The Fringe

Alongside the Triennial itself, there has been a huge response to Shepway District Council and the Creative Foundation’s call for artists to submit fringe proposals. Over 26 “fringe” projects have been proposed to date by groups and individuals from the wider creative community. A listing of these projects, which comprise installations, exhibitions and performance, will be published in a summer events guide (see Call to Artists below). Fringe projects will also be promoted on the council’s website.

Call to Artists

Are you planning a fringe project or activity relating to the Folkestone Triennial? If so, your project could be given free publicity by being included in the council’s Summer Events Guide. Many fringe projects are underway and information about them will be included in the guide that will promote all key events in the district of Shepway in the summer from June to September (for submission details of general events, please see note under ‘Promotion of Summer Events & Activities’ under ‘Notices’ below). With over 100,000 visitors expected to visit the Folkestone Triennial, this is a great opportunity to promote your project.

We need to have the following information from ‘fringe’ artists, to be included in the guide: Name of project/activity; art form (installation, performance, exhibition etc); venue; date(s); contact info (website, email and/or tel no) and text to describe the project – max 50 words. Please send this information to arts@shepway.gov.uk. The deadline for receipt is THURSDAY 5th MAY

PROMOTION OF SUMMER EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
Summer Events Guide

Shepway District Council is producing a summer events guide, which will promote the various key events taking place in the district from June to September to give residents, and visitors to the district, a taste of all the exciting things that are happening this summer!

Anyone planning an event can submit information for selection for the guide. In order to include as many as possible, information is limited to the following: name of event, date, times, venue and contact details for further information. Unfortunately there will not be room to include details about the events. Also, due to the limitations on space, a selection process will be in place. The deadline for submissions is Thursday 5th May. Information submitted after this date unfortunately cannot be considered for inclusion. Please send event info to arts@shepway.gov.uk.

Art Beat
The council’s monthly arts e-newsletter contains information on arts events, notices on a variety of
arts activities and announcements. It is also an opportunity for artists to promote themselves.
Please note the following copy deadlines for the May and June issues: May: this issue will be sent out early – on Thursday 21 April; copy deadline is Friday 15 April. June: this issue will be sent out on Thursday 26 May; copy deadline is Friday 20 May. Copy should be sent to: arts@shepway.gov.uk.

Shepway Extended Schools is working together with the Marsh Academy, feeder primary schools and the local community on a project to capture the tales and memories from past to present. From the memories and tales gathered, students will be putting together an interpretation of this through art, music and drama and we are looking for a local artist that can help us bring the memories and tales captured into a final collage or art piece to be exhibited as a satellite project for the Folkestone Triennial. Anyone interested in this project, please can they contact me, Sam Stevens, at samantha.stevens3@kent.gov.uk, or phone 07500 885367.

Regards

Amanda

Amanda Oates

Arts Development Officer

Community Development and Engagement

Tel: 01303 853464

Fax: 01303 853502

Email: amanda.oates@shepway.gov.uk

Facebook: Arts at Shepway

Shepway District Council

Way back in early December - at the start of the bad weather - it didn’t take Di and Louie Burns long to decide to run a series of events to raise the focus of the plight of the homeless to encourage people to donate items of warm clothing (gloves, coats, etc) and to raise funds which would go directly to some of the homeless shelters in Folkestone.

If you don’t know Di and Louie - you may know the local phenomenon known as Bluesky Pie [http://www.blueskypie.co.uk ] whose tagline ‘Regeneration and empowerment in communities through music’ says it all.

On 10^th December Bluesky Pie staged two gigs, one at Googies Art Cafe and the other at Homeground – featuring comedy, musicians, rappers…all coming to play and give their time for free!! Raffles were run at both venues with goods donated from as far afield as Liverpool. With Googies and Homeground donating 10% of their bar takings and Stewart Hollyhead (TESS) donating his fee for playing at Homeground – together they raised a grand total of £575 for the Winter Shelter run by the 7 churches of Folkestone.

Louie Burns also created a film to raise awareness for the Folkestone homeless cause and to make people more sympathetic to those that find themselves on the streets, often through no fault of their own.

Colin the manager of the shelter had said that funding would run out mid February so to keep the shelter open Di and Louie decided to do more fundraising events. One in Stones featuring rock bands and local hip hop artists followed by 4 DJ’s who all played and performed for free. There was also an acoustic chilled out night in Googies featuring some wonderful performers and musicians who again performed for free. Googies has continued to fundraise between the last gig and now with Keith Holland handing over more monies that customers of Googies have donated since December 10^th. Alongside this there was an appeal for toothpaste, flannels, food items, scarves etc. – all for the Rainbow Centre for the homeless and those in need. All of these events, activities and fundraising brilliantly co-ordinated by Bluesky Pie.

