Author: futureme50

Upcoming FREE music concerts from the School of Music and Fine Art in Medway

Creative and Art Events

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Talented SMFA students will be performing a range of concerts on the University of Kent (Medway) campus in the Galvanising Shop Performance Space at the Historic Dockyard Chatham over the coming months.  All concerts are FREE and everyone is welcome.

Ensemble Concerts take place on Tuesdays – 13th February and 3rd April at 3pm.

Undergraduate lunchtime concerts run from 11am-2pm on Wednesdays: 21st and 28th March.

You can book via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom–chatham/music–events/

We also have our Popular Music student gig on Thursday 5th April, 8pm – late at the Cargo Bar, Liberty Quays.  No booking needed, free and all welcome!

 

IMAGE credit Stacey Cooper

School of Music and Fine Art – Little Big Band Lunchtime Gig on 15th December

Creative and Art Events

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The School of Music and Fine Art, University of Kent, Medway is delighted to present the Little Big Band Lunchtime Gig on Friday 15th December 12noon -1.30pm at the Deep End on the Medway Universities campus at Chatham Maritime.

Music will include a funk set, from 1970’s Stevie Wonder to Bruno Mars, and well-known, popular jazz standards.

FREE – book via Eventbrite. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/smfa-little-big-band-lunchtime-gig-tickets-40031665790

 

image credit Stacey Cooper

‘We are Here’ – Private View Friday 8th December in Rochester

Creative and Art Events

We are here

Experience a diverse range of artworks in the show 51°23’00.2″N, 0°30’56.0″E  from ‘We are Here’ collective – featuring the work of 21 graduating BA and MA Fine Art students in the School of Music and Fine Art at the University of Kent (Medway). The exhibition takes place at Chatham House, 351 Rochester High Street, a beautiful historic Georgian building.

The Private View is Friday 8th December, 6-8pm. Guests meet at Chatham House to view the artworks before gathering at the Northern Seaman pub across the road for food + drink. https://thenorthernseaman.wordpress.com/

Book for the Private View via the Eventbrite link. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/we-are-here-collectives-private-view-5123002n-030560e-tickets-40031850342

The Show will be open to the public as follows:

Saturday 9 December – Wednesday 13 December, 11am-4pm. It is FREE to attend.

Links and further info:

Website: www.weareherecollective.com

Email: weareherepublicity@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/weareherecollective/about/

Snapchat: https://instagram.com/wearehere2017

NEW Centre for Music and Audio Technology: At Kent Taster Day Saturday 11 November

Creative and Art Events

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Located in the University’s Medway campus in Chatham’s Historic Dockyard, the University of Kent’s new Centre for Music and Audio Technology has a free At Kent Taster Day on Saturday 11 November from 10am-3pm.   These sessions are aimed at Year 12 and 13 students (or those returning to learning) who have applied or are considering applying to university to study in a related area.

The centre will offer three contemporary undergraduate courses from September 2018:

  • Music Business and Production
  • Music, Performance and Production
  • Music Technology and Audio Production

The Centre offers award-winning facilities, excellent teaching and superb industry links, with equipment and software including Pro Tools, and a new state of the art Neve Genesys Black Recording Console.

To find out more and book for the Taster Day go to www.kent.ac.uk/cmat or email CMAT@kent.ac.uk.

Twitter: @UniKentCMAT

Facebook: @KentCMAT

Instagram: @unikentcmat

 

 

 

 

School of Music and Fine Art Visiting Artist Talk with Samson Kambalu on 28th November

Creative and Art Events

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On Tuesday 28th November in the Galvanising Workshop, Historic Dockyard Chatham from 5.15pm – 6.45pm,  the next School of Music and Fine Art Visiting Artist Talk of the Autumn term will be  Malawi born London based artist and author Samson Kambalu.  Working in a variety of media, including site-specific installation, video, performance and literature, he has shown his work around the world and won research fellowships with Yale University and Smithsonian Institution, and is Associate Professor of Fine Art at Ruskin College and fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford University.

Previous speakers  in this exciting programme of talks from visiting artists, writers, filmmakers, curators and performers, with national and international profiles.  have included Lindsay Seers, Jeremy Deller, Oreet Ashery, Sonia Boyce, Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt and John Russell.

More info here   https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html?eid=27892&view_by=month&date=20171101&category=&tag=    and here:https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/fineart/visitingartists2016.html  

FREE to attend but booking via Eventbrite. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/school-of-music-and-fine-art-visiting-artist-talk-samson-kambalu-tickets-38497857127

image courtesy of the artist

School of Music and Fine Art: Free Autumn Concert series in Medway

Creative and Art Events

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The Autumn SMFA concert series, featuring talented students performing a range of musical styles, continues on Wednesday 29th November at 11am. Taking place in the Galvanising Shop Performance space at the Historic Dockyard Chatham, all these concerts are free to attend but please book via Eventbrite.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/school-of-music-and-fine-art-undergraduate-lunchtime-concert-tickets-38497581302

The next concerts are:

Weds 29th November and 6th December, 11am-2pm, Undergraduate Lunchtime Concert

Tues 12th December, SMFA Ensembles, 3-5pm

And don’t miss the Popular Music Gig at Cargo Bar, Liberty Quays on Thursday 14th December, 8pm until late.

Photo credit: Stacey Cooper

 

School of Music and Fine Art Winter Concert, Wednesday 13th December

Creative and Art Events

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The beautiful Royal Dockyard Church (Chatham Historic Dockyard) provides the stunning seasonal setting for a feast of musical offerings from University of Kent (School of Music and Fine Art, Medway) ensembles.

The concert, which starts at 7.30pm, features the University choir and band, University chamber orchestra and other ensembles, and the varied programme includes items by Tavener, Schubert and Queen.  These popular events always sell out fast – book now!

Tickets £5 from https://thegulbenkian.co.uk/event/winter-concert/

 Image credit Stacey Cooper

Make music in Medway!

Creative and Art Events

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A fabulous selection of ensembles are up & running at University of Kent (Medway) this year. We’re lucky to be in close range of London, so top performers and teachers come down to coach our groups. Importantly, lots are OPEN TO ALL – students, staff & the broader community. You can simply turn up on the day and try a group out.

Note: Although you are welcome to simply turn up on the day we would advise ringing or emailing the SMFA reception, just so we know you’re coming and can direct you to the right space!

T: 01634 888980 Email: MFAReception@kent.ac.uk

SMFA Pop, Rock & Soul Choir 

TIME:  12-1pm   FRIDAYS. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE – Historic Dockyard, Chatham. OPEN TO ALL
The Pop, Rock & Soul Choir is led by choir director and vocal coach Kelly Fraser, Deputy Head of Vocals at BIMM,  who is currently working on this year’s X Factor.
http://www.bimm.co.uk/study/tutors/london/kelly-fraser/

Kelly writes: “The choir works together to create vibey, innovative arrangements of existing Popular Music repertoire. The sessions are open to all & guaranteed to be up-lifting!”

