TailSpin
About TailSpin
TailSpin was an organisation which worked to support those working with narrative and story in any way and through any form. Whether it was people just wishing to dive further into their connection with story or those who work in the arts and performance who wished to bring stories to others.
TailSpin was born slowly in London, UK between 2010 and 2015. I stepped into the shoes of Artistic Director and over these five years curated and MCed monthly Night of the Storyteller events and the annual festival the Story Bazaar – events jam-packed full of storytelling and song.
I steered TailSpin into a quiet area inside the artistic scene with a particular quest: to make a space for storytellers to explore the edges of the kingdom, to try new things, to follow where they wanted to go with their stories (or where the stories wanted to take them), even if it was off the beaten track.
An extraordinary community of audience, tellers, musicians, supporters and lovers of story wove themselves around the events. With the incredible support of James Pain and his team at The Miller Pub, London Bridge and with this amazing community, TailSpin flourished.
In late 2015 I moved to Berlin, Germany and brought TailSpin with me. I wished I could have brought everyone that made up TailSpin in the UK, too, especially my co-conspirator Belinda Sherlock, the best gatekeeper that ever was. From 2016 I let TailSpin lie fallow. I felt it was time for a rest and for something new to appear. Although I dug into the ground many times in the years that followed, eagerly hoping to find something growing, it took another five years for the roots to grow down and the shoots to appear up above the rich, dark earth. Since 2016 I had focused more and more on teaching, guiding, mentoring and curating – much of my momentum coming from my incredible students at Arthaus Berlin (the post-graduate Performance School formerly known as LISPA). And so TailSpin popped up in this area.
TailSpin began holding a space for a new community to wrestle with and listen to story through our online courses in 2020. We came from many fields of work and many fields of art and performance. We met online in those days of the pandemic and in the slow shift back towards being together in the space.
And then it became clear that TailSpin had run its course and it was time to release it. Not an easy thing to do.
So, here I doff my hat and raise my glass to all the incredible audience members and artists who made TailSpin. What a trip. Thank you.
Cat Gerrard
Artistic Director
PS - our logo and all graphics above (& also all those on this website) are by the amazing Nanna Koekoek - check out her work here.