You stand by the door, waiting – you hear the roars of the crowd within. The clinking of glasses, the laughter, the chatter. The door is flying open wide. Its show time, its game time! I am Spartacus… and I really do not want to be here, I have no idea what I’m doing, and I want to go home now please. Wait, what? We are all Spartacus?

Guess what everyone wants to know how to do? Networking. It comes up time and time again. So, are we gonna run a workshop on how to walk into a room and start a random conversation with a stranger? No, there are not many situations where that would be okay! So why this? Instead, we’re just gonna ask ‘why do we all struggle and feel like we are failing at networking?’. Maybe it’s not a you thing, and maybe the system just does not work for a huge amount of people including yourself, including me also.

So how can we change networking? Do I know? Nope – but I wanna talk about it.

Spartacus will be networking, yes, but more personable. During this evening we have a chance to have a 1-2-1 chat with other artists, creatives, and curators by the art of random selection. Yes, it’s speed-mating (which I had been trying really hard to avoid saying). It’s not original – but we can all get together and chat to new people about how awkward we find networking. Maybe we can collectively find better and more fun ways to rethink this outdated system! Hello, I am not Spartacus, I am Sarah, lovely to really meet you.

This will also be a pilot to see if this is something, like our research suggests, people really need and want and how we could look at making a longer term and sustainable event.

About the Project

‘Let Us See You’ will be an 12 month project of curatorial artist support and development, and exhibition opportunities for Leeds based artists culminating in a series of exhibitions across the city at key partner venues. We want to open up the process of curation and selection for an art show by investing in artists from the very beginning of the process and offering support right through to the end; kicking off by hosting a series of accessible surgeries that demystify the application and selection process, that focus on what the artists’ needs are rather than a predetermined curatorial focus. ‘Let Us See You’ builds on the inclusive work of Aire Place Studios and continues to support the work of communities that experience barriers to participation.

Supported with funding from Leeds Inspired, part of Leeds City Council.