Support for the sector
OPPORTUNITIES, SUPPORT AND NEWS THIS WEEK
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Community- The Wonderful Word Of Scrap
In the heart of lockdown, a range of organisations worked to shape and distribute Let's Create packs, among them local scrapstores. This webinar, presented by Real Ideas Organisation, shines a light on their work, the lessons from lockdown, and the creative play at the heart of their approach. Panellists will discuss the ways in which scrapstores support a wide variety of grassroots activity linked to play, community activity, the environment and creative learning. the session is suitable for teachers, play leaders and community organisations that want to get scrap happy. Find out more here.
Artist Proposals, Trinity Academy Lockleaze: Bricks
Bricks has been commissioned to deliver a public art programme for the new Trinity Academy secondary school, Bristol aiming to support and celebrate the Academy’s creative ethos of ‘heart, head, soul’. Bricks are looking for an individual artist or creative group to work with Bristol City Council, Bricks and Trinity Academy Lockleaze to develop and deliver this public art commission for the site. Artists should have a passion for the creative arts, some experience of shaping cultural programmes of a similar scale, experience of engaging with young people and co-creating work. Bricks aims to support local artist and as such this commission is only open to people living and/or working within the West of England (Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset). Find out more, including how to apply, by clicking here.
Live Event Production, the importance of working in a team: Barbican Theatre, Plymouth
Barbican Theatre presents the latest in their series of ReBels masterclasses with Ceri Wade, award winning Events Producer who has managed Glastonbury's largest late night arena: Arcadia and the international project management for touring Arcadia's shows. This masterclass will be an opportunity to hear about best practices, working on large scale spectacles, international touring and developing systems for flame throwing giant spiders. Read more about this, and other upcoming, masterclasses here.
Creative Storytelling & Data Visualisation Commission: Knowle West Media Centre
Knowle West Media Centre are currently seeking artists, storytellers and creative people who love to tell stories and share information in playful and powerful ways. In Spring 2021 there are two paid commissions on offer capturing and telling the story of social change and neighbourhood transition that is happening through community-led housing initiative We Can Make. And creating accessible, playable ways for people to interact with and understand the data gathered through a community survey about digital exclusion and access to technology in Knowle West. For more detailed information about both opportunities follow this link.
Talking With Electricity: CAS
CAS (Chapel Arts Studios) has partnered with artist's writing project, Yellowfields to present this online event in celebration of International Women's Day 2021. With a central theme of 'listening to women's voices', whether through conversation with each other, with material, with process and landscape, Talking with Electricity will showcase a variety of films , readings and discussions which focus on different elements of the creative voice of women. For more event details and booking click here.
Community Engagement Commission for Riverside Park, Andover
Test Valley Borough Council are looking for a Hampshire based arts organisation to help them work with local residents and stakeholders in a programme of community engagement. The organisation will creatively gather views and opinions about existing artwork and ideas for two new public art commissions. Test Valley Borough Council are interested to find out what these new commissions might look like and how it will be delivered. Click here for information on how to apply.
Open Call for Speakers on Diversity in Creative Sector Business: Real Ideas Organisation
Real Ideas Organisation (RIO) are looking for prospective panellists/keynote speakers who can inspire and inform creative sector businesses around the creative case for diversity as part of the Innovation and Inclusion strand of phase 2 of the Cultivator business support programme in Cornwall. RIO will be running a series of events (both virtual and physical) over the next two years and are seeking to feature inspiring individuals who can bring personal experience and expertise to a variety of innovation and inclusion agendas and help create and support positive change in relation. For more information and how to get involved click here.
Paperman World Premier: Manchester Film Festival
The Manchester Film Festival is premiering a new film sharing the practice of artist James Lake (a great artist we collaboratde with in the early TAP days). When James was 17 he lost his leg due to bone cancer. Closed in his bedroom, unable to move, he found in cardboard the ideal material to express his everyday life and pain. Cheap, light and easy to obtain, cardboard was for James the only material he decided to work with since then. Today James is 44, his cardboard sculptures continue to talk about human fragility and pain, but something has interrupted his routine: James has been invited to The International Biennial of paper art in Lucca, Italy, and he will travel abroad for the first time. To watch the trailer or to book tickets for this event click here.
Matthew Burrows, Artist Support Pledge: CAMP
CAMP welcomes Matthew Burrows, Artist and Founder of Artist Support Pledge. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic Artist Support Pledge has changed the way artists support themselves and each other. For this online talk, Matthew will speak about the origins of the pledge and why its ethos of generosity is central to its economic and cultural values. He will explore why a generous culture is important for creating a sustainable and equitable community, and why, a shift in values is the most effective way to achieve this. You can book a place by following this link.
