The Liminal Zone
Project: The Liminal Zone
The Liminal Zone
Led by Liam Bell, Rosie Blake, Mandy Haggith, Alex Kershaw, Rosie Newman, Tawnya Renelle, Anthony Schrag, Steve Smith, Anna-Wendy Stevenson, Stacy Toner
Exploring the seashore as a metaphor for the interface between teaching and art. This exhibition draws together arts-based responses to this metaphor in a range of media including paint, photography, sculpture, writing and sound by staff from both the University of the Highlands & Islands and other Scottish colleges and universities. For further information search ‘Liminal Zone Research Project Inverness’.
The Liminal Zone – Arts teachers are facing a crisis of imbalance between their teaching commitments and their creative practice
Primary Researcher – Dr Mandy Haggith
Research Associate – Rosie Newman
Our research has shown that many college and university creative teachers are in a crisis of imbalance between their work and creative life. In failing to allocate sufficient paid time for their staff to practice their art, universities and colleges are missing an opportunity to support the rich synergies between teaching and creative practice.
Management aspirations for research excellence need to be matched by implementation of policies that create staff capacity to achieve it, with time being the key resource in short supply.
This project has just begun what must be an ongoing process to enhance support for creative arts staff.
Liminal Zone – Knowledge Exchange funding
This knowledge exchange will share learning from the Liminal Zone Carnegie-funded project about how artists can balance their creative practice with other sources of livelihoods. It will have three elements:
- To foster communication among and expand the community of practice developed in the project exploring the interface between entrepreneurial and academic arts activities, taking the tidal zone as a central metaphor for this interface. To develop materials promoting the members of this community as mentors and experts.
- To run a knowledge exchange event to share the new knowledge that has been created by the research project and provide advice to creative artists and small businesses in the arts about how to nurture synergies between their creative practice and other parts of their businesses. This will involve an event in Inverness, launching the exhibition of the artworks resulting from the Liminal Zone project.
- To disseminate practical recommendations about how to nurture synergies between artists’ creative and entrepreneurial practice and their other roles, such as teaching, including advice on funding, knowledge exchange and other ways that UHI can support a vibrant network of creative entrepreneurs. This will involve development of materials for dissemination at the knowledge exchange event and beyond.