House Conspiracy 2018

It’s been a ride. 2017 at House has had us embroiled in everything from supporting an incredible number and calibre of local artists, a small but amazing set of partnerships with other local organisations, and—less triumphantly—a long and well-fought set of battles with vague local laws.

And now 2018 is upon us. Sure, it’s five months away, but funding rounds are coming up, and strategic planning dates, and AGMs, and so on—so we need to get a move on.

When we came into this, about a year ago, we went out to the artists of Brisbane and asked what you wanted from this project, and we built our models around the feedback and input we got from you all. And now, going into 2018, we want to get some more of that input again.

We are currently accepting EOIs for new visions of House Conspiracy in 2018 and beyond.

Input Structure

So, we’re looking for what to do with this space called House Conspiracy next year. We’re potentially looking for new individuals and groups to take over executive roles, and to propose new, engaging, and sustainable ways of making House Conspiracy work.

This will happen in three phases, which will be explained in more detail below. The three phases are as follows:

1/ Online EOIs and Feedback.

2/ Open community consultation at House Conspiracy to discuss feedback and EOIs.

3/ House Conspiracy official AGM, including election of new board members, and handover period.

The Context

First off: we know we will have at bare minimum enough funding to pay for rent.  We will be making submissions for grant money in 2018, but we can’t be sure of what more we’ll be able to get. 

Second off: we currently cannot legally hold public events in the House Conspiracy space. However, we can have small private events.

With both these points in mind, here is what the current House Conspiracy executive is at the moment proposing for 2018:

All four studios, with the potential development of another upstairs space, would be rented out individually for a small nominal weekly fee.

Rent periods would be from two weeks to two months, to allow for a turnover of a good number of artists per annum.

Fees for local artists would be lower than for interstate and international artists. All rental fees would go towards maintenance of the space and towards paying a small weekly wage to a single non-live-in Caretaker/Manager in order to keep the space going.

Services/productions like showcases, podcasts, and documentation would no longer be undertaken by the House Conspiracy team, though equipment would be made available to paying residents.

We have confidence that while the above model might seem like a step down from the massive undertaking of 2017, it’s also a lot more sustainable. It’s a simpler sort of program, for sure, and it leaves a lot of space for possibility. That’s why we’re doing a period of consultation now: so you guys can suggest—if you believe we are being inadequate in our proposition—what more we could offer in 2018. Maybe you could be part of that.

We are not locked in to the above vision. If you’ve got a different vision for the space, and you want to make it happen, and you can present your vision well, then maybe that’s what will happen here next. That’s where the next step comes in.

1/ Online EOIs and Feedback

Pretty simple: before Sunday August 27 send us your feedback or an Expression of Interest regarding your vision for the House Conspiracy space and how you would achieve it (no criteria or length restrictions/minimums). You can send this to house@houseconspiracy.org, or to the form below.

When writing an EOI keep in mind you should address House Conspiracy Inc.’s key constitutional goals:

(1) To provide a space for artistic experimentation and showcasing within the local and greater-Brisbane community.

(2)  To facilitate artistic residencies and community events.

(3)  To manage House Conspiracy Inc. as a financially-efficient, not-for-profit organisation.

If you don’t want to write a full EOI, but still have thoughts on the future use of the House Conspiracy space, please send us an email at house@houseconspiracy.org with ‘Feedback’ in the subject line. You can also fill out the following form before August 27:

After EOIs and Feedback have been received, we will announce a date for community consultation on House Conspiracy’s future, framed by the responses sent in before August 27.

After the Open Community Consultation is complete, the House Conspiracy Board will review the ideas presented and then present the chosen vision(s) at the AGM (date to be announced).  We are expanding the size of the board, if you are interested, and there will be some executive positions becoming vacant.  Let us know by email if you are interested. house@houseconspiracy.org.  

This might all seem like a lot, but it’ll be good. We want to continue on into 2018 and we want to do it right—with the backing of the West End and greater Brisbane arts community. We’ve done good things. Let’s keep doing that.

Expressions of Interest will be open until August 27. Details in section 1/ above.

All the best,

The Board of House Conspiracy Inc.