Key issues
The Triennial’s success has been the result of four key factors – a clear vision, the drive to implement it, the power to achieve it and the finance to make it possible.
Barking Rocks, 2008. Pae White. Photograph by Thierry Bal
Welcoming, helping, guiding...
Arriving by train, it was easy to miss the first of Tracey Emin’s delightful small bronzes of discarded baby toys and clothing (this one, a small bear) but there was no avoiding the welcoming messages on a line of canopy supports leading way from the station. These greeted new arrivals to the Folkestone Triennial – and bade farewell on return. A trail of silhouetted red seagulls, painted at intervals on pavements, was an inexpensive way of guiding visitors to the town centre. The Triennial Visitor Centre, perhaps slightly wrongly situated in Tontine Street, offered maps and the possibility of a free MP3 guide, an informative skilfully constructed audio-tour of all the works in the Triennial. The audio guide could also be downloaded so that visitors could listen in advance of their visit – get further information afterwards.
While visitors welcomed the way in which works were dispersed throughout the town, not all were easy to find. The organisers recognised that maps could have been more precise and that descriptive interpretation of each work could have been better. There was something of the treasure hunt even for those with maps.
...explaining and revealing
Interpretation of contemporary art is often a problem. Artists often want “the work to speak for itself” but many visitors would have found it helpful to have more explanation. It doesn’t need to be much. Mark Wallinger’s Folk Stones, seems nothing more than a square of numbered pebbles until it is explained (as it is in the catalogue (Folkestone Triennial catalogue, 2008, page 19) and in The Folkestone Triennial promotional newspaper) that the number on each stone recalls the 19,240 British soldiers who died on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Not long before, many of these men had marched down Folkestone’s road of remembrance on their way to Flanders and France. Suddenly visitors were “incredibly moved. . . Once we explained it they could see that it’s not just some willy nilly thing but a moving and very careful process” (Andrea Schlieker, quoted in The Folkestone Triennial, page 2). A number of other works, such as Christian Boltanski’s The Whispers, needed only simple guidance to enhance significantly the casual visitor’s understanding of this sound installation. Eight works including the Wallinger and Richard Wilson’s 18 Holes will remain in Folkestone as a legacy of the first Triennial and this has offered the Triennial team another opportunity to consider on-site interpretation.
Walking a narrow path
Folkestonomy, 2008. Public Works. Photograph Thierry Bal.
The Folkestone Triennial was successful in negotiating the narrow path between elitism and playing to the crowds, artistic integrity and popular indulgence. “We have devised this exhibition to include something for everyone,” said Schlieker. The largely favourable response from art critics and the absence of graffiti or damage seem to suggest a balance well-struck. Andrea Schlieker was moved by the number of people who wrote to tell her how much they had appreciated the Triennial. As one correspondent wrote, “It seemed to touch a spirit of optimism, realism and poetry embedded in the town.”
While six of the artists in the official Triennial programme had strong connections with the south-east, the organisers also recognised the importance of involving local artists groups. Organisations like the Folkestone-based Strange Cargo and Club Shepway worked closely with the Triennial and made their own exhibitions including Other People’s Photographs. There were exhibitions in Georges House Gallery and an embryonic fringe programme emerged.
Funding
The total cost of this first Triennial was over £2.1 million (an outline budget is contained in further information). Artists needed to be paid; their works created and installed; there were costs for marketing, print and insurance. Funding was required for staff including the Triennial’s 40 or so temporary staff who invgilated at a number of sites throughout the Triennial for £7.50 an hour. The ‘permanent staff’ were small in number, In the final year of preparation, the staff team comprised one fulltime curator, three part-time assistant curators and four part-time education coordinators. There was a two-day-a-week fundraiser. Bolton & Quinn, the London-based specialists in cultural communications, were engaged to manage the media and public relations. Staff from the Creative Foundation (from property management to press) were also able provide much valued support when required.
Generous though the De Haan support was, the Triennial still needed to raise over £500,000. For an event with no track record, this was not easy but with the help of the fundraiser, the Triennial managed to achieve an impressive range of support from local authorities, SEEDA, trusts and foundations and the private sector. Earned income from catalogues and other publications and kites brought in £20,000. The local authority calculates that its overall contribution to the Festival, both in cash and in staff time, was in the region of £100,000. A final calculation of the value of the Triennial to Folkestone has not yet been completed (October 2008) but it appears that the event itself has come in under budget.
