creative zine

THE BIG DRAW – 1st to 31st October 2012 – Location: The World!

Creative and Art Events

The Big Draw is the world’s biggest celebration of drawing. It has grown into a month-long festival running throughout October in all parts of the UK. Every year more organisers across the world join the Big Draw family and run drawing events to engage their communities in creative activities.

New organisers register NOW

If you are already registered, please add details of your event for publicity purposes

Big Draw organisers include educators at national, regional and local museums, galleries, heritage sites, libraries, parks, schools, shopping and community centres. Everyone is welcome to run their own Big Draw.

Find out more about this year’s theme, 2012 in Lines

Big Draw, Big Make kicks off the 2012 Big Draw season at the Victoria and Albert Museum on 30th September. Free pop-up studios and workshops, led by some of the UK’s top artists and designers, will encourage visitors of all ages to become illustrators, architects, fashion or product designers for the day.

Drawing Inspiration Awards are presented to the most innovative and engaging events. They are sponsored by the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and NADFAS. Visit Drawing in Action to see the latest winners and exciting examples from previous years.

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East     South West    Wales   West Midlands

Jeffrey Lewis and The Junkyard Gig – 8th September 2012 – Gillingham – Kent

Creative and Art Events

When Jarvis Cocker hails someone as “the best lyricist working in the US today” you should really sit down and listen. Luckily for the folk of Medway the object of Cocker’s praise, Jeffrey Lewis, is making Gillingham the final stop of his UK tour. Accompanied by his band, The Junkyard, Lewis demolishes the cliché of the angst-ridden singer-songwriter and delivers midnight-tinged, wit-sharpened hymns to the human condition.

On his own, and with his band, Lewis has toured the world, playing with artists including Stephen Malkmus, The Fall, Devo, Devendra Banhart, The Cribs, Beth Orton…the list is packed with illustrious denizens of the off-beat musical underground. And when not making his six strings chime and chatter with everyday tales of the absurd, Lewis is a comic-book artist, having contributed to the New York Times and The Guardian, as well as releasing his own series, called Fuff.

Born in the Big Apple, Lewis made his name playing open mic nights in the city’s Sidewalk Bar with a host of artists that became associated with the antifolk movement. He certainly has stylistic similarities with that scene; off kilter singing, an acoustic backbone that can spark with the riot of punk and a wry, self-deprecating air. However, the magical simplicity and humorous insight of his songs strike such a chord that he sometimes feels like the only living boy in New York.

Since launching in September 2011, Tea Concerts has brought to Medway, Brighton and London some of the finest bands currently shaping the musical underground including: The Tigercats, The Bobby McGees, Darren Hayman and The Wave Pictures. Tea Concerts follows Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard with hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash, at The Casino Ballrooms in Rochester, on 9 November.

To book tickets and to find out what’s coming up on the Tea Concerts calendar visit teaconcerts.co.uk, or phone 01634 545545. 

Area: South East

XX:ART returns with Ed Sheeran’s tour support: Lester Clayton – 9th September 2012 – Chatham – Kent

Creative and Art Events

After the success of previous XX:ART events, the organisers are bringing another brilliant line up to town on Sunday 9th September with Lester Clayton headlining the gig.

Part political activist, part love-poet, Tottenham born Lester Clayton has a songwriting wit that’s been gaining fans and winning over audience since performing over 600 gigs in the UK and his nationwide support tour with Ed Sheeran. His reggae-infused brand of “Street Folk” with fiddle hooks and groove bass is fresh, poignant and totally infectious.

Lester has supported the likes of Ed Sheeran, Junior Marvin (Former Bob Marley and The Wailers Guitarist), Just Jack and Peter Doherty.

The main support on the night comes from XX:ART regulars Crybaby Special & the Monsters who since last playing for XX:ART have released their debut EP (produced by Babyshamble’s Mik Witnall) and Es Muss Sein; an acoustic / folk act who has recently supported Glasvegas, Story Books and The Wave Pictures.

Other supporting artists take shape of local favourites Tatterattles, Meg Janaway & Ellie Loft.

Matthew Tillman (promoter for XX:ART) – “After seeing Lester Clayton supporting Ed Sheeran, I am over the moon about welcoming him to our night in Chatham. He’s doing something really cool at the moment and his street folk genre is slightly different. He’s already supported some big names too, so we expect big things for him. Plus the supporting lineup is pretty huge too.”

XX:ART takes place monthly at Club Mojo (below the Command House) in Chatham, Kent.

Tickets are just £5 and available on the door. Further information can be obtained from www.facebook.com/xxartmusic

Area: South East

Solihull Artist Donates Work of Art in Bid to Save The Horse of Tamar

Creative and Art Events

As part of the appeal to save the Horse of Tamar statue, which was damaged by metal thieves in February this year, local artist, Nicholas Logan, has created a work of art in a bid to raise money for the cause.

On hearing the news about the statue, the artist, who grew up in Solihull and acquired his BA (Hons) in Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art, decided he wanted to help Solihull Council raise money to restore one of the borough’s few existing public art works.

“I have always found the Horse of Tamar inspiring and when I heard it had been damaged, I felt that it was my duty as an artist to do something to help save the statue and conserve a piece of Solihull’s heritage”, states Nicholas Logan.

The oil painting, which features a dramatic depiction of the borough’s iconic horse and trainer, Malvern Park, the Church of Saint Alphege and the River Blythe, will be unveiled at the Solihull Arts Complex on Thursday, 27 September at 6.00 pm. The original artwork, which will be on show at the complex for several months, is available for sale and the same painting will also be reproduced as a signed, limited edition series of 100 prints, with the proceeds donated to the Horse of Tamar restoration appeal.

Councillor Ken Meeson, Leader of Solihull Council, said: “I’d like to express my thanks to Nick Logan for his kind offer of donating the proceeds of the sale of this painting to our fund. The public have been very generous already with donations, which along with the sale of the painting, will take us some way towards our overall target of £15,000.”

The original oil painting costs £2000, whilst the limited edition prints, which are available unmounted, mounted, mounted and framed, cost from £80 to £180. If you are interested in purchasing the original or a print contact Sarah Silver of Bastian Contrarian, on 07971-022369; un-mounted prints can also be purchased at the Tourist Information Centre in the Solihull Arts Complex.

Area: West Midlands

Getting Published: Fifty Shades Style – By Emily Foster

Editorials

Almost everyone in the publishing industry is reeling at the moment at the success of the Fifty Shades of Grey series. Last week it was reported that it has become the biggest selling book since records began, selling an awesome 5.3million+ copies worldwide. Films and music soundtracks based on the trilogy are now in the making as well.

So, while those of us in the industry are wondering how we can reach those record sales, I’m sure many budding authors are also wondering how they can pull off this major achievement through their own work – the nature of content aside for now. 

One key thing to take away from this success story is its creation. Urban legend has it, the basic framework of the story had already been written as fan-fiction for the Twilight series (another crazy-popular example) and published online by the author. The story was so popular that it got picked up by a publisher and the rest is history.

If you want to attract publishers, one way to go about it is to build an audience for your writing first. Think about it: say you have a blog or a website that pulls in thousands of views every day. There is clearly already an audience for your writing, and potentially those views could translate directly into book sales. I don’t like to talk about creativity and money in this way – but it’s true that the publishing industry is suffering at the moment, and investing in a project that is guaranteed at least some return sounds much saner than investing in an idea with little else to back it up.

If that sounds like a lot more work on the part of the writer, then think of it this way: debut novelists would be lucky to receive an offer from any publisher nowadays, let alone a decent advance. If you start the marketing yourself, and build your audience, you become a much more attractive candidate, and therefore in a better position to negotiate a good deal. In fact, if you do manage to gain a decent audience, and don’t mind putting in more work yourself, you could self-publish and receive a much greater cut of the earnings. The music industry went through the digital transition earlier than we did; just a few years ago we saw artists like Kate Nash and Lily Allen find huge audiences, and eventually record deals, for their music via their independent online presence, initially self-publicising through MySpace.

So, finally, the big question remains: have you read Fifty Shades of Grey yet? 

By Emily Foster

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands

Why Superheroes Inspire Me – By Alice Stansfield

Editorials

Dressed as Robin for my short film EPQ, I took the oppurtunity to make a vlog about superheroes and why they inspire me.

Please subscribe to my channel.

Short film coming soon!

By Alice Stansfield

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands

No Bell Prize 2012 – 14th September – Rochester – Kent

Creative and Art Events

Creatabot presents an evening of invention, ideas and science. Many of us have had a crazy concept for a gadget or some type of aid for life. Yes most of them worryingly ended up on Google patents, but maybe you have one that you are not afraid to share.

The No Bell prize has only one rule for your inventions…a pretty obvious one. If you want me to spell it out…it mustn’t have any bells!

Creatabot will be picking 3 winners for the No Bell prize 2012, who will then be presented with a certificate and a round of applause.

Please bring drawings, prototypes and ideas to the evening – which will be held at 161 High Street, Rochester, Kent, ME1 1EH on the 14th September at 7.30pm.

Tea and coffee will be provided.

Please book via www.nobelprize2012.eventbrite.co.uk or www.facebook.com/events/177018619099647/

Please note, our venue (http://coFWD.org/) is a very old bank building that is being slowly shaped by a community of individuals for long-term Community Interest. Sadly the startup project is in its infancy and being run on limited funds so the building currently has some accessibility issues. If you have specific access or disability requirements and would like to attend an event or activity please let us know at least 5 days before the event date so that we can do our utmost to resolve any potential problems to accommodate.

Area: South East

Featured Creative – Eleanor Bennett – Photographer

Featured Creatives

Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a 16 year old internationally award winning photographer and artist based in Manchester who has won first places with National Geographic, The World Photography Organisation, Nature’s Best Photography, Papworth Trust, Mencap, The Woodland trust and Postal Heritage. Her photography has  been published in the Telegraph , The Guardian, BBC News Website and on the cover of books and magazines in the United states and Canada.

