main function is to support the development of activity in this area.

For us here at Hoipolloi this is a key appointment, particularly in the development of our new Hugh Hughes project, Stories from an Invisible Town, and there is plenty of online activity as part of this project for the Digital Associate to get their teeth into.

We're currently in the process of developing an exciting new online space where Hugh Hughes can share the stories of his memories of his childhood. There will be audio, video, photos, illustrations and text and we need someone to to help us turn these individual elements into an imaginative audience experience. And, most importantly, to help us find an audience to experience it!

Alongside this, the Digital Associate will take the lead on running our ongoing social media presence and help us think about how we can use all of our digital activity to generate new income.

The most common question I've received about this post is whether we are looking for the Digital Associate to spend all their time at the Hoipolloi office or if the successful applicant could work more flexibly away from Cambridge. We are very open to this possibility because a great deal of the Digital Associate's time will be spent working with various applications and CRM systems online anyway. Although I would say that I imagine around one day a week would be worked here in Cambridge, something we'd negotiate the detail of with the successful applicant.

You can find the full details of the Digital Associate role here, alongside information about our Administrator position. And a quick reminder that applications need to be received by 5pm on Monday 12 March.

Good luck!

Posted by Simon Bedford, Hoipolloi's Executive Producer

EDIT: I spotted yesterday on Twitter that someone thought the job required coding skills. Just to say this isn't the case! Some basic knowledge of code might be useful but is not essential - the job instead involves the use of content management systems such as Wordpress. Hope that also helps make things clearer!

We're recruiting!

Wanted: two amazing folk to join the Hoipolloi team. We're on the lookout for an Administrator and a Digital Associate to help us deliver our creative projects over the next year!

I'm particularly excited that we're able to start recruiting for these new posts. They're going to make a huge difference to my day-to-day working life and, I hope, help me transform how Hoipolloi functions.

You can find the full details about the jobs on the website so I wanted to use this blog as a way of sharing a bit more about what it's actually like working here.

I've been here since 2005, working my way up from Marketing & Touring Officer to become Hoipolloi's Executive Producer last April. When I arrived Hugh Hughes was only just starting to emerge as an Emerging Artist and now he's adored by people right across the world, He's also spread his work beyond theatre into film and radio.

Achieving that has involved hard work from everyone who has, in one form or another, been part of the Hoipolloi team over the past seven years. And there's no let up in our creative ambitions over the next few years either so I can definitely promise that there will be plenty for the new Administrator and Digital Associate to get their teeth into.

So, why do I like working for Hoipolloi?

Firstly, it's because no day here is ever quite the same. That's probably a bit of cliché and I suspect a lot of people who work in the arts will say something similar. But it's definitely true. One day I can be sat in a rehearsal room observing the creative process in action, the next booking flights to destinations across the world or perhaps, more mundanely, selling the company car (as I've been doing today!).

That kind of variety also spreads into the projects we do and the people we work with. We have some great partners within the theatre sector but it's also been a real pleasure to see Hugh working with Radio 4 to produce an afternoon play version of Floating. One of my recent proudest moments is finding out that he'd won Best Scripted Comedy Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards.

Finally, working for Hoipolloi is never dull. I like to think we're a relaxed bunch of people, working hard but having plenty of fun too. Perhaps this little video will help prove that...

I hope that this blog might act as an enticement to encourage you to apply for one of these two posts. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us here in the office on 01223 322748.

Once again, full details here.

We're looking forward to receiving your application!

Simon Bedford
Executive Producer, Hoipolloi

Oh, and thanks to andjohan for the photo

Floating wins an award

 

I'm very proud to announce that Hugh Hughes won Best Scripted Comedy Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards last night. It's a real honour, particularly as Floating was both Hugh's first live show and his first work to be broadcast on the radio.

Andrew Davies, who wrote the TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, was one of the judges in Hugh's category and this is what he had to say about Floating:

"Floating was totally original. Generally I hate fantasy, but this was very different, somehow sweetly earnest as well as daft, with sadness at the heart of it. I loved it that it had a cast of two, and I’d never heard of either of them. It used the radio medium with enormous (concealed) sophistication and reminded one of the almost limitless power of radio to create a world."


The award itself was presented by actor Richard Wilson and, as you can see from the photo, Hugh also met David Tennant who was master of ceremonies.

It being radio awards, someone sneakily managed to record some audio of Hugh on stage...



 Simon Bedford (Executive Producer, Hoipolloi)