Lynne: Partnership

I’ve been pondering on what it means to work in partnership and why here at Making Space, partnerships are a vital part of how we develop our artistic and community programmes.

It’s more than just putting heads together, inventing a joint shopping list or bolting good concepts together. Great ideas are just the start.

When it’s worked for us, the result is high quality and meaningful projects for everyone involved. We take a bespoke approach, unique to each project. One size does not fit all.

Each partner makes a contribution and appreciates the importance of equality, fairness, transparency, openness, creativity, good communication, trust and risk taking; to create more than the sum of our parts.

At the start, each partner may start off with a set of ideas and goals and/or assets (venue, money, knowledge, skills, community connections, audiences, etc…) or have a stake in the project’s success.

The best and most effective partnerships are tailored to a set of benefits or goals. Everyone involved understands the context, time frame and impact of their role and the way they need to work together.

In today’s world of quick wins, the challenge is that true partnerships take time.   It’s about investing in good relationships. It’s about an exchange, a willingness on everyone’s part to do something different with existing resources.

Expect the unexpected; innovate, unlock ideas, attract new resources and deliver something collectively that can’t be devised or created singularly.