This is a fantastic opportunity to work with one of the top names in the music business. Don’t miss out!! ALL singers are strongly encouraged to attend.
https://www.songbirdsessions.com/

World Percussion Ensemble

TIME:  12-2pm   MONDAYS. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE
Our World Percussion Ensemble is led by Stephen Hiscock, founder of one of the world’s most innovative percussion groups – Ensemble Bash. Stephen studied in Ghana and has premiered works from Steve Reich to Django Bates. Djembes are at the core of this group – but plenty of other wonderful instruments from around the world besides!
http://www.stephenhiscock.com/

Improvisation & Advanced Improvisation Ensembles

TIME:  3-5pm   WEDNESDAYS. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE
The improvisation groups tackle all the important information for those wanting to explore their music in new ways, find fresh ideas for composition or bust out those face-melting solos. Over the year we’ll be exploring how to build those killer improvs, work well as a band and more as we improvise through pop, jazz and classical repertoire allowing you the chance to bring your ideas to the table. Multi-award winning sax player, arranger, composer and educator Phil Meadows (Engines Orchestra Founder) takes the groups through their paces. (Advanced group by invitation only.)
http://www.philmeadowsmusic.co.uk/

Little Big Band

TIME:  4-5pm   THURSDAYS. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE
Little Big Band is led by jazz and rock lead guitarist Lisa Davies. Line-up is rhythm section plus horns, flutes – and any other front-line instrumentalists that fancy joining in! A very friendly group covering jazz standards, rock and pop repertoire.
http://lisadaviesbigband.wixsite.com/bigband/lisa-guitar

Chamber Music Forum

Time: 1pm WEDNESDAYS. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE
Interested in duos, trios, quartets, quintets, usual and unusual combinations of instruments?  Chamber Music Forum could be for you. Music ranges from Baroque to Tango to Klezmer, including works by Khachaturian, Piazzolla, and Shostakovich. *Composers:  – get your small ensemble work performed! Dr Ruth Herbert, Music Lecturer, Head of Performance & founder member of TableMusic ensemble,  coaches these groups.
http://www.tablemusic.co.uk/

Strings Group

Time: 11am Mondays. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE
In the Strings Group, contemporary specialist violinist  Dr Stelios Chatziiosifidis works on the basics of string sound production, while enhancing players’ overall technical skills in different bowings, sound blending and sound projection. The emphasis is on practising difficult sections of the orchestral works, but other repertoire will be briefly explored.
http://www.festivalchamberorchestra.co.uk/stelios-chatziiosifidis/

Band Forum

Time: 5-9pm Tuesdays. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE & PODS
Band Forum is coached by Dr Rich Perks, Lecturer in Popular Music who has toured internationally with a range of bands – currently Ali Azimi and the Need, also leading the Diaspora Arts Connection World Music project 2017 in San Francisco. Predominantly geared towards first year undergraduates (though not exclusively!), Band Forum provides an opportunity for students to form bands and rehearse, whilst gaining advice and guidance from an experienced practitioner. There will be several department-led gigs throughout the academic year at which BF participants will be encouraged to showcase their work.
http://richperks.net/

University of Kent (Medway) Choir and Band

Time: 5-6pm WEDNESDAYS. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE & PODS
Open to everyone at the University of Kent and a lot of fun. The University Choir and Band take on different projects each year. From the complete B Side of the Beatle’s Abbey Road to Haydn’s Nelson Mass. This year’s focus includes Queen’s iconic 1975 album A Night At The Opera, featuring choir and rock ensemble. Directed by University of Kent music performance lecturers Dr Rich Perks and Dr Ruth Herbert.

The Zorn Project

Time: 6-7pm WEDNESDAYS. VENUE: THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE 
An ever expanding ensemble with a richly varied line-up (all instruments welcome) entirely focused this year on John Zorn’s Cobra. Cobra is a directed ensemble piece that will never sound the same twice. Elements of live direction, combined with free improvisation, allow the piece to be either idiomatically ‘free’ or to traverse genres seamlessly. It is crazy sounding at first, but trust us, this can (and will!) be a LOT of fun! Directed by Dr Rich Perks & assisted by Dr Ruth Herbert.

University of Kent (Medway) Chamber Orchestra

Time: 7-9pm WEDNESDAYS. VENUE:  THE ROYAL DOCKYARD CHURCH &GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE
Chamber Orchestra, directed by Dr Stelios Chatziiosifidis, provides a chance to explore the full breadth of the orchestral sound and familiarise yourself with different styles of performance, ranging from classical, baroque to pop. The discipline of orchestral playing, involving attentive ensemble playing and awareness of other parts, is a great way to advance your musical skills.

Guitar Ensemble

Time: 11:00 – 12:00  FRIDAYS. VENUE:  THE GALVANISING SHOP BACK SPACE
Guitar Ensemble is directed by renowned guitarist James Woodrow, member of the Gavin Bryars Ensemble, Icebreaker and Lontano. The group work on a wide variety of material, most recently performing Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint.
http://www.a-change-of-light.com/site/james_woodrow.htm

photo credit Stacey Cooper

Wednesday 25 October: Workshop with two of the hottest young names on the British jazz scene

Creative and Art Events

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On Wednesday 25th October, 9.30am-1.30pm, in the Galvanising Shop Performance Space, the School of Music and Fine Art, University of Kent, Medway,  is thrilled to present a workshop with two incredibly versatile award-winning young artists – trumpeter Laura Jurd and pianist Elliot Galvin.

This workshop is packed with improvisation, composition and creative music making.

Described by Lira Music Magazine as “two of the British jazz scene’s hottest young names … together a super unit that bubbles with musical and personal understanding”, both are prize-winning performers and prolific composers whose music crosses style boundaries. BBC New Generation Artist (2015-17) and Parliamentary Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year (2015), Laura has released two albums (the most recent Together as One, with her band Dinosaur (of which Elliott is a member), was nominated for the 2017 Mercury Prize). She recently joined the faculty at Trinity Laban Conservatoire as a composition teacher.

Elliot’s main artistic vehicle is the Elliot Galvin Trio, winners of the European Jazz Artist of the Year Award. The group have also recorded two albums, including Punch, their debut for the prestigious Edition Records label. Elliot’s commissions include works for the Ligeti Quartet, London Sinfonietta, RESOLUTION dance festival and the Theatre Company Cut Tongues. His music draws on a wide range of influences from Keith Jarrett to Stravinsky, Ligeti, Deerhoof and the Beatles as well as the films of David Lynch, the Dada movement and the literature of James Joyce. He was a founding member of the Chaos Collective.

FREE! to attend but booking via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/music-workshop-with-trumpeter-laura-jurd-and-pianist-elliot-galvin-tickets-38492736812

More info:

Laura Jurd (trumpet) https://laurajurd.com/about/ and Elliot Galvin (piano/keys) http://www.elliotgalvin.com.

 

Showcase week of events from School of Music and Fine Art, 8-12 May

Creative and Art Events

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From 8 – 12 May, there is a veritable feat of exciting, immersive and innovative events that showcase the final independent projects from third year students on the Event and Experience Design programme in the School of Music and Fine Art.   More info here https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events/eed-projects-2017.html

The Events Schedule (subject to change) is below and although FREE to attend, booking is via Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/2pQPc8H

Monday 8th May

ShuXin Wong: “MT Playhouse” – 12.00pm – 2.00pm Namur Room in Mess Deck, CHDT.
A participatory product launch event for Japanese product MT (decorative reusable masking tape). Live entertainment – Malaysian & world pop songs and craft activities related to creative travel journals.

Jake Thornton: “Dock Box”, 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Galvanising Shop, Production Space.
An alternative video tour of the Dockyard, a constructed narrative of filmic space and time.

Tuesday 9th May

Elise Berdah: “Fight Flight Freeze”, Drill Hall Library, Café – Archibald Hay Mess, Tuesday & Wednesday 10.00am – 9.00pm.
An immersive experience examining participants’ attitudes to and understanding of the issue of consent and serious sexual assault in Universities in the UK & US. This installation contains explicit accounts. The installation is a collaboration with Kent Union Welfare and Wellbeing team and is part of a week of awareness raising events.

Kira Tisbury: “Festopia”, 1.00pm – 4.00pm Galvanising Shop, Production Space.
An interactive immersive event, sharing memories of festival participation and experience.

Kirsten Short: “Hooked”, 11.00am – 7.00pm – Tuesday to Saturday (11.00am – 8.00pm Thursday) Box Park, 2 – 10 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch E1 6GY. A London launch and live retail event for online retailer “Hooked”.

Wednesday 10th May

Kylie (Min Jing) Lee: “Through the Lens”, 12.00pm – 2.00pm – Galvanising Shop, Production Space.
A participatory photography & travel/cultural event.

