Incubator week THREE 2025

Build with, not for…

This week we heard from Tom Harley who is an MFA final year student came to talk to us about his project and process.

Its the story that makes us human… this is what we want to hear from you, your story. When it comes to pitching this idea for funding, what story are you going to tell? How can you make your storyline, the hook, the most understandable and connecting story it can be, which situates yourself at the centre. THIS IS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR IDEA!

Next week (Wednesday 2nd July) we have no session for you to attend, however we have a task for you and we also invite you to use the Brooks Resource centre, ask for resources and spend time in the space together if you would like to be there 🙂

Independent Task – Get to know your idea, and your community

Build a physical representation of your:

• YOUR WHY IN A CLEAR SENTENCE OR PARAGRAPH
• WHY YOU JOINED THIS PROGRAMME, WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE
• WHAT IS YOUR STORY ABOUT – MIND MAP OR WRITE OR DRAW THE STORY OF YOUR IDEA, LIKE TOM’S SHIP NARRATIVE… (see below)
• WHAT EVENTS/SPACES/COMMUNITY MEET UPS CAN YOU JOIN OR ATTEND TO LEARN AND ENGAGE WITH YOUR IDEA
• WHAT IS ONE THING YOU CAN CELEBRATE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR PROJECT ALREADY? WRITE/REXORD THIS DOWN
• WHAT IS ALREADY OUT THERE IN THE WORLD, HAS ANYONE HAD YOUR IDEA BEFORE YOU? RESEARCH WHAT EXISTS. CONSIDER THE PARALLELS AND THE DIFFERENCES, WHAT MAKES YOUR IDEA STAND OUT AND WHY?
• AN ACTION PLAN FOR THE NEXT 2 WEEKS TO HELP YOU BUILD A NETWORK, EXPAND YOUR IDEA AND SHARE WHAT YOU ARE WORKING ON.

Tom’s story that he opened his pitch with.

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We would like to invite you to use this week to spend some time with your identified community.

As you continue to incubate ideas for how you might do good within/for your chosen community this break is a good opportunity to engage directly with the people and/or places you want your project to benefit. Here are some ideas of how you could approach this:

• Attend an event in your identified community
• Take a walk through a space linked to the community. Do some people watching
• Reach out to someone in your community and invite them to have an informal chat over a brew
• If you are not already connected to your identified community, do you need to find some key people who might be able to provide an introduction?
• Is there an online space where your identified community connect that you could join?
• Perhaps you want to find out more about comparable communities and projects

Whatever approach you decide to take focus on being open. There doesn’t need to be a set goal for engaging with your community, just take some initial steps in getting to know them, making connections and building potential relationships.

Who do you have in your networks and communities already, who can help you, or others….?