Southend on Sea
Arts Award
ARTS AWARD COURSES at Metal
ARTS AWARD is a nationally recognised scheme which can be based on any arts or media activity, which you can complete at Metal. Find out what inspires you, share your talents, and you’ll walk away with an award that makes a real difference in the world of work and the arts. There are no set rules on how you present your final work. You just need to be aged 11-16 and ready to explore new creative experiences.
Offered at Bronze level in Autumn 2012 and both Bronze and Silver levels in Spring 2013.
The course is free but will require some contribution from students towards a couple of field trips.
Places are limited so book early.
See Arts Award website or email Camilla Fox on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.
FUTURE DATES:
Summer Arts Award Course:
1 week Arts Award Monday 12th – Friday 16th August
10am-3pm £100 for the week
Sibling discount of 10% and also we offer before and after childcare for £6 per hour
Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details and to book.
ARTS AWARD ARCHIVE:
2-5 APRIL 2013
Metal's first Arts Award Discover course for 7-11 years over the Easter holiday went brilliantly - the fantastic fun-packed four days were filled with mini-beasts related creative activities and games. Children taking part got the opportunity to make creepy-crawly hats with a professional milliner, create colourful fantasy bug sculptures with 'Sculptureman', and experience channelling their artistic energies and passions in a truly creative environment. The children went away with a packed sketchbook and proper certificate to show for it.
ARTS AWARD BRONZE LEVEL - SEPTEMBER 2012-FEBRUARY 2013
A photo from the award-giving ceremony in March:
Monday 17 December
Videos screened at this session:
Monday 5 November:
This week's Arts Award session was held at the Royal Opera House Production Park in Thurrock.
We enjoyed a fascinating look back-stage at scenery creation for the many different shows that the Royal Opera House produce. Students were presented with all aspects of the hands-on making and logistics of scenery production from concept to actual performance. Another inspirational trip!
Monday 29 October:
This half-term, Metal’s students visited both the Southbank Centre and the Tate Modern in London as part of their Bronze Arts Award. A great day was had by all – we explored kinetic outdoor sculpture, inmate artwork, punk graphics, the Tate’s permanent Modern collections, and had a lot of fun in the interactive zone.
The packed day inspired and invigorated everyone – and the Drop-in day at Metal a couple of days later was buzzing with the experience. Catching up with their project work and taking part in a specialist drawing workshop with artist Simon Monk helped this half-term go super creatively for the Metal students.
Monday 22 October:
Bronze students preparing for their London trip to the Tate Modern and the Southbank Centre next week... lots of great work being produced – all exploring the Why / Where / How / What / When / Who of their project work, whilst carefully considering their creative process:
Monday 15 October:
Another great Arts Award session last Monday introducing Simon Monk who shared his visual arts practice with the students. He also explored body illustration concentrating on action poses valid in a comics / animation / illustration context, and got people drawing!
Read more about Arts Award at Chalkwell Hall here.
8 October:
The Bronze students continued working on their portfolios and watched videos about street artist Blu, portrait artist Michael Landy, drawing to the music, and a new rain-simulating installation at Barbican.
Links to videos:
http://www.blublu.org/sito/video/muto.html
http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/tateshots-michael-landy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2012/oct/03/barbican-rain-room-video
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2009/sep/19/guide-drawing-painting?INTCMP=SRCH
24 September:
Another engrossing evening where the Bronze students were introduced to Metal’s in-house website coordinator, Michaela Freeman, and a behind the scenes look at IDEA13, the online cultural networking website for Southend. Students also looked at creating their own blog as part of their evidence of their creative activities.
17 September:
Metal’s Bronze Arts Award started on Monday 17 September and it was a great beginning to what promises to be a fun-packed and creative 12 weeks. Three packs of biscuits down... by six o’clock some didn’t want to leave and are raring to go for next week:
Metal’s Bronze Arts Award started on Monday 17 September at Chalkwell Hall, and it was a great beginning to what promises to be a fun-packed and creative 12 weeks!
Three packs of biscuits down... by six o’clock some didn’t want to leave and are raring to go for next week:
'Now like Mondays'
'Looking forward to the next session...'
If you’re interested, now’s the time to book on our Spring courses – Bronze and Silver Arts Awards – email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to reserve a place.
Cafe Valise at LCC
The White Wall Space present 'Thames', an exhibition of local photographer Simon Fowler at Cafe Valise, Leigh Community Centre.
Opening: Friday 16 May 2013
The exhibition will be open from 17 April - 14 June.
ARCHIVE:
The White Wall Space present Ground Artefact, an exhibition of local photographer Julian Woollatt at Cafe Valise, Leigh Community Centre.
Dates: 13 April - 11 May 2013.
METAL PRESENTS: DANCE IN FOCUS
13 March - 6 April 2013
Cafe Valise, Leigh Community Centre, Elm Road, Leigh on Sea, Essex SS9 1SP
English National Ballet’s Dance in Focus exhibition: Curated by leading dance photographer Chris Nash, premiered at City Hall as a highlight of Big Dance 2012 and London 2012 Festival. This vibrant, inspiring collection of photographs by emerging dance photographers explores the energy, emotiveness and elegance of dance and movement, and is on tour across London and the South East.
+ Thursday 4th April 7pm
In Conversation with Chris Nash - Chris Nash gave an insight into his working practice and experiences, discussing a range of topics. An exclusive opportunity to pose questions and find out more about photographing dance.
Here's a short film from the event by Sparky Media Productions:
Cafe Valise launched at Leigh Community Centre on Tuesday 27 November 2012.
It will now be open between 10am-4pm Monday-Saturday.
LAUNCH NIGHT:
Despite the rain on the launch night, we had lots of visitors coming to sample the cafe menu between 4.30-7pm, followed by a very busy opening of White Wall Space's exhibition of drawings by Leigh-based comedian Phill Jupitus.
Watch our video from the evening to see what our visitors said about Cafe Valise:
And here are few photos too:
About Cafe Valise at Leigh Community Centre
Metal are proud to announce a new partnership with Leigh Town Council to bring our travelling cafe – Cafe Valise – to the heart of the revitalised Leigh Community Centre.
Following a successful summer of Cafe Valise at Peterborough Arts Festival and the prestigious Liverpool Biennial, the pop-up cafe – hand made by Leigh-on-Sea artisan, Jonathan Wells – has taken up residence in the community run space. It was launched with a range of creative activities on Tuesday 27 November.
The cafe space - at the centre of the building - has been given an impressive Metal ‘make-over’ complete with children’s arts and craft area. This brightly coloured space with fun astro-turf, desks, books and games has been designed in response to the feedback from parents and children using the touring Cafe Valise.
Metal have also designed in a gallery wall curated by Leigh-based arts organisation, White Wall Space. The first exhibition, Collected Doodles 1983-2010, features cartoons by the well-known and loved comedian Phill Jupitus, that have never been exhibited before.