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In Conversation
'WE CREATE' CHELTENHAM, CELEBRATING 5 YEARS
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Take A Part are proud to support and collaborate with partner organisation We Create in Cheltenham. As the organisation reaches a milestone 5 years their arts action group share and celebrate the history of the project so far.
We Create arts action group are very pleased to celebrate five years of community activity since first meeting at Hardwick campus in March 2016. The meeting followed a Residents Day organised by Hardwick Gallery to introduce local people to the new artspace at the University of Gloucestershire.
We Create has developed as a collaborative partnership between Hardwick Gallery and residents in the communities of St Peter’s and St Paul’s, Cheltenham, in association with Take A Part. We Create, which recently became a CIC, aims to stimulate interest and understanding of the area’s rich heritage, connect residents, and to catalyse opportunities for people to engage with creativity through ambitious projects and public events co-created with residents, artists and allies. In doing so, we hope to change perceptions of the area and encourage further investment.
The arts action group’s first project was Love St Peter’s, Love St Paul’s in 2017. This project invited residents to take part in creative activities led by artists such as film-making, baking, foraging, and modelling with locally-dug clay. Children from Gardner’s Lane Primary School visited The Wilson and created objects for the Museum of St Peter’s and St Paul’s.
In 2019 the group, now named We Create, set up the Creative Network with local artists and makers meeting socially to listen to and discuss each other’s artistic journeys. We also worked with Rachel Dobbs to present the Creative Enterprise Programme, a series of workshops for people interested in running their own arts and community projects.
In February 2020 artist collective Paam began meeting with residents to develop the Mudlarking project which, with the onset of the pandemic, adapted to become a community newspaper that showcases the wealth of creativity, passions and interests of residents and is very much rooted in the local area, although its distribution is wider.
Next up is Field Fare, a project to grow and forage for ‘useful plants’ – such as edible herbs and seeds, and flowers that make natural dyes and inks – in the green-spaces, gardens and wild places of the local area. We will explore their botanical heritage and relearn traditional methods of using home-grown plant-life relevant to our diverse communities. Mudlarking will continue, with residents guest-editing and illustrating the newspaper, gathering stories and tracking the progress of the Field Fare project.
Please contact We Create if you’re a local resident interested in sharing your skills and knowledge or taking part in any of these projects. We always welcome new members to our steering group – anyone living, working, studying or with a connection to the area can join in. Get in touch!
You can get in touch with We Create via: Email hello@we-create.org.uk or check out their website, Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter account for more info!
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Connecting with communities
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We've been checking out who's connect with communities and audiences right now, and seeing what great work and projects are taking place. This week's highlights include;
The wonderful Plymouth Play Scrapstore have collaborated with our partners High View School again to create a wonderful series of art packs for families to enjoy making at home. Connected to a project associated with High View's links with a school in Africa the packs are focussed on recycling plastics to create flowers. The excellent Soraya Phillips, lead artist on the Centre Of Excellence In Creative Education and regular collaborator with High View, has also supported the project by creating some excellent videos showing ways you can make different plastic flowers. The project has been a great partnership and wonderful way of keeping connected to families and offering ways to stay creative at home. If you fancy having a go yourself you can check out the flower making videos by Soraya here.
Plymouth After Dark have launched a hunt for objects to include in Plymouth After Dark as part of The Box, Plymouth. There's a call out for guitars played in beat combos in the 60s, glam outfits from the 70s, indie photos from the 80s, films of 90s raving or any and all of the above! Plymouth After Dark explores and celebrates everything that happens in the city when the lights go down and connects that community together. If you'd like to share something you can get in touch via afterdark@plymouth.gov.uk or check out the Facebook page and send After Dark a direct message.
Stronger North Stonehouse have collaborated with Fotonow CIC on ‘We Live Here’ an exciting new photography project commissioning local Stonehouse photographer Zuleika Fray. The project aims to focus on creative community action and rewrite the narrative of North Stonehouse - through pictures. Local residents are being encouraged to take part. You can get in touch with emmawinslet@fotonow.org to sign up and for more details, you can also check out the project page on Facebook. Sounds like a great way to connect people!
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This week's article is a super interesting blog post sharing digital pilot project RE-Invent from University College London's Connected Environment's Lab, which was re-imagined for online following the initial Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Discussing the importance of selecting the right partners to make a project work, learning through the process of the project, being flexible and adapting to the responses of the young people involved it's an interesting case study.
"In the context of lockdown, we found the young people who participated were also seeking opportunities for connecting with peers. While in many ways an imperfect tool, Zoom provided a space for meaningful conversations between the young participants, researchers, producers and youth workers to occur."
Looking at issues of access to digital, ways to make Zoom more active and less sedentary and sharing around the legacy and next steps of the project it's a great practical example of a project considering how to stay creative and engaged with young people in a digital time. You can read the article here.
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