Nest Residencies | Nest Bonds | The Nest Code | Getting to The Nest
The Nest
Adjacent to the Daimler Powerhouse on Coventry Canal, The Nest is a new home base and shared workspace for Talking Birds – and a place for people to come together to imagine better ways of doing things.
It is somewhere to expand our Nest Residency programme and our other artist support, development & collaboration opportunities such as Open Cast, Festival of Ideas and F13 and, through all of this activity, to build a welcoming, values-driven, climate-conscious, regenerative, creative community.
Nest Residencies
Nest Residencies prioritise d/Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and locally-based artists and give them a supported space for anything from a few days to several months to explore and develop one of those ‘what if…?’ ideas.
Our intention is to give space to the artistic process by supporting time to experiment, allowing for interesting and fruitful meandering. For more details, including how to apply, click here.
The Nest Code
Coming Soon: We are currently in the process of putting together the Nest Code with members of The Flock (our Nest community – this is current and former Nest Residents, our freelancer family, Board members and other associates). The Nest Code will be a pithy text that lays out what Talking Birds stands for – or at least we think that is what it will be – but part of the joy of any collaborative creative process is that you can never be *quite* sure how things will end up…
Nest Bonds
We have commissioned locally based artists Janet Tryner, Michael Snodgrass and Frances Yeung to produce illustrations to feature on the £10, £20 or £30 Nest Bonds. Andy Moore has done some graphic design magic and the bonds have been expertly hand printed at Common Ground in Coventry by Kate Rossin.
By buying a Nest Bond you are not only getting a lovely piece of art (or 3) for your wall but you’ll also get that warm glow of knowing you are supporting artist development in Cov!
A regenerative producing ecology
We aim to develop a more sustainable producing ecology around the creative community connected to The Nest by helping artists to think about the choices they/we make in relation to materials and processes; and supporting the development of regenerative models for artistic practice; connecting artists with each other and with other local support networks to explore artists’ roles in imagining, inspiring and building a better future; and centring all of this work within a very tangible environment of care.
We believe that this focus on care, stewardship, social and ecological responsibility and our ongoing exploration of how artists can inspire and develop new, inclusive and regenerative ways of living and working, will help develop and amplify the values embodied in The Nest: inspiring, encouraging and supporting individual actions that evolve into collective action and help drive the systemic change we need to fight the climate emergency and build a better, equitable future for all.
The Nest Library
The Nest Library boasts an impressive and growing collection of books – many of which have previously featured in one of our Wednesday Recommendation blogs.
We are also delighted to have been able to label each book with a bespoke bookplate designed by locally-based illustrator Lotte Tophill.
Getting to The Nest
The Nest is a 20 minute walk from Coventry city centre – or a 10 minute cycle (a docking station for the West Midlands Cycle Hire (Beryl app) network is 100m away on Sandy Lane). We have pedestrian access from the canal towpath (via Electric Wharf) or from Sandy Lane, which is also well connected to the local bus network. There is ample bike parking on site and two car parking spaces, which are reserved for those for whom travelling without their car would be a barrier to accessing the building.
The Nest is adjacent to, and forms part of, the Daimler Powerhouse and our friends and colleagues based next door are Cov legends and all round good eggs Imagineer Productions, Highly Sprung, Open Theatre and Media Mania.
Please note that googlemaps still tends to send you (unnecessarily) from Sandy Lane into Electric Wharf before you get into the business park, and be aware that the last part of the route (into the Sandy Lane Business Park itself) currently involves a slightly tricky speedbump. The industrial estate is shared with vehicles and our neighbours tend to have a lot of deliveries through the day, so please take care.
Nest Residencies | Nest Code | Nest Handbook | Nest Bonds
