Creative Culture Magazine by Vinh Nguyen

CREATIVE CULTURE MAGAZINE

ISSUE 23 Collaboration We chat with

History Clothing Take a look at

Lost Movements and we duel with

Strings for Ammo

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

HISTORY CLOTHING

LOST MOVEMENTS

STRINGS FOR AMMO

REFLECTION

Our roles in a creative team

We ask history clothing about how they co-ordinate together as a team

Discussing collaboration in a communal art collective

Handling conflict and creating music

Introduction Hello and welcome to this month’s edition of Creative Culture. This magazine is dedicated to keeping you up to date with the latest in underground art, music and fashion. This magazine is written by creative enthusiasts, for creative enthusiasts. We hope to facilitate the sharing of art music and creativity among the diverse youth of Brisbane. This month’s theme is teamwork. In all creative disciplines, teamwork is integral to the final product. In even the most singular of arts, interpersonal skills are integral to getting the message out to the public. This month’s issue features you’ll find an interview with Callum Ray of History Clothing and the highs and lows of teamwork in a new company. Learn about Lost Movements, an art collective looking to bring music and art together as well as an interview with up and coming folk band, Strings for Ammo and the struggles of bringing musicians of differing styles together to create a singular musical vision. We would like to thank all our contributors, reporters, photographers and videographers for helping to create another stellar issue. Jessie for providing direction and inspiration. Ben for providing content. Nicole and Vinh for producing incredible images. Rob for being the technical wizard behind it all. And Caden for keeping the team on track and for communicating our message and vision to the world. And finally thanks to our readers. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed designing, writing and producing it. We hope you enjoy this months magazine and don’t forget to checkout our website (www.creativeculture.com.au) for the latest gig guides, gallery showings and fashion outlets. The Editorial Team Creative Culture Magazine

HISTORY CLOTHING After many sleepless nights and blunt pencils, History Clothing was founded in July 2011 by Callum Ray. Starting off as one kid’s hobby, History Clothing has become a very popular and ever-growing clothing line. Now standing strong with a large team of staff, bands, models, photographers and designers, Callum discusses the joys, struggles and successes of running a company. First of all, Congratulations! 19 years young and already running a company! What inspired you to start up History Clothing? I have always had an interest in clothing brands and I have also always been heavily involved in the music industry, therefore I decided to combine these two elements to form the clothing company, History Clothing, which fully supports the Australian music industry and talent. What steps does it take for a sketch on paper, to develop into a final product? History Clothing prides themselves on quality designs, therefore some sketches and designs stay on paper. Our time and effort is the first stage of developing our final product designs. We start by creating an idea of what our products should look like. Our ideas are then turned into designs where we go through the process of accepting or eliminating. The final product has to display what our audience demands and high quality for it to be printed. How many people are involved within the History Clothing team? History Clothing has an internal and an external team, which both help in making the company successful. Internally, our team is quite small consisting of photographers, a creative designer, the managing director, and the

business minds. However externally, our team is very large, consisting of History Clothing models, over twenty endorsed bands, freelance photographers, our helping staff at stalls, and our dedicated suppliers. How do you oversee that the team works successfully together? With our internal staff, everyone knows where they sit. We have a once a week discussion of what needs to be succeeded within that week and where the company is heading. Our external team have their own duties in order to help us out and are all very loyal to the History Clothing Company. What happens when there’s conflicting design ideas? I create a portfolio of designs for each line and from there our team sits down to go through the process of accepting or eliminating designs which we feel our customers would enjoy. Conflict has not occurred in our company, as I feel we are a strong team which all aim to see the company succeed. And what role do you play in the team? I am the managing director of the company; however I also contribute to the process of creating designs, the process of what the final products are, I work closely with our producers and suppliers and generally oversee the company’s work. What’s been your favourite part of the History Clothing journey so far? The feeling of seeing our products on people I haven’t seen before will never get old. This I can say is my favourite part of the company’s journey and also seeing the growth of History Clothing. Finally, where do you see the company in a few years’ time? In the near future, we hope to see History Clothing up there with the leading clothing brands; however we also want to keep our brand unique. Interview by Jessie Hughes

