The First 31 Days – 969 to go!
October was a busy month
for us at WAP and we were delighted to do our launch event at The Cube which was run in
conjunction with an Open Space meeting about collaboration which was then followed
by a showing of the beautiful poetic play The Magnetic Dairies,
which signalled the opening of the new festival of theatre, Feast.
Feast
featured a wide range of shows, workshops as well as great stuff for all the
family. I ran a workshop on writing 20 minute plays and I saw a couple of great
plays, The Murderer and From Ibiza to The
Norfolk Broads.
In October we also featured the work of Arts in Minds
who provide a great service for people who have or are suffering with mental health issues and who are using
creativity as a way of healing. Wap have been working with
this organisation for some time now and both Claire Hilton and her predecessor
Jayne Gaze have given many presentations at events about this organisation.
They are an excellent group who have deservedly been funded by The Arts Council on many occasions.
November 2016
For November we are looking ahead to a couple of projects
that WAP has taken a lead on. Both are very different in their nature and a key
person connected to them is Manda Graham. Manda was
the arts officer at Malvern Hills but now has become one of the leading
freelancers in the county. Manda is the Project Manager of the Ring
which is a project that will place arts on the Worcester Droitwich Canal Ring.
The project came about through the work of an ex colleague Simon Tipple
who worked for Destination Worcestershire and who was keen for the arts to play
a major role in the redevelopment of the Worcester Droitwich Canal Ring. A few
years and significant public funding later we are now ready to begin employing
artists and to place some fantastic art work of all types on the Waterways. Cathy Major has been employed as Artistic Director and Cathy
with the help of Tim Easop from The Canals Rivers Trust has some great ideas on
the kind of art interventions that will make The Ring one of the best arts
projects in the county.
Manda is also heavily involved in the development of Worcestershire Theatre Club. This project came about through
some shows that were run by Fuel at Malvern Theatres
and the need to try and get theatre audiences for new writing. The project has
now gone county wide and we now have a thriving network of audience members who
regularly see new challenging work. Check out Worcestershire Theatre Club on
Facebook to see what shows are planned in the autumn.
Last but not least there was the project A Place Free of Judgement
.
A Place Free of Judgement 'A Place Free of Judgement' is an ACE Funded Regional project in
libraries, supported by Arts Connect, ASCEL and The University of Worcester.
The project is about a teenage take-over of libraries and a re-imagination of
how libraries will look like in the future.
The lead Libraries were:
Cannock,
Staffordshire; Southwater, Shropshire; St. John's, Worcestershire
Blast Theory, an
internationally renowned group of artists, and acclaimed author Tony White, were the lead artists and we had a wonderful group
of students who really enjoyed the whole event.
In October, St John's Library was the
site for a live streamed event which
will be then made into a short film and
published into a book with a Blog updating progress on the way.
Looking ahead we will feature the wonderful Tenbury Mistletoe Festival which is taking place in December .
Funding News Funding News Funding
News Funding News……
As well as the Arts Council's new funding guidance for their
NPO funding we also wanted to point out some of the funding that is available
from Paul Hamlyn Foundation. http://www.phf.org.uk/. Paul Hamlyn plays a
major role in funding projects working to make real social change especially
with young people and its definitely worth a look.
Who are the WAP PARTNERS
The focus this week
is on Natalie McVey
Natalie McVey
- Service Lead Young People 13-24, Libraries, Learning and Arts
What
are you working on at the moment?
I am
currently working on a number of Arts Projects including 'A Place Free of Judgement',
'Young Poet Laureate' and 'Worcestershire Teen Book Award'.
I am also
working with colleagues to develop a set of Standards for 'Autism Friendly
Libraries', extending our core services to children and young people in the
Looked After System, and incorporating the 'Code Green' Digital
initiatives across the Libraries and Learning Service.
What
does the WAP mean to you?
To me, WAP
means a broad range of passionate people, from a variety of backgrounds,
sectors and places, coming together to champion 'The Arts' in its broadest
sense.
It means that
collectively, we ensure that The Arts are relevant, accessible, exciting and
headline grabbing for all communities and individuals in Worcestershire.
Who
do you work with in the WAP?
I mainly work
with Steve Wilson and his team, but WAP has also given me the opportunity to
establish productive working relationships with a variety of people, such as
WAW, Perfect Circle Theatre Company, Dancefest and Caged Arts.
My virtual
door is always open.
What
do you most enjoy in your job
There are too
many things to mention.
I have found
that the more I engage with The Arts and Artists, the more job satisfaction I
get. Recently I have worked with Blast Theory, world leaders in their field of
Digital Arts. This opportunity gave me such a sense of achievement as it pushed
our boundaries in a huge number of ways.
I guess that
underpinning it all for me is the opportunity to work with young people, some
of whom have been marginalised and not been given opportunities that many take
for granted.
What
is your greatest challenge?
Saying 'No'
Don't forget to follow
Worcestershire Arts Partnership on Facebook here:
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