He comments: 'As a child I always loved comics and cartoons. Sadly I wasn't blessed with an artistic eye. But blind enthusiasm will often take you as far as actual talent will.'
Cafe Valise opening hours will be Monday – Saturday 11am until 4pm with a delicious menu of sandwiches, soup, tea, coffee and a range of home-made cakes. We also offer an affordable kids menu.
The community centre has recently been taken on by Leigh Town Council who have been making a number of exciting improvements to the facilities on offer. Together with a number of community organisations and volunteers – one of which is Metal – they are aiming to create a vibrant, creative and lively community resource for all ages.
Councillor Richard Herbert, who has led the Community Centre Working Party, commented: 'The Town Council has received a tremendous amount of support from residents and volunteers and especially Metal. It is great to see the Community Centre gradually coming back to life. Our aim is to make the Centre the heart of the community where everyone can find something of interest be it a class or club, artwork or concerts, dances or film shows.'
The building offers some fantastic rooms to hire for all sorts of activity. Metal’s plans include a evening of jazz on Friday 14 December, hosted by Jam Jar Jazz; cabaret to come in the new year; music events; artist’s talks and our popular Pecha Kucha evenings.
Launch Night Details:
Tuesday 27 November
4.30pm – 7pm:
Drop in to check out the cafe and other facilities that the building has to offer.
View the Affordable Art Wall run by artist, Madelaine Murphy – find out how to display your work.
Stick around to try out our fantastic range of coffee, tea and home made cakes.
7pm – 9.30pm: Private View of Collected Doodles 1983-2010 by Phill Jupitus
Full bar – and teas and coffees available.
Cafe Valise, Leigh Community Centre, 67 Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, SS9 1SP For more information, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 01702 470700.
Culture LABS
Metal runs a programme of Culture LABS each year that brings together groups of artists and thinkers in exploratory, week-long, intensive residencies around different themes and subjects. Artists come from a variety of disciplines, types of practice and different places around the UK and overseas.
LABS in 2011 and 2012 have included investigations into Digital work with emphasis on new software and hardware development; Comedy and Live Art; Protest and Propaganda in relationship to the modern Olympic movement.
We host LABS at our spaces in Liverpool, Southend-on-Sea and Peterborough. They are designed to help artists examine and develop their practice, assist with knowledge exchange and expertise, and to provide the opportunity for time and space to develop new ideas.
ARCHIVE::
SWITCH - IDEAS LABS 2013
Metal and Arts Council of England / Partner Organisations: Norwich Writer's Centre and Pacitti Company.
Pacitti Company, Ipswich - 28 January - 1 February
Writer's Centre, Norwich - 4 February - 8 February
Metal, Peterborough - 18 March - 22 March
Download the final report from all three labs HERE.
Metal, in conjunction with Arts Council England, offered 24 arts practitioners the opportunity to get involved in one of three ideas labs across the East of England. This is part of the Digital Escalator programme within the Eastern Region. The Ideas Labs were 5 day intensive opportunities to develop and embed digital practice within creative people in the region. They were aimed at artists and arts practitioners and companies currently active in within the Eastern Region (as defined by Arts Council England – see http://www.artscouncil.org.uk - including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex). The opportunity allowed all participants to establish a comprehensive overview of ways and means of using new technologies in arts projects in a variety of contexts, involved technical sessions, peer to peer presentation of current work and an opportunity to devise and develop new ideas.
SWITCH - IDEAS LABS - PETERBOROUGH 18 - 22 MARCH
Metal worked with 12 artists and curators in an intensive week long lab at Chauffeurs Cottage in Peterborough between 18-22 March. This was the third lab supported by Arts Council England with the specific aim of building digital capacity in the Eastern region as part of Metal's lead role as Digital Escalator. The Peterborough Lab focussed on outdoor arts development and included an opportunity for those participating to develop new ideas for projection within Cathedral Square.
The Ideas Labs have generated significant networking opportunities for those participating and overall Metal has been able to work with 24 curators, programmers, arts leaders and artists between January and March.
SWITCH - IDEAS LABS - NORWICH 4 - 8 FEBRUARY 2013
Working with 8 regional artists, Metal were developing new works looking at coding, writing, maps, apis and more. The artists have experienced an intensive series of sessions including talks by Justin Hopper and Rachel Lichtenstein.
You can see some of the emerging work at: viralprojects.com.
We also explored the city, including the inspiring Soup Lab run by Rachel Rayns, who was one of the participants.
Read Matthew Linley's blog about the Norwich Lab.
SWITCH - IDEAS LABS IPSWICH - 28 JANUARY - 1 FEBRUARY 2013
Metal in collaboration with Pacitti Company in Ipswich developed a five-day ideas lab working with 6 regional practitioners. The artists involved explored a variety of approaches to digital practice working in the Think Tank space at Pacittti Company. The lab investigated the use of technology in performing environments, including surround sound and open source processing. A number of emerging new projects were developed and both Metal and Pacitti Company will be staying in touch with the artists over the next few months.
Culture LAB: ON WRITING FICTION - MONDAY 15 - FRIDAY 19 OCT 2012
Metal hosted a week long Culture LAB for creative writers, designed to provide a peer-to-peer environment for an intensive period of development of your writing practice. It included input from invited speakers (including respected fiction writers Cathi Unsworth, Christopher Fowler, Julie Myerson); one-to-one advice from our facilitator for the week; support from the Metal creative team; time and space to write and develop specific aspects of a current project; working and social time with peers for discussion and exchange of ideas and practice. Funded through Metal’s grant from Arts Council England (ACE).
There is an added opportunity for participants to work towards being part of Shorelines, Metal’s Literature Festival of the Sea that will take place in Autumn 2013. The participants of the Culture Lab were encouraged to consider how their work might fit into this theme of the sea with a view to either beginning a new piece of writing or developing an existing text for inclusion in the Shorelines festival, Metal’s Literature Festival of the Sea that will take place in Autumn 2013.
Speakers info:
Julie Myerson
The novelist Julie Myerson was born in Nottingham in 1960. She read English at Bristol University and has worked for the National Theatre and in publishing. Her first work of non-fiction, Home: The Story of E
veryone Who Ever Lived in our House, was published in 2004, followed by a memoir about PE at school - Not a Games Person (2005). Julie Myerson's work has been translated into many languages. Her latest book is Then (2011).
Cathi Unsworth
Cathi Unsworth is a novelist, writer and editor who lives and works in London. Her first novel THE NOT KNOWING was published in 2005, followed the next year with the award-winning short story compendium LONDON NOIR, which she edited, and in 2007 with the punk noir novel THE SINGER. Her third novel, BAD PENNY BLUES, inspired by the unsolved 'Jack the Stripper' murders of 1959-65 was published in 2010 to great critical acclaim. She has recently published WEIRDO in 2012.
