Seed to Scene

Two weeks of unprecedented and unexpected collaborations within the creative industries

events include dance performances by New Movement; a debate organised by New Deal of the Mind(NDotM) and a "Pecha Kucha" style event for young creatives to pitch their ideas to a range of experts.

The Architectural Association’s Interprofessional Studio (AAIS) took over a derelict building in the heart ofCovent Garden

for a highly unusual two-week long programme of genre-defying events, talks, and performances. Part architecture, part performance, part social and political debate, Seed to Scene (S2S) took place from 18 – 31May, and is inspired by the scalability of creative processes, from a seed of an idea which germinates toform ground-breaking and experimental collaborations.

The aim of the project is to create new ways of bringing people together to form new and unexpectedideas and outcomes. S2S will showcase live and active practice of an emerging professional terrainoperating between disciplines.

Now more than ever the creative industries need support and encouragement to ensure they continue toflourish and survive in difficult economic times. The creative industries are worth in excess of £50 billion ayear to the UK economy and within four years are expected to employ more people than financialservices. S2S will play a key role in providing networks, advice and most importantly, inspiration to the nextgeneration of young creative talent from all disciplines, not just architecture. Among the highlights of S2Swas a discussion of the importance of risk in creative innovation; a debate hosted by NDotM(www.newdealofthemind.com) relating to their recent report Creative Survival in Hard Times; a dance performance from New Movement, a collective of choreographers with a long history of unusualcollaborations and a careers surgery enabling young creative individuals and businesses to seek advice from established professionals.

To produce S2S, the AAIS collaborated with many professional individuals and companies including renowned film producer Rosa Bosch; Ben Wolff & Andy Dean, Grammy award- winning music producers (Music Technology Ltd); NDotM which is a coalition of artists, entrepreneurs and policy makers whichseeks to create new possibilities of work and employment for the creative industries and c/o pop, theorganisers of Europe’s biggest conference for the creative industries in Cologne.

The AA Interprofessional Studio (AAIS), which was launched in January 2009, is creating a new field ofactivity for the AA. Working on the margins of art, architecture and performance, the AAIS can reach professions, create partnerships and stimulate students that would not usually have the possibility of working with, or within, the AA. AAIS welcomes students from a very broad range of backgrounds and disciplines including artists, filmmakers, scenographers, architects, urban planners, landscape architects,engineers, product designers and graphic designers as well as managers, teachers and communicators. S2S is part of AAIS’s commitment to creating interdisciplinary projects which involve professionals fromas, and which support creative industries.

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