Her art is globally exhibited, having shown work in London, Paris, Indonesia, Los Angeles,Florida, Washington, Scotland,Wales, Ireland,Canada,Spain,Germany, Japan, Australia and The Environmental Photographer of the year Exhibition (2011) amongst many other locations. She was also the only person from the UK to have her work displayed in the National Geographic and Airbus run See The Bigger Picture global exhibition tour with the United Nations International Year Of Biodiversity 2010.

We had the wonderful opportunity of speaking to her to find out more…

So what is your creative background?

I am a self-taught artist and started entering competitions as soon as I picked up a camera. I learnt a lot from the rejections I received but also gained experience in getting published in the real world. I have had over 70 front covers of magazines and books within 12 months.

What other career paths have you taken?

When I was younger I wanted to take care of animals or become a stop motion animator. I would still find it hard to pass up the chance to create and animate if it was given to me. When I was younger I never thought photography would become my chosen medium. Until my teens I have had more experience with holiday snapshots than Cindy Sherman. The internet is a great tool to widen young horizons.

Who inspires you both locally and universally?

Everything and all. I like to make the weird into fine art and the dull into splendour. I like to change opinions and minds.

What would you like to achieve in the future?

At least 1000 front covers, interviews and featured artists, I plan to be taking images when I am 70, at this time I am barely 17. I want to retain my style no matter what education I may receive in the future as a professional artist.

Can you recommend a creative website you love?

Duotropes Digest – All markets. Something for everyone you have ever met, loved or hated. A read can be found for all those with minds in the now, future or past.

We love your work Eleanor, thank you for speaking to us. We look forward to seeing even more of your photography and art!

You can keep up to date with Eleanor at www.eleanorleonnebennett.zenfolio.com

All image copyrights belong to Eleanor Bennett.

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands

Arts Council Empowers North Kent’s Creative Community

Creative and Art News, Creative Opportunities

Arts Council England have announced that a community consortium from Swale and Medway has been successful in applying for a commissioned grant from its Creative people and places programme – designed to empower communities to take the lead in shaping local arts provision.

Swale and Medway is one of seven successful consortium applications across England that have been awarded a total of just under £16 million over three years, with Swale and Medway receiving £1,476,000.

Creative people and places takes a new approach by supporting communities and grass roots organisations to play a leading part in inspiring others to get involved with the arts.

The projects all employ innovative ideas for reaching new audiences. The Swale and Medway consortium comprises Swale Council for Voluntary Service and Volunteer Centre; Medway Council for Voluntary Service; Artlands North Kent; LV21; Kent Architecture Centre; Creek Creative Studios; FrancisKnight – project managers for Leysdown Rose-tinted ; and FellowCreative. The consortium will showcase and test new arts activities, support local people to develop their own creative ideas, help strengthen existing arts provision and celebrate what’s great about the arts. Three local authorities (Medway, Swale and Kent) will work with the consortium to develop the project. The consortium will be working with locally based arts and cultural partners to do this, including: Royal Opera House Bridge Organisation, South East Dance, and Kent County Council Libraries and Archives.

Carl Jeffrey, Founder of FellowCreative and a member of the Swale and Medway consortium, says: ‘We are thrilled to have the support of Arts Council England. This substantial investment will make a real difference to the communities of Swale and Medway. The long-term aim of our Creative People and Places vision is to enable a spirit of creative experimentation and the art of doing, together.

‘Initiated by an ever-developing network of small-scale, grass roots individuals and organisations, we hope that Swale and Medway become widely recognised as places where all forms of creativity can thrive; where communities directly benefit from the power of the arts to make positive changes in people’s lives; where new routes for engagement are opened up through testing out pioneering and experimental approaches.’

Sally Abbott, Regional Director, South East, Arts Council England, says: ‘We have a long history of working with artists and arts organisations in North Kent and we know that there is a real desire among people locally to get more involved in the arts and culture. We’re looking forward to seeing what ideas the community come up with to encourage more people to feel the benefit that taking part in the arts and culture can bring.’

Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England said: ‘I’m excited by the possibilities of this programme and by the vision of the successful applicants.

‘All the projects have the potential to make a visible and lasting impact on the places where the work will happen and, very importantly, they all share the ambition to unite increased access with excellent art.

‘We’re looking forward to working with them to help them develop their ideas for creating and sharing great art for everyone – which is crucial to the vitality and long-term sustainability of the arts.’

The projects will be delivered by consortia and partners which include arts organisations, museums, libraries, local authorities and commercial organisations working in collaboration with the local community, grass roots organisations and the amateur sector.

The successful applicants will now receive a small percentage of their award in order to develop their plans. Receipt of the full award is dependent on the Arts Council approving each consortium’s full business plan. Round two of the programme will open to applications in September 2012.

The Creative people and places programme is one of a number of initiatives designed to help the Arts Council achieve its goal of more people experiencing and being inspired by the arts – as set out in Achieving great art for everyone, the Arts Council’s ten year strategic plan.

Keep up to date with news here: http://creativepeopleplace.info

Area: South East

Treasure Or Trash? – Artistic Freedom In A Digital Age – Free Conference on 20th September 2012 – Folkestone

Creative and Art Events, Creative Communities and Inspiring Websites

(CC BY-NC 2.0) by naoyafujii

The future is digital. Traditional distribution channels are changing,
and whilst this offers unprecedented opportunities for artists and
creators it also raises issues around censorship, cultural identity,
ownership and quality control.  If the gatekeepers are removed and
artists, writers and musicians can be their own distributors, who makes
judgements about quality?  Should anyone? Or should we embrace an
artistic and social free for all? 

This event will be of interest to artists, performers, musicians,
writers, entrepreneurs, academics, students, philosophers and social
commentators. 

Venue: University Centre Folkestone 

FREE to attend but booking required – contact Jane Seaman – jane.seaman@canterbury.ac.uk

Key speaker Chris Meade, writer and Director of if:book UK

Other speakers include:  Matt Wright (composer, sound artist, Senior
Lecturer at Canterbury Christchurch University), Shane Record (visual
artist), Danuta Kean (writer and journalist), Greg Klercx, Director of
Reauthoring, and others to be confirmed.

Area: South East

An ebook is for life…..by Jane Ayres

Editorials

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) By alienratt

In a previous post I quoted author Jonathan Franzen, and do so again as his views are thought provoking. Regarded as one of America’s greatest living novelists, he is not a fan of the ebook.

“The technology I like is the American paperback edition of Freedom. I can spill water on it and it would still work! So it’s pretty good technology. And what’s more, it will work great 10 years from now. I think, for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience. Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn’t change.”

When I first read this quote I immediately thought, what a strange thing to say.  An ebook is forever.  Once it’s out there, it’s there until the writer takes it down.  A printed book only exists while it is in print.  And paper and ink can rot, burn, fade and be physically destroyed. Therefore lost in that way.

Then I thought some more about permanence/impermanence.  When it comes to matters digital, different formats need different hardware to read.  We have a choice of formats  –  kindle, kobo, nook  – to name a few, that all vary.  But if you can read, you can read a print book without needing some special device.

And of course, some digital formats become obsolete. We only have to think about  Amstrad (my first proper computer!), cassette tapes, video now replaced by dvd (which will undoubtedly disappear in time). Content on these formats has been lost.

When I started writing, my work was stored on big floppy disks, then smaller versions for the Amstrad (not compatible with any other format!), then pc floppies, and memory sticks.  Now we can store data on wafer thin cards and out there in the cloud.  All these changes in the space of a relatively few years.  So now I can get a handle on what Franzen is saying.   And it is so easy and cheap to alter digital content compared to amending a printed copy of a book.

Personally, I am a fan of both formats.  I love printed books and I love my kindle.   I’ve also read extended pieces on my blackberry. I can’t help wondering what the future will hold…….

By Jane Ayres

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands

The Hoodwink Project – Bringing Art Into Unexpected Places

Creative / Artist Wanted, Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

Suzie Plumb and I work as Cultural Projects Managers for the Arts Development Unit at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. We’ve recently received funding from various bodies, including Arts Council England, Kent County Council and Medway Council to embark on a 3 year audience development project: Hoodwink. This article aims to introduce the reader to the concepts behind the Hoodwink philosophy and to stimulate debate about the value of contemporary art in everyday life.

The Hoodwink team are trickster do-gooders, working at the very edges of curatorial practice. They target non-users of museums and art galleries and expose them to art practice in the most unlikely, surprising and exciting of places. By bringing the art to the people, their work creatively challenges current perceptions of exhibiting space and environment, and often deliberately subverts the traditions of curatorial practice in order to break down the barriers to engagement. They provide opportunities for museums and artists to expose their work to new audiences and develop their own practice through working in new site specific ways.

60 Large Aerial Photos have been on display in Chatham town centre, Kent. for a number of months. The alternative photography exhibition has brought a new look to the high street and has been a positive influence on the general public.

Hoodwink Venues

We will be commissioning work for 9 commercial venues across the next 3 years. Unlike other arts projects that have used empty shop spaces, Hoodwink venues are already occupied for commercial use, for example: supermarkets, sports centres and public houses. Showing work in these spaces targets non-users of galleries and museums by exposing the venues’ existing customers to the work on display in a comfortable and familiar setting.

We’re using Arts Council England research to define and target our non-users. ACE arts-based society segments define the majority of non-users into 3 categories: time-poor dreamers; a quiet pint with the match; limited means, nothing fancy.

