iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

This week I am falling back in love with theatre with trips to see: • Operation Mincemeat • Stranger Things • Arcadia • Cleansed

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

My biggest frustration with Pride and Pride events? All the creased pride flags. Seriously, get the iron out.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Finished watching Tip Toe last night. It really packs a punch. The fact that it’s set in today‘s world, and has been released this year when there is an increase in LGBTQ+ hate makes it even more poignant. Are we going through a phase? Will all this blow over? I really don‘t know.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Am feeling immensely sad. About David Hockney, about art, about rejected Arts Council application and the slog of just trying to make things work.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Got myself a new camera to pickup my photography again.

Jake wears a yellow jumper with an orange cardigan, he holds a black camera in his hand. Behind him are trees and greenery.

Jake holds a new Fujifilm X-E5, black and shiny. Behind is a sofa with cushions on it.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Books I have read recently and loved.

The novel North Woods being held up by a hand. Behind it are plants in a living room, a bright yellow ceiling.

The book House by the Cerulean Sa being held up in an office, a chair in the background and posters

Wild Dark Shore being held up in front of a river.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Has anyone been to the Venice Biennale? I’ve wanted to go for years but never got my act together. Now am thinking of doing a solo trip for a long weekend in July. Any top tips?

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

There is nothing better than a book that captures your imagination and tears at your heart.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Heading to London tomorrow for my birthday. Doing all the things I love: architecture tour of Barbican; spending loads at Gays The Word; Tracey Emin at the Tate and dinner with some friends. BUT! I need to get myself a birthday sweet treat. What’s hot right now in London? Cakes etc

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Just hit submit on a big funding application for a project I really believe in and is absolutely a passion project of mine built from scratch. Still lots of other fundraising to do but this was the biggie. Very fitting to hit submit whilst in The Pride Shop in Nottingham.

A laptop sits on a table with a mug and a rainbow icing coloured cookie. Behind are books and rainbow flags

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Saturday morning, drive to the bakery, fresh Sourdough, toasted, melted butter, jam. Perfection.

A brown paper bag, inside a fresh sourdough bread dusted with flour.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

“When we defund the arts, close venues, cut arts education, and shrink the places where encounter can happen, we lose the rooms where people practice being changed by what they encounter. And nothing I’ve seen rebuilds that once it’s gone.” open.substack.com/pub/emilkang...

open.substack.com

Curiosity as Democratic Practice

On artists and what democracy actually requires

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Things that bring me immense pleasure: • Chocolate melting on the tongue • The momentum of the last 100 pages of a book. • Standing in front of a painting and feeling • Being cocooned with my boyfriend in the night. • The sun on my face

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

„The arts sector has spent decades in a defensive crouch, arguing for its own existence in the vaguest possible terms, and it’s gotten us nowhere useful. We don’t need to defend the arts. We need to say which arts, for whom, and what specifically we’re asking for.“ open.substack.com/pub/emilkang...

open.substack.com

The Problem with "The Arts"

How two words mask a dozen problems

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

No turning back now, the bluebells are flowering in the local woods so spring is here to embrace them. Or maybe I’m the one to embrace the spring and all that comes with it?

Bluebells emerging in a wood. Flecks of purple as they flower amongst the trees.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Really enjoyed this read from Jan about how only 50 people control culture but how we, as independent creatives can push back and find ways of existing outside this. substack.com/@tedgioia/no...

substack.com

Fifty People Control the Culture

The state of the culture 2026

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

I see the National Theatre is introducing transaction fees from 1 April. Just a small £4 on top of your ticket price. Look, I know costs are mounting for organisations and historically venues have absorbed the transaction fees but the amount you pass onto the ticket booker has to be justified.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Wuthering Heights: so much style; so little substance.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Breakfast for dinner? That’ll do.

A plate with a fried breakfast on it. Veggie sausages (3), sliced mushrooms, baked beans and scrambled eggs.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Heading to New York on Thursday. Any recommendations for must see exhibitions I should be trying to see? Or experiences beyond the tourist attractions?

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Been spending a lot of time walking around the woods close to my partner’s house in my free time. It’s gorgeous no matter the weather and makes me feel alive.

Jake in a luminous green jacket, a green hat and green glasses standing in a wood looking at the camera.

Light can be seen between trees. The beginnings of a sunset. Moss covers the ground.

A long gap in trees stretching into the distance. The air is Misty, it’s winter in the woods.

A large puddle reflects the trees in the background creating a striking mirror image within the woods.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Having a Dr as a boyfriend sometimes means you find things like this in his house and you just accept it.

A blue surgical glove that has been blown up and turned into a doctor complete with a face mask as a head cap, a smiley face, arms and its holding a syringe…

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Returned to the LGBTQ+ youth group I volunteer with after they closed for a bit and it was so great to connect again with some of the service users that I’ve known for 3 years now. They seemingly have grown up so much in a few months. How did that happen? Is this what it’s like being a parent?!

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Third week of the new job done and I am finally feeling like I am starting to make progress and understand what the hell I am doing being an Executive Director of an arts charity, ha!

