What did I learn from Tandem? A Personal Story

The personal power of a project leader is very important. There are differences between working in a institute, such as Joy does with the Gallery Oldham, or when you work as an entrepreneur, like I do with SMAAK. In a institution, the project is more imbedded in the organisation. The energy may seem to be lower, but the sustainability is higher. As an entrepreneur the energy can be high, and related to the project leader. But the risk of burn-out is also higher. Burn-out can be caused by a lack of energy, a lack of money or many other reasons. Working on sustainability (enough resources, reliable for the long term) of the private organisation is very important in this case.

Working together with an organisation in another country and being part of Tandem gave SMAAK a higher position in the network. Doors which at first were closed are now opening. Our star grew and we let it blink by telling everyone about Tandem. One of our goals were to find a way in working together with museums. A museum which didn’t want to talk with us has now asked for our advice as specialists on how to reach seniors. They are very eager to work together with us. It was also no problem to arrange a meeting for Joy with the director of an art-fund in Amsterdam. The director was interested and, although she does have a very busy agenda, she took the time to have an hour and a half long conversation with us.

I enjoyed working with Gallery Oldham very much. From the start I felt a “click” with Joy. We had good conversations without too many words. I felt very comfortable with her, we are the same age (which can be very helpful) and a lot of experience in our fields. We are quite different in character, but we dealt with our differences through humour. Later on, Andries and Glenys joined our Tandem team. It changed the atmosphere and the discussions, but I felt that was good. Because in this way, the Tandem project was getting more integrated in the organisation SMAAK. I felt that also worked in this way for Gallery Oldham.

New ideas started to grow. The most important meeting for me was the conversation we had in Brussels, while having a beer at the Grand Place. At that moment Glenys gave excellent feedback on our plans by telling us the ideas were nice, but too big. From that moment we changed our plans and made it smaller. We communicated by e-mail and Skype. For me, it was ok, but not ideal. Communication is much easier when you really meet and see each other, especially when you use a language which is not your own. In the process of making the material for the SMAAK presentation in Oldham, I learned that it is very easy to assume you understand the other person, while you don’t. That was very interesting. We had to translate the Dutch text into English and we asked a professional translater to help us. Then we experienced that we didn’t agree on the translated words. I learned that we had different ideas and by writing them down, translating and communicating about it, we really got to the point.

In the UK, we visited other museums, art institutions and libraries. I found some interesting differences between the UK and The Netherlands. The museums we visited were free for everybody. In The Netherlands, you normally have to pay. I have also seen many different ways of working with interactive methods in the museums I visited in England. For example: there are a lot of screens you can touch or play with, sounds, questions. I felt comfortable with it, it made me curious, it made me feel that the museum is alive and it wants to communicate with me.

I also found the combination of a library and a museum very interesting. The museum is also a place where you discover history and cultural heritage. In Manchester, I saw a group of seniors doing research on their family tree: they come together every week. I have also seen that technology is easily accessible to all visitors, with many computer stations everywhere, and that people of all ages and cultural backgrounds worked there. The library/museum seemed to me like a place with a lot of meeting points and energy.

We were in the UK during the terrorist attack in Manchester. Joy told us two days later that the staff in the museum was asked to remain sensitive to the tense atmosphere that could be felt among the public. From this, I also learned that art institutions in the UK are more social than in the Netherlands. This is maybe linked to national policies? I have also seen this in the way art institutions ask for funding from the government. In The Netherlands, you take care of good networking with the fund, in the UK you take care of proving your support level in your community (and then, good networking with the fund.)