Savannah Giorgi: “A day”, 5.00 – 6.00pm – St Bartholomew Hospital Chapel, 5 Gundulph Road, Rochester High Street, ME4 4ED
An immersive and interactive video engaging with the dilemma’s and drama of everyday life.

Thursday 11th May

Linh Chi Dinh: “Vietnam through my eyes”, 12.00pm – 2.00pm – Galvanising Shop, Production Space.
An immersive autobiographical video journey in Vietnam.

Luisa Armand Ugon: “Moonshine”, 9.00pm till late at the Deep End, Student Hub, Pembroke Campus.
Rewind to the illicit society of 1920’s America. Jazz, flappers and mafia come together for a unique prohibition bar experience.

Friday 12th May

Greta Pencheva: “Inside the Raindrop”, 1.00pm, Gulbenkian Theatre.
Live and mediated dance performance.

Leah Stewart: “Unwind at University”, 12.00pm – 5.00pm – Galvanising Shop, Café & Production Space.
Participatory well-being event in collaboration with The University of Kent Student Support and Wellbeing Team. Pets as Therapy, Drop-in Meditation and wellbeing tips and tricks and more TBC!

 

IMAGE from Luisa Armand Ugon: “Moonshine

School of Music and Fine Art End of Year/Graduation Shows 2017

Creative and Art Events

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The School of Music and Fine presents the End of Year/Graduation Shows for Fine Art, Event and Experience Design and Music, celebrating the talents of our amazing students!

SMFA End of Year Show Schedule of Events (subject to change)

All events take place at Historic Dockyard Chatham. Entrance is via the Galvanizing Shop Café and reception.

Fine Art Degree Show: “Reverberate”

Open to the public: Sunday 21st May to Friday 26th May, 10am til 5pm (closed Tuesday 23 May) and Saturday 27th May, 10am til 5pm

Special Private View on Saturday May 20th, 1pm-6pm, with guest speaker, Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, and special performances. For guest list contact mfareception@kent.ac.uk

Event and Experience Design Live Events: “Borderless”

Monday 8th May to Friday 19th May in the Galvanising Shop Performance Space

Event and Experience Design Showcase

Open to the public: Sunday 21st May to Friday 26th May, 10am til 5pm (closed Tuesday 23 May) and Saturday 27th May, 10am til 5pm

BMus. Final Public Performances Showcase

Talented graduating students on Music and Popular Music pathways offer a rich mix of musical styles. Not to be missed!

Venue: Cargo Bar, Liberty Quays

Tuesday 16th May 4-8pm

Wednesday 17th May 4-8pm

Venue: Galvanising Shop Performance Space

Wednesday 17th May 11am – 12.45pm

Monday 22nd May & Tuesday 23rd May: Technology in Performance

To get your FREE tickets go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/school-of-music-and-fine-art-end-of-yeargraduation-shows-2017-tickets-33004272668

For more info go to https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events/degree-show-2017.html

 

University of Kent Choir and Orchestra (Medway) perform Haydn’s Nelson Mass on 29th March in Royal Dockyard Church

Creative and Art Events

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Haydn’s popular Nelson Mass will be performed in the Royal Dockyard Church, Chatham on Wednesday 29 March at 7.30pm by the University of Kent Choir and Orchestra (Medway)

The Mass will be conducted by Dr Stelios Chatziiosifidis and the soprano will be School of Music and Fine Art alumna Philippa Hardiman. It will be preceded by a talk from Richard Holdsworth MBE about Nelson and the Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Comments Dr Ben Curry, Lecturer & Director of Music Programmes, School of Music & Fine Art:

“The Nelson Mass is widely regarded as one of Haydn’s greatest works.  Its performance in the Royal Dockyard Church, built around the time that the mass was composed, provides a unique opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate the drama and beauty of Haydn’s music and the extraordinary naval history of Chatham.”

The first half of the concert will feature items from the School of Music and Fine Art World Percussion Ensemble, Pop, Rock and Soul Choir, and Chamber Music Forum, Guitar Ensemble and Advanced Improvisation Group.

Tickets, priced £10, are available for purchase from both the Gulbenkian http://bit.ly/2kiWFOJ and the Historic Dockyard.

More info here https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/news.html?view=2425

Henna Workshop at The Deep End

Creative and Art Events

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School of Music and Fine Art students are organising a series of creative workshops and events to engage with the community and raise awareness of, and funds for, their upcoming Degree Show.

This Henna Workshop, with local henna artist and teacher, Lynn Smith,  costs £5 (includes materials) and is limited to 25 participants.  To book, contact Nicole  njv4@kent.ac.uk

The venue is The Deep End, Student Hub, North Road, Chatham Maritime

https://www.gkunions.co.uk/thedeepend/

Life Drawing Workshop in Medway

Creative and Art Events

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School of Music and Fine Art students are organising a series of creative workshops and events to engage with the community and to raise awareness, and additional funds for, their upcoming Degree Show.

The first event, organised by the Fine Art Degree Show Private View and Engagement Team, will be a life drawing workshop on Wednesday 8th March from 6-8pm in the Clock Tower Building (Rooms 301-302) at the Historic Dockyard Chatham. It is open to everyone (age 16+) and only costs £1.

Please contact Charlene cb655@kent.ac.uk to reserve your space.

Visiting Artist Talks in Medway in February and March in the School of Music and Fine Art

Creative and Art Events

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The next Visiting Artist Talk from the University of Kent’s School of Music and Fine in The Royal Dockyard Church at the Historic Dockyard Chatham takes place on Tuesday February 28th, with poetry, multimedia and video artist Heather Phillipson.

Heather Phillipson’s videos and sculptural installations collide images, noises, objects, language and bodies – attending to how physical and affective ‘selves’ are constructed, manipulated and, above all, escape. Often rendered as walk-in conglomerations of readily accessible materials (digital images, paint, cardboard, words, audio loops and reproducible consumer detritus), her works stake out an ambiguous territory in which cultural references and emotional responses are mutually contingent and reactive. Phillipson’s solo projects in 2016 include Whitechapel Gallery London, Frieze Projects New York, the 32nd Sao Paulo Bienal, Images Festival Toronto, and a major new commission for the Arts Council Collection. Recent solo exhibitions include: Schirn Frankfurt; the 14th Istanbul Biennial; Performa New York; Sheffield Doc/Fest (with Serpentine Galleries); Opening Times (otdac.org); Dundee Contemporary Arts; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, Serpentine Park Nights and a video commission for Random Acts, Channel 4 television.

Also an award-winning poet, she has published three volumes of poetry and was named a Next Generation Poet in 2014. Writer in Residence at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2015, Phillipson was awarded the Friends of Literature Prize from Poetry journal in 2016, and writes a regular column for Art Review. She has been shortlisted for the Film London Jarman Award 2016.

Book here for the talk  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/school-of-music-and-fine-art-visiting-artist-talk-heather-phillipson-tickets-29012625544

On Tuesday 28 March, writer Maria Fusco is the speaker.  Maria Fusco is a Belfast-born writer based in Glasgow, working across fiction, criticism and theory, and has been translated into ten languages. Her latest work, Master Rock, is a repertoire for a mountain commissioned by Artangel and BBC Radio 4. Her solo-authored books are With A Bao A Qu Reading When Attitudes Become Form, 2013 (Los Angeles/Vancouver: New Documents, 2013), Gonda, 2012 and The Mechanical Copula, 2011 (both published Berlin/New York: Sternberg Press) and she is founder of The Happy Hypocrite, a journal for and about experimental writing. She is currently a Reader at the University of Edinburgh and was Director of Art Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. New books in 2017 are Legend of the Necessary Dreamer (London: Vanguard Editions) and Give Up Art: Collected Writings (Los Angeles/Vancouver: NewDocuments).

