Live Art Development Agency

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, who is currently its Director, and Catherine Ugwu. LADA provides professional advice for live artists and promoters as well as producing events and publications intended to enhance the understanding of and access to Live Art. They are one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations.

Activities

LADA is responsible for funding and co-ordinating Live Art UK, a network for bringing together key promoters and facilitators to support and develop the Live Art infrastructure for the benefit of artists and audiences.

LADA operates the Study Room, a free, open access research facility used by artists, students, curators, academics and other arts professionals. The Study Room is in Hackney Wick, 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 over 5,000 items accessible in LADA's Study Room. This resource facility was described by The Independent as one of the UK's 50 best museums and galleries.

Projects and initiatives

• “15 Minutes With…” - There will be a series of “15 Minutes With…” podcast series. These podcasts will be launched throughout 2014 to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Live Art Development Agency, and consist of short dialogues with some of the exceptional artists and thinkers that LADA has had the pleasure of working with over the last 15 years.
• FRESH AiR - An initiative from Queen Mary, University of London, 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).
• 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 year's project is under a different theme: race (2006–08), disability (2009–12), and feminism (2013-2014).
• 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 in cooperation with the Interactive-Science-Program/ ZMI Geissen. Webdesign and authoring by Platform3. The website is available to use for FREE at www.lifelecture.net

LADA produced a number of projects to help develop the visibility of, and opportunities for, disabled artists within the Live Art sector (2009-2012).

In 2003 LADA produced the Live Culture event at Tate Modern which included performances from Franko B, Forced Entertainment and a lecture by Marina Abramović.

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 with the MIT Press and Perform Repeat Record edited by Adrian Heathfield and Amelia Jones with Intellect.

Patrons

LADA has a board of patrons composed of seven established artists deemed to be working within the realms of Live Art.

• Marina Abramović
• Tim Etchells
• Sonia Boyce
• Guillermo Gómez-Peña
• Raimund Hoghe
• Tehching Hsieh
• Isaac Julien
• 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

External links

• The Live Art Development Agency