[OSList] An Improbable invitation. A poem about a job.
Michael M Pannwitz
mmpannwitz at gmail.com
Sun Nov 21 23:16:39 PST 2021
At the last WOSonOS in Berlin one of the improbable women put on a
totally improper, quirky and irritating dance performance... what an
enlightened celebration of life...
cheers from a bright Monday morning, cloudless blue sky with the moon
still on its dependable course...
mmp
Am 21.11.2021 um 22:42 schrieb Peggy Holman via OSList:
> Fabulous!!!!
>
> I’m particularly drawn to:
>>
>> We have spent our lives following our curiosity, trusting the
>> unlikely, believing in the quirky, the subtle, and the irritating,
>> giving time and space to all the improper things that are usually
>> dismissed or discarded in a creative process. We are also all
>> these things ourselves: improper, quirky, irritating. We are not
>> always easy to live with.
>
>
>
> Peggy
>
>> On Nov 20, 2021, at 7:31 AM, Harrison Owen SR via OSList
>> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Harrison
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 20, 2021 at 8:05 AM Alan Halford via OSList
>> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
>>
>> Fabulous!!!!!
>>
>> On 20 Nov 2021, at 8:42 pm, Phelim McDermott via OSList
>> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello lovely space openers.
>>
>> I wanted to share something. Firstly it’s about a job advert but
>> also about how stuff we do at Improbable has been changed by the
>> practice of invitation.
>>
>> First off I’m sure my wife Matilda won’t mind me sharing this
>> story. She formed and co-runs an organisation called “Mothers who
>> make” it’s an online and offline support group that grew out of
>> one of our own open space events. It supports the idea that we
>> need to open more space into our work and life spaces so that the
>> the roles of both mother and maker are not separate or
>> marginalised by the other.
>> Check it out you might want to take part. You can join from
>> anywhere in the world.
>>
>> https://www.improbable.co.uk/job-vacancies
>> <https://www.improbable.co.uk/job-vacancies>
>>
>> Anyway a few years back Matilda put out a job advert for a
>> Producer role at MWM in a traditional way. Job specs, salary,
>> responsibility etc.. she got at most a handful of replies. So she
>> decided to create an informal advert. An invitation. She spoke
>> from her heart and from her passion and vulnerability with real
>> honesty about what the job would be and what it would involve.
>> Raw. She got 100 applicants. A real indication that it’s not just
>> the sessions called but the original invite that need passion and
>> responsibility to give it grip.
>>
>> https://www.improbable.co.uk/ <https://www.improbable.co.uk/>
>>
>> So Improbable (link above) is a company that makes shows and opens
>> space wherever we can are currently looking for a new executive
>> director. We put out the formal job advert a few weeks ago and
>> shortly afterwards we put out our informal invite which is below..
>>
>> Please spread the word and notice that we are hoping to ensure no
>> one should exclude themselves from the possibility of
>> interviewing, especially if you don’t work in theatre.
>>
>> Yes this might be you.
>>
>> Here is the Invitation:
>>
>> https://www.improbable.co.uk/posts/executive-director-informal-job-ad
>> <https://www.improbable.co.uk/posts/executive-director-informal-job-ad>
>>
>>
>> Here’s the text so you don’t have to click a link!
>>
>> “A POEM ABOUT A JOB.”
>>
>> An invitation to Join us. A poem about a job.
>>
>> On our Gathering blog,
>> https://www.improbable.co.uk/posts/the-gathering
>> <https://www.improbable.co.uk/posts/the-gathering>
>> you may have read that we’re looking for a place to belong and to
>> create belonging. We've been gathering clues, seeking out places,
>> talking to people, in our quest for a home for the company. We
>> have also just put out a call for a very particular, key
>> collaborator - last week, we announced that Improbable is looking
>> for a new Executive Director.
>>
>> Our Executive Director will, of course, be helping to take care of
>> Improbable - what it is, what it does, what its unfolding vision
>> is, and what it may be. However, one vital focus of this person's
>> role will be helping to make The Gathering, our home for
>> Improbable and our practice, happen.
>>
>> You can read the formal job ad here.