Christopher Fowler
Christopher Fowler is the multi award-winning author of thirty novels and ten short story collections, and the author of the Bryant & May mystery novels. His first bestseller was 'Roofworld'. His most recent short stories appear in The Time Out Book Of London Short Stories, Dark Terrors 3, London Noir, Neon Lit., A Book Of Two Halves, Vengeance Is, Love In Vein 2, Destination Unknown, 100 Fiendish Little Frightmares, and The Time Out Book Of New York Stories. The tenth book of the series, Bryant & May and the Invisible Code was released on August 2nd, 2012.
Videos with the participants of ON WRITING FICTION Culture Lab:
May 2012
Culture LAB: NET PARK
photos and video to follow...
March 2012
Culture LAB: PROTEST AND PROPAGANDA
March Culture LAB took place at Metal in Southend, and looked at the subject of Protest and Propaganda in relationship / response to the Olympic Games 2012.
Participating artists: Heidi Wigmore, Hayley Goodsell, Stephen Walker, Lynn MacRitchie and Josh Langan.
Watch the videos to see what the artists thought of the lab:
October 2011
Culture LAB: Comedy and Live Art
Metal devised and hosted the second in our series of Culture LABS in October 2011 with the performance artist, Oreet Ashery. The week-long, residential LAB held in Southend brought together live artists and stand up comedians to explore humour and the processes of developing work. The LAB was facilitated by Oreet Ashery and Simon Poulter. Participating artists were Caroline Smith, Mem Morisson, Owen Parry, Scottee and Oriana Fox. Visiting comedians included Simon Munnery, Alex Horne, Shaista Aziz and Markus Birdman.
During the week a number of artists developed ideas for new projects. These were presented to a number of invited guests at the end of the week and several of the projects have already gone into development.
See what the artists had to say at the end of the week:
Culture LAB: Digital: March 2010. Metal's first Culture LABS was developed and facilitated by artists, Simon Poulter and Graham Harwood and was organised in partnership with the Digital Exploration Centre in Southend on Sea. We invited eight European artists to come for a week to Chalkwell Hall. Participants included Hans Verhaegen, Stephen Fortune, Caroline Heron, Markus Soukup, Olga Panades, Rob Smith, John O'Shea and Emilie Giles.
Visiting guests ran sessions with the artists, these included Dr Tim Kindberg, Pervasive Media Studio, Dr Matthew Fuller, Goldsmiths College, Dr Ken Guild, University of Essex and Peter Higgins, Land Design Studio. A series of early development projects were created by each of the artists, including a short film by Markus Soukup that went on to feature in Metal's exhibition STILL and contribute to him winning the Liverpool Art Prize in 2011. You can see documentation of the Metal/DEC Lab 2011 by clicking here.
"I was hugely grateful to be nominated for this week long workshop because, having not been surrounded by a supportive network of my peers for some time, this was an opportunity for me to rejuvenate, to come up with and develop an idea quickly, using the group as a soundboard and finding their comments extremely useful in my progress. I felt over the course of the week I found a way back to my own ideas again and have a new sense of positivity about my practice for the future." Caroline Heron
The Diamond Street
The Diamond Street App
Rachel Lichtenstein
Launched on 14 June 2013 at 7pm, Leigh Community Centre, Elm Rd, Leigh on Sea
Please reserve your free ticket here.
Rachel Lichtenstein will discuss the research, production and development of The Diamond Street App: a freely downloadable GPS-activated, rich media digital app for smartphones and tablets, which takes readers on a journey through the historic jewellery quarter of Hatton Garden and the stories in her latest book Diamond Street.
Using content from the book, along with specially developed rich media, soundscapes and specially commissioned films, this app allows you to go on either a virtual (armchair version) or a real guided tour around the area. This beautifully produced and designed app is the first of its kind, an immersive and embodied publishing model enabled by new technologies that transforms content from a literary non-fiction book about place into a dynamic interactive walk around the city streets.
Part new media experience, part walking tour, this location-based app fuses text, documentary film and image with real-time interaction. Guided by the author, along with a host of other characters, the secrets of the streets around you will be revealed as you wander around the area. The jewellery quarter of Hatton Garden is one of London’s most mysterious areas – home to diamond workshops, underground vaults, monastic dynasties, subterranean rivers and forgotten palaces. The Diamond Street App is your passport to this fascinating hidden world.
The Diamond Street App is funded by the Arts Council and produced by Rachel Lichtenstein in collaboration with Metal, Calvium, Phantom Productions, Field Studies Ltd & Hamish Hamilton.
Available to download free of charge in the iTunes app store and for android phones and tablets from 6 June 2013.
Rachel Lichtenstein is an artist, writer and curator. She is currently writing a trilogy of non-fiction books for Hamish Hamilton on different London streets. The first, On Brick Lane, was published in 2007 to much critical acclaim and shortlisted for the Ondaatje prize. Diamond Street: The Hidden World of Hatton Garden is the second in the series.
'Lichtenstein has brought alive something of London… how one street can be a kind of Tardis, a portal to another world of parallel commerce, codes, rituals, history.' The Times
See www.diamondstreetapp.com for more information.
Here is a sneak video preview:
Future Park
Future Park is Metal’s networking and information sharing evening for practicing artists, working in all disciplines, from across South East Essex.
The format of each evening is as follows:-
7pm – 8pm: Practical session / ‘surgery’ run by experts on different (useful) subjects for artists.
8pm – 8.30pm: Up to 10 x 3 minute ‘open mic’ spots for artists to tell you about new ideas, existing projects, opportunities coming up etc. If you want to sign up for a slot, email
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
8.30pm: Invited guest speaker with opportunity for Q&A
9pm – 10pm: Networking and drinks.
Artists, working in all disciplines who think they may benefit from engaging with a dynamic, ambitious, artist-led environment are welcome to drop by.
FUTURE PARK 2013 DATES:
14 March 2013
7-8pm Surgery on writing funding applications with Colette Bailey
8pm: 3min wonder presentations
Followed by guest speaker Russell Martin from Artquest and informal discussion over a glass of wine.
Artquest provides everything a visual artist needs to know by encouraging critical engagement and providing practical support. Helping artists to make work, sell work, find work and network, Artquest provides the information to drive creative practice and help artists thrive on some of the lowest incomes in the creative sector.
Run by artists, for artists, they build a bridge from student experience to sustainable working life, and throughout the artists' professional career.
Artquest launched in 2001, is hosted by University of the Arts London and is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England.
13 June 2013 Guest Speaker: tbc
19 September 2013 Guest Speaker: tbc
12 December 2013 Guest Speaker: tbc
Venue:
Chalkwell Hall
Chalkwell Avenue
Southend on Sea
SS0 8NB
Tel: 01702 470700
Email:
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Just ask if there's a particular topic you'd like us to cover or an inspiring speaker you'd like us to invite to future Future Park evenings and we’ll try to help.
2012 ARCHIVE:
Thursday 29 March 2012: Surgery: How to Document Your Work Well – with artist and photographer, Joe Lang. Guest Speaker: Gavin Wade, artistic director, Eastside Projects.
