Dear friends, co-conspirators and Wunderbar supporters,
From underground car parks to people's living rooms, working with school pupils to business leaders, Wunderbar has brought a certain kind of playfully disruptive and seriously curious work to the north east over the last fifteen years.
Wunderbar emerged onto the scene in 2008 – at what felt like the tip of the crest of a wave of good funding for arts projects. Major economic and political upheaval was just beginning to hit; our first festival in 2009 rode that wave and made its mark – with double-printed fluorescent brochures and shiny enamel badges as well as food fights, bubble baths and costumed parades.
Since then, the arts landscape both locally and nationally has changed markedly. By being fleet footed and responsive, Wunderbar has morphed and adapted both practically and artistically. We’ve made some loud and some really quiet projects; we’ve made small budgets stretch far and raised decent money at times. We even won an award for our last major project, Bobby Baker’s Great & Tiny War.
At our core has always been this refrain: how we do things is as important as what we do. To do that we resisted pulls in some directions, including to become a more formalised entity or institution – but we always strived to do our projects as well, as inclusively and as ethically as we could. It has not always been easy, and we haven’t always got things right, but it has meant we have created some really good work, made some great friends and have a pretty nice back catalogue that we’re proud of.
Talking in the first person plural – as ‘we’ – is something that has become natural, because Wunderbar projects have always been a collective endeavour, working with an amazing roster of producers, artists and communicators. But in many ways it has been my ‘baby’ – I was one of the initial instigators and have been artistic director since there were titles to be had. Over the last few years however, I have been moving away from production and towards questioning and researching – for example 2018’s Good Feels Cool Friends (aka The Wunderbar Foundation) collaboration with philosopher Dr Rachael Wiseman which interrogated the ethics of philanthropy, and the pandemic-kiboshed Edicure, which explored viral business models via an edible manicure product. Doing these projects has sown the seeds of new directions I’m keen to explore. So, after fifteen years, I have decided it is time for me to step away from working under the Wunderbar umbrella.
But that’s not the end of the story. I am really pleased to have found a new leader to take on Wunderbar, and into new directions for new times. I’m handing the reins to Gillie Kleiman, a choreographer and organiser who is well known in the dance and live art scenes nationally, as well as in her home north east region. Gillie has an infectious passion for supporting artists in the north east to make new live, participatory and experimental work and Wunderbar is a brilliant vehicle with which to do just that.
Our plan is to do a project together that looks back and looks forward, that shares the history and legacies of both Wunderbar and wider regional experimental live work – and gives Gillie a platform to launch into whatever comes next. There’s work to do, people to see and money to raise, but it is an exciting prospect.
So, with love and courage, herewith passes the baton. I’m off*, here’s Gillie!
Ilana
PS *During this period of handover, we’ve agreed that I will join for a time with a team of new advisers to support this next phase.
PPS Over the years I have taken or screengrabbed many behind the scenes pictures - these are a few that have been gathering digital dust in a folder on my computer.