Projector. Video projector. Sound reproduction equipment. Spotlights. Fog machine. Mirror balls. The cultural and arts producers in Central Finland borrow equipment from each other if it were too expensive to buy them alone.
Acquiring expensive equipment no longer becomes an obstacle to creativity. This was decided by cultural and arts doers in Central Finland, inventing the equipment borrowing service. Through the borrowing service, they distribute audio-visual devices, for instance, for shared use.
The project collaboration group has consisted of over ten different parties, such as the organiser, Live Herring association, concentrating on the promotion of media arts and culture.
“The equipment borrowing service enables the arranging of greater events and wholes without skyrocketing costs. In addition, this kind of activity is needed so that events can be arranged more easily without owning a lot of equipment,” comments one of the users of the service.
For now, borrowing has been handled with manually updated lists that show the type of equipment available for borrowing. Associations have been able to borrow equipment by application. The activity has been kept running with a small operating fee.
“Now there is a further need to develop the idea. We are now designing a digital platform or online service through which the equipment borrowing service could be expanded. If the participants have the interest of obtaining certain types of equipment but would themselves have only little use for them, they could be purchased for this shared pool,” Live Herring’s project co-ordinator Soile Ollikainen explains.
Circwaste-magazine 1/2017