Watermans has been able to focus many of its efforts in emerging arts. It has built a worldwide reputation for Asian Arts and New Media Arts, forging strong relationships with centres of creative excellence from South Asia and commissioning internationally recognized digital media installations.
Unlike many traditional arts venues which are focused on 'consumption', seeing their role primarily in terms of reaching audiences. Watermans stresses the value of participation. When young people 'customise' their clothes in a way that the fashion industry later copies, or when digital copying leads to wholesale changes on the part of recording companies, we can see these processes at work very clearly.
Developing a creative economy and community is about ensuring that the residents of an area gain access to cultural activities and have a chance to participate and develop their skills and see the possibilities that these offer. Many of Waterman's projects sit just at this nexus of production and consumption.