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/research-and-data/arts-audiences/arts-based-segmentation-research/

Targeting is realised through community engagement undertaken by the commissioned artist during the research and development of their work, which will include creative sessions with venue staff, and from the approach to and presentation of interpretative material displayed with the artwork. The effectiveness of this approach was established through qualitative evaluation of previous audience development projects undertaken by Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery: Kentish Delights (2010 – 11) and Public Art House (2011-12, http://publicarthouse.tumblr.com). This evaluation exposed some exciting revelations:

  • Customers enjoy seeing things out of the ordinary in their daily lives because it gives them something different to talk about than the weather (Kentish Delights)
  • When staff are confident about a display, they enjoy talking to customers about it (Kentish Delights) Perceptions of customer service are improved if staff are able to engage with customers about objects on display in their venue (Kentish Delights)
  • Customers enjoy having an activity associated with the art on display, even if they don’t think it has anything to do with the art on display (Public Art House)
  • Customers are able to make meaning in their lives from engaging from art in this way (Public Art House)

Hoodwink will allow us to explore these concepts in greater detail, by commissioning artists to create work on a larger scale, and through experimenting with different types of interpretation.

Pubs will be one of the spaces used for the Hoodwink project.

Hoodwink Artists

Our commissioning process is very simple: once we’ve secured a Hoodwink venue, we agree an artist brief with the venue management, and advertise it as widely as possible across the UK. The brief asks that the artist respond to any aspect of the venue, its community, or the environment the venue sits in.

We also offer the artist the opportunity to work with a museum from Kent, by researching and selecting objects from that museum to be displayed in the venue. For many artists, this can give a local or historical context to their work, providing an access point to engaging with their work. This commission offers the artist opportunities to:

  • Engage with a new audience in a meaningful way
  • Expose their work to a large number of people
  • Develop their work in new directions, through responding to a commercial, competitive setting

Hoodwink Interpretation

Interpretation is a vital component of good engagement with contemporary art, and is an element that will be experimented with during Hoodwink.

Hoodwink aims to realign interpretation with marketing, and borrows from commercial practice to do this. Selling concentrates on informing the customer why a product is important to them, and therefore why they should invest in it financially and in many cases, philosophically and intellectually as well. Customers think carefully about what they purchase and what meaning this has to their lives. Decisions are based on having the essential information about a product accessible and available. Access to this information depends on the success of the marketing campaign in exposing it to the right audience.

Hoodwink draws its audience by selling information about the works on display, and this is approached through many different media and interactions.

Firstly it will look at building an audience in advance of the exhibitions of work at the venues, by generating interest through social media communities, exposing the story of the artists’ work as it develops from ideas to installation.

Secondly, interpretive material will accompany the artwork on display. This material will offer customers different ways to engage with the work on display, avoiding presenting a single-voiced textual interpretation and encouraging meaningful interaction. This is a creative and exciting curatorial challenge for the Hoodwink team and offers them the opportunity to:

  • Find and showcase effective models for meaningful engagement in real situations
  • Grow a vast audience for contemporary art
  • Work with different and unexpected specialists to achieve our aims.

Hoodwink has enormous potential to change arts practice and display, and it is something that we expect to gather momentum as it progresses. The social benefit of this change in practice can be enormous and life changing for everyone involved. We welcome your thoughts on our model and ideas at every stage of the project.

Our second commissioning opportunity is about to go live – we’ll be announcing it on our Facebook pages soon, so please join us at   http://www.facebook.com/groups/396956693682730/

By Polly Harknett

Hoodwink Project Manager

hoodwink@tunbridgewells.gov.uk

Area: Kent    South East

Awesome Websites: IdeasTap

Creative Communities and Inspiring Websites

IdeasTap is a creative network and funding body for emerging arts talent. They are a not-for-profit organisation, bringing young, creative people together and offering funding, opportunities and a portfolio to showcase your work.

It’s free to join and only takes about two minutes to sign up.

You can find out more about them – including history, meet the team behind the site and check out some of the IdeasTap alumni they have supported with their funds and briefs in the past – in the About us section.

Twitter – @ideastap

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands

Artists Display Their Spare Parts – Exhibition – 25th August to 9th September 2012 – London

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

Spare Parts is an exhibition that brings together a diverse range of artists using pre-loved prosthetics as their canvas.

The exhibition runs from Saturday 25th August – Sunday 9th September 2012. It will be open from 10am – 7pm daily. Entry is FREE.

OPENING NIGHT is Saturday 25th August 2012, from 5pm.

The venue is The Rag Factory (E1 5LJ), which is just off Brick Lane in East London. It is very close to public transport, and awesome curry. The Rag Factory is 100% accessible for wheelies.More information will be added to this event over coming weeks. To read more about the exhibition, friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our RSS feed on the website!

www.facebook.com/sparepartsexhibition
www.twitter.com/spare__parts
www.spareparts2012.com

Any questions feel free to email Priscilla: contact@spareparts2012.com

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands

Grandmaster Flash To Hit The Decks In Rochester – 9th November 2012

Creative and Art Events

Hip-hop pioneer, Grandmaster Flash, is set to hit the decks in Rochester High Street on 9th November, at the Casino Rooms. The era-defining icon created the loop and cross-fade DJ techniques, spinning minds and decks across the globe in the 70s and 80s. Scratch the surface of hip-hop and experimental rock of the past 35 years and the Furious Five godfather is at the heart of it.

It’s rare to be able to witness a legend at work, and even rarer to do so at just £12 a ticket. But that’s the small price to pay to see the man who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and stoked the musical fires of greats including Run DMC, Public Enemy, Beck and Jay Z. Grandmaster Flash was also the first person to use the turntable as an instrument. 

Since launching in September 2011, with a headline gig by prog-rock and Can icon Damo Suzuki, Medway-based TEA Concerts has focused on bringing to the towns artists that are shaping the current musical underground. In a short ten months they’ve put on bands on the up that knock the knees of indie darlings, including: Tigercats, Stuart Turner, The Bobby McGee’s and Darren Hayman; BBC 6 Music A-listers one and all.

To book tickets for Grandmaster Flash visit seetickets.com or teaconcerts.co.uk Tickets will be available from 9am on Friday 3 August and cost £12 in advance. This is a late concert style event in the main upstairs room with Re:fried DJs spinning tunes before and after the main act.

TEA background

• TEA put on shows in Medway, London and Brighton

• Aim to put on new or era defining acts in interesting spaces

• Formed in 2011 from the now defunct MILK

• Former acts include Jeffrey Lewis, The Mae Shi, Damo Suzuki, TEETH!!!, Sister Mantos, Com Truise, The Bobby McGees, Seafood, Blackbird Blackbird, Mystery Jets, Darren Hayman, Euros Childs, UpCDownC, BITCHES, Moustache of Insanity, Honey Ride Me A Goat, Let Our Enemies Beware, and Trash Kit.

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands

Splashing In The Sea – By George Langridge

Editorials

Last week I found myself in Menorca, well I say found, I mean went on a family holiday, where I spent ages taking photographs.

Soaking Up The Sights

I spent a good while flicking through the folder before actually being able to decide on ten photographs, so here are three of those.

I started with this photograph because it is that classic/vintage European bicycle and small street combination. I thought this almost represented the entire set of photographs. Just before I took this, a little old Menorcan woman got off of this bike and walked in to the bakery opposite. For this photograph I thought the rule of thirds needed to be followed here as to not give an ‘over importance’ to the bicycle. When I imported this in to Lightroom I think I made around six or seven virtual copies and spent an entire afternoon just playing with them.

On the north coast of Menorca there is a small fishing village named Fornells, here the coast-line is very rocky and can be a little rough at times. After about five or so minutes of burst shooting I finally got a decent breaker shot. I thought it was stunning, especially relative to the coast two or three miles along where it is complete calm. In Lightroom I didn’t actually have that much that needed to be done to make this remarkable photograph. I think all I did was pop the vibrancy, drop the highlights and add some contrast whilst crushing the blacks ever so slightly.

This photograph was taken in Cuitedella, the old capital city, which was the most traditional Menorcan/Spanish city/town that we had come across. It is safe to say that I had an absolute treat of a day here, with its purposely narrow streets and hidden shops and large houses. This photograph in particular I wish I had spent longer composing the shot and maybe coming out from 24mm to 18mm. As far as editing this photograph I think all I did was fiddle with the shadows and vibrancy.

I am always excited to hear feedback from anyone.

Please check out my Flickr -where you can find more of the photographs from my recent trip- and enjoy.

Select pieces of my work are available to purchase on Redbubble, please check it out. I do vary which photographs are available at different times during the year. If there is a specific image you would like to purchase, drop me an email: georgelangridge95@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter/Instagram: @georgelangridge

Remember to enter the ‘Creatabot Creatives Competition‘

Before I Die… Arrives in the Midlands – Participatory Interactive Art Project – 7th to 26th August 2012

Creative and Art Events, Creative Communities and Inspiring Websites

Before I Die… Savannah by Trevor Coe

From 7th-26th August, visitors to Leamington Spa will be able to take part in ‘Before I Die…’, a moving and thought-provoking, public participatory art project that will be hosted at Gallery150 in Regent Court Shopping Centre.

When Candy Chang, from New Orleans, lost someone very dear to her, she struggled to maintain perspective and wanted to find out what was important to the people around her. With the help of friends, she turned the side of an abandoned house into a giant chalkboard and stencilled it with the sentence “Before I die I want to_______”. Anyone walking by could pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on their lives, and share their personal aspirations in a public space.

To Candy’s amazement, the very next day, the wall was covered with the hopes and dreams of hundreds of people and continued to grow. But, what initially started out as an experiment has fast gained worldwide momentum, appearing as far afield as Australia, Canada, Lebanon, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Scotland, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

Over the next few weeks, the public will be able to add their own thoughts to a dedicated wall at Gallery150, and, if they wish, they can also have the moment captured by a professional photographer, using equipment kindly sponsored by the London Camera Exchange in Leamington. Each day, the best of these portraits and statements will be documented and exhibited in the gallery, becoming an integral part of the exhibition. The event will culminate in a human and fascinating reflection on life, death and love, which will be presented in a private view on Sunday, 26th August 2012.

Situated in 9 Livery Street, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 4NP, Gallery150 is open Tuesday-Saturday 11am to 6pm and Sunday 11.00am to 4.00pm.

Credits: Image by Trevor Coe.