Thursday 26 July 2012: Surgery: Artist's working in Creative Education with the new Bridge organisation for the Eastern Region run from the Royal Opera House Production Park in Thurrock. Guest Speaker: ARTSJUSTAWORD (AIJAW) was created in 2001 by a group of 16 year olds, with the belief in making the visual arts inclusive in education and communities. In 2006 Aijaw became a registered charity. AIJAW predominately covers the Oxfordshire area with projects further afield in London and Bristol. More recently it has been involved with national projects and their hope is to strengthen these links to create recurring national projects.
Thursday 25 October 2012: Surgery: Putting a Great Portfolio Together.
Programme: Introduction to Final Cut Pro by Simon Poulter, a guest speaker, artist Ruth Catlow, and 3-minutes wonders presentations by Colette Bailey, Niki Cornish, Agnes Lukacs, Laura Keeble, Charlotte Windley, Daniel Pincham-Phipps and Amy Mckenny. Watch our videocast below.
Thursday 13 December 2012: Artists Networking
Photos from 25 October:
More photos from previous Future Park events:
About Future Station and Future Park
Metal believes that good ideas, creativity and the commitment of individuals can transform places, and like all enthusiastic and successful enterprises, create more participation, optimism and determination in others.
In both Liverpool and Southend on Sea Metal has a wide network of volunteers and supporters, made up of creative individuals who help us shape ideas for both Edge Hill Station and Chalkwell Hall, as well as helping us successfully deliver activities and events.
These groups called FUTURE STATION (in Liverpool) and FUTURE PARK (in Southend) meet on a regular basis to brainstorm ideas, make plans and talk tactics.
If you would like to get involved and help us continue to develop our exciting places and activities, we would love to hear from you.
For FUTURE STATION contact Jodie Mellor on
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or 0151 7072277
For FUTURE PARK contact Camilla Fox on
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 01702 470700
Holiday Art Club dates
Metal are organising a series of holiday art clubs at Chalkwell Hall for children between 5-11 years.
They usually run between 10am-3pm, but we also offer before and after childcare for £6 per hour.
Sibling discount – 10%.
Future dates:
May half term:
3 day Art workshop - FULLY BOOKED
Tuesday 28 – Thursday 30 May 10-3pm £60
Summer Workshops:
2 weeks from Monday 29 July – Friday 9 August 10-3pm
Cost: £25 per day or 5 days for £100
1 week Arts Award Course Monday 12 – Friday 16 August 10-3pm
Find out more about Arts Award courses here.
Cost: £100 for the week
October half term:
Halloween Art Workshop
Tuesday 29th –
Thursday 31st October 10am-3pm
3 days - Cost: £60
Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details and to book.
IDEA13
IDEA13 is an online network for culture across Southend on Sea. It was instigated by Metal in 2007.
Register HERE for information on all cultural events happening in and around Southend on Sea. It's FREE.
BLOG – to promote your events.
FORUM – to share news and ideas, make contacts.
WHAT’S ON – to promote and view local events.
PROFILE – to profile your artistic practice and promote your business.
IDEA13 is running a series of surgery sessions to help explain how to make most of the PROFILE opportunity. If you are a practicing artist working in any discipline, or a creative business – come along and find out how to present you business online at Idea13.
DATES:
WEDNESDAY 13 MARCH 4-5pm
SATURDAY 13 APRIL 4-5pm
All sessions are being held at Metal, Chalkwell Hall, Chalkwell Park, Southend on Sea SS0 8NB. Tel: 01702 470700.
For more information, contact Michaela Freeman on michaela (AT) idea13.org
To visit Idea13 - www.idea13.org
Life Drawing
A series of Life Drawing workshops led by experienced artist and Fine Art lecturer Heidi Wigmore at Chalkwell Hall.
Tue Evening: 12, 17, 19 March and 9, 16 April
Time: 7-9.30pm £15
Sun Morning: 17, 24 March and 14, 21 April
Time 10-1pm £20
Creative drawing exercises; individual support and tuition; live model.
Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to book your place.
Light Sculptures Chalkwell Park
On 4 October 2012, the Mayor of Southend officially switched on the six permanent, neon, flower light sculptures in Chalkwell Park next to Chalkwell Hall. A commemorative plaque was also unveiled by the Mayor.
All the original drawings by the 60 young people who took part were on display at Chalkwell Hall during the event.
Commissioned by Metal and made by artist Rob Haselden in partnership with pupils from Darlinghurst Primary School, the lights have just won an award in this year’s Southend in Bloom competition!
Photos by: Bradley Keeble
About the project:
Metal worked in partnership with artist, Ron Haselden, and Darlinghurst Primary School to create six public neon light sculptures in Chalkwell Park – which is where Metal’s Southend home is situated. Designs were selected from drawings and the resulting structures are now permanently installed for all to enjoy. Join us to help celebrate the official switch-on by Southend’s Mayor, with a chance to meet the artist and participating pupils.
Ron Haselden chose to work with a group of school pupils from Darlinghurst Primary School asking them to complete a set of simple pencil line drawings, responding to the theme of their favourite flower or plant. Around 150 drawings were produced.
From these drawings, Ron selected six different blooms which have been faithfully translated into neon light sculptures, each approximately 1m x 1m large. The lights are mounted onto 5m high wooden posts and permanently installed within the park for all to enjoy.
As well as providing a decorative and interesting artwork for Chalkwell Park, the sculptures also serve a very functional purpose of providing some much needed lighting in the park during the darker winter months.
A spokesperson for Darlinghurst Primary School said of the opportunity: 'As a school, we jumped at the chance to work on this exciting project. Our Year Two’s loved working with Ron and all produced some super art work. The six children who have been chosen, and our whole school community, cannot wait to see their sculptures installed in the park.'
The artist, Ron Haselden commented: 'The children were very motivated and produced a whole array of exciting drawings. The hardest part was for us to select just a few for the neon. I wanted them all to be lit up.'
The resulting artworks were entered by Metal into the 2012’s Southend in Bloom competition and won an award.
On The Line
On The Line is an ambitious and unique arts project conceived by Metal, currently taking place in 22 schools along the South Essex banks of the River Thames from Thurrock to Shoeburyness. Each school is working with an artist, across a variety of artistic disciplines, to create artworks, literature and new artefacts that respond to the connection between the River Thames, the railway line and their community.
These works will be brought together to create the ON THE LINE exhibition at Metal’s Chalkwell Hall, open to the public for a month during the summer of 2013.
Exhibition Dates: Thursday 27 June - Friday 26 July 2013
Opening times: Wednesday – Sunday. 11am - 4pm. Or by appointment 01702 470700
Venue: Chalkwell Hall, Chalkwell Park, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend on Sea SS0 8NB.
Twitter updates: @MetalSouthend #ontheline
Works on display – created by hundreds of school pupils taking part, are as diverse as a radio plays; ‘discovered’ books; animation; photography; documentary style film; dance; new pieces of music as well as sea shanties and nursery rhymes. Others are exploring the area’s heritage through buildings, landscape, industry and the communities who use the River and the Railways for work and/or leisure.
