Triangle Arts Trust Knowledge and Skills Sharing Residency
December 2009
Sally Mizrachi from Lugar a Dudas hosted Yuneikys Villalonga from Batiscafo
10 December 2009, 5pm
Public presentation for all participants to dialogue with local artists and projects
In December 2009, Yuneikys Villalonga, coordinator at Batiscafo based in Havana, Cuba (www.batiscafo.org) became the first Knowledge and Skills Sharing participant taking up a residency at Lugar a Dudas based in Cali, Colombia (www.lugaradudas.org).
This residency is the first in a series organised by Triangle Arts Trust (www.trianglearts.org) designed to give coordinators the opportunity to share experiences, knowledge and skills for the benefit of the organisations, local artists and the community in which they work. The residencies are organised as hands-on projects, with visiting coordinators becoming involved in the life of the host organisation and contributing to projects with their skills and expertise. Similarly, the host offers the visiting coordinator support through their particular knowledge and skills, so that both sides are able to learn from each other.
As Sally and Yuneikys explain:-
We feel that although it is important to give the opportunity for artists to meet and share experiences, the fact of gathering coordinators in other local scenes is a unique chance to share and re-think schemes and structures of work. Each local context is special and other coordinators would not only gain in their knowledge of its existence, but contribute with experience and initiatives on its development.
At the start of the residency Sally and Yuneikys put together a list of aims and objectives they hoped to achieve. These included discussing how to develop curatorial projects, sharing experiences on how independent spaces raise funding, and getting to know the art scene in Cali.
Yuneikys and Sally both began the residency by presenting information about their organisations and individual projects to local artists and other project coordinators from the region. Taking part in staff meetings, Yuneikys found out how Lugar a Dudas operated as an organisation as well as getting to know the staff and artists working there more informally by chatting over lunch.
A public presentation invited Colombian artists and other group initiatives to take part in a reflective discussion where groups such as El Camion, Descarrilados and Helena Producciones explained what they do, with artists who have participated in Batiscafo also sharing their experiences. Several dialogues on how to re-think the space at Lugar a Dudas for the art community also took place and this event allowed different curatorial initiatives to connect with each other and share interests for the future. In particular the guest coordinators, with more critical distance, suggested some interesting ideas which would be great to pursue in the future for Lugar a Dudas.
Whilst in Cali, Sally organised several trips to take Yuneikys to visit different artists and communities including a trip to visit the area of El Hormiguero to meet a group of artists. This gave Yuneikys the opportunity to meet and interview various artists and coordinators, the links with which she hopes to continue now she has returned to Batiscafo.
As Yuneikys describes:-
I am very grateful for this opportunity of visiting Colombia, which has been one of the most important professional experiences ever and I am sure will have a great impact in my work. I have left many contacts there now, and hope to follow up ideas/projects for the future.