Area: West Midlands

Craft Club – Strood Library – Kent

Creative and Art Events, Creative Communities and Inspiring Websites

Strood library have a craft club that meets in the library on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month, 1.30pm – 3.30pm.

People bring along their own projects. Beginners, experts & enthusiasts are all welcome. 

For more information, contact Strood Library: 01634 335890

 Area: South East

Crafty People Wanted For New Craft Market In Rochester

Creative and Art News, Creative Opportunities

A new craft market is being planned for Rochester and the organisers – Craftybunch – are looking for people to sell their lovely creations there. Leigh from Craftybunch says “I would love to bring a Greenwich style market to the area for a Sunday afternoon once a month. I noticed how arty Medway is and want to provide an event to cater for the expanding creativity”.

If you are interested in selling your creations in Rochester please contact Leigh through craftybunch@live.co.uk

Twitter @craftybunch

www.craftybunch.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/craftybunch

Area – South East

SDNA and Digitalize – Brighton

Creative and Art Events

As part of my work experience, I helped out at on a Brighton Museum and Art Gallery Exhibition today and thought it was so brilliant you need to know about it. Over the next week (Today Tuesday till Saturday of this week) a Digital Art company called SDNA (http://www.sdna.tv) with Ellie Newland, are setting up an art exhibition for people to get involved with and on Saturday there will be a showcase of the work. The exhibiton is called ‘Digitalize – an artist in residence project’.

Here is an example creature of which I created.

The public can get involved throughout this week by visiting the free exhibition and creating a creature of their imagination. This creature is constructed out of paper of photographs from other exhibitions present in the gallery, particularly from World Stories:Young Voices.

http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/BMAGworldstoriesyoungvoices23jun12.aspx

These creations are then photographed and using SDNA’s software they will create animations to bring these creatures to life. They will then be projected on to art cabinets to display to others as they move and the public to interact with.

Another way to get involved is to take part in an interview. This interview is asking questions about what you think of the afterlife, what things would you take with you and what you would look like as a mythological creature. The answers people were giving were fantastic from taking their Pokemon cards into the afterlife to describing themselves as creatures with giant wings and a hippo’s head. These recordings over the week will create the soundtrack to accompany the projections of the creatures and text of quote’s people have said from interviews and post it notes from another exhibition where people have answered more questions.

This is taking place free in Brighton throughout this week, so with this weather why not pop in then spend some time on the beach!?

For more details:

Royal Pavilion Gardens
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 1EE
United Kingdom
Telephone 03000 290900
Fax  03000 290908
Email  visitor.services@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Opening times

Tuesday – Sunday 10am – 5pm

Closed Mondays (except Bank Holidays 10am-5pm)

(World Art gallery closed for redevelopment 3 January to 22 June 2012)

http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/Museums/brightonmuseum/Pages/home.aspx

Alice Stansfield your friendly neighbourhood vlogger: http://www.youtube.com/user/HisLittleEmo

Feel free to Tweet me if you have any questions or feedback:  @hislittleemoo

Email me for anything extra: aostansfield@hotmail.co.uk

Area – South East

London Design Festival Celebrates A Decade Of Design – 14th to 23rd September 2012

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

This September sees the London Design Festival, one of the most important events on the global design calendar, mark its tenth anniversary. Conceived by Sir John Sorrell and Ben Evans, the Festival was originally designed to pay tribute to the capital’s creativity and innovation; ten years later, this aim has been achieved beyond all expectations. “It is especially exciting to be staging the 10th London Design Festival in September during the year of the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee,” says John Sorrell. “Over the last 10 years, we have grown the Festival across the world’s creative capital and this year, the Festival will be better than ever as we join in the celebrations and put the spotlight on design.”

 Since 2003, the Festival has been responsible for showcasing a range of exciting and ambitious projects, from installations in London’s public spaces to commissioned projects, highlighting emerging talent, in museums and galleries. Year on year, the Festival has evolved and developed in terms of its partners and its audience with 2011 seeing over 300 separate events and projects in London as part of the ten-day celebration. For 2012, a year when the global spotlight is firmly on London, the Festival is delighted to present a programme that will more than equal the quality, imagination and innovation that it has demonstrated for the last decade. “The London Design Festival continues to present design in new ways to an ever expanding audience. We stay ahead by being different and more relevant each year,” says Ben Evans, Director of London Design Festival.

Craft Central will also be involved in London Design Festival and have an interesting programme of events planned:

Craft Central Events For London Design Festival

To see the programme of events please visit www.londondesignfestival.com

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands 

Creatabot Conversations: Music – 25th July 2012 – Rochester

Creative and Art Events

What turned out to be an invite to a few people to come to coFWD to see the space has turned into something much more interesting. There are now a number of people coming to coFWD on Wednesday to have a look at the space – and they all have one thing in common – making music. 

Having spoken to various people recently about possibilities and needs in Kent, Medway is quickly becoming a place bubbling with inspiration and like minds who want to create and collaborate. 

If you would love to meet other musical creatives and discuss where there are needs and also help others find out about things they maybe didn’t know, then we would love to see you Wednesday: to indeed see coFWD but also to have a nice relaxed (emphasis on RELAXED) afternoon to chat about creativity, collaboration and ideas.

We would love there to be a wide mix of people attend such as:

Songwriters
Singers
Musicians
Photographers
Gig organisers
Music Video Producers
Record Labels
Social Media peeps
Web designers
Illustrators

Place – 161 Rochester High Street – ME1 1EH

Time – 3.00pm until 5.00pm

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/296198113812612/

For more details email: natasha@creatabot.co.uk

#creatabotconversations

Please note, our venue (http://coFWD.org/) is a very old bank building that is being slowly shaped by a community of individuals for long-term Community Interest. Sadly the startup project is in its infancy and being run on limited funds so the building currently has some accessibility issues. If you have specific access or disability requirements and would like to attend an event or activity please let us know at least 5 days before the event date so that we can do our utmost to resolve any potential problems to accommodate.”

This reason for the above is two fold:

1. by law we (coFWD/161/CreativeMedwayCiC) are required to make any ‘publicly promoted’ events or activity accessible to all and failure to be ‘accessible’ or not provide advanced notice of building/space accessibility limitations will likely land us in trouble.

2. it is very important that all of our events are measured for capacity and that we know who is coming to or has been through our doors, this is important for safety and security, and it also means the person running such activities can easily update participants of any changes or additional correspondence.

Area: South East

Stories we tell ourselves – by Jane Ayres

Editorials

Writers think instinctively in terms of narrative, of story.  It’s how we make sense of the world.  The brain, our computer, processes what we see, feel, hear and looks for meaning in this input, based on our internal database of past experiences, of what has already been recorded and stored.

“Our brain casts us as ‘the protagonist’ and then edits our experience with cinema-like precision, creating logical interrelations, mapping connections between memories, ideas, and events for future reference.  Story is the language of experience.”

(Quote from Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron, Ten Speed Press.)

A story isn’t just about an event, a drama, a character.  It’s about how what happens affects that character and changes them, however subtle or enormous that change.  At the end of the story, things will never be the same.  A story is life.  Life is a story.

We learn from stories and engaging with characters, real or imagined, teaches us about ourselves.

Many people have a profound need to seek solutions and resolutions, to solve the puzzle that is our life, and I wonder if this need is enhanced in those driven to create.  We can explore this desire and feed this compulsion through our work, our stories.  Our therapy and remedy. Imagination is both a blessing and a curse. Reading other people’s stories, whether through fiction, painting, photography, film, music, is just as vital in helping us understand our own stories.

Maybe it explains the human instinct to document, record and collect.  By compiling evidence of your existence, you are assembling your story, or stories, proving that these things happened.  It is saying to yourself and the world; I am, I was.

The phenomenal success of Facebook testifies the depth of this need.  Author Jonathan Franzen is quoted as saying,

“We star in our own movies, we photograph ourselves incessantly, we click the mouse and a machine confirms our sense of mastery….. It’s all one big endless loop. We like the mirror and the mirror likes us.”

The revolution that is the internet has changed the world, presenting us with a dazzling array of creative tools and distribution channels.  We all have a story to tell, to share with the world.  And now all of us can.

By Jane Ayres

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East                South West    Wales   West Midlands

‘Trails of Thread’: Exhibition inside the ‘Adain Avion’ – The Mobile Arts Space Plane

Creative and Art Events, Creative Communities and Inspiring Websites

The ‘Trails of Thread’ installation consists of artwork created during a series of Workshop sessions run by Llandudno based artist Wendy Couling. Working with the Textile-based group ‘Serentex’, including members of the Embroiderers Guild, and also a series of Masterclass sessions with members of the community. Using Wendy’s own work on perspex and aluminium as a starting point, the artwork is based on the participant’s collection of memories of Llandudno, and thus builds a connection between the fuselage of Adain Avion and the local landscape.

I was thrilled to be a part of the exhibition initially housed inside the DC plane that was the centrepiece of the Adain Avion project. The exhibition only lasted two hours and I was on hand to help with the install and take down, alongside our other studio-mates Gerallt and Toni. The exhibition then moved onto Mostyn Gallery where it will hang for two weeks [until July 25th].

Part of the London 2012 Festival, Adain Avion is one of 12 London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Artists taking the lead commissions to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in creative ways across the UK, and has been funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council of Wales. Adain Avion is Curated and Directed by Marc Rees, co-produced by Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea University and receives additional funding from: Major Events Unit, Welsh Government; City and County of Swansea; Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and Conwy Borough Council.

By Badge

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Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East South West    Wales   West Midlands

Any Questions, Uckfield? – By Alice Stansfield

Creative and Art News

Earlier this year, students from Uckfield Community Technology College studying politics, philosophy and critical thinking won a competition to have the BBC Radio 4 show ‘Any Questions’ broadcast live from the school on Friday 13 July. Although Friday 13th is known for bringing bad luck, the evening went very well and described as ‘successful’ by one of the teachers running the event, Dan Buschle. Attending the event beside an audience made up of parents, teachers and students were the panelists: David Starkey, Liz Kendall, Jeremy Hunt, Matthew Oakshot and with presenter Jonathan Dimbleby.

