At Aberystwyth

It has been a couple of days now since I returned from Aberystwyth, and it was a great success. The new material I tried works very well. Best of all was the Nihilist who now opens the show. Derek (on secondment from the RSC) will take some work to fully control but has great potential. My #1 Fan is a good starting point with scope to illicit laughter and then of course turn the whole thing sour, and Hugo now has a firm goal.

Beyond the small frame of my own work the event itself was brilliant, the people who put together Showroom deserve a clutch of gold medals. They were supportive and friendly, professional and welcoming.

The artist breakfast the morning after was excellent, there was intelligent discussion of the work over coffee and tea plus an excellent selection of complimentary croissants and sweet confections supplied by The Aberystwyth Arts Centre, who supported the event by providing not just confectionery but the theatre itself, a technician, and marketing support. So a big thank you very much is in order. This is the kind of support that all institutions should be offering.

However all this happened without any funding, and in all likelihood, despite attracting a sell out crowd, everyone involved will end up having to shell out a couple of hundred pounds from their own pockets or budgets just to make it happen.

Whilst this is admirable, it is not sustainable. If you want to keep artists coming back and start building those relationships then you need to be able to offer some element of progression. Folks often forget that the most important aspect of the Scratch or showcase is that it is just the first rung on a ladder, not a goal in itself.

Most people making this kind of new work aren't interested in money- they just want an audience, a chance to get their work seen by as many people as possible. So if you can offer them space, promotion and a beneficial relationship then you can make real headway in developing good work. But this is totally impossible if the folks with the money, namely funders, in this case Arts Council Wales, don't get behind the impulse that starts with small independent groups.

The Arts Centre has a number of programmes to support local and emerging artists and where appropriate it would be great to see the best work from Showcase making it's way through these programmes to a fuller stage of development.