Book here for the talk  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/school-of-music-and-fine-art-visiting-artist-talk-maria-fusco-tickets-29012770979

The artist talks start at 6.15pm and are FREE to attend but please book via Eventbrite.

image credit: Publicity still from Master Rock, experimental radio play, written and
directed by Maria Fusco, 42 mins 17 secs, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

School of Music and Fine Art: Spring Events in Medway

Creative and Art Events

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We have an amazing range of – mostly free – creative events coming up in Medway between now and April in the School of Music and Fine Art, and our Spring What’s On booklet is out!  Print copies are available from our Reception and in various venues across Chatham, including the Waterfront Bus Station in Chatham and the library, but you can also view events online here.

Please do share with anyone you think might enjoy our concerts, workshops and events, which mostly take place in the atmospheric Historic Dockyard Chatham.

 

Image credit by Paul Stott

Feminine Vessels in Medway heralds exciting new exhibition

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

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Preparations for the Interim Degree Show from 3rd Year BA (Hons) Fine Art students in the School of Music and Fine Art are now in full swing – literally.

On Thursday morning, should you have ventured onto Chatham Historic Dockyard, you would have encountered a strong female presence, floating high above your head, suspended from a large industrial crane. Just outside the School of Music and Fine Art studios, artist Luiza Jordan installed her delicate yet immersive artwork Feminine Vessels.  The work is the result of extensive research and discovery into the history of the Dockyard.

Artist Megan Boyle observes, “Jordan’s work is an exploration into materiality, which often manifests itself through sculpture and installation work. She attempts to represent the presence of the female, omitting images of the female nude and without explicitly making reference to the female body.  Rather, she uses materials associated with feminine identity and domesticity, engaging with organic bodily textures and shapes. In terms of the site in which these pieces can be found, Jordan aims to construct particular juxtaposition between the organic, fragility and fluidity of her invented forms, and the virile, masculine and industrial nature of her surroundings, which at the moment, is that of the Historic Dockyard, where the School of Music and Fine Art is located.”

Jordan is now continuing to experiment with size, scale and material to prepare her work for the upcoming BA (Hons) Fine Art interim Degree Show Loading…  but this time within the beautiful historic Georgian building that is Chatham House in Rochester High Street.

The show, which features work by 30 artists, will be open as follows:

Saturday 10 December – Wednesday 14 December, 11am-4pm (closed Tuesday).  

The Private View is Friday 9 December, 6-9pm.  

If you would like to be on the guest list, please book via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/loading-private-view-for-the-interim-fine-art-degree-show-from-3rd-year-ba-hons-fine-art-students-tickets-29333853345

Show venue: 351 Rochester High Street, Rochester, Kent, ME1 1DA

Further information here:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/mfadegreeshow/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mfadegreeshow/

 

Credits:

Artwork by Luiza Jordan (2016); Feminine Vessels: balloons, wool, string.

Images by Rose Sizer.  Words by Megan Boyle

 

Music Student Lunchtime Concert series launches on 25 October in Medway

Creative and Art Events

 

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The new School of Music and Fine Art Lunchtime Concert series begins next week, with talented students studying band and ensemble performing a range of musical styles to launch the season at 12 noon on Tuesday 25 October. Taking place in the Galvanising Shop Performance space at the University of Kent on the Historic Dockyard Chatham, all the lunchtime concerts are free to attend and usually last for an hour.  What a great way to spend a lunch break!

You can find out more about all these events online here https://issuu.com/musicfineartkent/docs/smfawhatsonautumn16

There are more lunchtime concerts on 30 November, and 7 and 13 December.

And don’t miss the Music Masterclass with Joe Stilgoe on October 26th!

https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html?eid=20190&view_by=month&date=20161017&category=&tag=

IMAGE CREDIT: Stacey Cooper

Visiting Artist Talks in Medway from Tuesday 11th October: FREE to attend

Creative and Art Events

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The University of Kent’s School of Music and Fine Art is thrilled to welcome painter Simon Ling to deliver the first talk of our fantastic Visiting Artist Talk programme in The Royal Dockyard Church at the Historic Dockyard Chatham on Tuesday 11 October from 6.15pm.

Born in 1968, British artist Simon Ling studied at Chelsea College of Art & Design and then at the Slade School of Art in London. His practice is involved in a deep engagement with painting and his subjects can often appear banal street scenes, still lifes, rocks, stones or patches of scrubland – but through a process of sustained and rigorous looking, his works transcend the ordinariness of their initial appearance, taking on a strange and at times unsettling quality.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/nov/08/why-painting-still-matters-tate-britain

In 2015, Ling had a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle, Bergen, and London art gallery, greengrassi, as well as taking part in numerous group exhibitions including Tate Britain, Camden Art Centre, and CAPC Bordeaux, France.

All the talks are FREE to attend.  Please book via Eventbrite http://bit.ly/2dbMHd4

To find out about the entire series of talks, with speakers who include Martin Clark, Heather Phillipson, Erica Scourti and Maria Fusco, click https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/fineart/visitingartists2016.html

 

School of Music and Fine Art: Events in Medway

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

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We have some fantastic – mostly free – creative events coming up in Medway between now and December in the School of Music and Fine Art, and our Autumn What’s On booklet is now out!  Print copies will be available from our Reception and in various venues across Chatham, but you can also view events online here.

https://issuu.com/musicfineartkent/docs/smfawhatsonautumn16

Please do share with anyone you think might enjoy our concerts and events, which mostly take place in the atmospheric Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Our exciting programme of Artist Talks is currently being finalised – watch this space for more info or check our website www.kent.ac.uk/smfa

And we also have a TASTER DAY coming up on Saturday 26 November – more info here! http://bit.ly/2d1ZkpL

Image credit Jane Seaman

Wanted! Singers and Musicians to take part in our Christmas Concert in The Royal Dockyard Church

Creative / Artist Wanted, Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News, Creative Communities and Inspiring Websites, Creative Opportunities

On Wednesday 14 December, 2016 at 7.30pm the University of Kent Choir and Orchestra (Medway) will be performing Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols as part of the School of Music and Fine Art Christmas Concert in the beautiful Royal Dockyard Church.

We are inviting the local community to join the choir or orchestra and take part in this festive event.  Rehearsals take place on Wednesdays 5pm 7.30pm at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, with the first rehearsal on Wednesday 28 September. (Note: Orchestral players should be Grade 6 standard or higher).  We look forward to hearing from you!

To find out more contact Dr Ben Curry: B.Curry@kent.ac.uk

 

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Book now for Event in Medway for Arts Fundraisers on Thursday, 14 July, 2016

Creative and Art Events

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I first encountered fundraising camps a few years ago when I was about to launch a crowdfunding campaign (my first) for a music project.  I set off for London on a chilly December day and came home energised and inspired, having met some amazing people who generously shared their range of experiences of fundraising with me, and the new skills I learned were so useful, that when, a year later, I had the chance to attend another camp in Canterbury, I booked my ticket immediately. So I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to invite Fundraising UK to bring the format to Medway on:

Thursday, 14 July 2016 from 09:30 to 16:00

Hosted by the University of Kent’s School of Music & Fine Art, this is a fantastic practical opportunity for local and regional arts professionals and fundraisers to learn, share good practice and network. Despite the name, there are no tents involved. (Phew!)

Fundraising Camp is a one-day ‘unconference’-style event for fundraisers: there are no set speakers and no set topics. Each participant is invited to suggest a topic at the beginning of the day. It could be something you know about, it could be a problem or a question you have and you want help with. Each Fundraising Camp invites local fundraising, business, philanthropy or grantmaking experts to help ensure even more practical fundraising knowledge and experience available at the event.

It’s like those valuable networking chat sessions you have at normal conferences – but for a whole day!  Fun, lively and practical, this is a concept that really works.

The venue is The University of Kent, The Historic Dockyard Chatham.  Book here: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fundraising-camp-arts-registration-21486231898

Early bird tickets are just £30+VAT for charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises.