 

At the beginning of the event, Charles Hendry said it was ‘brilliant that students had put this together and was pleased to see how the night would go’ as at that moment students were still preparing back stage. What the audience didn’t see was behind the stage were students and some of the panelists choosing questions that audience members has submitted to be discussed on the show and then ten individuals were selected to be on air. One question submitted was by a student named James Baker. His question ‘Has the recent Tory blocking of the Liberal Democrats plans for Lord’s reform sparked the beginning of the end of the coalition government?’ was discussed on air.

Liz Kendall began with ‘it’s a good question’ and that it’s relevant to what’s been ‘discussed at Westminster at the moment’. This was the most discussed question of the night. Kendall continued the discussion to say that ‘Where do we want to take the country? When David Cameron was asked why he wanted to become Prime Minster he said because he thought he’d be rather good at it. You might question that.’ She seemed to be the best speaker of the night gaining the majority of applause from the audience, as Matthew Oakshot remarked as having the student’s ‘parents well trained’.

 

Kendall mentioned earlier ‘Politics seems so small when the problems seem so big’ and this seemed to summarise well how some audience members felt and wanted to know what was being done about it.

After the event some people involved in the event went to the Green Room to discuss the evening’s questions further off air. David Starkey said that the evening was ‘alright, but the politicians were extremely dull weren’t they? I suppose it comes with the job’. Assuming he was speaking from a student view of politicians this seems to mean he enjoyed the evening. Whereas Matthew Oakshot said how it was ‘the first time’ he’d been on the show, but loved the school’s ‘buzzy atmosphere’ and ‘wonderful students’ who made him ‘feel at home’.

 

Special thanks go to all the panelists and members of the BBC for bringing the event to Uckfield; the students for winning the competition, Dan Buschle; Helena Read; Nick Stoker and the music department for organising sound and equipment; members of the audience and everyone else involved who helped bring the wonderful evening together.

 

Content and interviews by Alice Stansfield, photography by Carl Goldsmith. 

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East    South West    Wales   West Midlands 

Introducing A New Creatabot Contributor – Kael Braham

Featured Creatives

Another contributor, woo! And from a different creative angle again. Kael, from Kent, spends most of his creative time acting and making music so will be bringing this interest into his articles. Here is a lovely mini interview so that you can find out more about him:

So Kael, what is your creative background?

I have Studied both media and drama at college.

What made you decide to concentrate on acting?

I tried my hand at everything creative I could, but acting was the one thing that made me think “this is what I want to do”.

Who inspires you both locally and universally? 

I have yet to find local inspiration but  if I had to pick one it would have to be my mum because she has always supported me through anything I have ever wanted to pursue. Universally I would have to say music as a whole inspires me.

Who would you love to work with?

The people I have done acting with have all been friends and people I know, and I actually enjoy working with them most. I know that if I try my best they will do the same and we can all work together.

Are there any other creative subjects you would love to learn?

I have always wanted to be in a band, and I was in one in the past. It was a lot of fun but I didn’t like the music we were making so I would love to be in a band where I truly loved the music we are creating and the style as a whole.

What would you like to achieve in the future?

I would like to get more notice as an actor and I would also like to be in a band again because those are two main things I love doing.

Can you recommend a creative website you love?

TeamFourStar.net

You can follow Kael on Twitter at @kaelbraham

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East    South West    Wales   West Midlands

‘Adain Avion’ mobile arts space lands in Llandudno

Creative and Art Events

Photo by Marc Rees

On Sunday July 8th the fuselage of a DC aeroplane landed on the promenade in Llandudno, the third destination of the wingless plane’s “flight” around Wales, having previously nested in Swansea and Ebbw Vale, it will reach its final destination in August when it comes into land at the National Eisteddfod of Wales which in 2012 occupies a former airfield in Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan.

The wreckage of the DC-9 plane was discovered by Spanish sculptor and designer Eduardo Cajal in a scrapyard, having crashed with no fatalities, Cajal decided to transform the fuselage into a mobile arts space, his artist/architect led collective Trashumante finally unveiled Avion at the international art fair ARCO in Madrid. In 2009 Marc Rees was selected to represent Wales in the UK-wide project Artists Taking the Lead as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. His winning proposal was to bring Avion from its home in Huesca, northern Spain to travel around Wales. Rees acting as the planes Captain became the temporary custodian of this extraordinary sculptural object, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its conception with an international cultural exchange titled “Adain Avion”.

Photo by Philip Andrews

Alongside “Captain” Marc Rees were 6 Stewardesses – The AAA Troupe [Adain Avion Attendants] played beautifully by ‘Kitsch ‘n Sync Collective‘ and decked out in dresses designed by Melyn Tregwynt  they performed routines around the plane, town and Mostyn Gallery creating a homage to the town’s theatrical entrepreneur Will Catlin who hired Pierrot groups and strategically placed them about town to publicise his shows. Will Catlin’s daughter Margot worked with dancer and choreographer Cai Tomos to develop a performance which took place on the site where Will once built her a roller skating rink.

Local Artists Nick Elphick, Tim Pugh and Wendy Couling staged exhibitions and workshops within the plane, and artists selected from the Helfa Gelf Open Studios Arts Trail took part in a sound and video installation. Aeroplane related films played on screens inside the fuselage and each morning the plane hosted a different fitness class.

The events, exhibitions and performances where all recorded and along with the footage from previous destinations will be edited to produce the planes ‘blackbox’ which will be presented by Marc Rees to the National History Museum at St.Fagans, Cardiff, where it will be archived in the Contemporary Folk Archive.

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By @badgemakesart

Area: Wales

Take A Little Trip – By George Langridge

Editorials

I did have an amazing set of photographs set for this article, however, my laptop decided to die on me. I have decided to use these photographs as they show some amazing sights and it is an insight to my childhood.

A few months ago I took a trip to the north of Wales with my grand-parents. As always I had my camera by my side. So much countryside and fresh air, always good for the lungs.

Wait, Why Is It So Cold Up Here?

 I decided that I would take a walk after dinner – got me out of washing up. Next to where we where staying was a mountain that I used to always climb and walk when I was a kid. This time I had a camera, so I could remember what it looked like – some day I won’t get to go again. All I had on me was a 18-55mm lens, not great for landscapes, but what a view.

Near where we stay is a town called Barmouth, I’d say it is the main town in that area. Connecting the two sides of the estuary is this old rail and foot bridge, as I was walking down to cross it I looked in to my viewfinder and immediately shot this. I believe this bridge is roughly 1 mile long. I just love the detail in this photograph, when I was editing it I noticed there is actually a man walking on the mountain in the background.

This particular image is available to purchase HERE along with a few other pieces of my work although I do vary which images are available from time to time. I have also submitted it to the BBC’s Countryfile competition.

Further down the path I took this quick photograph, although I wish I had spent more time composing it. I think it shows how long it actually is. I went for the de-saturated look as it complemented the previous photograph and it kind of showed the bridge’s age and time. If I had properly framed this I think it would have been ‘awesome’.

For the full resolution photographs and more visit my Flickr. If you like any of my photographs and would like to purchase a print copy email me at: georgelangridge95@gmail.com

Twitter/Instagram: @georgelangridge

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East    South West    Wales   West Midlands  

Introducing Project 1440 – By Isobel Eats Fish

Featured Creatives

Isobel Eats Fish is the creative name for Vicky Partner. Based in Kent, Vicky is a photographer and poet who combines both talents to create a unique vision. Her project creates one photo and poem for every minute of a 24 hour day – making 1440 images and poems. Vicky spoke to us about her background, things that inspire her and why she started 1440.

Life

I grew up in Stevenage, a new town with lots of cycle tracks that I used to do time trail circuits of as a teenager in the nineties. My dad was a coach driver and there are not many seaside places in this country I haven’t been to, plus the occasional day trip to France on the ferry. Music was our big thing, huge stereo’s and big music collections. The soundtrack to my childhood included the Stones, Pink Floyd, Status Quo, Led Zeppelin, you get the idea. I used to climb the tree in the back garden, but other than that it was a pretty humble and modest beginning though obviously I developed my own tastes as I grew into supposed adulthood. School wasn’t brilliant, but I got through, did the college and uni circuit, then crashed out after graduation (the joys of academia without the savvy). At least I can say I have a degree in Management and Tourism to my name from the University of Brighton.

Hour 1 – The Smoking Gun
00.00 – The Blue Comfort
The First and Last pub,
camera image inverted,
opposite my evicted flat,
resistant to adding words,
as know the score already,
so writing my discomforture.
(The First and Last Pub, Bower Place, Maidstone)

After my dad died my mum bought me and my younger sister Debra, up herself, working in kitchens of local schools, gradually rising to become head chef at a secondary school canteen. She worked very hard and still managed to take us abroad on holiday every year. It was important to her we didn’t miss out, and nowadays she has a masters herself in comparative literature. I think it is through her and my step dad that the seed of who I am now, at least creatively, stemmed.

Nowadays I live in Maidstone, having moved here seven years ago. I had found myself doing a community regeneration type post in Ashford, but it really wasn’t my sort of thing. It was a consultation role and the residents had a habit of moaning a lot about everything that was wrong in their lives and where they lived. It was very depressing to say the least. 

Why Maidstone? I’d escaped into nightclub and bar djing. Self taught I was first involved with a club called Bar Three Zero in Ashford, but after coming 4th out of 50 dj’s at a competition in Dover, and a residency at London’s Renaissance Rooms I found myself drawn to the town because of a scene called Club Class who were based at what was then the River Bar. Nowadays they have evolved into Saved Records, an eventwhich operates from the Source Bar when it is in town. My perspective on life started to change, though I still wouldn’t have called myself savvy, there was still definitely something I was missing, an invisible barrier of sorts I couldn’t break through. Passion and talent alone wasn’t enough, though I came close, coming 5th in another competition, this time run by an international djing magazine.

