Creative Purbeck

I was astonished with the turnout at our third meeting last night. People brought wine and beer along and there was a much more social feel to the proceedings. Everybody was very forthcoming and ideas were kicked around in a useful way. I'm sure we will get a more formal record elsewhere but I thought I'd make a note of the fact that I came away more hopeful than after the March meeting. There was a real keenness to get the organisation up and running so that we could start Doing things. Keith Roker has registered the website name creativepurbeck.com . I'm happy with that although it wouldn't have been my choice initially. I hope we can begin getting stuff onto the site so that we can prove we have an existence. Once we have a formal structure we can invite some of the great and the good to participate in what we're doing but it's important that we build our confidence so that we're not swamped by other interests. Nick Goulding has been guiding the meetings in his quiet but determined way and he might be persuaded to take the role of Chair once we get up and running.

I keep going to arts funding events where there is a general level of pity for the low funding levels for the arts in Dorset and in Purbeck in particular. I believe we could make some inroads into that if we have a close network of artists who want to make a difference. We just need to start sending out the applications until the funders' filing cabinets are stuffed full of files from Creative Purbeck. So we need ideas for projects and leaders to push them forward.