Chalkwell Hall is perfectly placed for the exhibition, with its stunning views over the River Thames. The ground floor of the Hall will be completely transformed to become a temporary museum with an exhibition display designed by local Leigh artisan, Jonathan Wells.
Schools
Barons Court Infant School and Nursery
Blenheim Primary School
Chalkwell Hall Infant School
Chalkwell Hall Junior School
Chase High School
Darlinghurst Primary and Nursery School
Fairways Primary School
Greensted Primary School
Hamstel Junior School
Hassenbrook Academy
Heycroft Primary School
Leigh North Street Junior School
Milton Hall Primary School
Pitsea Junior School
Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School and Nursery
St Bernard's High School and Arts College
St George's Catholic Primary School
The Gateway Academy
Treetops Special School
Vange Primary School and Nursery
Westcliff High School for Girls
Whitmore Primary School
On the Line - Artists
Ingrid Andersen
Jessica Akerman
Stuart Bowditch
Lucy Brown
Sally Chinea
Chloe Dewe Matthews
Andy Field
Leslie Ford
Lucy Griffiths
Justin Hopper
Ben Johnson
Dicky Moore
Josie Moore
Syd Moore
Holly Murray
Damien Robinson
Nastassja Simensky
Rob Smith
David Watkins
Heidi Wigmore
Metal is partnered in the ON THE LINE project by:
Play Southend
Developed by artists Ruth Catlow and Mary Flanagan, following a residency at Metal, Play Southend is an event-based and online art project that invites the public to build a collaborative platform game about the future of their hometown.
This Spring local residents will make a platform game of Southend working with artists Ruth Catlow, Mary Flanagan and other local artists and game designers. Southenders of all ages and experiences will make the drawings for the backgrounds, obstacles and rewards that make up the game. They will devise the rules of the game inspired by their town, deciding how the different elements relate and shape the future.
The Challenge:
'People of Southend define your future together! Make decisions for the long term prosperity and health of all. If you draw it, it will happen.'
Over the next couple of months we are running workshops and developing the game community before it launches officially at Village Green in July.
The artists are currently looking for someone to work in Southend to help them connect with and engage a diverse range of individuals and community groups in the creation of the game. You will be based in Southend and work with the team to reach out to new players, establish a game club, assist in schools and community workshops, invite and host new and established players and contributors to the game. This job involves developing and coordinating workshops, programs and possibly volunteers. Also liaison between other organisations and partners. This job will suit an imaginative, sociable people, familiar with social media who is interested in working with people with different perspectives and styles, and is interested in contributing to playful processes of community engagement. An enthusiasm for drawing and games are an advantage (but not a necessity).
Duration: 55 days, made up of:
One and a half days a week for 30 weeks March to September
Setting up and running a fortnightly schools games club
Setting up and running 4 days of Summer events in Southend High Street
An additional 10 days workshop support (between April and June)
Fee: £6600
TO APPLY: Please respond by mail with a letter of application and a CV to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
by 12 noon 28th February 2013
Pecha Kucha Night
Sheila Appleton - Artist, free Spirit, intrigued by Humanity
Sharon Byrne - Visual artist, artist educator, fisherman's daughter and multi-tasker mum
Simon Fowler - A long journey in progress
Michelle Goldman - Oil painter, children's author, illustrator and first time public speaker
Sarah Mason - Bespoke millinery, perfect, whatever the occasion
Emma Mills - Leigh-raised, escaped to the world, came back, makes art when can
Paul Siggins - Mosaic Artist & Designer
Parkview Suites, Chalkwell Park, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend on Sea SS0 8NB
Free but please rsvp to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
ARCHIVE PHOTOS:
2011
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 9
Part of our nine-day festival of events at Solomon Monk's Pump House, a pop-up venue in Chalkwell Park in Southend on Sea from Friday 15 July - Saturday 23 July 2011.
7 artists, designers and creative individuals to present using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were Adrian Green, Syd Moore, Simon Callery, Ben Eastop, Michaela Freeman, David Murphy, Dr John Eacott. Simon Moore, Julian Woollat, Steven Walker
Date: Thursday 18 July 2011. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Solomon Monk's Pumphouse, Chalkwell Park, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend on Sea, SS0 8NB
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 8
Metal in association with the Leigh Art Trail, brought together 7 artists, designers and creative individuals to present using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were Lydia Hardwick, Dave Shields, Richard Baxter, Tricia North, Madelaine Murphy, Lola Swain, and Jo Hartle
Date: Thursday 9th June 2011. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Parkview Suites, Chalkwell Park, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend on Sea, SS0 8NB
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 7
Six artists, designers and creative individuals present using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Humberto Velez, Peter Cusack, Alison Gwilt, Tse Hui Teh, Lola Pedro and David Matthews.
Date: 9th March 2011. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Parkview Suites, Chalkwell Park, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend on Sea, SS0 8NB
2010
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 6
7 artists, designers and creative individuals to present using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Mary Flanaghan, Laura Keeble, Daryl Easlea, Heidi Wigmore, Fiona MacDonald, Ian Brownbill and Amy Frampton.
Date: 21 October 2010. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: East 15, Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend on Sea.
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 5
Nine artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Pat & Trevor, Markus Birdman, Grant Philpott, Tom King, Jules Easlea, Jo Overfield, Ray Morgan and David Anderson.
Date: 15th July 2010 Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: East 15, Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend on Sea.
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 4
Seven artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Lee Baker, Holly Murray, Kidda, Paul Siggins, Amy McKenny, Emma Emmerton, James Harrod. Date: 25 March 2010 Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: East 15, Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend on Sea.
2009
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 3
Six artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: AEW Architects, Rachel Lichtenstein, Graham Harwood, Adam Perry, Andrew Carpenter, Greg Klerkx. Date: 14 July 2009. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Chalkwell Park, Meadow Field, Southend on Sea SS0 8NB.
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 2
Eight artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Simon Poulter, Charles Sharman-Cox, Al Johnson, Roger Griffiths, Jo Melville, Kamil Pechalko, Darren Berry, Scott Dolling. Date: 29 April 2009 Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Leigh Centre, Elm Road, Leigh on Sea. SS9 1SP.
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 1
Five artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Jude Kelly, Rob Tinlin, Simon Fowler, Dan Harvey and Damien Robinson. Date: 1 April 2009. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: East 15, Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend on Sea.
Pecha Kucha Night was devised by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
The key to Pecha Kucha Night is its patented system for avoiding lengthy presentations – ‘death by powerpoint’. Each presenter is allowed 20 slides (all image based), each shown for 20 seconds – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up.
This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.
Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown and Pecha Kucha Nights now take place regularly in over 400 cities around the world.
Pecha Kucha is now part of Metal's ongoing programme in Southend on Sea. Images of some of our past Pecha Kucha evenings are included below.
Salon
2012 saw the return of Metal's hugely popular Salon series - literary evenings held at Chalkwell Hall, hosted by acclaimed local writer Rachel Lichtenstein, with guest speakers, food, wine and debate.
