Can I have some more work like this please?
29 November 2012A couple of years ago, inspired by Patti Digh, I thought long and hard about the sort of work I wanted to do. I came up with this criteria. I’ve been trying to live by it ever since. I’ve just finished an amazing couple of weeks work in Kenya, looking at how to incorporate mental…
What change looks like
21 August 2012This TEDxHarlem talk by Jake Barton describes how we can move beyond the traditional (and mostly dysfunctional) public meeting and mobilise the community to be involved in creating a better future. As well as the messages about “re-imagining public participation” this talk highlights a few other things as well. Jake Barton uses story-telling to good…
Tom Salinsky’s improv wisdom
2 July 2012I’m at Improvention in Canberra – a festival of improvisers from all over Australasia, and a smattering from elsewhere. There’s shows, and competitions, and workshops, and serious discussions, and partying, and lots of coffee and other beverages. I feel like an imposter. There, glad I got that off my chest. And that’s all I’m going…
Postcards provide a window to the world
13 June 2012Probably not the sort of postcards you’re thinking of. These postcards are made of people, creating a scene from nothing but a suggestion. We started with Southern Cross Station (Melbourne’s main train station) – people posed themselves as commuters, trains, signs, rubbish, ticket machines, aimless people, newspapers. Ian David, from Melbourne Playback Theatre Company, was…
I need help
28 March 2012Recently I received a great little gift from my friends at On Your Feet. It was a reminder about asking for help, and the rewards that often go beyond the help itself. So, here I am, asking for your help to let others know about a conference I’m organising. It’s called Thriving in Uncertainty and…
Believing it’s possible
24 March 2012Maybe this will be my new motto. Last week, through a series of quite unexpected circumstances, I found myself co-facilitating with someone I’d never met face-to-face, and with me arriving a day into the gig with a group where I knew some of them quite well and many whom I was meeting for the first…
Practicing to perform
22 March 2012Those of us who have seen an improv group perform are sometimes in awe of the skills and teamwork a group of players can demonstrate when performing – in front of a paying audience, and with no script. It’s no secret that they can do this because of the way they approach a performance, the…
Navigating uncertainty with serious playfulness
12 March 2012If you’d like to know a bit more about these super cool cards that Johnnie and I have made, check this out. It’s all about using serious playfulness to navigate uncertainty. And they were designed by the super talented Mary Campbell. Three continents. Three individuals. Connected by a shared project. Now sharing it with the world.…
Being on the receiving end of ‘make your partner look good’
5 February 2012Last week I had the privilege of working with a couple of people who – probably even unknown to themselves – epitomised the principle of ‘make your partner look good’. I was that partner, on the receiving end. I can’t yell you what a joy it is to work with people like this. Reinforces for…
Asking for help
25 January 2012I quite enjoy helping others. I’m not so good at asking for help. From an improv perspective it’s like making offers – asking for help is making an offer to the world. And boy, does it pay back big time. Those of you reading this blog recently will know I’m in foreign parts designing a…