More info here: http://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html?eid=18365&view_by=month&date=20160724&category=&tag=

 

Fine Art Degree Shows 2016: An exhibition of 26 exciting emerging artists in Kent

Creative and Art Events

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The University of Kent’s School of Music and Fine Art presents the Fine Art Degree Show 2016 in the extraordinary environment of The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, featuring the work of 26 graduating BA and MA Fine Art students.

Opening with a preview on Saturday May 21st, 1pm-5pm. We are delighted that Patricia Bickers, who has had a hugely important role in creating and documenting a sustained, dynamic debate around British contemporary art practice, will be our guest speaker.

The exhibition is open to all and is free to attend.

Open to the public (10am-5pm): Sunday 22nd May and Tuesday 24th May – Tuesday 31st May inclusive.
Continuing a tradition of showcasing bold, exploratory exhibitions, visitors will encounter a broad range of artistic styles and media, an explosion of imagination and a celebration of art’s potential for society.

See the video from 2nd Year BA student Sharmaine Kwan https://youtu.be/fWygcAOOkaM

On Tuesday 24h May and Wednesday 25th May Education Days will be held for local schools and colleges.  Attendees will be able to view the Show and hear talks from the artists; they will also be encouraged to produce their own artwork in response to their experience of the Show.  If you would like to bring a school, college or university group to this event (all ages welcome) please email mfaadmissions@kent.ac.uk

The Degree Show Address:
The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4TY
Entry is at The Historic Dockyard Chatham Visitor Entrance, via The Galvanising Shop (next to the Dockyard’s visitors’ carpark on the East Road).
http://www.thedockyard.co.uk/plan/how-find-us

Contact Details:
For further press information and images of the works on display please contact School Reception: MFAReception@kent.ac.uk  or telephone 01634 888 980.

www.kent.ac.uk/smfa
Twitter: @unikentmfa
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UoKDegreeShow
Tumblr: http://www.degreeshow2016.tumblr.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/degreeshow2016/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Uokdegreeshow/

 

 

 

 

BA Event & Experience Design 3rd Year Showcases

Creative and Art Events

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Work by graduating students from the School of Music & Fine Art’s BA Event & Experience Design is celebrated from Monday 9th May until Tuesday 17th May, 10am-5pm, with a range of innovative live events from EED 3rd Year projects in our production studios, performance space and in sites off the campus – ambitious projects, which creatively explore a broad range of formats and subjects, questioning what constitutes an event? This includes:

Huh an interactive multilingual cultural experience by Nian Earn Ooi.
My Diary an experiential journey via Taiwanese beauty products and treatments by Chien-Yi Yang.
K2, the Kreating Kindness Laboratory an interactive opportunity to generate and receive a small act of kindness by Sophie Cawsey.
Tides of Misfortune, a circus of lost souls an interactive performance by Jade Alcock.
Gothic Butterfly an artist launch event by Jade Wildes.
5 Minutes a physical and immersive game environment by Garrick Chan.
The Secret Garden Project an immersive walk in Chatham by Charlotte Harding.

And from 21st May, there will be a showcase of past EED student projects presented in Room 101. This will take the form of documentation. Opening times are:

21-22 May and then 25-31 May, 10am-5pm

Check our webpage for updates and regular bulletins! https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/

All events are open to all and FREE to attend. Click here to get your special Visitor Pass!

Venue:
The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4TY
Entry is at The Historic Dockyard Chatham Visitor Entrance, via The Galvanising Shop (next to the Dockyard’s visitors’ car park on the East Road).
http://www.thedockyard.co.uk/plan/how-find-us

The School of Music & Fine Art presents 3 Concerts in 3 Days in Medway!

Creative and Art Events

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Don’t miss the incredibly varied programme for our Easter Concert on Weds 6th April at 7.30pm when music students from the School of Music & Fine Art at University of Kent, Medway, perform a lively array of scored and improvised music that encompasses Elgar, Adele, Bowie, Duke Ellington and drumming from Senegal.

In addition to the University Orchestra (Medway) performing the first movement of Edward Elgar’s Serenade in E minor in an orchestral arrangement prepared for this concert, the Chamber Ensemble perform works by Maurice Emmanuel and Luigi Boccherini.

The Chamber Choir will sing a range of songs that include Adele’s Skyfall Bond Theme, and Life on Mars, by David Bowie who sadly died earlier this year.  The Little Big Band play work that includes George Shearing and Duke Ellington, whilst the Jazz Improvisation Ensembles perform Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Sidney Bechet and a Handel arrangement.

And the World Percussion Ensemble presents Kumpo, traditional djembe drumming from Senegal in our own concert version.

So there is definitely something for everyone – a feast for the ears!

And the day before, Tuesday April 5th at 12 noon, there is another popular Ensemble Performance Lunchtime Concert when you can hear our students studying band and ensemble playing.

Both events take place in the Galvanising Workshop, The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

And don’t forget the Popular Music Gig on April 7th, 8pm until late, takes place at Cargo Bar, Liberty Quays, showcasing bands from the School of Music & Fine Art who will perform sets of original material and covers. These are exciting evenings with a fantastic atmosphere and always draw a crowd!

ALL 3 CONCERTS ARE FREE.  EVERYONE WELCOME.

No booking required for the lunchtime concert but for the Easter Concert, please book via https://alumni.kent.ac.uk/events/easter-concert-2016

For info on all 3 concerts and full programme for the Easter Concert go to http://bit.ly/1UYwGbj

To keep in touch with our upcoming events, please check https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html

#smfacreative

Photo credit Stacey Cooper

2016 Degree Shows: School of Music & Fine Art

Creative and Art Events

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Throughout May 2016, starting on the 9th, the quality, diversity and range of work from the University of Kent’s School of Music & Fine Art’s graduating students from Fine Art, Event & Experience Design and Music is celebrated – and on show at various venues across The Historic Dockyard Chatham.  Entry is FREE and everyone is welcome. Check for updates and regular bulletins! https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/

#smfashows16 #smfacreative

Monday 9th May – Saturday 14th May

BA Event & Experience Design 3rd Year Showcase

The final independent projects of third year students on the Event and Experience course are being included as part of their ‘Showcase’ in our production studios, performance space and in sites off the campus.  This is an exciting expansion of the celebration and presentation of work made by students in EED as they are ambitious projects, which creatively explore a broad range of formats and subjects, questioning what constitutes an event?  From 21st May, there will be a showcase of past student projects.

Tues 17th May to Friday 20th May, 9am – 6pm

School of Music & Fine Art music student solo recitals.

Friday 20th May, 12 noon, Galvanising Shop Performance Space

MA Music Student Lunchtime Recitals

Saturday 21st May (Private View 1pm-5pm), then open from Sunday 22nd May – Tuesday 31st May, 10am-5pm (closed  23-24th) Engineering Workshop

MA and BA Fine Art Degree Shows

An exhibition of exciting emerging artists in Kent. Visitors will encounter a broad range of artistic styles and media, an explosion of imagination and a celebration of art’s potential for society.

We will be holding Education Days for our Degree shows on Tuesday 24th May and Wednesday 25th May for local schools and colleges.  Attendees will be able to view the Show and hear talks from the artists; they will also be encouraged to produce their own artwork in response to their experience of the Show.  If you would like to bring a school, college or university group to this event (all ages welcome) please email mfaadmissions@kent.ac.uk

IMAGE CREDIT: Yik Lam Yiu, BA Fine Art

 

 

100 University of Kent Students perform Beatles classic

Creative and Art Events
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100 students studying in the University of Kent’s School of Music and Fine Art will give a concert of one of the Beatles’ best-loved albums, the B side of Abbey Road. Starting with George Harrison’s uplifting and heart-warming song, ‘Here Comes the Sun’, the Abbey Road B-side then takes the listener on a kaleidoscopic tour of an array of musical genres and styles through psychedelia, soul, rock, blues, vaudeville, proto-punk, country and worksong to finish with a pulsating gospel number lavished with hard rock guitar solos. This performance ends with a gigantic symphonic conclusion and features orchestral and choral sections throughout.

