Latest News
The Singh Twins inspire at Future Station
We were delighted to be joined by renowned artists The Singh Twins for the latest Future Station event (Wed 8th May). The twins gave a great talk about their work and career, showed their animation 'The Making of Liverpool' which was commissioned for Capital of Culture 2008 then held an open Q&A session. The twins were really inspiring and gave great advice for making a career as an artist.
'Bravo! Apart from them being massively talented I also believe them to be really important creative artists. You made me very happy to be able to enjoy them last night. Thanks.' Paul Fred Kelly
The event began with a really informative session on how to write a good press release by Angela Samata including tips from journalists. 3 Minute wonders were from Sufea Mohamad Noor, Pamela Sullivan from Arena Studios and Gallery, Visual artist D.Amos and Edward Bruce from Bridewell Studios and Gallery.
Many thanks to all who attended and participated in the event.
The next Future Station will be held on Wed 4th September and will begin with a session on applying to The Arts Council for Grants for the Arts facilitated by Metal's Artistic Director Colette Bailey. Guest speaker: TBC
Written by Colette Bailey 10 May 2013
Peterborough makes the national grade
Great News! Peterborough City have been successful in their bid to the Arts Council England, Creative People and Places Fund. Metal have been a close partner in the development of the project and we are really looking forward to helping achieve the cultural ambitions for the city going forward.
press release:
Vivacity Culture and Leisure are thrilled to announce that Peterborough has successfully been awarded £725,000 of funding from Arts Council England as part of a £1.2m programme.
An exciting and innovative programme has been developed by local representatives from Vivacity, Creative Peterborough, Young Lives, Step Up Community Association, Voluntary Arts and Metal. The consortium has been working on the programme and talking to local groups from across the city and it is a great boost to Peterborough to receive this award as it reflects the active support of the many local groups that have been involved over the past year.
Creative people and places is a national funding programme from Arts Council England which is designed to get more people involved in the arts. The funding, which is for 3 years, will be used to create a programme of work focused on young people, artist’s networks and collaborations and bringing new communities together to increase audiences and participation in the arts in Peterborough.
Greer Roberts, Head of Arts at Vivacity says: ‘Peterborough’s Creative people and places programme is a great opportunity for us to find ways to unlock talent, energy and creativity from across the city allowing communities and grass roots organisations to play a leading part in inspiring others to get involved with the arts’.
Jabeen Shafee, Project Manager of Step Up says ‘Step Up Community Association are extremely proud to be partners of a locally based Consortium which has successfully secured funding from The Arts Council. The grant is excellent news for our city and will undoubtedly improve the current Arts provision in Peterborough!
Step Up’s expertise in community engagement with minority communities, particularly young people provided a valuable resource for formulating the bid. We now look forward to consulting with these communities to listen to what they want to see happening in their city and bring this to fruition’.
To help The Arts Council decide which locations were eligible to apply, it took an average of the Active People data over two years (2009 and 2010) and focused on the least engaged 20 per cent. Active People is currently the most reliable national data source that measures what we are trying to change. A list of eligible locations (the lowest 20 per cent on the list) can be found on The Arts Council website.
This funding is a significant achievement, driven by local people and local organisations and Peterborough has developed an innovative programme to become part of this small number of national demonstration projects.
Helen Lax, Regional Director, East, Arts Council England, said: ‘This is a fantastic initiative and one that really matched the vision of the Creative people and places programme. Each of the three strands of activity will be informed by feedback from the community, driving local engagement from the outset and ultimately delivering a programme of activity that will invest in and invigorate arts and cultural life in Peterborough’.
The Creative people and places consortium will now work through a business planning and partnership development phase with Arts Council England and local partners in deciding the detail of the programme. From November 2013 the public will start to the benefits of this substantial grant.
For further information, interview requests and images contact: Gemma Morris, Senior Marketing and Communications Officer – Vivacity Arts, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 07506 536 763
Download this release and notes for editors.
Written by Colette Bailey 09 May 2013
DANCE IN FOCUS talk video
On 4 April, Chrish Nash discussed his dance photography at Cafe Valise, Leigh Community Centre, as part of Dance in Focus exhibition.
Here's a short film from the event by Sparky Media Productions:
Written by Colette Bailey 30 April 2013
Ground Artefacts at Cafe Valise
The White Wall Space present Ground Artefact, an exhibition of local photographer Julian Woollatt at Cafe Valise, Leigh Community Centre.
Opening Friday 12 April 7-9pm
The exhibition will be open from 13 April - 11 May.
Written by Colette Bailey 12 April 2013
IDEA13 April Surgery
Come to the IDEA13 Surgery on Saturday 13 April 4-5pm to find out how can we help you promote your work or organisation on idea13.org, an online network for culture in Southend.
This free event is open to both current IDEA13 members and people who wish to subscribe, individuals, groups and organisations. We will show you how to create/improve a profile on IDEA13 and how to promote your events.
We can help you upload information and images to your profile (bring a CD with your images and any text describing your work but please make sure you have your login details with you*).
Metal, Chalkwell Hall, Chalkwell Park, Southend.
*If you don’t remember your Idea13 password, please request a new one here before the workshop on http://idea13.org/forums/
Written by Colette Bailey 12 April 2013