Di Burns said:

“To borrow a phrase from Tesco, ‘Every little helps’ and we feel privileged to know such lovely talented people who will play for free for such a worthwhile cause, in fact we were inundated with performers all willing to give of their time and felt that the homeless were a very worthy cause to raise funds for which shows the tremendous community spirit here in Folkestone, we feel we’re just facilitators.”

Di Burns tell us a little more about Bluesky Pie:

The ethos behind Bluesky Pie is that little acts of random kindness can change the world. We reached a mid life crisis nearly two years ago where we realized we were giving nothing back into the community. We resolved to change this and started to do things for others, first staging a gig for Amnesty International and Greenpeace, we found a plethora of highly skilled musicians and bands who had nowhere to play. We started to put gigs on, maintaining a spirit of love. We started What’s on Folkestone as we were sick of missing high quality gigs and events that no one knew were on, and were brilliant. Our idea behind that was to actively promote and share everyones events so that no one felt excluded.

We have tried to show people how incredible and amazing they are by offering them mentoring gigs, putting them on at small intimate venues and building confidence then by making the venues larger. We also have volunteers working in film, stage management, photography who work for free to get valuable experience in the industry. Many of the people that we have helped have then gone on to make a career, got more confidence and started to put their own gigs on.

It has had an incredible impact on the local community with people joining together and making alliances when they didn’t know each other before. Networking is a big key to this, this results in a more cohesive community that actively support each others events.

As a non for profit company we don’t make any money from what we do, but we get enormous satisfaction from knowing that a random act of kindness we may have shown has then spread like a ripple effect on a pond to reach so many others.

It also acts in the law of attraction, through what we have done has brought like minded people to us like the charity ‘Last night a DJ saved my life’ who are of the same ethos as us but work in the global community, things just seem to be getting bigger and better bit like a snowball effect through a little effort of our own. It is a really happy place to be. =)

Bluesky Pie | Googies Art Cafe | Homeground | Stones

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Exhibitions: THE HUMAN LANDSCAPE and COASTAL PAINTINGS BY JOHN EVELEIGH

LOCATION: The Grand, on the Leas, in the Ballroom and the Palm Court

DATE and TIME: Saturday, 9th to Tuesday, 19th October 2010. Daily from 10am until 4pm

EVENT: At the Preview on Friday, 8th October (6pm to 8pm) Aldous Eveleigh will talk about his father’s work

The Friends of the Folkestone Collections, organised to preserve the Collections and provide a future for art in Folkestone are now proud to present two exhibitions, “The Human Landscape” and “Coastal Paintings, from St Margaret’s Bay to the mouth of the Rother”.

Many long-standing Folkestone folk will remember the days of  John Eveleigh’s directorship of the Metropole Arts Centre in the 1960s and 1970s. It was during his tenure that the Creative Foundation Collection of works of art was acquired. The Collection encompasses paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints, sculpture, and ceramics by professional artists and crafts people, and was representative of the best of Folkestone and East Kent work, and beyond. From this Collection, a NEW SELECTION of over 150 works of art has been made which we have titled “THE HUMAN LANDSCAPE”. Our guidelines have been for portraits, still life, figures, animals, and also urban landscapes. Many of these have not been publicly displayed for some time. Artists included are Elizabeth Frink, Gertrude Hermes, Bernard Dunstan, John Bratby, John Bellany, Michael Rothenstein, and many other such distinguished names.

We are honouring John Eveleigh himself by presenting a selection of his landscape paintings entitled “COASTAL PAINTINGS, from St Margaret’s Bay to the Mouth of the Rother”.

CONTACTS for further information:  Mrs Pat McMath: 01303 256265

Mike Umbers:  01303 265118

Mon 15 Nov at University Centre Folkestone, 10am-5pm - The Working Artist with Crista Cloutier

This workshop is open to students, professional artists, art professionals, and those who dream of being able to support themselves as such.

Topics include:

-       identify your creative and professional goals
-       putting together an artist’s statement and cv
-       approaching decision-makers
-       thinking and speaking about your work
-       how to form the vital relationships to collectors, gallerists, and curators
-       creating a professional mission for yourself and your career.

Actively involved in the contemporary art world throughout her career, Crista Cloutier is internationally recognized as a writer, photographer, curator, and documentary filmmaker.  Until 2007, Crista was the Director of Segura Publishing Company, a collaborative fine art studio and award-winning gallery. In her nearly ten years of leading the company, she collaborated in the creation of original artwork with some of the most significant artists working today. This work is now included in collections such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Chicago Art Institute.

The event is free but places are limited so booking essential.  For info and to book please contact Jane.Seaman@canterbury.ac.uk or ring 01303 847042
www.ucf.ac.uk

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Open Studio* 42 The Old High Street, Folkestone* August 29th-30th

Artist David Lay is opening his studio to show:

New work

Work in progress; charcoal and pastel drawings.

“Not waving, images of the sea”

Drop in anytime between Noon and 6 p.m on Sunday or Monday.

All welcome but RSVPs more likely to be offered a drink!

david@davidlay.net * www.davidlay.org

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