Ben Curry, Lecturer in Music in the School of Music & Fine Art at the University of Kent’s Medway campus comments:  “This is a fascinating piece of music – yes, it’s pop music but its musical scope and dynamism is serious and compelling from beginning to end.  Our performance is true to the spirit of the Beatles’ album with great solo singers and instrumentalist, but the use of the 80-strong choir alongside the brilliant orchestral arrangements of the Beatles’ producer, George Martin, draws out the symphonic potential of this wonderful series of seamlessly connected song.”

The concert also features two very different 2oth century minimalist works: Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint for guitar ensemble and Gavin Bryars’ ‘Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet’ for mixed ensemble and tape.

To purchase tickets, which cost £7 (£5 students)  please use the links below:

The Royal Dockyard Church, Historic Dockyard Chatham on Wednesday 9th March at 7.30pm  http://store.kent.ac.u

Colyer-Fergusson Concert Hall, University of Kent Canterbury on Friday 11th March at 7.30pm  https://uk.patronbase.com

IMAGE credit: Stacey Cooper

 

 

 

Pioneering experimental filmmaker Tony Hill in conversation at Historic Dockyard Chatham

Creative and Art Events
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 On 24th February at 6pm, artist and pioneering experimental filmmaker Tony Hill will be visiting the School of Music & Fine Art at University of Kent, Medway to talk about his film practice.  Organised and funded by 51zero/voyager – an ongoing series of events, projects and touring activities, organised by 51zero, that engages directly with the communities of Medway, Kent, Northern France and further afield – the celebrated filmmaker will present and discuss his pioneering films and groundbreaking filmmaking techniques. Internationally renowned, Hill makes experimental short films that are somewhere between sculpture and cinema. To create his visually challenging and timelessly beautiful imagery, he often develops his own camera rigs, ingeniously using mirrors and unusual lenses, and sometimes humorous vantage points to make us rethink our assumptions about perspective, gravity, scale and movement.

Born in London in 1946, Tony Hill studied Architecture and Sculpture and has been working as an independent film-maker since 1973, he also works with installations, photography and sound and has presented his work at many galleries and in film festivals worldwide. His award winning films have been broadcast on network television in many countries and published in the UK and Japan, with commercial work including directing music videos and TV commercials. He taught film and video from 1982 until 2002 at the University of Derby becoming Professor of Film and at Plymouth College of Art from 2004 until 2011.

The  venue is the Royal Dockyard Church, Historic Dockyard Chatham and the Artist Talk starts at 6.00pm and will explore Tony Hill’s unique film production techniques highlighting the formalistic qualities and contexts at play in his work, followed by a discussion with curator Keith Whittle exploring Hill’s aesthetic and conceptual approach and the research and production processes involved in the making of his films. The event closes with an informal opportunity to meet the artist from 8pm until 9pm.

The event is free but RSVP is required. To book go to http://www.51zero.org/voyager/

For more go to http://www.tonyhillfilms.com/

For info on more events in the School of Music & Fine Art go to https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html

IMAGE CREDIT Still image from ‘Holding The Viewer’ © Tony Hill

FREE Artist talk from John Russell in Medway

Creative and Art Events

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On Tuesday 23rd February at 6.15pm in the stunning setting of the recently refurbished Royal Dockyard Church in the atmospheric Historic Dockyard Chatham, acclaimed artist John Russell will give a free talk about his work as part of the Artist Talk series from the School of Music & Fine Art at the University of Kent, Medway.

Formerly a member (and founder) of the subversive London art collective BANK (whose antics included faxing galleries “corrected” versions of their own press releases back to them), artist Russell has continued to make art on his own which likewise casts a gimlet eye on the doings of the art world and culture at large. The centrepiece of his recent NY exhibition consists of a video made up of animated gif files that tell the story of a near future, where humans have learned to extend life by downloading consciousness into the brains of small animals. A tale of technological transformation, SQRRL is also a chilling allegory for our own time.

Recent solo shows include “SQRRL” Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York, 2016,  Jexus, MOTINTERNATIONAL Brussels 2012; Angel of History: I can see for miles, Focal Point Gallery Southend 2011; and Ocean Pose, Matts Gallery London.

Editor of Frozen Tears, Russell is Professor in Fine Art at the University of Reading and is Director of Research for Art.  His research interests are: “Affect. Affirmation. Figurality. Event. Art/politics. Art/philosophy. Art/language. Class. Performativity. Fiction/fictioning. Visualisation. Digital media. Philosophy. Bad philosophy. Printed matter. Staging”

Although the talk is free and everyone is welcome, please book via: https://alumni.kent.ac.uk/events/john-russell-feb-2016

IMAGE CREDIT: Untitled (Abstraction of Labour Time/ External Recurrence/Monad), 2010. John Russell

2016 Visiting Artist Talks launch with Jaki Irvine on 26 January

Creative and Art Events

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On Tuesday 26th January, 2016 in the stunning Royal Dockyard Church, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, from 6.15pm to 8pm, the School of Music and Fine Art is thrilled to welcome Jaki Irvine, an artist working in mixed media, but mainly film, video and writing. She is represented by Frith Street Gallery, London.

Originally Dublin based but now living in Mexico City, she represented Ireland at the 1997 Venice Biennale. Overheard conversations and human incidents, casually observed, often form the starting point for Jaki Irvine’s work. She weaves these real events with fictitious narratives to produce haunting films and videos. Her work makes use of the potential discontinuity between moving image, musical score and narrator to undermine any sense of linear narrative. Irvine’s work suggests the fragmented mysterious and often absurd nature of the human condition.

The talk is part of an exciting series of visiting artists, writers, filmmakers, curators and performers who will talk about their work. Each speaker is renowned in their own field and uses imagery, materials and processes differently to pose distinct and searching questions to address the urgent concerns of our age. Our guests will provide a detailed presentation of their work, share their experiences of making work and also their involvement in navigating the complex multifaceted artworld.

Our Visiting Artists have national and international profiles, many are multi-award winners and their practices include multimedia installation, moving image, sound, photography, performance, socially engaged practice, painting, sculpture, publishing and curating.

Free to attend, and everyone welcome but please book via link: https://alumni.kent.ac.uk/events/jaki-irvine-jan-2016

Image credit: Production still from Se Compra: Siné.,  2014. Jaki Irvine.

 

 

Three FREE December concerts showcasing students from the School of Music & Fine Art

Creative and Art Events

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A wide range of vibrant music making activities is available at The School of Music & Fine Art, from Chamber Choir and jazz ensembles through to the World Percussion Ensemble and the large-scale Choir and Band, comprising students from across the Medway campus. In December we will be showcasing the talent and skills of our students in a range of concerts that are free to attend.

On Wednesday December 9th in the Galvanising Workshop at the Historic Dockyard Chatham, part of the University of Kent’s Medway campus, students from the School of Music & Fine Art perform music from a range of traditions. The Jazz Improvisation Ensemble  will perform works by Juan Tizol, Fats Waller and Joe Harriott.  There will be a performance of Frank Martin’s exceptionally beautiful Piano Quintet in D Minor and the concert will be framed by works with a festive flavour sung by the Chamber Choir.  This free concert starts at 7.30pm.

In the following week, there is also a chance to hear students from the BMus and MA Music programmes studying band and ensemble playing.  This Ensemble Performance Lunchtime Concert is on Tuesday December 15th from 12 noon until 1pm in the Galvanising Workshop, and will include performances of jazz and contemporary popular music.

