The sad, and silent demise of "Folly"

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James Wallbank

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Nov 14, 2011, 5:03:36 AM11/14/11
to acedigitaluncut
Hello All,

A few days ago I emailed Taylor Nuttall to see how things were shaping
up at "Folly". I got this response:

folly is now closed and all staff have now left the organisation.

Folly has been active on the digital arts scene for many years, and
took a particularly exciting direction when Taylor Nuttall became CEO
and moved what had been a rather sleepy local gallery and darkroom
into a very strong relationship with emerging digital technologies.
Particularly ambitious was Folly's attempt to engage marginalised
rural audiences, who are not engaged by many organisations based in
city centres.

I don't know enough about the details to say whether or not this
closure is a direct result of ACE's decision to decline Folly's
application for funding from 2012 - but I'm sure that can't have
helped.

However, what has shocked me the most about this organisational
disintegration is not ACE's cuts - which may have been unavoidable -
but the silence from the digital arts community. (Dear reader, that's
you!)

We must ensure that organisations like "Folly" with inspiring visions
and successful records of delivery are commemorated (even if they
were, in the final reckoning, unsustainable). We must resist an
Orwellian era of "news management" where any mention of cut
organisations becomes prescribed.

I'm sure that I'll be speaking for many on this list when I wish
Taylor, and the rest of the "Folly" team good luck in their future
endeavors.

Best Regards,

James

P.S. Perhaps it's best to leave the final word to the Arts Council.
This, straight from their website:--

folly

* Artform: Visual arts
* Region: North West

folly is a leading digital arts organisation working across England's
north west. They present an active artistic programme that provides
creative interaction and collaboration between artists and the wider
public using technology. They commission, exhibit, promote and support
creative work and innovation with a strong emphasis on the use of
online media, networked systems and integrated technologies. They
deliver a year round diverse and innovative programme of online
projects, events, festival activities, artist commissions,
exhibitions, artist residencies, workshops and conferences.

We fund the organisation to deliver a high quality programme of
creative digital media work, contributing to emergent contemporary
arts practice across the region that makes a significant impact on
rural areas.
Funding awards

folly will receive £145,834 in 2008/2009, £149,771 in 2009/2010,
£153,046 in 2010/2011 and £142,486 in 2011/2012.

kwatson

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Nov 14, 2011, 5:41:56 AM11/14/11
to James Wallbank, acedigi...@googlegroups.com
That's true about silence, but I didn't know, and I doubt anyone else did, otherwise there would have been a storm I'm sure.

Like you I'd be surprised if people did know and didn't say anything.

regards
keith


Regards
Keith Watson
kwa...@romanesque.co.uk
+44 (0) 7802 74 84 84
skype: kw1330


Taylor Nuttall

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Nov 14, 2011, 5:54:39 AM11/14/11
to acedigi...@googlegroups.com
Thanks James

As you are aware we made the announcement of folly's closure on the
12th August. This was distributed widely and we received many
acknowledgements of folly's contribution to digital media, along with
surprise and dismay at it's closure.

For myself, the last 12 months has been a painful process, the
conclusion of this has been the final wind down with my own role
terminating at the end of October.

You will appreciate that I'm still a little too close to the reality
of that process to be objective and have chosen to allow a few moments
for myself to take stock, reflect and recharge :-)

However, throughout I along with folly's board have been optimistic
rather than pessimistic. The future is still interesting and full of
promise. Our aim has been for a legacy from folly's work to remain and
I will communicate more on this soon.

Meanwhile, I have been independently diversifying and have established
a new business here at Thorney How. Through this I am still committed
to supporting rurally and non city centric engaged activity and hope
that we can grow something equally unique.

It is interesting to refocus and start anew from a non arts funded
base. From here I'm looking forwards to finding new ways to produce
arts activity and hope to be working with many of you still.

Best wishes and keep strong

Taylor

Taylor Nuttall (private e-mail)
digit...@gmail.com
@digitaylor

Mob. 07932692336

See also:
tay...@thorneyhow.co.uk
www.thorneyhow.co.uk
@ThorneyHow

Thorney How
Grasmere
Ambleside
Cumbria
LA22 9QW
Tel. 01539435597

Taylor Nuttall

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Nov 14, 2011, 6:06:14 AM11/14/11
to James Wallbank, acedigi...@googlegroups.com
Reported message:

Sarah Cook

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Nov 14, 2011, 6:25:27 AM11/14/11
to <acedigitaluncut@googlegroups.com>
Hello all
I have not had much time to craft this reply to James' original post but I should point out -- as a trustee of folly -- that wind down processes are difficult as regards responsibilities to and relationships with staff, funders, stakeholders etc., and that this did come at quite a busy time, with planning in the lead up to the very successful AND Festival, in which folly has been a key partner. 
It has not been entirely silent, see for instance some news / blog posts:
As for whether there might or could have been a storm, it was a difficult decision to decide how to strategically respond as an organisation and whether to invite that or not. I know Taylor felt very supported by the discussions had on this list and in person after the announcements of the strategic review from ACE. We like to think that folly's way of doing things - digitally engaged, distributed, facilitated -- has dispersed, virus-like, into other organisations to strengthen them. 
There are plans for the legacy of folly, including hosting content with other organisations, such as the Current project at the fantastic Harris Museum, and the Digital Artists Handbook and other things with Furtherfield.
We shall have to see what the uptake of digital arts practice is with the organisations that are newly funded from 2012, and nevertheless keep finding ways to work together. 
Meantime, back to my grant application writing duties, ;-)
Sarah

Sarah Cook

CRUMB - the resource for curators of new media art - http://www.crumbweb.org

Faculty of Arts, Design and Media

University of Sunderland, UK






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