Hour 1 – The Smoking Gun
00.01…The Ale House
Four bright red no entry signs,
and closeby drunken limitation,
pissheads all out their league,
in meaningless conversation,
an aggressive confrontation,
what does this say of me,
this being judgemental.
(The First and Last Pub, Bower Place, Maidstone)

Right deep breath, writing about that time in my life does tend to bring to the surface some very strong feelings, but bottom line is I have moved on. That was then and it’s impossible to go back. It’s like an ex boyfriend or girlfriend, the split is very painful, but you recover and hey, plenty more fish in the sea, if you’ll forgive the Isobel Eats Fish pun. And I am actually pretty happy where I am right now. I genuinely have no regrets.

Inspiration 

 Whoever I’m communicating with, working with, or friends with at any time inspires me, these people are our teachers, our own reflections. So who inspires me could be anyone and anybody, even if the experience is negative it teaches you about what you don’t want, a process of elimination is still a positive as long as you don’t give up.

Hour 1 – The Smoking Gun
00.02…The Lady
Peace in sufferation,
is important to forgive,
a pair of black swans,
workshops of beauty,
holy connectedness,
in discovering Mary.
(Aylesford Priory, near Maidstone).

 Outside of friends, family and everyday type situations I would have to say people like Nic Fancily of the aforementioned Saved Records, Michael Palin, JK Rowling, Stephen Fry, and a name not as many people would have heard of, Steve Pavlina, my personal development guru. I’m also somewhat of a Twilight movie junkie, I just love the idea of vampires and really, just about anything that challenges the imagination and takes you to another place, raises the game. I mean, I’ve been reading for the last year and a half the British Museum’s History of the World in 100 Objects which has been fascinating, I’ve just finished reading it. In relation to that I really have to mention that Neil Macgregor the author of the book, and director of the British Museum, inspires me.

Travel and seeing new places also inspires me. To date I’ve visited 20 countries, mostly in Europe, but also the US and Canada.  I want to get to Italy at the earliest possibility and have my sights set on Florence, a simple act of kindness, a million and one things at risk of sounding like Sleepless in Seattle. 

Hour 1 – The Smoking Gun
00.03…That Serves Punters
Pieces of eight in a till,
illuminating the chapel.
(Relic Chapel of St Simon Stock, Aylesford Priory)

I would have to say positive qualities in a person are something that moves me. It seems a really obvious thing to say, but in my experience often people forget to mention it. I find it so refreshing when someone has a can do attitude, there’s not enough of that in this world.

History and science is another subject that fascinates me. This is a later development and wasn’t always the case. I remember once getting 14% in a history test at school, I figure because I’d spelt my name right at the top of the paper. So it’s sort of odd how it’s swung to the other extreme now. I sort of get it nowadays, Night at the Museum is a film I like. It’s not my favourite by a long shot, but it works. I think for pure artistry it would have to be films like Memoirs of a Geisha and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. They are intelligent and beautiful to watch, and the fight scenes are just like, wow!

One day I might be inspired by Gershwin, the next by Faithless or U2, or something the radio plays unexpectedly.

Hour 1 – The Smoking Gun
00.04…Ringing Bell
A churchyard gravestone,
an extraordinary message,
the death of your averaging,
and the birth of the new star,
blood on all of their red flags,
when looking for final frontier.
(St Peter and St Paul’s Churchyard, Aylesford)

Present and Future

 1440, one photo and poem for every minute of the day is what I am currently working on, a project I started when I was in temporary accommodation of all places. It became a way out of my situation then. I figured why should I think anything less of myself as a person just because of where I live. It was sort of like fighting back when I started out on it, and you can see that in some of the early photos and poems, where I reference Banksy, the subversive graffiti artist. Yet I’ve always tried to put a balanced slant on my work even when the subject matter has been quite negative, or dark, which hasn’t always been easy.

Hour 1 – The Smoking Gun
00.05…Before Closing Time
A mannequin without balls,
for all of the world to see,
calm in his expression,
yet quite ambiguous,
packing or unpacking,
reflected journey behind.
(Unused retail unit, High Street, Maidstone)

 At any rate it’s taken me so far to places like Newcastle, Edinburgh, Prague, Budapest, all glued together by Maidstone, my home town, and London and the South East. Each one of which has been a wonderful learning experience. I give each hour a title and theme, hour 1 was “Smoking Gun”, hour two was “The Dream That Died For Me”, and so on. The latest hour I’ve completed, hour nine is entitled “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life”.

I have early thoughts and some photos already on what theme and approach to take for hour ten, only time will tell. Watch this space…

You can keep up to date with 1440 on:

Blogspot http://www.isobeleatsfish.blogspot.co.uk

Facebook www.facebook.com/isobel.eatsfish

All images subject to Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 

CC BY-NC-ND – Vicky Partner

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HYC – Hello You Creatives

Creative Communities and Inspiring Websites

HELLO YOU CREATIVES: A collective of humans being creative.

‘Help More Make More’ is our M.O. (at the very least its a decent blog you can steal ideas from) 

A wonderful website with so much inspiration!

http://helloyoucreatives.com/

http://twitter.com/hellocreatives

Bestival – 6th to 9th of September 2012 – Isle Of Wight

Creative and Art Events

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With over 20 stages of live music, DJs and performance arts spread over 10 spectacular green fields, Bestival is known as the party to end the festival season, located in a beautiful country park in the escapist wonderland that is the Isle of Wight.

Programmed by the font of all musical knowledge, Mr Rob da Bank, the festival never fails to deliver an outstanding array of hot talent from international artists to a whole host of brand new music. 2012 will see headline sets from the legendary Stevie Wonder, Florence + The Machine and New Order plus exclusives from The xx and Sigur Rós and performances from Friendly Fires, Nero, 2manydjs Live, Soulwax, Two Door Cinema Club, Justice, Annie Mac, Skream & Benga, The 2 Bears and David Rodigan MBE Presents Ram Jam.

For the adventurous among the crowd there’s a wealth of hidden treasures peppered across the site, whether it be bedding down in the Slumbarave, being blown away by the Wall of Death, getting your groove on in the Roller Disco or visiting the magical Wishing Tree. And that’s not all you could be spending the afternoon learning the Cha-cha-cha or Charleston at the Come Dancing tent, stopping off at the Inflatable Church for an impromptu wedding or maybe taking some time out of the madness to visit the Ambient Forest or Tomorrow’s World, a calming haven overlooking the site with everything from freshly made sushi to tea and cakes courtesy of the WI on offer.

Oh… and did we mention that it’s also home to the biggest fancy dress party you’re ever likely to take part in and this year’s theme is Wildlife!

Keep on checking in at www.bestival.net, and the Facebook page and Rob da Bank’s Twitter for loads more info and cool stuff!

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Jonathan Livingstone Seagull Inspired Art Exhibition – UCA Pop Up Gallery – Chatham – 14th to 28th July 2012

Creative and Art Events

The UCA pop up gallery in Chatham has a new exhibition between the 14th and 28th of July. The exhibition is inspired by the book “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull” by Richard Bach. The story follows the tale of how a seagull becomes tired of his seagull friends who continuously squabble over food and decides to instead concentrate on his flying skills. As a result he is outcast by the other seagulls and becomes a loner. He soon finds though that his brave, rebellious move has made his life more worthwhile and embarks on a whole new journey in his life.

 The artists exhibiting work inspired by the novel include Adam Piper, Sarah Wright, Kyveli Anastassiadi, Christine Hall, Alan Monk, Carolyn Birchall, Clair Archer, David Bradley, Eleanor Macfarlane, Layla Moore, and Richard Curtis. Natasha Steer is also exhibiting her unique interactive piece entitled “To Be Carried Out”. The canvas contains over 30 positive quotes from various historical figures including Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Henry Ford. The quotes are written onto cards signed by Natasha which can be taken away to keep, but if so must be replaced by another positive thought.

The UCA pop up gallery is in the upper level of the Pentagon shopping centre, Chatham.

Area: South East

Creatabot Creatives Competition 2012 + Exhibition Open For Submissions

Creative Opportunities

Creatabot Creatives Competition is open to all creatives in the UK.

The brief for 2012 is “Gadgets and Gizmos”.

There are 6 categories for the competition:

Short Film

Photography

Fine Art

Literature

Music

Mixed Media 

(for anything creative that does not fall into the above categories)

Entries will be judged by the following Creatabot contributors:

A winner will be selected from each category and presented with a “Creatabot Creative of 2012” plaque.

Appropriate work will be put on exhibition for the whole of December 2012 at Strood library, Kent. 

To enter please upload your work or an image of your work to

http://creatabotcreativescompetition.tumblr.com/submit

By 19th November 2012

If you have any issue with uploading please send your work to natasha@creatabot.co.uk

Terms and conditions: Entries must be received by 1st November. Judges cannot enter. You can enter as many pieces as you want to into multiple categories.

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Tick Tock – By Jane Ayres

Editorials

All rights reserved by picasnpoints

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted.”

This quote, attributed to John Lennon, will resonate with many creatives, especially writers. For some, myself included, writing seems to lend itself to procrastination (a wonderful word!). When you are exploring creative ideas, no time is ever wasted, since your mind is always active, always filtering possibilities, even if subconsciously.

But when you put off writing by doing some other, apparently unrelated task, it can lead to feelings of guilt and frustration. That you have wasted that precious commodity which we label “time.” We are taught that time should be used productively. We segment and categorise time into minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years.

I’ve always had a problematic relationship with time, resenting the way it dictates how we organise our lives. As a child and teenager, I railed against clocks, which may explain my poor timekeeping. (The expression “keeping” time is strange, it being a fluid concept that cannot be stopped or controlled. As the saying goes, “time waits for no man.”)

