Introduction

“We can create buildings with nice facilities but it is hard to find people who can both develop programmes and collaborate with artists, which is where the real differences are made”
– Manami Yuasa, British Council Japan

More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and how our cities grow, adapt and thrive is becoming the key issue of our age. Yet conversation around the future city is still more focused on policy and technology than people and culture. Artists and cultural organisations play a unique role in re-imagining the cities of the future, ensuring citizens are engaged, that public spaces are open and that infrastructure solutions are people-centred, appropriate and textured. We believe the Creative Producer sits at the heart of this possibility for change.

For over 10 years, Watershed have pursued this belief by growing a team of Producers in Bristol, by nurturing emerging Producers from around the UK and by reflecting on what we do with research partners. Four years ago, we began an ambitious journey to create an international talent development programme, bringing together Creative Producers from cities across the globe. Building on Watershed’s Playable City work, we curated 15 incredible leaders working across contemporary art, placemaking, community engagement, corporate collaboration, urban innovation and social activism, and set out to learn and make change together.

We asked questions about identity and public space, about privilege and play, about value and impact. Our aim was to form and amplify a network of connected practice and build an international bank of knowledge and experience around city change. This report seeks to capture, codify and share some of our approach and some of that learning – we hope it is insightful and useful and helps you to build your own practice of change. You can read it online via this website, or by downloading the PDF version here.

I would like to thank Arts Council England, British Council, UWE Bristol, Manchester International Festival, RSC, Situations, Somerset House, Unlimited, Future Lagos and The Laboratorio para la Ciudad for partnering with us on this incredible journey.  Thank you to the Watershed team who shepherded the participants with incredible care and kindness, and most of all thank you to our Creative Producers, who stepped up to the challenge, and who continue to amaze us with their generosity and brilliance.

We obviously didn’t imagine we would be releasing this report in a time of global lockdown where the values that sit at the heart of our work would be so constrained and yet so vital – wherever we are in the world.  As our cities re-open and reassesses what is important, it is clear that the human desire to be together in public space will be more important than ever, and we will need Creative Producers to shape and stitch and poke and guard the desire for change.

Clare Reddington
CEO Watershed

About Us

Creative Producers International was created and led by Watershed.

Watershed champions engagement, imagination and ingenuity, working locally, nationally and globally from our home in Bristol, UK. Our building houses an independent cinema, the Pervasive Media Studio, a café and bar.

Pervasive Media Studio is a partnership between Watershed, UWE Bristol and the University of Bristol. It is a world-leading research lab and offers free space to a thriving community of around 160 artists, technologists, start ups, researchers and industry exploring work at the intersection of art, technology and society.

Our project, Playable City, puts people and play at the heart of future cities around the world.

The Creative Economy Unit, part of UWE Bristol’s Digital Cultures Research Centre, is a research team dedicated to exploring new ways of understanding the impacts that creative work has on the world.

The Team

Pete Vance (Producer, Watershed) | Hilary O’Shaughnessy (Research Lead, Watershed) |  Joanna Lansdowne (Executive Producer, Watershed) | Clare Reddington (Chief Executive, Watershed) | Jonathan Dovey (Professor of Screen Media, UWE Bristol) | Simon Moreton (Senior Research Fellow, UWE Bristol)

Get in touch with the team at playablecity@watershed.co.uk.

Credits

Report Credits

Authors: Simon Moreton, Jon Dovey, with Pete Vance, Alice Quigley, Jo Lansdowne and Georgina Bolton
Editor: Alice Quigley
Design & Website: Green Hat

When referencing this report, please use the format below:
Watershed (2020) Creative Producers International, Bristol: Watershed
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