Finally, from 8pm until late on Thursday December 17th the award winning bar and bistro Cargo Bar at Liberty Quays welcomes bands from the School of Music & Fine Art to perform sets of original material and covers.  This stunning nautical and industrial-style venue is the perfect place to sample some of the best live music acts the area has to offer.  The gigs are free to attend, always draw a crowd and have a fantastic atmosphere. The SMFA gig at Cargo last Easter was a huge success, with three bands from across the stages of the School of Music and Fine Art giving powerful and exciting performances.

Says Director of Music Programmes and Lecturer in Music, Dr Ben Curry, “I always feel immensely proud and excited when I see our students perform. Whether they are playing innovative pop, soul and jazz or pulling off a challenging work from the classical tradition, they always give compelling performances.”

For more information on any of these concerts, go to https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html?view_by=month&date=20151222&category=&tag=

The School of Music & Fine Art offers a wide range of degrees which include: BMus Music, BSc Music Technology, BMus Popular Music, and NEW joint honours BA (Hons) Music and English & American Studies, and BSc (Hons) Music Technology and Computing; MA Music, MA Music Composition, MA Popular Music, MA Music Technology, PhD Music and PhD Music Technology

POSTER CREDIT: Tayler Cronly-Dillon

 

Event and Experience Design students create stunning multimedia installations and performances at Fort Amherst

Creative and Art Events

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On Thursday December 10th, from 1.30pm-4pm, students from the School of Music & Fine Art on the BA (Hons) Event and Experience Design create a choreographed journey through stunning multimedia installations and performances in explorative response to the physical, historical and social contexts of the atmospheric Fort Amherst, a Napoleonic defence system of underground tunnels and above ground deep trench earthworks known as the lines. This innovative event, which is open to the public and free to attend, produces an interpretive and immersive tour of the spaces and environs.

Based at the Historic Dockyard Chatham, part of the University of Kent’s Medway campus, the Event and Experience Design programme is the only undergraduate degree in the UK dedicated to developing skilled practitioners for the creative events industry for entertainment, commercial, heritage, tourism and hospitality environments. The programme, which is offered both full and part time, has the 5th highest score for overall student satisfaction in the latest National Student Survey (NSS) 2015, and 100% of graduates are in employment or further study within 6 months of graduating, with 75% in professional or managerial posts (UniStats 2015).

Says Peter Hatton, Lecturer, “This project at Fort Amherst challenges the students in every way; creatively, logistically and technically. It is a great opportunity for them to devise, produce and present an event unique to its location for an audience. We are very grateful for all the support of the staff at the Fort.”

For more information on the event on December 10th at Fort Amherst, Khartoum Road, Chatham ME4 4UB go to: http://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/events.html?eid=15093&view_by=day&date=20151210&category=&tag=

 

IMAGE CAPTION: Interactive Game, Pek Ling Liam, 2013. Photo Peter Hatton

 

 

FREE music events in Medway from the School of Music & Fine Art

Creative and Art Events

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The University of Kent at Medway’s School of Music & Fine Art offers a range of FREE music events, ranging from masterclasses, concerts and talks, in the wonderfully atmospheric Chatham Historic Dockyard, where the School is based.

On Tuesday November 10th in the Galvanising Shop Performance Space at Chatham Historic Dockyard, SMFA students studying band and ensemble playing are performing a lunchtime concert from 12 noon to 1pm. Everyone welcome.  And there will be another lunchtime concert on Tuesday December 15th.

Friday 13th  November in the Galvanising Workshop Israeli composer, performer and improviser Guy Harries will lead a two-hour Technology in Performance Masterclass from 3-5pm demonstrating his method and techniques in utilising technology in live performance.

On Wednesday December 9th, the Galvanising Workshop is the venue for a Christmas Concert at 7.30pm – students perform music from a range of traditions. The jazz improvisation ensemble and choir feature works by Juan Tizol, Duke Ellington and Joe Harriott.  The Contemporary Music Ensemble, Chamber Choir and Multi-Keyboard Ensemble present music to both challenge and delight the audience.

And on Thursday December 17th at Cargo Bar, Liberty Quays from 8pm – 11pm,  bands from the School of Music & Fine Art perform sets of original material and covers.  These are exciting evenings with a fantastic atmosphere and always draw a crowd!

All of these events are FREE but please do book through mfareception@kent.ac.uk  and check out the website for regular updates at  https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/  

PHOTO CREDIT: Stacey Cooper

School of Music & Fine Art launches new series of Visiting Artist Talks with Benedict Drew

Creative and Art Events

TIFF Kaput Exhibition at QUAD Jul 15 credit Charlotte Jopling-51

The School of Music and Fine Art, part of the University of Kent’s Medway campus,  is proud to announce the new series of Visiting Artist Talks, which are FREE to attend but booking is required. Please email mfareception@kent.ac.uk to reserve your place.The venue is the stunning restored Church in the Chatham Historic Dockyard.

Artists, writers, filmmakers, curators and performers, each speaker renowned in their own field, will pose distinct and searching questions to address the urgent concerns of our age. Guests will provide a detailed presentation of their work, sharing their experiences of navigating the complex multifaceted art world.

Launching the programme at 6.15pm on Tuesday November 10th is international Kent-based artist Benedict Drew, who works across video, sculpture, music and their associated technologies. Born in 1977, he graduated from Slade School of Fine Art in 2011 and was a LUX Associate Artist (2011/12). Drew’s often chaotic environments and installations feature screens, cables and small-scale anthropomorphised sculptures made from lo-fi materials such as tin foil and, occasionally, mud. Intended as a response to our ‘over-saturated digital realm’. Drew’s installations are attempts to ‘articulate the horror of the modern world.’

The artist says: ‘I make videos and music and exhibitions and picture and sculptures. I am interested in the potential of these combinations to create an ecstatic and sometimes abject alternative universe.’ A review from the current British Art Show observes: http://afternoondust.co.uk/blog/british-art-show-8#.VilIkxCrRR0

…Benedict Drew’s “Sequencer” is all about stuff: sticky, splodgy, gooey stuff, material through and through. His film presented across multiple screens is full of rough, ready landscapes of dirt and rock juxtaposed with paint erupting like volcanoes or oil burps. It’s also full of holes: holes that gape like ears, squish and stretch like mouths, or wobble like the cones of the speakers scattered prominently in front of the screens, spewing out squelchy psychedelic goop. Yep, it’s all about stuff, and that stuff is sound: gleefully trashing the painstaking refinement and posed ephemerality of much of contemporary sound art, Drew gives us an earful of messy, splurging sonic substance that injects the silent, airtight contemporary landscape with a gelatinous, technologically-mediated roar. The horror of the Real — the material encounter with a thingy world beyond the control of language — becomes the bass pulse you can feel.

Represented by Matts Gallery, London, Drew’s recent solo exhibitions include: Heads May Roll, Matt’s Gallery, London; The Persuaders, Adelaide Festival, SASA Gallery Adelaide, Australia; Zero Hour Petrified, Ilam Campus Gallery, School of Fine Arts University of Canterbury, New Zealand (all 2014); The Onesie Cycle, Rhubarba, Edinburgh; Now Thing, Whitstable Biennale; This Is Feedback, Outpost, Norwich; Gliss, Cell Project Space; and The Persuaders, Circa Site / AV Festival, Newcastle (2013).

Links: http://www.benedictdrew.com/ and information on Drew’s work which attempts to tackle the anxiety and neurosis generated from the condition of dyslexia can be found here: http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2014/12/18/Benedict-Drew-Dyslexic-Shanty/)

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlotte Jopling, TIFF KAPUT Exhibition at QUAD July 2015

Arts and music events at School of Music and Fine Art: Autumn booklet out now!

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

Inner

Our first What’s On booklet is OUT NOW!  Print copies soon coming to a venue near you – but check out our varied – and FREE – events online here.

http://issuu.com/musicfineartkent/docs/bt_120433_music_at_medway_web

From lunchtime concerts to music masterclasses, social events to site-specific installations and performances – the School of Music and Fine Art, part of the University of Kent’s Medway campus, is a hive of creativity!