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Hamnet, what an a complained film with such heart. It’s testament to Maggie O’Farrell’s original novel that her depiction of loss resonates so strongly on film. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal absolutely soar. I was a blubbery mess at the end.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

The sound of midnight last night was punctuated by the screams of Duolingo users losing their streaks having got too caught up in their evening plans and not practicing…

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I like how people now write essays instead of blogs.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Marty Supreme is a brilliant film with a centrally flawed and unlikeable character that makes it so difficult to feel anything towards him but banal hatred. Maybe that’s the point. Timothée Chalamet is quite something though, even if I loathed him.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Whenever I visit my parents it feels like a holiday. Their apartment overlooks the marina and it’s just gorgeous on a clear day.

A pontoon in a marina. Some sail boats in the background. A life ring in the foreground and a brilliant blue sky with clouds. The sun is breaking through the clouds and shining across the water.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Happy Christmas 2025 (Every year I make my own Christmas cards featuring me with some plants. Here is this year’s tradition continued.)

Jake sits at a table holding a knife and fork. A plant in front of him. He wears a Santa hat and is dressed in a suit with a bow tie. There are candles on the table.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

My relationship is really difficult at the moment, but reading this was a good reminder that relationships are messy. “None of us are easy to be with because none of us were raised in a perfect emotional environments.” open.substack.com/pub/hasifff/...

open.substack.com

None of us are easy to be with

Sometimes the hardest person to be with is yourself.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

I don’t want end of the year lists of the best of this or that. I want survival guides for getting through 2026. I want strategies for hope. I want joy subscriptions and suggestions on peaceful living.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Really enjoyed this writing on the need to make art and not have a job that isn‘t fulfilling. „I refuse to accept that the majority of our time must be spent doing shit that does not light us up.“ open.substack.com/pub/amiemcne...

open.substack.com

I don't want a job

I want to make art

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Small pity party from me… I‘m on evening 9 of no plans, which at first was nice but has incrementally chipped away at my mental health. Had cancellations from a few friends the past few days that highlights how much I need to develop my friendships in Nottingham but in your late 30s that’s tough.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Winter walks through the muddy fields and getting confused by the crops already starting to grow…

Jake in a green puffer jacket, a brilliant blue hat and green framed glasses looking into the camera. Behind him a middle field with tractor marks.

A field in the countryside. Rows of green crops at infant stage growing. Clouds and a sun in the sky.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Today I walked up to a stranger, a man dressed head to toe in colourful clothes and accessories and complimented him on how he dressed. We chatted about the joy of colour in clothes and ended with a hug. Sometimes it’s lovely to connect with someone over something as simple as colour.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Went to London with my sister today for a cultural day. Saw Grayson Perry at the Wallace Collection, Every Brilliant Thing at SohoPlace and lunch at Mildred’s with desert at Italian Bear Chocolate.

A photo of Jake before heading to London. He is in a blue jumper, a green shirt. Green glasses on his face. He briefly smiles. Behind him a bookcase with the books in colour order.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Incredibly proud of my family today as a national campaign from Asthma + Lung UK launches to encourage students to take their inhalers out with them featuring my cousin. Zoe died following an asthma attack whilst at uni. You can read about her, and the campaign here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Students warned after Cambridge asthma attack death in nightclub - BBC News

Zoe Nunn was found unconscious in a nightclub toilet without her inhaler, her mother says.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Working on a project that is entirely personal, being led by you and your ideas is such a joy and privilege. I spend so much of my freelance making other people‘s visions come true that I forget how much passion I have for making the arts happen when I‘m the lead artist. 😍

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Always surprised by how a bit of sun makes me feel alive again after the grey of the skies.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Felt really smug this morning getting to the gym before 7am only to realise I left my phone at home and couldn‘t actually get in. Turned right back and drove home. Doh.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Have been freelance for over 12 years and today marks the first time I‘ve had to file a claim for an unpaid invoice. Am hoping the individual pays up quickly as I really don‘t want to go to court over it. *fingers crossed*

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Does anyone have any tips for commuting? Am currently having to drive 1-2 days a week for a 3-3.5 hour round trip for work and it is so exhausting me.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

In bed by 9.30pm reading a book. The fact I find this delightful doesn’t distract from the fact that I can feel my age creeping up on me…

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Happy birthday to me. I‘m off on a solo trip to Paris for a few days to decompress after a busy few weeks. Looking forward to experiencing Paris after many years away.

Jake smiles in brilliant sunshine with clip on sunglasses. He wears a pink T-shirt, a green jacket over the top and you can see the yellow straps of his bag.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

There is no LGBT without the T. Standing up for my trans friends, colleagues, peers, lovers and community, always.

Jake in a blue jumper with green shoulder pads. He wears a pearl necklace and green glasses. Behind is a fire place with a rainbow dangling from it and other items including plants and photos/images slightly blurred.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Asked for a recommendation from my favourite bookseller today. After much thought she said “the book I want to recommend is only in hardback” to which I responded, “for you, I’d buy hardback”. There was a pause before we both cracked up laughing, blushing profusely.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

My tulips are slowly getting there and I‘m so excited to see them bloom!

Tulips on the point of blooming in vibrant orange and red. There are 3 blooms in the photo with others around them at less developed stages.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Subsidised theatres produced a 1/3 less shows in 2024 compared to 2023 painting a bleak picture of rising costs, the need to co-produce and a change in audience wants. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Big drop in plays staged by theatres over past decade

The number of plays and musicals staged by the UK's main subsidised theatres is down by almost a third.

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Jake Orr @jakeorr.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Feel like I need a lay down after reading The aber Sting by Paul Murray. What a thrilling read with such engrossing characters. Can see why it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2023.

The cover of the book The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. The cover is yellow with red and black font.

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