This year, the Salon is dedicated to exploring a sense of place as expressed in literature.
To ensure you hear in plenty of time about the each Salon event please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to be put on our mailing list.
ARCHIVE:
18 July 2012 - A Sense of Place: Creative Responses to the Estuary
Internationally renowned artist Stephen Turner discussed his extraordinary project, Seafort, where he spent a month living on one of the abandoned Shivering Sands Seaforts off the Kent coast. Germander Speedwell told us about her poetic collection, Soundings From the Estuary, which charts the language, history and natural landscape of the river, and curator and writer Frances Lord presented her Four Shores Project, a sequence of artist-led walks on the Isle of Sheppey. Leigh-based Simon Fowler showed us some of his recent studies of the Estuary featured in the Leigh Art Trail 2012, and members of The Estuary Project, a group of creative individuals who took a five day experimental trip along the Estuary last year in an 80ft Dutch barge, shared some of their experiences.
Here is our videopodcast from the evening:
PART I:
PART II:
Photos by Niki Cornish:
5 June 2012 - London in Literature
The second salon event of the series saw some of the best contemporary chroniclers of the city in discussion about their recent projects.
Our host, Rachel Lichtenstein launched her latest book, Diamond Street: the Hidden World of Hatton Garden (Hamish Hamilton), which includes tales of diamond dealers, medieval monks and a trip to the sewers to explore the lost River Fleet.
Joining her was the highly regarded New York based writer and film critic for the Telegraph, Sukhdev Sandhu, who discussed his extraordinary Artangel project, Night Haunts – a nocturnal journey through the London night, along with Craig Taylor, talking about his recently released bestselling oral history of the city, Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now, As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It and Long for It, during which he interviewed over 200 ordinary people who live and work in London now.
Video from Salon - 5 June - Part I - Sukhdev Sandhu and Craig Taylor:
Video from Salon - 5 June - Part II - Rachel Lichtenstein:
Photos by Simon Fowler:
9 May 2012 - Southend in Literature
During this first event of the series, writers and historians discussed how Southend and its environs had been represented in literature through examining the works of Jane Austen, H.G.Wells, Sebastian Faulks and Simon Schama amongst others. The White Bus screened an archive film of Southend on 1950s.
The evening also included a dramatic reading by award-winning Radio 4 presenter and oral historian Alan Dein from a novel set in Southend in 1930s.
Video of SALON: Southend in Literature - part I & II:
ARCHIVE 2011:
Friday 15 July 2011
PART OF OUR SHORELINES: LITERATURE FESTIVAL OF THE SEA.
Including reading from and discussing the award winning novella Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi (Periene Press). A dramatic reading from the book by actress Lisa Dwan followed by a panel discussion with Suzi Feay (literary critic) and Adriana Hunter (author and translator)
This special festival Salon took place in Metal's temporary, pop-up, venue in Chalkwell Park - Solomon Monk's Pump House - so named after the C18th tenant farmer of Chalkwell Hall who was responsible for putting a pump in to tap the water well of 'Chalkwell' fame.
2011 saw the return of our hugely popular Salon series - four literary evenings with guest speakers at Chalkwell Hall over the summer of 2011. Developed in collaboration with acclaimed Southend-based author Rachel Lichtenstein, the evenings are reminiscent of the informal gatherings once held in Rachel’s grandparents house on the nearby Chalkwell Hall Estate when they would invite the poets, writers and artists of the pre-war Jewish East End into their tiny front room to talk and debate.The Georgian Grade II listed manor house, Chalkwell Hall, renovated into a low carbon space for art and ideas in 2009 is brought to life as we pack out the former drawing room and its new extensions.
Salon: Friday 17 June 2011
Guest speakers: Sarah Wise and Jerry White. Jerry White is visiting Professor in London History at Birbeck and has been writing about London for thirty years. He started with London in the Twentieth Century: a City and its People (winner Wolfson History Prize), moved on to the Nineteenth Century and is now completing a history of the capital in the Eighteenth Century. Sarah Wise is author of The Italian Boy; Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830's London (winner Crime Writers Gold Dagger Award) and The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum. Both books are set in the same small quarter of London.
Salon, 20 May 2011
Guest Speaker - Ken Worpole
Ken Worpole is one of the UK's most influential writers on landscape, architecture and public policy issues. He talked about his recent publication 350 miles: An Essex Journey, created with photographer Jason Orton, that documents their journeys into the landscape, history, coast, rivers and estuary of Essex.
2010
Metal's 2010 Salon series included the following speakers:-
Robert MacFarlane
Iain Sinclair
Phil Maxwell and Hazuan Hashim
Alan Dein
Stephen Watts
Oreet Ashery
Samantha Ellis
Naomi Alderman
Speakers Biogs
Robert MacFarlane is a British travel writer and literary critic. Macfarlane's first book, Mountains of the Mind, was published in 2003 and won the Guardian First Book Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. It was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. His second book, Original Copy: Plagiarism and Originality in Nineteenth-Century Literature, was published in March 2007. The Wild Places was published in September 2007. In it he embarks on a series of journeys in search of the wildness that remains in Britain and Ireland. The book explores wildness both geographically and intellectually, testing different ideas of the wild against different landscapes, and describes Macfarlane's explorations of forests, moors, salt marshes, mudflats, islands, sea-caves and city fringes. A condensed version of the book was broadcast as Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 in September 2007. In November 2007, the book won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, and in June 2008 it won the Scottish Arts Council Non-Fiction Book Of The Year Award.
Rachel Lichtenstein will host each evening. She is an artist, writer, oral historian and curator. She is author of Rodinsky's Whitechapel (1999), Keeping Pace (2003), A Little Dust Whispered (2004) and the co-author with Iain Sinclair of the highly praised Rodinsky's Room (1999). Her latest book, On Brick Lane, was published in 2008 to much critical acclaim. On Brick Lane was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize last year and is the first of a trilogy of books on London Streets for publishers Hamish Hamilton. Volumes on Hatton Garden and Portobello Road will follow. She has also written essays, short stories and book reviews for periodicals, newspapers and radio. Lichtenstein has exhibited her artwork internationally, including venues such as The Whitechapel Gallery, The Tate Modern, The Barbican Art Gallery and The Jerusalem Theatre. Her public artwork is on permanent display in Brick Lane and The Holocaust Museum in Nottingham.
Iain Sinclair’s non-fiction works inlude Lights Out for the Territory: 9 Excursions in the Secret History of London (1997); London Orbital: A Walk Around the M25 (2002); and Edge of the Orison (2005), a reconstruction of the poet John Clare's walk from Epping Forest to Helpston, near Peterborough. His novels include Downriver (1991), which tells of a UK under the rule of 'The Widow', a grotesque version of Margaret Thatcher; Landor's Tower (2001); White Goods (2002); and Dining on Stones (2004). His latest book is Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: A Confidential Report (2009). Iain Sinclair lives in Hackney, East London.