For up to the minute news on activities and events coming up, please check out our website.

https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/

Cover image credit for What’s On booklet: Alice Sitting by Monika Jakubowska

School of Music & Fine Art Open Day: Saturday 10th October, 9am – 2pm at Chatham Historic Dockyard

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

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Join us on Saturday 10th October for a chance to explore the fantastic facilities of the School of Music & Fine Art, part of the Medway Campus of the University of Kent located in the unique environment of Chatham Historic Dockyard and explore our exciting courses in Music, Fine Art and Event and Experience Design.  See the library and student accommodation and the NEW academic facilities and social spaces that opened in September 2015.

Talk to tutors and students and find out more about what we have to offer. Due to the popularity of our open days, we ask that you book a place online. Online booking will open approximately four weeks’ before the event. Please use the link here:  http://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/visit/openday/essentials-medway.html

Our courses:

Music:

  • BMus Music
  • BSc (Hons) Music Technology
  • BMus Popular Music
  • BSc (Hons) Music Technology and Computing
  • BA (Hons) Music Technology with English and American Literature

Fine Art:

  • BA (Hons) Fine Art

 Event and Experience Design:

  • BA (Hons) Events and Experience Design

We offer:

  • Award winning facilities, studios, equipment and workshops
  • Inspiring, supportive and award winning tutors
  • Great waterfront location on historic site with easy access to London in under an hour
  • An intellectual culture that provides the basis of cutting-edge practice, research and scholarship
  • Excellent career and professional outcomes
  • The chance to spend a year in industry or a year abroad
  • Flexible course structure, with full and part time options
  • Outstanding professional links and international work placements
  • Many opportunities for collaborative and autonomous practices
  • Financial assistance, fee waivers and scholarships available

For more details contact e.dhiman@kent.ac.uk

Artist Goshka Macuga’s Letter travels from Chatham Historic Dockyard to Canterbury

Creative and Art News

The Letter leaving Chatham Historic Dockyard: Photo Stacey Cooper

Despite the heavy rain, at 2.15pm on Friday 18th September, led by Adam Chodzko, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, School of Music and Fine Art at University of Kent, seven BA and MA Fine Art students and BA Event & Experience Design students left the Medway campus at Chatham Historic Dockyard to walk an enormous textile postal envelope (over 10m long) bearing the address of the Jarman Building, University of Kent. The group, dressed as Polish postal workers, delivered it to visual artist (and previous Turner Prize nominee) Goshka Macuga at the Kantorbury Symposium on the University of Kent’s Canterbury Campus at Keynes College at 6pm.

The Kantorbury Symposium took place on 18th and 19th September, with 23 UK and international speakers, performances and film screenings organised by the The European Theatre Research Network (ETRN) on the Canterbury campus, in which the life and work of Polish theatre director and visual artist Tadeusz Kantor is celebrated 100 years after his birth. The Letter refers to the famous happening by Tadeusz Kantor carried out in 1967, but also to the potential tensions occurring between art institutions and the society. At the heart of these tensions lies the censorship in Polish art after 1989, the period sometimes referred to as the cold war of artists against the society, and marked by attacks targeted at artworks, artists, curators, directors, and institutions, often committed on anti-Semitic grounds. To document those difficult times, Macuga decided to embrace within the show also the hate mail addressed to Zachęta and its then director, Anda Rottenberg. The Letter is a testament to those struggles, as well as to the ongoing transformation in the society, which has to confront its fears and prejudices in order to fully accept artistic freedom. This is how the performance looked when staged in Poland
http://artmuseum.pl/en/kolekcja/praca/macuga-goshka-the-letter

About Goshka Macuga

Interdisciplinary artist, born in 1967 in Warsaw, Goshka Macuga is now based in London. In 2008, she was among the four nominees for the prestigious Turner Prize, awarded each year to the most outstanding young British artist.  Her practice moves beyond the artist’s traditionally perceived role into a form of ‘cultural archaeology’. Despite incorporating traditional media, such as sculpture, drawing, painting, photography and film, she creates installations in which she also appropriates the work of other artists, archive materials, ready-mades, combining them with objects of her own making. Macuga appropriates the techniques and tactics used by curators of exhibitions or archivists (because of this, her art is often compared to that of Marcel Broodthaers). Macuga has been exhibiting internationally at major museum and galleries since 1999.  In 2016 she has a solo exhibition at the New Museum, New York.

About Tadeusz Kantor http://www.cricoteka.pl/en/main.php?d=tkantor&kat=33&id=13

NEW creative programme in the School of Music and Fine Art at Chatham Historic Dockyard

Creative and Art News

Photo by Peter Hatton. Work by J Childs – Burberry Architecture 15

An exciting new  practice based MA Event & Experience Design (subject to validation), will be offered at the School of Music and Fine Art from September 2016.  Situated in the heart of the thriving Medway creative hub, the School of Music and Fine Art offers a range of degrees, postgraduate programmes and PhDs that include Fine Art, Music, Music Technology, Sound and Image, and Event and Experience Design in the dynamic and inspiring environment of Chatham Historic Dockyard.

The new MA Event & Experience Design covers contemporary culture delivered through live and mediated events that  may include live streaming, interactive networks and traditional terrestrial broadcast. The experience may be interactive, participatory or immersive or combinations of any of these.

This programme is ideal for Art, Design, Digital Arts, Performance and Drama (and other related subjects) undergraduate students who wish to study in an interdisciplinary environment. It is also aimed at professionals in the industry who wish to study part time(over 2 years)  for personal and professional development.

Modules are assessed on coursework and practical project outcomes with supporting research portfolios. The dissertation is 8,000 words or 5,000 words plus a publicly-presented element.

To find out more, contact: mfaadmissions@kent.ac.uk  or visit  http://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/eventandexperiencedesign/index.html

£10,000 bursaries for creative MAs in Medway

Creative and Art News, Creative Opportunities
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Image Jason Dodd Photography 2015

Kent creatives can now apply for a £10,000 bursary to study locally. The University of Kent has been awarded a total of 232 £10,000 postgraduate bursaries, the sixth largest allocation in the UK, for students admitted to taught Master’s degree programmes at Kent in September 2015.  Allocations will be made by mid-July 2015.

Based at the Chatham Historic Dockyard, the School of Music and Fine Art offers MA’s in Fine Art, Music Technology, Music Composition and Sound and Image, with students benefitting from a thriving research environment and strong research profile.

Students have access to state of the art facilities and equipment as well as all the support and learning resources of a major, research-led University. The School hosts a regular programme of seminars, symposia, conferences and other exciting events in a dynamic and vibrant environment.

There is no fixed closing deadline for applications to most postgraduate taught degrees BUT you are recommended to apply as soon as possible and no later than three months before your intended start date. Most taught degrees begin in September although some may offer the opportunity to start in January.

For more info go to  http://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/postgraduate/index.html

Event & Experience Design End of Year Show at Chatham Historic Dockyard – 24th May to 1st June 2015

Creative and Art Events

eventshows

The University of Kent School of Music and Fine Art presents a mix of exciting work from their final year Event & Experience Design students. The show, called 11 Degrees, is FREE to attend and open to the public from the 24th May till 1st June, 10am-5pm.

The venue is Room 101, Clocktower Building, Chatham Historic Dockyard, ME4 4TZ.

The only undergraduate degree programme in the UK dedicated to developing skilled practitioners for the creative events industry, the BA (Hons) Event and Experience Design teaches how to create events and experiences for entertainment, commercial, heritage, tourism and hospitality environments, encompassing creative, technical and managerial roles in this vibrant and expanding field. Students get the opportunity to collaborate on, lead and develop external projects with a range of partners, companies, galleries and museums in the region, as well as in London, with the support of world class staff who are industry professionals, resulting in a diversity of creative events, exhibitions, and performances.

For more information go to http://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/eventandexperiencedesign/index.html