We are ruled by clocks. Society assumes that our time should be earmarked and that most of it (and our lives) should be spent on work, doing a paid job. And then, if any of it is left, (which we call “spare time”) we fill it with hobbies or leisure pursuits. So it is all used up. Time is a commodity and spare time is a luxury, a privilege. Does this belief system make any sense?

Having worked for an employer for most of my life, I have had to find ways to build in more time to write. For many years, this involved some very early mornings and writing most weekends and evenings. I frequently complained to anyone who would listen that there simply weren’t enough hours in the day. Yet, when, for a brief period, I did actually have some unscheduled time, how ironic that I was unable to motivate myself to produce anything worthwhile. Maybe, for some, working under pressure to a deadline, whether external or self-imposed, assists the creative process. So perhaps we can use the segmenting of time to our advantage.

Art forms such as music and film exist and move through and with time, whereas painting and writing can freeze time to create a snapshot, like a photograph.

Strangely, as you grow older, time goes faster, or so it seems. A panic sets in, that life is slipping away, and the need to create and produce becomes more urgent. Or are these just the ramblings of an ageing, fifty year old writer?

Only time will tell……

By Jane Ayres

www.janeayres.blogspot.co.uk

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Introducing A New Creatabot Contributor – Jane Ayres

Featured Creatives

Jane Ayres is a writer from Maidstone, Kent, who has just joined us as a valuable contributor. We thought you would like to know some more about Jane so asked some questions about her background and what inspires her…

So what is your creative background?

I’ve always enjoyed writing stories and had my first piece published in a national magazine when I was just fourteen.  I played piano from age seven, later trained to be a professional singer, and did my BA (Hons) in Music with Cultural and Community Studies at Sussex University in the 1980s. But the writing has been the one constant for me, and over the past 37 years my thirty novels have been translated into 7 languages and I’ve had hundreds of short stories, poems and articles in print.  In January this year, I finally started a blog http://www.janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/

What other career paths have you taken?

Several!  I have a marketing diploma and a teaching certificate and after working in the sales department of a major publisher after graduating, I spent the last 25 years working in further and higher education, in marketing, outreach and also some teaching (music, dance, media and creative writing). I also set up and ran a mentoring programme for people wanting to work in the creative industries.

Who inspires you both locally and universally?

People who combine compassion and tenacity to change the world for the better.

What would you like to achieve in the future?

To use my writing as a tool to raise funds for a number of charities.

Can you recommend a creative website you love?  

I’m a fan of http://www.ifbook.co.uk/ which is at the forefront of the debate about the future of reading and writing, as well as Joel Friedlander’s brilliant http://www.thebookdesigner.com/ which generously shares his wealth of knowledge and experience to help writers publish their work using the amazing opportunities that the digital future offers.

To find out more about Jane please visit http://www.janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/

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Introducing A New Creatabot Contributor – Helen Hanson

Featured Creatives

We have another contributor! Helen Hanson is from Doncaster and is an all round creative who will be writing about many different subjects. I asked her some questions so that we could all get to know her better…

So what is your creative background?

My creative background has involved art in one form or another from cake making, rug making and cross stitching to ceramics, stained glass windows and painting. I have always had creative flair and have a Masters in Multimedia and Education and am looking to start my Doctorate in Social Media and Education in September. I have been involved in e-learning and love learning new software and looking at alternative ways of using technology. I work in a College which gives me lots of opportunities to experiment with new technologies and learn techniques with my students and really bring out their creative side and transferrable skills around technology and software.

I have an addiction to learning new things and playing with technology. I am also a traditional artist using oil paints and pastels and experimenting with a different range of image manipulation packages and then mixing my art mediums to create different creative art pieces.

Who inspires you both locally and universally?

I am inspired by lots of different artists and love to see the different art works that are now coming through on my Twitter feed as well as on Facebook and these have inspired me recently to get more involved with my own art work and produce some digital pieces rather than just the traditional artwork that I have always created.

I have an open mind which can get very over inspired by what I see around me in everyday working life and have got to the stage that I have so many ideas that I now have to create a list to make sure that I don’t forget some of the things that I have seen and what I would like to experiment with. Time is my biggest issue as the days are not long enough and burning the candle at both ends seems to be becoming a traditional pastime.

What would you like to achieve in the future?

I would like to be able to have time to myself to be selfish and just do what I wanted to do rather than life itself having an impact on my time. I would like to be able to spend all my time being creative and creating pieces of art work in the sun with no time constraints. We all need dreams and hopes to aim for and something to look forward to and make plans to achieve to keep us improving and moving forward.

Can you recommend a creative website you love?

There are so many to choose from each with their own different views and perspectives on life. Deviant Art is a brilliant collection of pieces as well as 500px and Planetvisions.com. I am currently enjoying social media like Twitter, it gives me the opportunity to create an interactive list and categorise some of the feeds and interesting people that are sharing their art work, blogs and websites. I would not have met Creatabot had it not been for this aspect of Social Media.

You can find Helen on Twitter @hansonhelen

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Fabrica’s Newest Exhibition and Events – Cluster – Brighton – Ends 27th August 2012

Creative and Art Events

Courtesy of Annemarie O’Sullivan

Fabrica is delighted to be working with Annemarie O’Sullivan, a UK basket maker to present Cluster, a new site-specific commission for the gallery.

A basket maker whose work ranges from small-scale domestic objects through to larger-scale woven forms, O’Sullivan mainly makes her constructions outdoors.  From her base in Lewes, East Sussex, she draws inspiration from the undulating South Downs landscape and from the theme of shelter.

For Cluster she says she started to think about “how people, creatures, and trees gather together. How we cluster together for protection and how, if needs be, we can become invisible in a group.”

Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the iconic Sussex gridshell structures at The Weald and Downland Museum and The Woodland Enterprise Centre at Flimwell, O’Sullivan has drawn inspiration from the two buildings to produce a site-specific sculptural installation of elegant, organic beauty.

Cluster is a large-scale installation comprising a series of woven sculptures that allow the visitor to move in and around them. The work, combined with the architecture of the building, create both a social space in which to gather and play and a space of quiet contemplation.

Cluster was developed from an original proposal by Oliver Lowenstein, editor of Fourth Door Review, the structures have been made using finger-jointed sweet chestnut supplied by Inwood  Developments Ltd. www.in-wood.co.uk

Opening times

7-29 July, Wed-Sat 12-5pm and Sunday 2-5pm
1-27 Aug Wed-Sat 12-5pm, Sunday 2-5pm, late openings on Thursdays until 7pm and Bank Holiday Monday 12-5pm.

40 Duke Street, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1AG

01273 778 646

EVENTS IN RELATION TO EXHIBITION

FABRICA-Artist Talk – Annemarie O’Sullivan Thursday 12 July 6.30-7.30pmAnnemarie will give an overview of her practice talk about her ideas and offer an insight into the development of Cluster. www.annemarieosullivan.co.uk

FABRICA-Basketry Workshop Friday 13 July 10-12.30pm – advance booking essential Led by Annemarie O’Sullivan (maximum 10 people). Explore simple basketry and knotting techniques, using flat band cane and harvested leaves. Find out about materials that you can harvest yourself to make baskets. Make a small vessel or a set of samples to take home.

FABRICA-Chaotic Cornucopia – an intense drawing experience Monday 16 July 12 -3pm – materials provided – £3.50 – advance booking essential A rare opportunity to spend three hours focused on drawing an abundant bundle of objects specially selected to compliment the summer show ‘Cluster’. In a calm and meditative atmosphere you are invited to lose yourself in the sensuous world of line and texture. Facilitated by artist Jane Fordham.www.smudgingandscratching.blogspot.com

 FABRICA-Rush Basketry Workshop Wednesday 18 and 25 July 10-12.30pm – advance booking essential. Led by Ruby Taylor (maximum 10 places). Inspired by archaeological finds dating back 5,000 years, learn the ancient technique of twining to make a small basketry pouch for modern-day usage: perhaps to hold your I-pod or mobile phone, where our ancestors used a similar basketry pouch to carry flint tools. Suitable for all levels including beginners.www.facebook.com/native.hands.uk

 FABRICA-Lunchtime lecture Wednesday 18 July 1.30-2.30pm

Ian Dunford from East Sussex Archaeology and Museums Partnership. Where we come from and how we lived. How did our ancestors build their homes? The East Sussex Archaeology and Museums Partnership team looks at some of the ways our ancestors constructed their homes from local materials and reveals how they use house building projects based on archaeological evidence to help contemporary communities discover our common heritage. www.esamp.com

 Visit to the Woodland Enterprise Centre, Flimwell, East Sussex Thursday 19 July 10am-4pm – advance booking essential (includes travel times to and from Fabrica). Get a behind the scenes view, explore the Gridshell building and explore the woodland to see sweet chestnuts growing, the sustainable timber used in this exhibition, with a tour led by David Saunders, forester and founder of Woodnet.  www.woodnet.org.uk

 FABRICA-Artist Story – Susan Collis Thursday 19 July 6.30-7.30pm Susan Collis is a contemporary artist who lives and works in the UK. Her practice combines a drawing process with installation and sculpture – often creating environments that at first confuse and then delight the viewer. Her work is held in many prestigious collections and she has recently completed solo exhibitions in galleries in Austin Texas, London, Paris and Spain. She will present an insight into the development of her practice to date. www.seventeengallery.com

 Visit to the Weald and Downland Museum Tuesday 31 July 10am-4pm, FreeFabrica will provide transport and a picnic. Get a behind the scenes glimpse of how the Downland Gridshell was built as well as a guided tour of the rest of the Museum.www.wealddown.co.uk

 Advance booking recommended for all events: info@fabrica.org.uk Call Fabrica on 01273 778646 www.fabrica.org.uk


Visit www.fabrica.org.uk for more details.

Area: South East

Snapdragon Designs – Featured Creatives

Featured Creatives

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Recently at the 10th anniversary celebration of Nucleus arts I came across a new range of jewellery – which I absolutely LOVE. I felt I had to feature these creatives on Creatabot. So I introduce to you Shelley and John from Snapdragon Designs…

So what is your creative background?

