
Turner Contemporary Emerging Producers
Flow Associates were commissioned in 2021 to evaluate Turner Contemporary’s Emerging Producer project, following the progress of 8 Emerging Producers as they worked together towards an exhibit in 2023, responding to the 1953 short documentary film “O’Dreamland!”. This project focuses on the experience and development of the Emerging Producers, and explored what this could mean for future projects run by Turner Contemporary. Flow led the group in exploring experience design for their exhibition, “Oh, Dreamland!”, running workshops and acting as critical friends during its development.
The Emerging Producers were a group of eight young people recruited in Autumn 2021 by Turner Contemporary to lead on the development and delivery of their summer exhibition opening in 2023. They were recruited via an open call for young people aged 18 to 25 living and/or studying in Kent. This co-creation project would provide an opportunity to gain experience of working in the arts sector, building their CVs while working alongside filmmakers, artists, and exhibition makers. The call stressed that no previous experience was necessary, just a desire to ‘collaborate, get creative and commit to the programme’. Crucially this was a paid position, allowing the Emerging Producers to integrate the part time position with other work, study and life commitments, and all eight Emerging Producers were involved until the end of the project. The group met weekly on a Thursday morning, and additional hours for research or taking part in other events was paid at the hourly rate of £9.30, which increased part way through in line with the gallery’s commitment to paying living wage.
At the start of the second year the core focus for the project shifted and some of the final stated outputs (i.e. to co-create a major exhibition, and create a toolkit of best practice for running co-creation activity) gave way to an outcomes-driven process of collaborative working where the group were able to take on production roles to deliver Salamagundy ’22 a variety show at Dreamland featuring a range of local acts; and to co-create Oh! Dreamland, an immersive exhibit running alongside an artist-led exhibition in Turner Contemporary’s Clore Learning Studio. This was run alongside Mark Lecky’s, “In the Offing“, activating the exhibition for younger audiences by curating a social and fun space for them within the gallery.