Last week (or probably the week before) I went to an alumni event for people who've worked or studied at the Guildford School of Acting. It was another lovely night seeing old friends, although most of us wondered what we were really there for. There was no outright asking for money, as you might expect. Rather an invitation to do stuff for the School and current students - whatever is right for you. Clearly some people can make endowments but probably not any of my year!
It sparked the idea in me of being a Social Artist in Residence there. So I'm just writing this to open it up a bit and see what's inside. There's no such thing at the moment, but I have, in the past, often just appointed myself and worked out the details from there.
The way to look at this, I think is to examine the relationships involved. The first thing that occurs to me is that everyone has their own personal story of relationship with the school itself. Then they have relationships (or not!) with people who shared their time with them. I was there from 1984 to 1987. That meant that I knew students in the classes of '85, '86, '87 (my year), '88 and '89. I also know a handful of people who had been there way before me or way after me. Everyone has this. It makes for a really complex web of relationships. And then there are the people who taught us.
Now I'm starting to see the school as a social space rather than a place of work or study. And the courses as social processes - oh yes there's lots in there.
Then there's the relationship of the school and its people towards the rest of the town and in particular to the University of which it's now part. The relationship we all had with the various buildings we used, as well as with the "new" (opened in 2010) building on the University Campus.
And then there's the work we did there, the plays, playwrights, directors, musicians we worked with.
Oh yes, it's really quite rich, just mapping all of that out, let alone what might come out of it.
I think there's definitely an aspect of archive - something to show the school's life over time in a richer way than you get from funny pictures on Facebook. Big rabbit hole there.
There's also the question of those people who don't want to be associated with the school. Who want to forget the place and the people they met and resist the fact that they're a part of each of our own individual stories too. How to handle that? It's tricky - how far does a right to be forgotten apply?
So lots of interesting stuff to poke into and work on some more