Thursday 22nd May, 10am – 11.30am
Brook Theatre, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4SE

You are invited to join a free information session to find out about the Creative Employment programme scheme and how Medway based creative organisations and businesses can have access to apprenticeship and internship placements supported by Medway Council.

Reserve your place a.s.a.p. by contacting arts@medway.gov.uk or phone 01634 338319. Spaces are limited.

Creative Employment programme – Application information

The Creative Employment Programme (CEP) is a £15m Arts Lottery fund that aims to support the creation of 1,600 traineeships, 2,900 formal apprenticeships and 2,000 paid internship opportunities for 16 – 24 year old unemployed people wishing to pursue a career in the arts and cultural sector.

Medway Council is looking at putting in a consortium application to obtain the funding for the whole of Medway. If approved, Medway Council will be responsible for managing the grant, including all reporting requirements.

Creative organisations have got the opportunity to recruit and train up apprentices and interns.

Apprenticeships

The CEP offers up to £1500 of the total wage costs for every new apprenticeship that is for a minimum of 12 months and 30 hours per week, if the apprentice is aged 16 – 24 years and paid at least Apprentice Minimum Wage rates. Weekly hours are inclusive of college time.

Cost on an apprentice minimum rate: £2.68/ hour due to go up in October + on costs

The CEP offers up to £2000 of the total wage costs for every new apprenticeship that is for a minimum of 12 months and 30 hours per week, if the apprentice is aged 16 – 24 and paid at least the National Minimum Wage (relevant to the apprentice’s age).

All apprentices must be (at the time of making their application for an apprenticeship) unemployed.

Internships

The CEP offers up to £2500 of the total wage costs for every new internship that is for a minimum of 26 weeks and 30 hours per week, if the intern is aged 18 – 24 and paid at least the National Minimum Wage (relevant to the intern’s age).

All interns must be (at the time of applying for the internship) registered unemployed and claiming unemployment related benefits

Although the apprenticeships and internships must take place within the creative sector, they may be for any opportunity within the sector, including support roles such as finance, administration, HR, catering etc

The Available Funding

The CEP will offer funding towards the wage costs for apprenticeships and internships. You may apply for funding for apprenticeships only, internships only, or both.

Individual applicants must use the entire grant to contribute towards the wage costs of the apprentice or intern. It cannot be used for training costs. Training costs will depend on the sector and type of training. More info will be provided during the information session on the 22nd of May.

Medway Council will top up the apprenticeship opportunity by £500 if you are new to Apprenticeships and if the apprentice is 18 to 24 years old.

The National Apprenticeship Service will provide a top up to eligible employers (less than 1000 employees, who are new to Apprenticeships or haven’t enrolled a new recruit or existing employee on an Apprenticeship programme in the previous 12 months), in respect of qualifying apprentices, with an individual value of £1,500

The Wage Incentives will provide an additional top up of £2275 if the person you recruit on an internship is 18-24 years old and has been claiming benefit for more than 6 months.

How to apply

An information session will be held on the 22nd of May 2014 at the Brook Theatre, Old Town Hall, Chatham, Kent ME4 4SE if you would like more information.

You will be asked to fill in a “creative employment pledge form” that will be available from the 22nd of May.

The electronic version will need to be sent back to europeanprojects@medway.gov.uk and the paper version to be sent back to Solène Ferreira, Medway Council, Gun wharf, Dock Road, ME4 4TR, Chatham by 4th June 2014 deadline.

All placements to start after the 1st of September 2014 and no later than the 31st of March 2015.

He was singing in the street when two random guys walked up and created something utterly epic

May 17, 2014January 20, 2019Leave a comment

This … all kinds of creative going on

Spiritbath

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The Word Play Wagon lights the Fuse in Walderslade

May 5, 2014May 5, 2014Leave a comment

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve been selected by the Kent Baton to open their Sparks Fuse Festival project, One Day Works.

My short term residence in the Baton – a vintage silver airstream caravan converted to a mobile art centre – is on Wednesday, June 4^th from 11am – 6pm. It will be located outside Permark Post Office in Walderslade Village and its activities will be suitable for all ages and all abilities. No previous experience is needed, just turn up and play around with some words.

The overall title, The Word Play Wagon, reflects the diverse creative writing activities planned, including:

Turn over a new leaf: Add a poem, wish or favourite saying to a luggage label leaf you create and hang it on a Poetree.
A Novel Experience: Bring your favourite book and write an original short piece based on its premise (see example ‘Triffidus Corpus’ here).
Hint: Writing micro fiction from as little as 10 words. (Examples)
Spoofing Medway: Write the local news as it didn’t happen! (Example)
Mystery Collective Poems: Add a line to the one before – it’ll be the only one you can see! (See examples here.)
If and Then: A question and answer session with a difference. (Examples – scroll down to ‘Potlatch’)

I’m really looking forward to engaging lots of people in writing activities – who knows, I might find the next generation of Medway poets!

One Day Works will host a series of one day experiments throughout Medway during the Fuse Festival and its build up. From urban high streets to country villages, the project will showcase ten of Medway’s finest creative talents across a range of art forms. Along with the The Word Play Wagon, the works include an epic poem, sculptures made from found objects, archival collections, insect inspired costumes, drawings made from thread, an acoustic live music gig and a magic lantern performance. Click here for the full list of artists and their projects.

The Fuse Festival runs from Friday, June 13^th – Sunday, June 15^th, find out more at their website here.

It’s arts. It’s yours. It’s free.

Triffidus Corpus

May 5, 20143 Comments

The day outside was sounding wrong. Feeling wrong. Even for a Sunday, the silence was disturbingly, mysteriously different. No rumbling wheels, no roaring buses, no tramping feet. Shuffling, hesitant feet, yes. But none with purpose. No birdsong, just unintelligible wailing and sobbing close by.

He wasn’t able to see the light show played out in the skies last night. Bright green flashes; shooting stars; showering comets. A magnificent spectacle, they said. A unique phenomenon, they said. You should have seen it, they said. Rather insensitively.

The feeling of the bogey man under the bed began to creep upon him. A lifetime of being deprived of his eyes did nothing to alleviate this. Was it that famed sixth sense, becoming more heightened?

Was it his imagination? That fluttery feeling in his stomach, a prelude to something he dreaded. But what? Reaching out to touch … what? There was nothing there, nothing to feel and yet… still that persistent nagging.

What was that? A waft of air passed by his face, light as a feather. He was reminded of a fly, caught in a spider’s web. Trapped by uncertainty; perplexed by inactivity. Stilled by fear. He became aware that something was waiting …

Lurching towards him, leathery leaves rustling.

A stem whipped back and forth.

A swish and a slap.

The sting whistle slashed.

“A Triffid is in a damn sight better position to survive than a blind man. Take away our sight and our superiority to them is gone.” – John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids

I wrote this piece for The Skywatcher Investigation, our interactive alien game during the Rochester LitFest 2013 Other Worlds, Other Voices Festival. Using Wyndham’s descriptive language to capture the feel but creating a character of my own, it was performed by the multi talented Lance Philips of Physical Folk, playing a blind gardener, who succumbs to attack by a Triffid, played by the wonderful Sophie Williams. I read the piece aloud to the sound of Mozart’s requiem, Ave Verum Corpus, adjusting the text to fit the rhythm of the music.

It was a new experience for me but one I thoroughly enjoyed working on, and hope to do similar again in future.

Photo credit: Nikki Price Photography