The Big 30!

This year is our 30th Birthday and from September we will be starting a whole year of celebrations! We'll be working with lots of exciting artists, including photographer Franklyn Rodgers, to tell the story of Heart n Soul. 

There will be lots for everyone to get involved with, so make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, coming soon!

The Beautiful Octopus Club

This year's Beautiful Octopus Club in September will kick off the start of our 30th Birthday celebrations.

Taking place on Friday 9 September, it will be bigger and better than ever before as we take over the Royal Festival Hall with live performances, taking part activities and lots and lots of dancing! 

Keep checking our website here for more information.

Too Hot For Candy

Too Hot For Candy will be recording a new demo of their song 'Up in my grill'. Stay tuned for this track, coming very soon! 

We're also booking more gigs for the band, so watch out, they could be playing near you very soon! 

Lizzie Emeh

After the launch of 'The Clan' last year, Lizzie Emeh will be releasing her second EP in May. Keep checking her website for more news. 

Lizzie is also part of 'Reframing the Myth' a collaboration between Graeae Theatre and the Central Illustration Agency. The project brings together illustrators and artists with disabilities to explore their creativity together. 

The artworks will be shown from Monday 1 February - Friday 26 February at The Guardian in central London and it's FREE!

Tilley Milburn

Tilley Milburn will be performing a brand new show with performer Catherine Dunne at Buzzcut Festival in Glasgow from Wednesday 6 - Sunday 10 April. They will also be performing at Women of the World Festival at Southbank Cetnre on Saturday 12 March. 

Tilley will also continue to work with artist Ben Connors to make comics for Strike magazine. One of Tilley's comics will also be part of the 'Letting in the light', an exhibition produced by Daily Life Ltd in collaboration with Outside In and Bethlam Gallery. The exhibition will run from Monday 25 January - Thursday 24 March. 

The Fish Police

Dean and Charles from The Fish Police are working together to create new tracks for their next album. 

The band also have a lot of gigs lined up. Their first date is this Friday 22 January at the New Cross Inn in London. Make sure you check their website here for all their upcoming dates - we'll see you on the dancefloor! 

Heart n Soul Radio

We'll be launching two new podcasts this year. The Awesome Recorders will feature work created by Do Your Own Thing participants.

'How's Your...' will cover everything from Feeling Good to how to make a good omelette! It will be presented by participants Tilley, Shalim, Lilly and Peter. The first podcast will be available to listen to on our Mixcloud page here in February.

Plus, look out for more pop-up radio studios at The Squidz and Beautiful Octopus Clubs. Drop in for a chance to star in your own radio show! 

NEF Event

We are taking part in the NEF event, 'Making the most of what's on your doorstep' on Wednesday 3 February. We'll be working with Entelechy Arts (above), the Dragon Cafe and Tin Arts to produce a day of workshops, creative sessions and talks that are all about co-production. 

Make sure you check out our blog to find out how the day went! 

The Squidz Club

Get ready for a party that's out of this world as the Music, Drama, Dance, Vjing and DJing groups from Do Your Own Thing bring you not one, but two Squidz Clubs in 2016. You can expect amazing costumes, incredible live performances and music to dance the night away to! 

The first club will be happening on Friday 20 May, find out more here. 

Allsorts

We've got four Allsorts seasons lined up for 2016 full of creative sessions for adults. The next season will run from Thursday 24 March - Thursday 28 April and will be a Takeover Season, co-produced by the Allsorts steering team. 

In between each season we'll be running the Allsorts choir, led by Penny Manser. It costs just £1 per session and there's no need to book. The first choir season will run from Thursday 4 February - Thursday 10 March. 

Do Your Own Thing

All of the Do Your Own Thing groups will be working on creating their own alter ego characters this year. They'll be working with artist Ben Connors, musicians Richard Phoenix and Ned Smith, performer Gemma Rowan and video artist Hannah Mason to create their characters. 

They will also finish the Pop The Balloon music video, which will be edited by the young people as part of our Do Your Own Thing extra project. 

Keep checking the Heart n Soul Blog for monthly updates.

Instagram

Get a behind the scenes look at Heart n Soul on Instagram. You can find us at @HeartnSoulPics - we always follow back!  

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you at one of our events during the year.
Best wishes,