>>
>> https://www.improbable.co.uk/job-vacancies
>> <https://www.improbable.co.uk/job-vacancies>
>>
>> It does what job ads have to do – it talks about tasks,
>> responsibilities and qualifications. There is a heading called
>> 'Person Specification' which lists things like:
>>
>> Excellent written and oral communication skills
>> Excellent project management and time management skills
>> Experience of line management and excellent people skills
>> An understanding of funding systems and track record of
>> fundraising from a variety of sources
>>
>> Etc.....
>>
>> What it doesn't and can't talk about is spirit.
>>
>> Spirit Specification.
>>
>> So we want to do that here. Not to list the spirit needed by the
>> person in the Executive Director role because the specific thing
>> about spirit is that it does not belong to anyone. It exists
>> between people. An understanding of this is at the heart of the
>> company's practice, that the brilliance of the work, be that an
>> Opera, an Impro, or an Open Space event, does not lie in any one
>> person's singular stellar performance, but in the atmosphere
>> between the players, even amongst the audience - between all the
>> participants, it emerges. Much like in a poem, the meaning unfolds
>> from the combination of the words and their particular clustering,
>> their constellation.
>>
>> Here then, below, is a kind of poem. A list poem. It shares
>> something of who we are, and of our spirit.
>>
>> This is our 'Spirit Ad':
>>
>> We are Improvisers. Performers. Directors. Writers. Artists.
>> Facilitators. Parents. Partners. Friends.
>>
>> We are leaders. We are listeners.
>> We are tricksters.
>>
>> We have spent our lives following our curiosity, trusting the
>> unlikely, believing in the quirky, the subtle, and the irritating,
>> giving time and space to all the improper things that are usually
>> dismissed or discarded in a creative process. We are also all
>> these things ourselves: improper, quirky, irritating. We are not
>> always easy to live with.
>>
>> We are often… Sad. Overwhelmed. Furious. Funny. In despair. In
>> hope. Determined. Devoted. Disgruntled.
>>
>> We believe that Improvisation can save the world.
>> We are wildly ambitious and not attached to the results.
>> We believe in the power of vulnerability.
>> We are committed to celebrating and holding space for the
>> marginal. We mean those marginalised by race, sexuality, gender,
>> class, (dis)ability - all of these things - and we also mean the
>> marginalised in ourselves: the dreams, dilemmas, accidents, odd
>> impulses, uncanny images.
>>
>> We are Improbable, seeking a home, and, right now, seeking a
>> collaborator, otherwise known as an Executive Director, to help us
>> make it all happen.
>>
>> If the spirit of this speaks to you...
>>
>> If you care, not only about theatre but the way in which theatre
>> is made...
>>
>> If you believe grief has as much value as gold...
>>
>> If you believe poetry is as hard as nails...
>>
>> If you believe spirit has as much leverage as a plan...
>>
>> If you believe leaders are followers...
>>
>> If you believe silence is as eloquent as words, and that listening
>> is as important as speaking…
>>
>> If you believe that dreams are as real as the real...
>>
>> If you’re happy to step out before the ground has appeared...
>>
>> If there’s one thing that you know and it is that you ain’t
>> learned nothing yet...
>>
>> And, in a time of despair, if you believe the story of the artists
>> is not over just yet...
>>
>> Then, maybe, you should apply for this job.
>>
>> Formal invite here:
>> https://www.improbable.co.uk/job-vacancies
>> <https://www.improbable.co.uk/job-vacancies>
>>
>> And, as we say when we are Opening Space - after that moment of
>> silence when we are waiting to see whether everyone is done
>> calling their sessions - if you are thinking maybe you should,
>> maybe you shouldn’t, maybe you should......
>>
>> People from diverse backgrounds, in every sense of the word, are
>> encouraged to approach us. Unlikely, implausible and improbable
>> applicants, are, by definition, extremely welcome.
>>
>> Lee, Phelim and Matilda
>> ————————————-
>>
>> Love
>>
>> Phelim X
>> ---------------------------
>> ___________________/////////////
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
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>>
>>
>> *Alan Halford & Associates*
>> *Open Space Technology Aficionados
>> Mediation and Conflict Transformation*
>> *Facilitators
>> **
>> www.alanhalford.com.au <http://www.alanhalford.com.au/>*
>> *www.conflictcompany.com.au <http://www.conflictcompany.com.au/>
>> 0421 475 252
>> skype: alanhalford*
>> *
>> *
>>
>>
>>
>>
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--
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin
+49 30 7728000 mmpannwitz at gmail.com
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