10 Golden Rules for Successful Co-Productions in Arts & Culture

Let me please humorously present 10 + 1 golden rules for co-production in arts and culture. These are drawn from my own learnings and experiences collaborating with diverse partners in international cultural contexts. I hope you may get some insights for collaborative joy, growth, and well-being in your own adventures.

1 - Shared goals are important.

2 - Shared sense of (each other’s) time.

3 - For whom are we doing all this? 

4 - Do not collaborate just to be nice.

5 - Slimy appropriation? For the Money? Rather no.

6 - How much time/energy do I can and want to commit?

7 - Space Matters.

8 - Values Matter.

9 - Radical Honesty: I don’t like XXX, I really don’t.

10 - Let the others do what they want to do.

BONUS 10+ Do what you want to do, not what you want to want to do. 

1)    Shared goals are important.

This may sound like a no-brainer, but before you invest too much time into a new or also continuing collaboration. Ask yourself: Do you and your collaborators share the same goal? Are you really heading in the same direction?  If yes: Go for it. If no: Do not change or water down your goals, but rather watch for more like-minded collaborators. 

A successful example of my first golden rule for successful Co-Productions in Arts & Culture is First Story Women Building New Narratives for the 21st Century, Porto, Portugal, 2002. At the time I was still an intern and as such the web designer for this exhibition project, curated by Ute Meta Bauer. First Stories shared goal and intention was to show brilliant female practitioners. The work of these women had little in common. The show featured architects, graphic novel artists, DJanes, doctors, politicians, and many more. Yet we all shared the same vision in this collaborative project Change history to herstory by creating a platform and increasing visibility.

2)    Shared sense of (each other’s) time.

Learn from my learnings: Please be aware of diverse perceptions of time. 

For this golden rule, I want to share a rather negative example. In 2004 I volunteered as a coproducer for the Conference Networks, Arts, and Collaborations curated by Trebor Scholz and Geert Lovink at the State University of New York in Buffalo, NY, USA. The conference showcased the work of hackers, composers, performance artists, and others. Their shared interest was collaborative artistic practices. But that did not necessarily mean that the participants were interested in collaborating with each other. That led to a rather stressful task on my end as a co-producer. Most groups delivered late, many needed a lot of extra reminders, and some did not respect their assigned time slots. I was trying to juggle 53 balls, while at the same time implementing my own ideas on collaborations. It was a great project, but too much energy was lost, because of the missing sense of time. 

3)    For whom are we doing all this? 

 The next golden rule is to be on the same page about the desired audience. Or even better collaborate with your desired target group to get the content right. The question for whom would we be doing this and why? I recommend being in touch with your audience from day one. They are your collaborators. What do they need? What do they want? 

Here comes a not-to-do example again. I was working in Canada at the Banff New Media Institute in 2004/2005. I was co-producing a very well-funded project called Science Toys. The idea behind this video-heavy web-based endeavor was to make diverse scientific projects available to Canadian kids, living in remote Canadian areas. The twist was that scientists should be interviewed directly by kids. We found scientists working in Canada who volunteered to be interviewed, but we had a hard time finding kids, who would want to conduct these interviews, or even watch the interviews online later. A ton of money from well-respected Canadian funds ran into Science Toys, a flash-based website that was hardly visited and stopped running shortly after.

4)    Do not collaborate just to be nice.

Sometimes it might be better to say No, and do your own thing.
Here comes an example from my time in Austria. I was a staff scientist for the MA program Interface Cultures. We were invited to show our student grad projects at the prestigious Ars Electronica Festival. All of a sudden, the art school in Zurich approached us and asked if they could be on board. Our curatorial concept and exhibition design were already set.  Still, we wanted to be friendly and said yes. This yes to a new add-on collaboration, made our collaboration with Ars Electronica at the end pretty complicated. Everybody had a lot of extra work to make it happen. Zurich brought their own exhibition design, and we had to twist and turn to find compromises that in the end didn’t match either their or our projects. And almost nobody was too happy with the outcome in the end. 

