Creative Midlands Events

Creative Midlands Events

Copy of Teachers' Preview: John Newling & Piero Gilardi

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 07:28 PM PST

When:
Multiple Dates

Where:
Nottingham Contemporary
Weekday Cross
NG1 Nottingham
United Kingdom

Hosted By:
Nottingham Contemporary

Register for this event now at :
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4972765676/atom

Event Details:

Teachers' Preview:  John Newling: Ecologies of Value & Piero Gilardi: Collaborative Effects at Nottingham Contemporary

Wed 30 January or Thu 7 February, 5pm – 7pm

An invitation to join us for a free Teachers' Private View and Workshop – and a well deserved glass of wine at the end of the working day. Our experienced Associate Artists will show you round the exhibition and give you plenty of ideas about ways you can use the exhibition with your students.  There'll be a chance to look through our free Teachers' Resource Box, pick up copies of our Teachers' Notes, chat about your own particular needs and take part in a practical workshop.

Open to teachers of all subjects, it's a great opportunity for some free CPD and to network with other local teachers.

For the first exhibition of 2013 we present two artists, who address the natural world and our environment, this exhibition runs from 26 January to 7 April 2013.

The environment is a major theme of Nottingham's own internationally renowned artist John Newling. He is paired
with 1960s Arte Povera (Poor Art) legend Piero Gilardi - a major Italian artist and activist. Amazing interactive work includes 12 foot cabbages, working greenhouses, green garden "carpets",  and a tree that literally chases you...

Learning themes: Science, RE, citizenship, politics, PHSEE, art and design (including installations and Poor Art).

For more information see www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/schools, email learn@nottinghamcontemporary.org, or call us on 0115 948 9750.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Programme 2013

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 09:08 AM PST


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Light Night: Jane Austen’s Tales – Pride and Prejudice

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 06:19 AM PST

A one woman adaptation of Pride and Prejudice performed by actress and storyteller Julie Ann Cooper to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's classic novel.

Festival of Words: Be With You Shortly – Irish Short Stories

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 06:19 AM PST

Why is the short story form so popular in Ireland? Which contemporary writers are the ones to watch, in a path trodden by James Joyce, Mary Lavin and John McGahern? In collaboration with the Nottingham Irish Studies Group, Deirdre O'Byrne of Loughborough University leads a discussion on this intriguing form, linking it to the politics, history and the oral tradition of Ireland.

Festival of Words: The Revolutionary Menu family cookery event!

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 06:19 AM PST

Bored with eating the same old food? School dinners getting you down? Chips and pizza just not cutting it? Time for a change!

Festival of Words: The Aphrodisiac Menu - cookery event!

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 06:19 AM PST

Totstime

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 06:19 AM PST

Christmas Special

Festive fun in our special Totstime รข€" stories, rhymes and songs!
Suitable for under 5s, parents, grandparents and carers welcome!

Seven Minute Stories: A Review by Sophie Todd

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 04:10 AM PST

Tuesday 20 November brought the West Midlands Readers' Network event Seven Minute Stories to The Copthorne Hotel, Birmingham. Six regional authors- Helen Cross, Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn, Fiona Joseph, Richard Lakin, Jeff Phelps, and Polly Wright- were commissioned to write a short story over the space of a few months, and were paired up with six reading groups from across the West Midlands, ranging from the heart of Birmingham to the Shropshire/Wales border.

As Roz Goddard, Co-ordinator of the Readers' Network (and brilliant host of the evening) explained, the themes of each story were the result of brain-storming/haggling sessions between the groups and their respective writers. One of my favourite things about the evening was each author's explanation of how their first impressions of the locality of their reading groups, and the members themselves, had a direct influence upon the people, themes, and events in their story. Fiona Joseph, for instance, worked with the Nubian Readers' Group, based at the Drum in Newtown, Birmingham, and on her first visit found herself in the midst of a loud and vibrant wake for a local man. Joseph's A Pair of Ruby Cufflinks, a subtle yet very powerful story about a man's recent affair, centres around the morning of his lover's funeral, and is set in Birmingham's Jamaican community. It is this local connection which gave each story its depth, and also made each completely unique. 

While the basic premise of the evening was clear from its title- each author read a tantalising seven minutes of their short story- what I had not anticipated was the heartfelt reaction to the stories from the members of the local reading groups. 

This seemed particularly true of Polly Wright's Reading for Well-Being group, which is based at Sparkhill's Zinnia Centre- a provider of specialist mental health services. Polly explained that her group, which she has led for two years, were keen that the story should revolve around mental health issues, and feature culturally diverse characters that reflected the local area. The outcome was Philomena, a brilliantly funny yet haunting tale about Jasmin- a young Pakistani woman- and her journey toward over-coming the mental health problems which have led to her child being taken away from her. It is Jasmin's meeting with Amy Winehouse-lookalike Philomena- a mysterious young Irish woman whom no one else at the centre seems to be able to see- which propels her towards recovery, and which reveals a stark piece of local history along the way. 

The best thing about the evening was that it provided a rare opportunity to hear fiction being read aloud. Reading is generally something done alone; a way into a silent world. And so hearing each story first through its author, out loud, added a whole new dimension to the experience of reading it from the page later on. Helen Cross in particular brought her story Back to Work (which features a woman we are led to believe is a time-travelling Suffragette) to life through her added emphasis and dramatic pauses, and her brilliant voices which stayed with me as I finished it off at home.

By Sophie Todd, @sophietodd89
Posted by Creative Midlands at 12/04/2012 11:35:00 am

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