Phil Maxwell and Hazuan Hashim
Hazuan Hashim is a filmmaker and video artist. Phil Maxwell is a photojournalist, filmmaker, visual artist and writer. Exhibited all over the world including the Middle East, their work covers documentary and experimental film. They have collaborated with composers Michael Nyman, Lola Perrin, Deirdre Gribbin and Simon Rowland-Jones, theatre director Lou Stein, dancers Mavin Khoo, Seeta Patel and Kamala Devam and painter Alice Sielle. Their recent documentary, Not in Our Name explores the response of artists to war. Featuring the President of Stop the War Coalition, Tony Benn, the film was shot in 14 countries including Iraq. Both are currently artists in residence at the Wilton’s music Hall. Their latest film Moon Love, will see its world premiere at the 24th BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on 25th March 2010.
Alan Dein has worked as a freelance oral historian and broadcaster for over 15 years. He has presented documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and has conducted interviews for museums, galleries and the British Library National Sound Archive, including a major oral history of the British Steel Industry. Alan is also tour guide and social historian of London's East End and for the last four years has been living with his family in Kentish Town.
Stephen Watts was born in London in 1952: his father’s family came from Stoke-on-Trent, his mother’s from the Swiss-Italian Alps and he has cultural roots there and in Scotland. In the early 70’s he lived on North Uist working as a shepherd and since 1976 has been in Whitechapel in the East End of London. He has published three books of poetry—The Lava’s Curl (Grimaldi Press, 1990), Gramsci & Caruso (Periplum, 2003), The Blue Bag (Aark Arts, 2004) and edited several anthologies—Houses & Fish (a book of drawings with writing by 4 & 5 year olds, Parrot Press, 1991), Voices of Conscience (an international anthology of censored poets, Iron Press, 1995), Mother Tongues (a special issue of Modern Poetry in Translation, 2001), and Music While Drowning (an anthology of German Expressionist poems that accompanied an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London, Tate Publishing, 2003).
Oreet Ashery is a London based, interdisciplinary visual artist. Ashery’s practice engages with socio-political paradigms and tends to include participatory and delegated elements. Interested in notions of subjectivity and authenticity, Ashery will frequently produce work as a male character. Those have included; an orthodox Jewish man, an Arab man, a black man, a Norwegian postman, a large farmer and most recently a false messiah. Ashery exhibits, performs, intervenes and screens her work extensively in an international context, both in highly established art contexts, as well as in highly experimental public spaces or situations. Ashery has published three books in 2009; The Novel of Nonel and Vovel, a joint graphic novel and an expanded project with the artist Larissa Sansour (Charta), Dancing with Men; interactive performances, interactions and other artworks (Live Art Development Agency), and Staying; Dream, Bin, Soft Stud and Other Stories (Artangel), a participatory project with women seeking asylum in the UK due to their sexual orientation. www.oreetashery.net
Naomi Alderman grew up in London and attended Oxford University and UEA. Her first novel, Disobedience, was published in ten languages; it was read on BBC radio's Book at Bedtime and won the Orange Award for New Writers. In 2007, she was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, and one of Waterstones' 25 Writers for the Future. She has published prize-winning short fiction in a number of anthologies. From 2004 to 2007 Naomi was lead writer on the award-winning alternate reality game Perplex City and in 2008 she wrote the Alice in Storyland game for Penguin's online We Tell Stories project. She has written columns for the Guardian. Her latest novel, The Lessons, was published by Penguin earlier this year. www.naomialderman.nfshost.com
Samantha Ellis
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/samantha-ellis
Village Green 2013
SATURDAY 13 JULY 2013. 11AM – 9PM
Chalkwell Park. Southend on Sea. SS0 8NB
Metal’s popular music and arts festival Village Green returns with an exciting, eclectic line up of live music, cabaret, spoken word, comedy, street theatre, arts and crafts and much more...
For more information about the WRISTBANDS - click here.
For more information about VOLUNTEERING - click here.
PROGRAMME confirmed so far:
MAIN STAGE:
THE SKINTS
The Skints combine jump-up ragga/hip hop in the anthemic ‘Rise Up’, to doses of ska and dancehall in a style that exudes the punk rock energy of their sell out live shows. Their latest is produced by reggae/dub afacianado Prince Fatty.
SKINNY LISTER
Skinny Lister are a London-based five-piece English folk group like no other. Fronted by Dan Heptinstall and Lorna Thomas, their musical blend has something of The Pogues' infectious camaraderie and jovial recklessness.
DB COHEN
D.B Cohen is described by his producer Snowboy as a mixture of Paul Weller, Bob Dylan, Chicago Blues and Two-Tone Ska with a punk attitude. Dan effortlessly mixes genres and is highly regarded in his field.
WHITE DEVILS' CAUSE
White Devils' Cause are an energetic folk-rock 5-piece from Leigh-on-Sea. WDC rock a highly emotive and eclectic live set.
YOUTH CLUB
Youth Club formed in 2010, made up of 4 members including Danny White, who toured with Ladyhawke. The band aren't confined by the boundaries of genre describing their style as "the authentic sound of summer".
MUSIC HUB:
SAM DUCKWORTH (Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly)
Southend-on-Sea bred Sam Duckworth (of Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly) fresh back from Glastonbury with a new project and his unique blend of genre defying music. Has collaborated with greats such as Billy Bragg, Flea and Nitin Sawhney.
SWEET BILLY PILGRIM
Sweet Billy Pilgrim's last album was Mercury Music Prize nominated, their new album, Crown & Treaty, has already earned 5 and 4 star reviews. SBP have supported Jamie Cullum, The Who at the Royal Albert Hall and fellow Mercury nominees Portico Quartet.
PERHAPS CONTRAPTION
Perhaps Contraption is an astonishing, twisted brass, art-pop marching band. This truly unique, lung and percussion-powered device has paraded all over prestigious events such as Glastonbury, Bestival, Lovebox, Wilderness and The Secret Garden Party.
SUNDOWN ARTS:
Sundown is a unique, combined arts event offering comedy, spoken word, live music, performance art and short film. Based in Leigh-on-Sea, though Sundown has spread its reputation producing events across the UK and London, at many prestigious venues and festivals including regular stints at the Union Chapel.
SUNDOWN ARTS PROGRAMME:
BEANS ON TOAST
Beans on Toast is a modern one-man band, a true DIY artist with true DIY ideals. A festival favourite, he's collaborated with the likes of Frank Turner, Ben Lovett and Emmy The Great.
HELEN ARNEY 'DOMESTIC SCIENCE' SHOW
Join real-life science comedians (and real-life couple) Helen and Rob for a DIY science party full of home-cooked experiments and geeky comedy. Joined by a few special guest performers, Domestic Science will help you get your geek on.
JASON STEEL
Jason Steel is a singer & picker of stringed instruments originally from Yorkshire. Former guitarist and singer in psych-folk outfit The Owl Service, his music has garnered considerable praise establishing Steel as a distinctive voice in the alternative folk scene.
