The majority of people who work in the arts be they visual artists, theatre makers, poets, musicians, live precarious lives. In tandem with their arts careers they often have another form of employment as a means of financial income. So when you are not working in your 'day-job' time is a valuable resource to be managed, juggled and utilised effectively to make art. When I say to make art I mean researching, resourcing, organising, budgeting, application writing, networking, documenting, experimenting, failing, restarting, disseminating…the list goes on and they are all time consuming tasks. So between working day jobs, making art and being a human and the time that takes (balling socks, cooking dinners, topping up your online bin account etc.) artists rarely have time to devote to one of the most important aspects of art-making: discussion and critical interaction with your peers.

It’s a strange thing to take eighteen strangers and put them together in a remote setting with the practicalities of everyday life removed. No day job to go to, no food shopping to do, just one whole week of full-time art time. There are no specific rules or familiar rituals to follow. We know OF each other, but don’t know each other. We come from different disciplines and backgrounds. We are requested to dine together every evening at 7pm. What will happen?

The jarring of a new perspective. The debating of legislation. The cross pollination of ideas. The sharing of research. The telling of a secret truth. The sharing of a fear. The revealing of an age old magic trick. The question you had been avoiding. The point you had been missing. The conception of a new idea. The confidence and inspiration to keep going ...