LOST MOVEMENTS What happens when you get 50 artists, 10 performers, 9 bands, slam poets and some body painters in a room and tell them to work together and create? You get Lost Movements, a Brisbane-based art collective, dedicated to bridging the gap between artists and musicians of all disciplines in order to create something entirely different. Born in March this year, Lost Movements harkens to a time when multi-art disciplines got together, in the style of Andy Warhol’s “Factory” experiments, to create a sensory experience, that is greater than the sum of its parts. Music and art have always been intertwined with each being an influence on the other, so it seems ideal that Lost Movements is dedicated to providing a supportive community in which teamwork and creativity can flourish. Director of Lost Movements, Lincoln Savage, sees teamwork and collaboration as an important part of the creative process. “It’s crowd-sourcing,” when asked what it is about teamwork that appeals to him, “it’s the ability and power of many people over the few.” And whilst he acknowledges the difficulties that can arise whilst working with others, especially on a scale such as this, he points to the work experience he and others in the group have in running these events and how that experience can make everything easier. “A lot of my own management experience comes from working in bars, and I feel I am good at telling the right people the right things,” says Savage. “Also one of the members has experience running live music nights and dealing with bands so he has been an invaluable resource, we can’t thank him enough.”

Lost Movements hopes to create a permanent space to foster this creative interaction. Their first event, an invite-only event at a warehouse in West End, helped pave the way for their most recent exhibition in Fortitude Valley’s Coniston Lane. “We hope that this community will grow and that exciting things will happen. One idea is to get members from different bands together and swap members to create entirely new groups and have them perform at the events, hopefully creating entirely new sounds,” says Lincoln. Local painter and artist, Damien Kamholtz, says the opportunity to work with others in a collaborative space is exciting and different. “So often I am in my studio on my own, so to come here and create something in such a communal atmosphere is something completely different. I’ve really enjoyed the teamwork atmosphere; it has made everything so much more dynamic.” Damien said that he was introduced to Lincoln and the group through a local gallery event. “He was talking about bringing a bunch of different art forms coming together, it sounded like a really exciting prospect and I wanted to be involved.” Lincoln says he doesn’t really know where Lost Movements will go, but he is excited for the future. “We don’t really have any idea where this project will go, but I am excited to see it develop. Hopefully at our future events, our artists and musicians will have time to work together and create amazing works. We had plans for ‘live painting’ at today’s event, with people strung up and painted to the music of the artists, but we could not get the permits. So by our next one we hope to have something ready.” If you are interested in being involved in Lost Movements, you can check out their website at www.lostmovements.com or follow them on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the latest events and exhibitions. Story by Ben Walker

Successful Teams In the creative industry, teamwork is inevitable but successful teams require hard work. Because all people are different, it is important to manage the diversity within the team. Whether its art, music or fashion, successful teams will need: a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere where there’s equality, open discussions that involve all members both speaking and listening, well defined tasks and roles for each member, and careful consideration with disagreements.

Understanding Conflict Conflict within teams often occurs when there are different ideas, goals, values, beliefs, preferences, expectations and misunderstandings among members, but it can also have positive outcomes if it is managed proactively.

Resolving Conflict There are a number of methods for resolving conflict: competing which is a “win-lose” approach where you work to achieve your own goals without seeking cooperation from your team, collaborating where it is more of a “win-win” approach by working together, avoiding where you simply avoid the issue, accommodating which involves cooperating to a high degree, and compromising which it is a “lose-lose” situation with no members achieving their goals.

Intercultural Teams In the creative industry, you will be required to collaborate in teams across cultural and geographic boundaries. This is known as intercultural teams. Having the ability to view the world through other’s eyes and perspectives and recognise different ways of living will improve your interactions with your team members.

Team Roles There are three types of roles when working within a team. These are task roles, maintenance roles and negative roles. Task roles help a team focus on its goals, assist the problem solving and creative thinking of the team, and help it achieve a successful conclusion. Maintenance roles keep the group running smoothly, but also put the team in a good situation when disagreement and conflict arises. Negative roles usually arise when people attempt to satisfy their own needs at the expense of the team.

Working in Teams Working in a team has many advantages. It expands your mind, helps you consider different perspectives, teaches you to cope with challenge and criticism and clarifies your thinking. Teamwork is an essential skill which will not only help you work in project teams, but is also an integral part of working in any career.