BEC HILL
Comedian Bec Hill's (Time Out's Top 5 Funniest Comedians on Twitter) acclaimed solo shows and hugely popular YouTube videos have garnered over 100,000 views globally gaining her cult status in both Australia and the UK, where she is now based. A sought-after MC and Headliner she is often found at London’s top alternative comedy clubs, such as Josie Long’s Lost Treasures of the Black Heart.
FASHODA CRISIS
Fashoda Crisis are Southend alternative rock band.
SONNY GREEN
Sonny Green started music when he was 14 years of age at the Connections in Cluny Square recording on iMacs just using the built in mike.
STORYTELLERS' CLUB
Expect to see top stand-ups telling true stories (for grown ups) and sometimes revealing more than they planned! Storytellers’ Club is the cult creation of stand-up comic Sarah Bennetto, springing to life in 2006, soon a monthly club was born, now resident year-round at Pleasance Islington, and appearing at UK music and arts festivals (End of Road), the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and the Edinburgh Fringe.
STUART O'CONNOR
Psychadelic singer/songwriter Stuart O'Connor has played 1200 shows in 5 years and continues to as a full time touring musician, performing to audiences in Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Italy and one-off tours in Thailand, Holland, Greece and Colombia as well as numerous tours in his home country of the UK.
MC ANGEL
MC Angel is a spoken word artist and rapper who grew up in a Camden estate, she has performed at Latitude festival, toured with Secret Cinema and Asian Dub Foundation. MC Angel has curated lyrically challenging showcases for Show Studio and OneTaste at Secret Garden festival presenting a unique vision of what it means to be angelic - less lingerie-clad honied eroticism, more passionate riotous energy.
NEIL DENNY
Little Atoms radio show/podcast has been broadcasting interviews with leading writers from the worlds of science and the arts on London's Resonance 104.4FM for nearly 8 years. During this time they have interviewed people such as Ian McEwan, Noam Chomsky, Brian Cox, Christopher Hitchens, Lynn Barber and Marcus du Sautoy. In 2012 the interviews were downloaded around 1.2 million times.
KOTIRI TENT:
‘The Kōtiri’ is a 1920’s side stall tent which has been cleverly transformed into an intimate cabaret venue featuring performances from some of the world’s most acclaimed sideshow, circus and cabaret entertainers.
SAM WILLS (NZ)
Sam Wills, New Zealand’s (Best Show at New Zealand Comedy Festival) foremost funny freak is a hit with audiences gloablly, here he presents a show with more stunts, more mayhem and more stupidity than you can shake a juggler at. Sam is a one man recipe for disaster that will have you, possibly literally, in stitches.
MIKE WOOD (Canada)
Mike Wood is a very funny comedian who catapults a cabbage through the air and catches it on a spike on his head on purpose in full view of the public for a living. He is the only person in the world with a recurring anxiety dream about not being able to find a suitable cabbage!
PEDRO TOCHAS (Portugal)
Portugal's famous street clown; Pedro Tochas, creates a real-life silent movie before your eyes, with a tale of immortal love, heroes, villains, and of course balloon sculpting. A one-man equivalent of “Wallace and Gromit”, one of the world’s best and most original street clowns.
ABIGAIL COLLINS
Abi (BA Hons Goldsmiths Theatre Arts) trained as a Royal Ballet junior dancer, moving on to Contemporary Dance and eventually Circus Arts at Circomedia, Bristol. Now firmly embedded in the UK cabaret scene (2011 nominated Best Speciality Act London Cabaret Awards), Abigail is in high demand for her highly skilled comic character creations.
MAT RICARDO
One of Europe’s most in-demand comedy variety performers, Mat Ricardo was the first variety performer on ITV1’s 'The Jonathan Ross Show' with his 2011 one man show 'Three Balls and a new Suit'. In 2012 he was named Best Speciality Act in the British cabaret awards, his second one man show 'Vaudeville Schmuck' had a sell-out run in London and received five star reviews at the Edinburgh festival.
GLOBAL VILLAGE:
CHAKARDAR
Chakardar is Europe’s leading promoter of Indian percussion, which values tabla excellence. Chakardar’s extensive experience and links with great maestros brings the UK the highest calibre of expertise. There are regular classes, workshops, lecture demos and residential summer school.
ABIOYE & RANDALL
Guitarist David Randall has toured the world playing with Faithless, Dido, Sinead O'Connor and more. During some time off in Brooklyn last year, he ran into fellow guitarist Fausat Abioye whose roots in Nigeria and the Caribbean can be heard in her approach to guitar playing. Together they explore the music of West and North Africa and the Middle East adding their own distinctive South London twist.
OLD TRUNK STAGE:
Old Trunk are an emerging new-writing company producing original theatre creating work that is compelling, fast-paced and visceral. Writer/actor Sadie Hasler (Russell Howard's Good News) and actor/improviser Sarah Mayhew (Quirkish Delight) premiere their new play 'The Secret Wives of Andy Williams' at Village Green before going on to a west-end run in the autumn.
JIGSAW
Jigsaw (BBC Radio 4's Sketchorama, BBC3 Live At The Electric) are comedians Dan Antopolski, Tom Craine and Nat Luurtsema combining unique styles of sketch comedy. Their first live show was a sell-out and took the 2011 Edinburgh Festival by storm with five star reviews.
RIDLEY STUDIOS 'SONGS FROM CHICAGO'
THE NATIONAL THEATRE'S TWO FOR TEA
The National Theatre's Two For Tea are Wendy Morgan (award-winning actress, worked alongside Anthony Hopkins, Elizabeth Taylor) and Heather Simmons (jazz singer/songwriter, performed at Ronnie Scotts, Kensington Palace); an exquisite duo specialising in 1920-40s melodies. Rhythmic ukelele and glamorous bass bringing a freshness to old time entertainment.
STATE OF INDEPENDENCE:
A stage where the usual rules don't apply - anyone brave enough, with a talent to share can take centre stage - whether you sing, rap, dance, are a poet, comedian or ventriloquist, here is your moment to make your mark on the Village Green public.
WORKSHOPS:
JULIAN WILD'S 'MAKING THE CONNECTION'
Making the Connection is a communal sculpture project giving people the opportunity to participate in the construction of a large-scale sculptural installation by Julian Wild, using low-tech, everyday materials that are safe to use. The project (V & A Museum, Jerwood Sculpture Park, Secret Garden Party) offers an equal opportunity for people of all ages to take part in the activity from under 5s to the over 60s.
RAMPAGE CARNIVAL ARTS
Carnival Unplugged will showcase specialised design and fabrication techniques that are used to construct large scale Carnival costume/structure, audience members will have the opportunity to experience Carnival Arts first hand lead by award-winning artists and crafts-professionals with extensive experience in the carnival arts industry.
VILLAGE GREEN ARCHIVE:
VILLAGE GREEN 2012
VILLAGE GREEN 2010
VILLAGE GREEN 2009
VILLAGE GREEN 2008