On Thursday I met up with Olga Skochova and Tereza Dudilova, two artists from Prague visiting the West Midlands to see what’s going on here. It is re-inspiring to meet such people, earnest and committed to the improvement of art and improved communication around art.

It is difficult to picture quite what their context is or what the work is like that they are talking about. They describe a scene in the Czech Republic in which a continuity exists between arts graduates and the institution from which they emerge, a link is retained that this pair are seeking to strengthen for everyone’s mutual benefit. What they seemed most interested in when visiting us was how education work coexists with the rest of our activities, something they suggested they are keen to encourage back home.

The presence of Olga and Tereza reminded how I wish I personally and Stan’s Cafe generally had a greater capacity to contribute to grassroots local efforts to enrich the cultural scene for everyone, artists and audiences alike. Foremost amongst many initiatives pressing on my mind and adding to my burden of guilt is Pilot, the work in progress / showcase series initiated by Simon Day and taken on by others. It would be great to have time to attend and support this event more fully, even to sketch something especially for it. Added to the list of admirable organisations fostering exciting projects must be Laundry, whose Pamala Wells introduced us to Olga and Tereza, including a few erstwhile members of THE pUBLIC, including HoHoHo WebBoffin Paul Lacey, it must be worth further investigation.

James