Learning and understanding
Education and community outreach were from the start an important element of the Triennial’s planning. A downloadable Folkestone Triennial Learning and Resource pack contained information about the artists and suggestions for curriculum related projects and art and design activities for all Key Stages. These explore six themes which emerge from the 22 artists' commissions. One work, Kaffe Matthews’s The Marvelo Project, was created with the help of a group of eleven year olds from the Folkestone Academy.
There were workshops and tours for people of all ages, from Sure Start to Age Concern. Special education programmes were arranged for youth clubs and Folkestone’s minority and ethnic communities such as Turkish and Bangladeshi women’s groups and Roma people. This was important work but inevitably the numbers here were limited – the communities themselves only wanting to work in small groups. The Triennial is aware that it will need to be in some of this work for the long haul. All workshops were free as was an attractively designed Young People’s Guide to the Folkestone Triennial. Throughout the event itself visitor feedback was sought through the website and on comment forms.
A busy programme of guided tours ran throughout the three months of the Triennial – nine full-day tours and twenty afternoon walks, all led by knowledgeable experts from galleries such as the Serpentine, the Tate, the Arnolfini and the ICA. These free tours were all well-attended. The education programme was sponsored by UBS.
The organisers recognise that the challenge of a Triennial lies not only in creating public interest in the event itself, demanding as that is, but also in maintaining that interest during the in-between year, thus ensuring that the momentum achieved for 2008 is maintained in the years leading to 2011.
Counting the numbers
One of the hardest problems to solve has been how to calculate exactly how many visits there were to the Triennial. At some works it was possible to log visitors but elsewhere without tickets or definable entrances, there was no simple way of counting – and in any case what constitutes a visit to works which are passed , and possibly, admired daily by a local resident on the way to work? Figures were being provided by South Eastern Rail, hotels and restaurants. At present calculations show about 100,000 visits with only 15% of those being made by residents. These are however early days. Anecdotal evidence would seem to suggest a successful event. But surveys are producing some curious figures about the pattern of visiting which raise questions about the total number of visits. It is recognised that more sophisticated methods of evaluation will need to be put in place for the 2011 Triennial.
Raising the profile
One of the objectives of the Triennial was to raise and reshape perceptions about Folkestone. The novelty of the Triennial meant a steep learning curve for the local authority. From the start, Shepway District Council saw the event as an important way of raising the profile of the town but it took sometime for the authority to realise that what was required was “a good corporate buy-in “ from almost all departments – planning, cleaning, business rates, property, licensing, arts and culture. The appointment of a member of the Creative Foundation’s staff to be the principal liaison officer with the Council helped to smooth progress and create greater understanding. Next time this will be easier with fewer surprises and with lessons learnt from 2008, one of which is to begin work earlier. Next time too more might be done to incorporate the Triennial into the authority's own planning and promotion – and perhaps work with other galleries in the sub-region to generate something of a buzz across the south-east prior to the start of the Triennial.
By the time of the 2011 Triennial a new piece of the regeneration jigsaw will be in place. From the end of 2009 high speed rail services running at speeds of up to 140 mph will carry passengers to and from London St Pancras in about an hour. Meanwhile the Foster and Partners’ masterplan for Folkestone Harbour, now also owned by Roger De Haan, includes a strategy to enable the reintroduction of a cross-channel ferry service.
The Triennial has already made an important contribution to raising the self-confidence of the town. Visitors detected a growing sense of pride in the town. The pieces of the regeneration plan are falling into place. Their effect will be seen over the coming years. The Triennial has undoubtedly raised awareness of Folkestone far beyond the district borders, providing additional opportunities to promote of the district to businesses looking to relocate.
Four essentials
In the view of Nick Ewbank, the Director of the Creative Foundation, the success of the Folkestone Triennial, and indeed the wider, Folkestone regeneration programme, has been the result of a combination of four key factors – a clear vision, the drive to implement it, the power to achieve it – and the finance to make it all possible. It is a recipe that can be applied to any project, whatever its size.