5)    Slimy appropriation? For the Money? Please no.

I feel rather uncomfortable approaching a certain group of people, just to support my own monetary interests. 
I moved to Berlin where I was part of a small team working on Preview Berlin, an alternative art fair taking place in the old Tempelhof airport. In 2008 it was en vogue for Scandinavian artists to move to Berlin. Our marketing team had the wonderful idea to enhance our small art fair by attracting a lot of young Scandinavian artists and galleries, with the goal to charm hip Scandinavian companies to become sponsors. My gut feeling told me rather put my energy into a kids’ education program, a video booth, and a performance art lineup. But I ended up with fashionable Danish items in my wardrobe…

6)    How much time/energy do I can and want to commit?

Be honest to yourself AND to your fellow collaborators, if possible, at the very beginning of the projects. How much time and energy are you willing to commit? 
In 2009 I was still living in Berlin. As a museum freelancer, I was collaborating with an exhibition office. Together with other freelancers, we worked on a big exhibition project for the Landesmuseum Emden about postcards as a means for communication. A wonderful project. I love postcards. I love to dig into the history of communication. Yet, at the same time, I was also super busy with extensive yoga teacher training, and I was pregnant with our first child. I love yoga. I love my kids. In the beginning, I put endless time and energy into crafting a beautiful exhibition concept. The exhibition happened. The catalog was printed. But what was missing was the sought-after cherry on the icing on the cake. Over time I ran out of stamina, as I tried to juggle all three balls.

7)    Space Matters.

Make some effort and pay attention to the space in which your collaborations take place. Space matters a lot. In 2009, I co-invented a format called Salon für ästhetische Experimente. It was designed as a public exchange program for the Graduate School for Arts and Sciences fellowship program at the University of Arts in Berlin. We started in a small, cool bar in Friedrichshain. Nice, but not quite the air the artistic and scientific projects needed to breathe. I put in a lot of effort to find a place with a sustainable wow effect. We convinced the Haus der Kulturen der Welt to collaborate and host our salon. The series turned from so-so to a recognized kick-off platform for the fellows.

8)    Values Matter.

Be radically honest to yourself: Why are you working on this project? Does it align with your own core values? 
In 2018, in Providence, Rhode Island, I was fortunate to be part of the discussion of the highly acclaimed project around Rosa Park’s house, initiated by the artist Ryan Mendoza. Showing the actual house of Rosa Park in diverse venues around the globe sparked valuable discussions about the intersections of politics, social justice, architecture, and art. I felt honored to contribute.

9)    Remember: I do not like XYZ. I really don’t.

Do you also tend to be forgetful about your dislikes? Always ask yourself honestly twice or even more before engaging in a bigger collaborative project.
This happened to me in Switzerland in 2019 with a big (and successful) grant application about a huge web application and an interactive digital tool. As soon as I and my super nice and dedicated collaborators started working on the project, I had an epiphany, I already had before: I actually do not like technology. Talking techs makes me fall asleep. I should have known better. We started the project but did not take it any further than necessary. Now we have a super expensive multi-touch table in our institute gathering dust. Lesson learned. No more technology-driven projects. 

10) Let the others do what they want to do.

Save your energy. We can only influence our own thoughts, intentions, words, and actions. If they go well with or even inspire those around you: wonderful. If not: no need to cry or get fearful, but maybe watch out for other collaborators.
This I learned basically in all my projects, but foremost working with a big team of 25 people here in Basel and - being part of a family.

BONUS 10+) Do what you want to do, not what you want to want to do. 

Chew on it, a bit. Do you only want to want what you want? Or do you have an intrinsic motivation?

Hi, I am Dorothée. I am a people-pleaser. – Hello Dorothée - … 

I often do things, because I want to be liked, or I want to follow a certain image I think is attractive. That is a continuous project of mine. I am still working on that. 

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you learn a bit quicker through my learnings.