John and I met at KIAD (Kent Institute of Art and Design, now UCA) in Canterbury where we both studied for a BTEC National Diploma in general art and design. We both went on to study Graphic Design at De Montfort University in Lincoln graduating in 2004. John has always made military themed models and scenery and I discovered a love for bookbinding and print making at KIAD.

What made you set up Snapdragon Designs?

Snapdragon Designs was set up initially to give me a way of creating my own line of luxury books but when John’s school (where he teaches) bought the laser cutter last year it opened up new ideas and made us create the jewellery side of Snapdragons.

CC BY-NC-ND Snapdragon Designs

What other career paths have you taken?

After uni we took quite divergent paths, I went to get an apprenticeship in bookbinding and have been working as a bookbinder for almost 8 years. John initially went into Graphic Design for a small company (Team Cortexx) near Maidstone and later retrained as a design and technology teacher which he has been doing for 5 years. John is also an archery instructor and we both enjoy making our own arrows.

Who inspires you both locally and universally?

Vivienne Westwood has always inspired me and in the future I hope to do a whole line of jewellery using vintage tartans. Its really hard to say who inspires me locally as I’ve only just started getting involved with the creatives of Kent but I think Nucleus arts are doing a great job and there’s lots of inspiration to be found there. John’s inspiration tends to come from more traditional sources and artists such as Barbara Hepworth, John Constable and artistic movements such as Art Deco, but also from many wargaming/fantasy artists.

CC BY-NC-ND Snapdragon Designs

What would you like to achieve in the future?

We would love to see the jewellery really taking off with a hope to expanding further and getting it into shops.

Can you recommend a creative website you love?

I love looking around www.folksy.com it has so many talented people.

You can see the gorgeous Snapdragon Designs range at 

www.folksy.com/shops/snapdragons

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Working For An Indie Record Label – Part 4: Making Sense Of Social Media – By Luke Crook

Editorials

So, one of THE most important parts of being successful either as a band, a label or even a brand is how you connect with your fan base and demographic. Despite what people say, there are pretty much 2 major ways of getting in touch with your fan base to let them know what’s happening, Facebook & Twitter. Most of the courses I end up on are either about Social Media full stop, or have a massive section dedicated to it.

It’s all about social media. You can’t get away from it, try as you might. The problem is, both the main social media platforms operate completely differently so different strategies are needed. Twitter never changes. 140 unadulterated characters of text to use and abuse as best you can, tag people in it and share that Instagram photo of your dog with your sunglasses on (don’t deny it, we’ve all thought about it). Facebook allows you to present music, videos, photos, competitions and all sorts of lovely things internally (you don’t have to leave Facebook to see them), but the buggers keep changing the format every 4 months, and by the time you’ve worked it out, they sweep the rug out from under you and change it all. Not to mention all their restrictions on advertising inside the website. Don’t put anything in your bands cover photo that tells someone where to buy a product. Facebook will take your page down without telling you. By all means say its out or available though! They do however have some insanely good (albeit slightly 1984/Orwellian) marketing devices. We’ll get to that later.

There are, of course, other ways of engaging your fans. That lovely website you spent £4k on development and that amazing feature that no-one else has done yet for example. The problem is, you’ll find it very quickly becomes a holding page for you to link to from your Facebook/Twitter account (We were actually talking about this in the office after I wrote this). However, it is an amazing way to archive your work and keep things neatly organized in a way that other places don’t. A good example is your gig list. Myspace makes it looks ugly in my opinion and that puts people off reading it. Keep it on your website, drive a bit of traffic that way and lay it out in a way you would like to see it. It’s your website after all!

Also, lets not forget the newsletter. Now this is still pretty effective, just don’t ever look at the stats, they’ll depress you. If memory serves, the average for people opening the email sits at about 9% and the average people that actually click a link in your newsletter is about 2/3%. Most good newsletter systems will give you a link to your newsletter too, so you can share it around to people to read in their browser. Some will even allow you to link up your Facebook or Twitter (Starting to see a trend here yet?) so you can spread the word further. Completely customisable from layout to content, its yours to design and make.

Now the major advantage of Facebook is the marketing aspect. No other social media does it as well, so if you’re looking to make some money and sell some product, its the place to be. Their marketing ability is spectacular, if not slightly bloody scary. The beauty of it is, is that you can spend as little as you like on it. £5, see how it does. If it does well, pump some more money in. If it doesn’t, you’ve only spent a fiver. You can tailor it to a fine point too. Target people that like similar pages. Show the punter that their friend likes that page too. The scariest aspect of it though, is the way you can target advertise through keywords. There’s a little text box in the Ad’s section where you can tap in keywords that, if people mention it in their status, relevant Adverts will start appearing in their news feed. “Oh fudge, I broke my bike chain” will soon become a little square box on the right hand ad feed saying “Cheap bike repairs in Chatham”. Incredibly clever, but a bit creepy at the same time. (It’s worth mentioning that you can turn all of this off, but it’s a bit of a ball ache (surprise surprise). It’s your privacy, think about it.)

So there’s a bit of an intro into Social Media. You might notice its heavily Facebook based, but that’s where you have to most control over what you can do. Twitter is much more to the point, so it’s fairly straightforward. Facebook is where you’ll make money from driving sales.

Oh, a few final things in this whirlwind social media ride, which were in fact my point in writing a blog on the topic.

There’s a technique that has various names but I’ll call it The Rule Of Thirds here. It’s very simple, and will prevent you losing followers and likes (although its rather difficult to mass unlike things on Facebook. Another advantage…). Don’t constantly spam your demographic with messages to buy your wares. People will quickly grow tired of this, especially Twitter followers (Twitter followers are much less forgiving than Facebook Followers. They tend to be a lot savvier and will drop you like a stone). So the trick is to make roughly every third message a marketing one. Buy the album, get my tour tickets, blah. Every third is also a minimum. I try and go for every five or six personally. Don’t forget to reward either. Free tracks or posters or a personal video of the band saying “HI WERE ON TOUR!!!!!  *cough*to support our new album*cough*” work very well, people love them, and are technically marketing without shoving it in the consumers face. Also, keep it relevant and not stream of consciousness type barrage of messages.

Which leads me into my final point. Keep it personal. If it sounds like you are directly talking to that fan, they’ll like it more. Now, for a label or a brand I can appreciate that might be a bit tricky, but for an artist its imperative. Make it first person. I can’t stress this enough. You do NOT want to make it sound like someone is writing your tweets for you. Don’t con your fans. One of them will work out that you can’t have tweeted that, because you were either onstage or being interviewed live. They are much smarter than you think. If it is someone else doing it for you/them, set up a little system that lets the fan know when its you and with its you’re assistant (E.g. Tom Cruise. His Tweets end TC, his teams end TCHQ…I think. You get the point.).

So there you go. A quick, scatterbrained take on social media. Feel free to leave any questions below and I’ll try and dig the answer out of my seminar notes! I’ll come back later with another article about social media thats a bit more targeted, but this should (hopefully) get you moving in the right direction.

By Luke Crook

Area:   UK   Britain   East of England   East Midlands   London  North East   North West    Yorkshire    Scotland    South East                South West    Wales   West Midlands

Gwyl Arall (Another Festival) Art Exhibition – Wales

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News, Creative Communities and Inspiring Websites

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Last year I took part in a local arts festival called ‘Gwyl Arall‘ [which translates as ‘Another Festival’] with my series of doll artwork displayed in an old toy shop window, so I was thrilled to be invited to submit work again for this years exhibition organized by the husband and wife team Morgan Griffith and Rebecca.F.Hardy [who also run the brilliant DyfalDonc].

Aided by ‘Bocs‘, a non-profit co-op of artists based in Caernarfon and ‘Gwead.com‘ the exhibition aims to help provide a platform for and to help promote emerging Welsh talent. The role call of artists taking part is impressive with 3 winners from this years “Welsh Artist of the Year”: Gareth Griffith and Iwan Lewis who shared the prize for Painting, and Wendy Leah Dawson who took home the student prize. It also boasts former “Welsh Photographer of the Year” Llinos Lanini and Gethin Wyn Jones who in 2006 won the Nationwide Mercury Art competition and is currently exhibiting at Wales flagship contemporary art gallery Mostyn. Others exhibiting include myself Barry Morris [Badge], Gerallt.D.Hughes, Jaime Kelly, Gethin Wavell, Alana Tyson, Osian Efnisien, Morgan Griffith [Sonomano], Buddug Humphreys, Rebecca.F.Hardy, Jessie Chorley, Ioan Griffith, Siân Green, Sarah McEachran, Richard Cynan-Jones, Nerys Jones, Alan Whitfield, and Rebecca Gould.

Formed after the closure of Oriel Dafydd Hardy in Caernarfon, ‘Bocs’ filled the void left by the gallery by becoming a champion for emerging young Welsh talent encompassing visual arts, music and performance, and helping to nurture up-and-coming artists, this is the first year that ‘Bocs’ has been involved with ‘Gwyl Arall’, but organizer Rebecca.F.Hardy hopes that it will be the start of a fruitful relationship. Rebecca is already working with her colleagues at ‘Bocs’ in securing a new permanent venue for the co-op and approaching artists to develop a programme of exhibitions and workshops for the coming year.

The aim of gwead.com is to introduce the work of contemporary photographers from Europe’s oldest cultures at the moment; Wales, Brittany, the Basque Country and Catalonia. Their mission statement elaborates on this idea: “By submitting visual work and sharing of cultures that are either similar in language, culture and history or a historical or linguistic we hope to strengthen the relationship between them. We may add more countries in the future. In addition to delivering work on the web, we will display the work in exhibitions, festivals and galleries over the coming months and years. This websites is Rhodri Owen idea of Ysbyty Ifan in Wales. “

By Badge

badgemakesart@yahoo.co.uk

Area: Wales