STRINGS FOR AMMO Strings for Ammo are an up and coming band on the Brisbane music scene. Born from a variety of different backgrounds they are making a name for themselves in both the city and the valley. I spoke to lead singer and guitarist Steve Fothergill about the teamwork and communication needed in music. Who is involved in Strings for Ammo and how did Strings for Ammo start? Steve: The band is comprised of myself on guitar and vocals, Mitch Paterson on lead guitar and Joe Murray on the fiddle. We met playing in the same bars in Brisbane city. I moved here from Northern England on a work visa after playing in some local bands that received local airplay. Mitch is from Brisbane and we bonded over a mutual love of blues and folk music. Joe is from Ulster in Ireland and plays the fiddle in some Irish Trad bands and we thought he would give us a unique sound. How would you describe Strings for Ammo? Steve: We are a folk-pop-roots band with a great acoustic sound. We are a fun band who don’t take ourselves too seriously. How do you go about creating new songs? Steve: It’s really through teamwork. Either myself or Mitch will come to the group with either some lyrics or a musical riff and we will just jam together until we find something we like. It is something we all love to do. Is there any ever conflict in your group? And if so, how do you deal with it? Steve: There are lots of disagreements between all of us...all the time. Recently we have made the decision to add a bass and drums so we can move out of the acoustic sound and try new song ideas. However recently our drummer has not been up to scratch. He hasn’t acted like part of the team by learning his parts in a decent time. The way we try to resolve this is through communication. We made sure to make our feelings known to him, in a non-personal way, he is still a friend after all, and work together to make the situation better. What do you like the most about being in a band as opposed to a solo artist? Steve: The ability to draw on other people and

experiences. As a song. As someone with solo performing experience, I find a band allows for more creative energy and excitement. Where do you hope Strings for Ammo goes in the future? Steve: We are just taking things slow at the moment...like a good relationship. We hope that we can continue to work together effectively to make great music and create a great atmosphere at our live shows. We hope to bring more and more creative types into creating the whole band experience, with cool graphic design for our website as well as creating music videos in the new year. Interview by Ben Walker

Steve, Mitch and Joe host an Open Mic night at O’Malleys Irish bar, every Wednesday and perform on Sunday nights. To keep up with their latest gig information you can hit them up on facebook or check their website stringsforammo.com.au

Reflection As a team we developed a passion for Creative Culture Magazine around a true love for design. Creation is everywhere around us and our group wanted to publish a magazine that showcased a diverse group of real people that have a passion for what they do. Having individual input into every detail of the magazine has enabled our magazine to have a professional style that could be matched with any other publication on the market. Attention to detail is what makes Creative Culture Magazine a joy to read and a beautiful art piece at the same time. The focus of this magazine is on problem solving through design, team work and eďŹ&#x20AC;ective and creative use of the design elements to communicate complex messages. We used primary research to conduct interviews and produce articles based on real life creative industry experts to see how they employ teamwork into their creative processes. Each member of our team contributed to the final production of the magazine from the early brainstorming stages to the final printing process. The content is based on how teamwork is used within different creative backgrounds and the main content provider for this magazine was Ben Walker. Ben provided the photography for the Lost Movements article, Introduction and Strings for Ammo, as well as the content. Jessie Hughes, Vinh Nguyen and Nicole Cooper helped with content and image development. Jessie provided content and imagery for the History Clothing article. Nicole produced the digital copy of the magazine. Caden Adam helped with the communication between team members and pitched the magazine with Jessie to potential clients. Rob Mondolo developed the final package of the magazine using Adobe Indesign which incorporated all of the assets that each team member has brought together to create the final product. Our inspiration for the magazine came from Frankie Magazine (Print and Online) because of its high quality print, simple design and colours. The layout is effective which allows for an enjoyable read that is complimented with a strong colour palette that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too hard on your eyes. There is plenty of white space which gives an elegant look which is something we took very strongly on board with our magazine. With our printed copy, we wanted high quality stock paper (130GSM Matte, saddle stitched) like Frankie magazine because of the professional presentation. The high quality print compliments the excellent photography and colour of our images. Frankie is becoming a very popular magazine because of the strong design qualities that make up its identity. If the competition wants to keep up with Frankie, they must incorporate high quality print that consumers want to show off to their friends and businesses will proudly have sitting in the waiting room. Our team is very happy with the final result of the magazine and what we have achieved over the semester as a team. Through collaboration, sharing ideas and skills, we have been able to produce a product that we are proud of because of how we operated as a team. Like a lot of teams, our team could do with a lot more communication to help produce the best quality magazine possible. Through conflict, collaboration and criticism, the design can improve and develop from something plain to a work of art. People can be too afraid to criticise, especially in a team of six people and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to upset anyone, so there is a potential for an ordinary design to go unnoticed because of the lack of communication. This is something that is built and implemented within a team over a long period of time and can improve every day. Creative Culture Magazine

CREATIVE CULTURE MAGAZINE CADEN ADAM NICOLE COOPER JESSIE HUGHES ROB MONDOLO VINH NGUYEN BEN WALKER