Open Space in Bath/Bristol/London UK

Phelim McDermott phelim at mac.com
Thu May 20 15:34:22 PDT 2010


Harrison,

Jack was actually the first person I ever met who did OS. Hi there  
again Jack! I was pointed towards him by Bob Griffiths who had given  
me a battered old copy of your book. Jack came in the day before our  
first ever "Devoted and Disgruntled"  over five years ago now, which  
our theatre company Improbable hosted. ( www.improbable.co.uk ) He  
gave us much encouragement and support. Since then we have carved out  
some considerable niche work in doing full scale OS work with arts  
organisations (although not exclusively so). I also spend quite a lot  
of time encouraging and mentoring people to open space themselves.  
There is actually an incredibly fertile and growing movement of people  
opening space here. I actually believe the more you give the more  
comes back so I have often done OS events with a gifting intention.   
Mostly our OS events happen because of people I meet who share a  
passion for change, the arts and OS. However all the work I would say  
comes from the impact of that very first OS invite I wrote. It had  
behind it a desire to create community in my own theatre world.  D&D  
is now an annual and monthly event and it also happens on an annual  
basis in Newcastle as well. We have done two D&D's in Scotland and One  
in NYC.  IN fact Open Space through D&D has had an amazing impact on  
theatre here. Theatre companies have been formed, mentoring networks,  
shows created, theatre spaces have been opened, conflicts resolved and  
conflicts created!  After D&D5 before our recent election an arts  
campaign was formed which managed to get the MP's talking about the  
theatre and the arts funding on the BBC and an explicit  commitment to  
arts funding in the Times newspaper. Just a few examples off the top  
of my head .

Throughout that time  and since then I have met lots of people at  
Wosonos and elsewhere who facilitate OS and say it's better to not  
facilitate if you are connected or passionate about the issue. This is  
just not true. (In my case)  I think because of my passion it has  
opened more space and I have been asked to do that again and again. I  
spend a lot of time turning down OS gigs here in the UK. Usually it's  
because they don't really want to do open space or they want to change  
it and dilute it by adding on or "Improving" it. Each gig is a case  
for decision in itself but I would say a lot of them happen because I  
talk about it to people and tell them how it has transformed my life,  
the essence of my own company Improbable and my practice as a theatre  
director. I  feel incredibly excited about the opportunity we will  
have in 2012 to connect up the UK open space community (situation  
latent) when Wosonos comes here. I hope that our invitation to people  
to gather here in London will be a great opportunity to get as much of  
the OS system in the room as it were and see if we do actually want to  
be community. (amongst the other stuff that will go on).  All of this  
happened because I read Harrison's book.. recognised that I already  
knew what OS was and followed the recipe.   I had never actually been  
to an OS event before I did this, so it felt I was discovering it  
myself as if for the first time. The souffle rose and I had one of the  
best improvisation gigs I've ever done. Heston Blumenthal eat your  
heart out! As an Impro Junkie, and lover of presence and storytelling  
what better gift could one have. The presents from the presence.. they  
just keep coming.

Thanks for the ride Harrison.

:)

Love

Phelim


There are more details about D&D here

http://www.improbable.co.uk/show_example.asp?item_id=47

The last big report is here

http://devotedanddisgruntled5.blogspot.com/2010/02/contents.html



On 20 May 2010, at 22:02, Harrison Owen wrote:

> Jack – I think you ought to talk to Phelim. I am not sure it is  
> about marketing. Probably more about doing it. Or something.
>
> ho
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
> Potomac, MD 20854
> USA
> Phone 301-365-2093
> www.openspaceworld.com
> www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu 
> :
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>
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of  
> Jack Martin Leith
> Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 4:59 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Open Space in Bath/Bristol/London UK
>
> Thanks for the encouragement Steve.
>
> But various UK-based people have tried - including Romy Shovelton,  
> Roma Iskander and me - and it's a marketing nightmare. People who  
> want to learn how to create and facilitate OS events are almost  
> impossible to identify.
>
> But who knows ... never say never.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Jack
>
> Jack Martin Leith
> Leith Co-creation
> email: jack at leithcocreation.com
> Mobile: 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541)
> Skype: jackmartinleith
> Professional website: www.leithcocreation.com
> Personal website: www.jackmartinleith.com
>
>
> On 20 May 2010 21:20, Steve Cochran <scochran305 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Sounds like an opportunity.....
>
>
> On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Jack Martin Leith <jack at leithcocreation.com 
> > wrote:
> Hello Jamie.
>
> There are very few such opportunities in the UK - I get asked this  
> all the time!
>
> If I hear of anything I'll make a post to this list.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Jack
>
> Jack Martin Leith
> Leith Co-creation
> email: jack at leithcocreation.com
> Mobile: 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541)
> Skype: jackmartinleith
> Professional website: www.leithcocreation.com
> Personal website: www.jackmartinleith.com
>
>
> On 20 May 2010 12:37, Jamie Colston <jamiecolston at googlemail.com>  
> wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I am really keen to see open space in action and I wondered if  
> anyone has some meetings I could attend which show it in practice in  
> Bath/Bristol preferably or London.
> Many thanks
>
> Jamie
>
> Jamie Colston
> Building a sustainable future through community empowerment
>
> H: 01225 851377  M: 07826 411991  E: jamiecolston at gmail.com
> FB/Linked In/Skype: Jamie Colston  Twitter: spearthwarrior
> Blog: http://inserviceforsocialchange.wordpress.com/
>
> Bathford community are working together to change behaviour and  
> reduce their carbon footprint find out more and sign up at www.greenertogether.coop
>
> Community Owned Renewable Energy part 3, Wednesday 26th May,  
> Bathford School, 7.45pm
>
> Critical Mass Ride May 29th 2010 (the last Saturday of every month),  
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>
> Transition Bathford www.transitionbathford.ning.com
>
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>
>
>
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> Steve Cochran
>
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