Wordless Wednesday: Birthday treats
Category: Art
Silent Sunday
Public Art Commission Opportunity – Universities at Medway
Programme Manager at Future Creative required
Are you an excellent manager of projects and people? Do you thrive in a target driven environment? Are you able to grow and adapt to meet challenges? Are you inspired by creating programmes that develop communities and support young people to reach their full potential? Then this job could be for you…
Future Creative is recruiting a Programme Manager to lead their key youth development programme. You will be responsible for achieving targets set by the national programme in their area, and developing and monitoring delivery of the programme to ensure goals are met. You’ll lead a team of staff and freelancers across the region, identifying opportunities for maximising potential to achieve the highest quality of programme delivery.
The post holder will need to be a strategic leader with energy and enthusiasm to meet demanding targets as well as being flexible and adaptable to change. You will work across the education, community, voluntary and business sector to widen the reach and impact of their programmes.
Full time – Monday to Friday (with some evenings and weekends) based in Deal, Kent (with travel in the SE and East regions)
£22 – £24,000 dependant on experience
6 month probation period
Application deadline: 5pm Friday 25th April 2014
Please email wendy@future-creative.org to request an application pack.
Art in the Park
Art in the Park America
Patrick Dougherty 2
Art in the Park is series of large scale outdoor installations in Houston’s beautiful Hermann Park.
Paintings, books, carvings & Saints – Author Truda Thurai reveals Rochester’s Treasures
From the pen of the wonderful History Magpie …
Doing historical research is a bit like falling down Alice’s rabbit hole – you have no idea where you’re going to end up. You can go round in circles on the trail of an elusive fact or, as in author Truda Thurai’s case, follow an intriguing hook and end up writing something entirely unexpected.
Truda’s first novel, The Devil Dancers, is set in Ceylon , now known as Sri Lanka, so when she discovered that the country is also referred to within Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, she was intrigued. Once on the trail of the connection, however, Truda was sent on another journey entirely and ended up writing a collection of short stories entitled Barley Bread and Cheese. She kindly dropped by the Magpies nest to explain how it happened…
Hello Truda, please push the twigs aside and make yourself comfortable. Now…
View original post 1,821 more words
Silent Sunday
For concerned book lovers: These books were going to be pulped, they haven’t been wantonly destroyed 🙂
The Rats Bay Shindig – a weekend of arts, culture and river trips. Plus, good news from the Coastal Communities Fund.
A new family friendly extravaganza of festivities is taking place on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th April, when the area surrounding Sun Pier in Chatham will come alive with arts and culture between 11am and 5pm each day.
Overlooking the pier, Sun Pier House is opening the doors to the new Sun Pier Gallery and Tearoom for the first time. With panoramic river views, it’s set to become a scenic retreat in the busy town centre and will launch with a large exhibition of work by the 15 resident artists: ‘Presenting, Sun Pier House’ will incorporate a variety of art, craft and fashion.
The weekend also witnesses the launch of the first charter boat trips in a generation from the newly refurbished Sun Pier, with the Sailing Barge Edith May and Jetstream Tours providing unique river experiences for all ages. On dry land you’ll find the inaugural Sun Pier Arts Market, a new outdoor market set to take place regularly throughout the year. Stallholders will be offering a variety of work to buy, food to sample, activities to try and classic carnival games for all the family.
The Rats Bay Shindig has been instigated by the managers of new creative venue Sun Pier House, with the intention to bring some much needed life back to the west end of Chatham High Street. Over the course of the two days there is a full spectrum of entertainment on offer, including art workshops, live music performances, river trips, dance classes, exhibitions, history tours, evening functions and a Sunday night cult film screening. It’s a weekend not to be missed!
For enquiries please contact Heather Burgess on 01634 812 805 or heather@sunpierhouse.co.uk
In the past two years, the Medway art scene has seen a massive boom of activity in the west end of Chatham, with Sun Pier House, Printed Wonders, Coalshed Press and the Nucleus Hub all based there. This is set to expand further, with news that Medway Council was successful in its bid for funding from the Coastal Communities Fund. Granted £598,525, the council bid states:
“This project aims to drive the regeneration of Rochester and Chatham High Street by developing business units within existing but currently redundant space around Sun Pier House and The Arches. The area will be provided with incubation space and social enterprise support provision for cultural/creative industries. The project aims to stimulate activity in the creative arts and provide specialist training for the unemployed through an innovative “Art for Work” programme, providing access to employment in this growing business sector.”
For join in a conversation about the fund, search #coastalcommunitiesfund on Twitter.
Special visit to Jack and the Beanstalk
Guest blog by Stephen Jenner of GDS Productions.
The Kent Parent Carer Forum SEN children were special guests of Gillingham Dramatic Society Productions sell out production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Brook Theatre during half term.
Special arrangements were made for the children and their careers to attend the Thursday Matinee, leading the chairperson of The Kent Parent Carer Forum to say: “A massive thank you to GDS Productions for making the day a success and enjoyable for the children”.
Bright and colourful costumes, amazing dancing and one-liners that appealed to all ages were just some of the lovely comments received from the public after the performances.
Madam Mayor, Cllr. Josie Iles, who attended the Friday evening show and thoroughly enjoyed herself, needed no encouragement to join in with the clapping and laughing. She particularly enjoyed the joke at Medway Council’s expense: The Dame said “that the Beanstalk needs chopping down, so she instructed Simon to contact Medway Council and get it cut down immediately.” To which Simon replied: “You’ll be lucky – it’s Medway Council, you’ll be waiting months!”
GDS Productions now move onto their next production which will be Hairspray, in October at the Hazlitt theatre, Maidstone. Keep up to date with them on their Facebook page.
For S.O.P.H.I.E – the GOMK charity book
A wonderful side effect from my involvement in the Rochester Literature Festival was being asked by one of our exhibiting artists, Richard Jeferies, to write for his charity book, Goth on my Keyboard.
The Goth character has an adoring public on Facebook and beyond, and is now using her celebrity to publicise a good cause close to home. Myself and fellow writer, Alison Eley, have responded to Richard’s brilliant drawings and character in this book, and Richard himself also adds emotive words to his images, as well as deliver the short and sweet cartoons that are GOMK’s usual platform. It’s a true life mix of humour and poignancy and frankly, well worth your time to read it. I’m thrilled and honoured to be a part of it.
Most of us are free to express ourselves in any way we see fit, whether through our choice of music, art, or the way we dress. Sadly, even these days, there are those who seek to destroy anything they don’t understand, or like, or is different, and Sophie Lancaster paid the worst possible price for this.
The book is now published and all the proceeds go to the S.O.P.H.I.E Lancaster Foundation, a charity set up to help fight hate crimes, following the horrifying attack that led to her death. Kicked to death for looking different. In the 21st century, in a civilised, mainly tolerant society, how can this happen? The book, including VAT, costs just £2.39. Please buy it by downloading from the link, and aid this cause in the following aims:
- To create a lasting legacy to Sophie.
- To provide educational group-works that will challenge the prejudice and intolerance towards people from alternative subcultures.
- To campaign to have the UK Hate Crime legislation extended to include people from alternative subcultures or Lifestyle and Dress.
To find out more about the S.O.P.H.I.E Lancaster Foundation, visit the website here.
Stamp Out Prejudice, Intolerance and Hatred Everywhere. Thank you.
Jaye Nolan 