Live Art Development Agency, also commonly known by its acronym LADA, is a publicly funded arts organisation and registered charity founded in London in 1999 by

Lois Keidan Lois Keidan is a British-born cultural activist and writer. She co-founded the Live Art Development Agency with Catherine Ugwu in 1999 and was the Director of the Agency until 2021. She was the former director of Performance art, live arts at the I ...

and

Catherine Ugwu Catherine Oliaku Ugwu (born 1964) is a British executive producer, artistic director, and consultant working in large-scale ceremonies and events, including for the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Summer Paralympics, the Asian, European, Islamic ...

. LADA provides professional advice for artists as well as producing events and publications intended to enhance the understanding of and access to

Live Art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

. They are one of

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

's National Portfolio Organisations.

Activities

LADA is responsible for funding and co-ordinating Live Art UK, a network for bringing together promoters and facilitators to support and develop

infrastructures. The LADA Study Room is an open access research facility for artists, students, curators, academics and other arts professionals. The Study Room is in Bethnal Green, London, and houses a comprehensive collection of publications ranging from theoretical texts to DVDs, videos, CDs and digital files of performance documents and documentation. There is an online catalogue of more than 8,000 items accessible in LADA's Study Room. This resource facility was described by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' as one of the UK's 50 best museums and galleries. The_Live_Art_Development_Agency_Study_Room

Selected Projects and Initiatives

* LADA Screens - a series of free, online screenings of seminal performance documentation, works to camera, short films/video and archival footage. * Performance Magazine Online, is an online archive created by LADA in collaboration with the original editor Robert La Frenais, of ''Performance Magazine''. Published between 1979 and 1992, the magazine documents a significant period in the development of art in the UK. * "15 Minutes With…" These podcasts were launched in 2014 to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Live Art Development Agency. They consist of short dialogues with some of the artists and thinkers that LADA has worked with, including

Lois Weaver Lois Weaver (born 1949, Roanoke, Virginia) is a Guggenheim-winning artist, activist, writer, director, and Professor of Contemporary Performance at Queen Mary University of London. She is currently a Wellcome Trust Fellow in Engaging Science. H ...

, French & Mottershead, Maddy Costa and Mary Paterson, Joshua Sofaer and

Stacy Makishi Stacy Makishi is a Hawaiian-born performance artist, physical theatre and live art specialist. Her work often involves combining autobiographical experience and comedy with inspiration from fictional sources, such as Hollywood movies or novels. She ...

. * FRESH AiR - is an initiative from

Queen Mary, University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

, produced in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency, offering recent graduates and emergent artists support, advice and professional development, features the FRESH AiR PLATFORM (an open submissions performance platform, mentoring, and critical feedback for programmed artists) and FRESH TIPS (a day of information and advice from experienced artists). * DIY: an opportunity for artists working in Live Art to conceive and run professional development projects for other artists. * Restock, Rethink, Reflect - An ongoing series of initiatives for, and about, artists who are engaging with issues of identity politics and cultural diversity in innovative and radical ways. Each RRR project is under a different theme: race (2006–08), disability (2009–12), feminism (2013–14), privilege (2016-18) and Managing the Radical (2019-21). * Life Lecture - An online resource which structures and directs an audience to deliver a lecture to themselves about themselves. Life Lecture has been created by Joshua Sofaer, published and distributed by the Live Art Development Agency and the dramaturg and editor in chief is

Sibylle Peters Sibylle is a given name. It may refer to: *Anna Sibylle of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1542–1580), eldest surviving daughter of Count Philipp IV and Countess Eleonore of Fürstenberg *Duchess Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia (1586–1659), Electress of Saxony ...

in cooperation with the Interactive-Science-Program/ ZMI Geissen. Webdesign and authoring by Platform3. * Live Culture (2003) event at

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

which included performances from

Franko B Franko B (born in Milan in 1960) is an Italian performance artist based in London, where he has lived since 1979. He studied fine art at Camberwell College of Arts (1986–87), Chelsea College of Art (1987–90) and the Byam Shaw School of Art (19 ...

Forced Entertainment Forced Entertainment is an experimental theatre company based in Sheffield, England, founded by Tim Etchells in 1984. Details and history Forced Entertainment originally focused on making and touring theatre performances before expanding to lon ...

and a lecture by

Marina Abramović Marina Abramović ( sr-Cyrl, Марина Абрамовић, ; born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, feminist art, the relationship between the performer and audienc ...

. LADA produces projects to help develop the visibility of, and opportunities for, artists making live work from diverse backgrounds.

Publications

LADA has published a number of titles relating to Live Art, most notably co-publishing ''Out of Now: The Lifeworks of Tehching Hsieh'', edited by

Adrian Heathfield Adrian Heathfield is a British writer and curator. Overview Heathfield works on contemporary art practices, particularly those involving live elements such as performance art, experimental theatre and dance. His writing has focused on questions ...

, with the

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...

, and Perform Repeat Record edited by

and

Amelia Jones Amelia Jones (born July 14, 1961) originally from Durham, North Carolina is an American art historian, art theorist, art critic, author, professor and curator. Her research specialisms include feminist art, body art, performance art, video art, i ...

with Intellect. The Intellect Live book series is a collaboration between Intellect Books and LADA on influential artists working at the edge of performance, and includes titles about Joshua Sofaer, Anne Bean, Kira O'Reilly, Lois Weaver, Ron Athey and Raimund Hoghe.

Patrons

LADA has a board of patrons composed of 10 established artists who have contributed significantly to the development of Live Art. *

Ron Athey Ron Athey (born December 16, 1961) is an American performance artist associated with body art and with extreme performance art. He has performed in the U.S. and internationally (especially in the UK and Europe). Athey's work explores challenging ...

* Anne Bean *

Sonia Boyce Sonia Dawn Boyce, (born 1962) is a British Afro-Caribbean artist and educator, living and working in London. She is a Professor of Black Art and Design at University of the Arts London. Boyce's research interests explore art as a social practic ...

Tim Etchells Tim Etchells (born 1962) is an English artist and writer based in Sheffield and London. Etchells is the artistic director of Forced Entertainment, an experimental performance company founded in 1984. He has published several works of fiction, ...

Guillermo Gómez-Peña Guillermo Gómez-Peña is a Mexican/Chicano performance artist, writer, activist, and educator. Gómez-Peña has created work in multiple media, including performance art, experimental radio, video, photography and installation art. His fifteen b ...

Raimund Hoghe Raimund Hoghe (12 May 1949 – 14 May 2021) was a German choreographer, dancer, film maker, journalist, and author. Because he was born with scoliosis, his early efforts were focused on journalism. His writings explored the human condition; a do ...

Tehching Hsieh Tehching (Sam) Hsieh (謝德慶; born 31 December 1950; Nan-Chou, Pingtung County, Taiwan) is a US performance artist of Taiwanese background. He has been called a "master" by fellow performance artist Marina Abramović. Early life Hsieh was one ...

Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and distinguished professor of the arts at UC Santa Cruz. Early life Julien was born in the East End ...

* La Ribot

Key reading

Keiden, L, Mitchell, CJ. 'In Time: A Collection of Live Art Case Studies'Eds. Live Art Development Agency in collaboration with Live Art UK

References

External links

The Live Art Development AgencyLive Art Development Agency (LADA)
at Google Cultural Institute {{Authority control Performing arts in England English art Arts in England Arts organisations based in the United Kingdom