Bring on the upgrade!!

20th May 2010

We have finally raised the finance and Stage 2 development of the Culture Colony web site is underway. When it's ready, we hope by the middle of next month, members will notice a range of new functionality and services. We have received a small grant from the Welsh Assembly Government to match our own funds to do the new work on the site.

Phil Page of Severn Internet, who is in charge of the development said "............."

Culture Colony is being designed as both a professional tool for individuals or businesses involved in the creative industries and as an alternative to television for anyone to access cultural content. It has become a place where people can share ideas and follow the creative process.

Once Stage 2 is complete we will see features that enhance the individual members experience of Culture Colony; new search options, tagging, alerts and the other fuctions that one now expects from social interactive media, will become available. The main enhancement to the web site that Stage 2 offers is the options for group memberships and the Welsh language version of the site. This will see a growth in activity that will increase the benefits of membership.

Joining the Culture Colony team this week is Melanie Moeser to help increase our capacity to service Stage 2, organise events such as the Culture Colony - Y Wladfa Newydd Launch and arrange new exhibitions for Culture Colony's return to the 'Old Tannery' in Machynlleth.

The roof is currently being replaced at the 'Old Tannery'. Once it's ready Culture Colony already has a number of exhibitions scheduled for the space.

Melanie out and about whle filming the Junk Man from Afrika Dilomprizulike. Location - a junk yard - only two days into the new job and she'a already going to the best places!

This dosen't mean that Stage 1 of the development has been a quiet time, simply waiting for something else to happen. Members who have engaged with this new service have already realised that Culture Colony is a professional tool that can enhance their prospects as working artists. Some members have actively used Culture Colony as a platform to keep everyone interested in their work up to date with the most recent activities.

Artists are using their membership of Culture Colony to help secure their own grant funding for exhibitions and publications. Among those who have sited Culture Colony in their applications is Chris Tally Evans who used the facilities his membership offers him to enhance his successful bid for the Cultural Olympiad 'Unlimited'. Mark Anderson's group project 'Power Plant' has found new venues in Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney aided by the film made by Pixel Foundry that is globally available on line through Culture Colony. Mark is currently on site visits to these cities.

Power Plant on the Culture Colony web site.

Culture Colony has already brought members together constructively. It has given emerging artists access to established artists where experience has been passed on.

Erin Rickard helping during the installation of David Nash's sculptures into the Yorkshire Sculpture Park while volunteering for Culture Colony.

Artists requiring skills for example, from specialist sound recording to skilled carpentry, have found people to work with them through their membership of Culture Colony.

Giles Thaxton built the 'House Truck' for Heather and Ivan Morison.

Culture Colony's own content is recorded to a professional broadcast standard and as such it also becomes a usefull archive for artists and organisations. Culture Colony has commissioned the production company Pixel Foundry to follow the extension and refurbishment of Oriel Mostyn Gallery in Llandudno. This material has now provided BBC 2's The Culture Show with some valuable footage that they would not otherwise have been able to obtain.

Heather Morison being interviewed by The Culture Show at Oriel Mostyn. The programme airs on the 27th of May.

Members can also benefit from using the recorded archive in any number of ways. Yorkshire Sculpture Park commissioned a 15 minute film about David Nash at the park. Through their membership they have also received a number of re-cuts of the material into short viral films and a number of news items following the progress of David working on site.

Large lumps of wood being fashioned into sculpture by David Nash.

Culture Colony will establish itself as a place to find information and content about cultural events or emerging and established artists and become a place to experience a wide range of creative activity including the more challenging ideas or niche activities.

The time is right. Television is currently under representing the arts and broadcasters are creating a disenfranchised audience. People interested in the arts will begin to find the content that they are looking for on Culture Colony. Culture Colony will be providing the content in a manner that this audience can consume, benefiting both the consumer viewing, reading or listening to the material, and the creator of the content. A new content driven and interactive world, that creates engaged individual experience rather than passive mass acceptance, is now taking place through Culture Colony.
 
As quality arts programming diminishes on television there is a real danger, that in the future, historians will look back at our time and only have mass entertainment television and social networks on the internet representing what is, in reality right now, a more exciting and varied cultural period. Work with creative integrity is being largely missed by the media opportunities that are currently available.

Culture Colony is providing an exciting alternative platform for cultural content, creating new opportunities for the creative sector that does not create a ghetto or clique but is open for anyone to take part and enjoy. Culture Colony is set to become one of the most important independent records of the creative expression of our time. To be shared now and into the future.

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