Sophie Herxheimer, Rebecca Lee, Virginie Litzler, Tim Simmons, Simon Woolham
For the first phase of this new and exciting project we have partnered with five businesses across Northamptonshire.
Art Work Placement is an innovative collaboration between culture and business, which explores how integrating art into daily working life can not only enrich the workplace but can effect change within it.
The idea stems from Hamish Fulton’s statement that “An object cannot compete with an experience” and we are working with businesses to commission their own Artist in Residence, followed by a series of bespoke training sessions, exploring how creativity can be used to address business issues such as HR, growth and productivity.
Participating businesses:
Work with an artist in residence to develop artwork for an exhibition on their premises and explore the creativity of staff.
Invite their clients (existing & potential) to a special launch event with the artist.
Take part in conversations around re-thinking work processes and practices.
Work with a Change Consultant and an artist to develop a bespoke training session around the theme of “Innovation through Art”.
• Virginie Litzler is working with Cosworth at both their Northampton and Cambridge locations
• Simon Woolham is working with St Andrews Healthcare, Northampton
• Sophie Herxheimer is working with East Northants Council Economic Development, Thrapston
• Tim Simmons is working with Delta Motorsport, Silverstone
• Rebecca Lee is working with Weetabix in Burton Latimer and Corby
We aim to:
Present innovative exhibitions across the County, for audiences who would not otherwise visit a gallery.
Work with businesses to develop creativity and critical thinking.
Engage with members of Northamptonshire’s business community, to build strong, long term relationships for mutual benefit.
Support businesses to explore solutions to intractable problems, by working with artists to “see the familiar differently”.
The majority of the costs for this programme are being funded by Arts Council England, including all of the Artists’ and Change Consultant’s Fees. Businesses will be invited to contribute towards the exhibition presentation costs on their premises.
If you are interested in taking part in this unique programme – the first of its kind for Northamptonshire – please contact:
Morag Ballantyne
Art & Business Consultant
Fermynwoods Contemporary Art
07802 624025
Click here for more information.
What businesses have said so far…
Nick Greenway, Director of Marketing for the iconic Northamptonshire motorsport and engineering company, Cosworth, says:
“As a business we know that in order to succeed we need imagination, innovation and creativity, but we also need to retain the very best talent, that’s a source of business advantage – and, of course, we want our staff to be happy and motivated. I’m excited at seeing how having Virginie working with us challenges us to capture what we’re about and to see it more clearly”.
Greg Macdonald, Head of Economic and Commercial Development at East Northamptonshire Council, says:
“This initiative is central to the values of Enterprising East Northants, our economic development strategy, in that it positions people and places at the heart of what we are trying to achieve and uses our history and heritage to understand and shape our plans to improve the district for all.”
Liz Jackson, Senior HR Project Manager for St Andrew’s Healthcare, commented:
“The initial artwork Simon has created with many of our employees has generated a lot of interest, and involvement and has already started to open up new conversations with our employees about what it means to work for St Andrew’s and how we could improve this. We are looking forward to investigating these key relationships between employees and our workplace in the remaining stages of this project.”
Art Work Placement is delivered for Fermynwoods Contemporary Art by Culture and Creative Industries consultant, Morag Ballantyne, and Kirstin Irving, Organisational Psychologist & Director of ChangeTools Ltd
Kirstin comments:
“It is a great pleasure to be a part of this project. Working with skilled artists can be a beautifully disruptive experience for organisations. By being willing to be with the mystery of the creative process all sorts of things become possible. Personal and organisational change is often experienced as downright hard; Art Work Placement brings a different energy and a fresh sense of possibility.”