A collaborative Seed made by Jiv Parasram, Asitha Tennekoon, and Anju Singh during a creative session to develop a co-creator collaboration model for our project BBB – a collaborative co-creation between the 3 artists produced by Rumble Theatre. The piece was first researched in 2022 and was workshopped in October 2024. The trio learned during this process that “traditional” creation processes were missing key elements that were important for a truly collaborative 3-way co-creation project. To add complexity to this issue, the project’s interdisciplinary nature means that the group was also navigating varying art forms, creation cultures, and assumptions about how we work.
“Balancing Act” is a repeatedly breaking sculpture that is rebuilt only to break and fall again. Accepting that the piece will inevitably break once it has been constructed is a reflection that Jiv shared during our sessions about his role as not only a Co-Creator on the project, but also in his roles as a Co-Director, Producer, and Artistic Director of the Producing Company. Feeling the responsibility of “holding all of the pieces together”, this piece expresses a common need for creative collaborations to have creative core members to often occupy multiple roles during a creative producing piece.
Care for the various pieces being held together requires that there also be care and balance for the body that is holding it all together to ensure things don’t fall apart. And, when feeling pulled to support some pieces, there could be consequences for failing to notice that other pieces need support.
The challenges for artistic leadership to participate in creative processes can be mitigated through sharing and understanding from co-creators.
Some questions that came up:
– how to prioritize one’s own artistic needs while participating in creative projects.
– how to show up in an artistic role only
– the sustainability of continuing to work this way, or maintaining the “balancing act”
