Citywide artists event ‘Opens Up’ Sheffield  

 

Grab your chance to see more than 150 artists in and around Sheffield this weekend, when they open their studio doors to the public for the popular event, Open Up 2012. 

This exciting event, which opened on 5th-7th May 2012 runs again this Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May, giving visitors the rare opportunity to watch artists at work, engage in conversation, see working spaces and studios, arrange commissions and tuition - or even purchase a work of art. If visitors wish to participate in some workshop activities or taster sessions there may be a small cost for those, but entry to all the participating venues is free of charge.

"Open Up Sheffield is firmly in the diary of art lovers from Sheffield, South Yorkshire and beyond. We are delighted that this year an unprecedented number of artists are taking part, which should attract more visitors than ever before", says Brian Holland, Chair of Open Up Sheffield. 

Geographically, artists are spread from as far afield as Kexborough near Barnsley down to Coal Aston and Clowne - from Bamford across to Rotherham with plenty inbetween. “What’s local to some may be a long way for others but, wherever you live, we think it’s worth the effort to go that little bit further, whether on foot, by bus or by car.” says Brian. “Whether you head north, south, east or west, there are some great studios on the outskirts and there’ll be a range of studios to visit along the way too. Many visitors make a day of it with family and friends.”

In 2012, Open Up Sheffield is featuring three artists in particular. Simon Clements, is a Broomhill-based painter who is much loved for his landscape art and illustrations of the concerts of Music in the Round. Joe Dixon is a final year student at Freeman College, working mainly in felting and silversmithing, and Sabine Little, who is a glass artist and previous winner of the Craft and Design Selected Awards (Silver), based in Bolsterstone, near Stocksbridge. Joe Dixon and Sabine Little will be exhibiting as part of the event.

As in previous years, brochures are available to collect from many public outlets, including Sheffield libraries, Museums Sheffield galleries and the Showroom & Workstation.  The brochure and its map can help visitors to plan their journeys in advance, but they can also be picked up from venues on the day (while stocks last!). "The brochure is more than just a guide to event", says Catherine Brown, Vice Chair. "Visitors can use it to navigate their way through the event, but can also keep it as a catalogue of local artists, referring to it throughout the year to make contacts, place commissions, and read about the variety of art we have right on our doorstep."

For full details about Open Up 2012 visit: openupsheffield.co.uk/

Connect with Open Up Sheffield on Facebook here and Twitter here 

 

Dorkbot Sheffield: doing strange things with electricity

 

Dorkbot is a meeting of people interested in electric/electronic art in the broadest sense; robotics, kinetic art, microcontrollers, interactive art, algorithmic music, net.art and so on - and the forthcoming free Sheffield event billed, as always, as an evening of strange things with electricity, is coming up next week

Dorkbot started life in New York, spread to London, and is now active in dozens of cities around the world including several other UK locations such as Bristol and Newcastle. Next Thursday 10th May, starting at 6.30pm, Dorkbot Sheffield makes its first appearance at GIST Lab, a not-for-profit voluntary organisation located at The Workstation, Brown Street, S1 2BX. 

As an event, it's really defined by whoever turns up, be it engineers who want to be artists, or artists who want to be engineers, or the otherwise confused - and also scheduled in the 10th May line-up are:

• Kate Sicchio works at the interface of dance and technology. She will present her work on video tracking systems and choreography and her new Kinect project on ‘hacking’ choreography.

• Aaron Ibbotson delivers the Young HitchHiker's Guide to the Self-Replicating Machine Odyssey.

• Simon Blackmore will talk about recent work with wood and electricity

• Duncan Rowland will present Pure Flow, a collaboration with Katy Connor 

If you'd like to attend Dorkbot Sheffield on 10th May, please register your free place here. Interested in Dorkbot Sheffield? Contact them at dorkbotsheffield@lurk.org, join their discussion mailing list, or connect with them on Facebook and Twitter 

No Direction Home festival in Sherwood Forest

 

This June, a brand new festival No Direction Home, organised by the team behind the End of the Road festival, will take place at Welbeck Abbey in the northern reaches of Sherwood Forest - with a stellar bill headed by Andrew Bird, Richard Hawley and The Low Anthem. It is the first time that this historic and beautiful setting, which is on the fringe of Sheffield, will play host to a festival.

Featuring a main stage near a lake with views of the ancient abbey, No Direction Home will take place on 8th-10th June 2012 and is set to feature a carefully-crafted programme of film, literature, workshops and comedy, including the following:

• The Lost Picture Show Cinema is a vividly realised vintage cinema, a cellulose time machine, woven from intricately sewn and draped fabric. Smartly turned-out usherettes whisper salacious gossip about long-dead stars over trays of ice cream, soda and popcorn. Surely the most glamorous and luxurious festival cinema in the world, The Lost Picture Show will screen everything from the Victorian experiments of Georges Méliès to the slick Hollywood product of today, via 20s musicals, 60s psychedelia and 70s schlock horror; Buster Keaton, Marilyn Monroe, David Lynch, Werner Herzog and many many more. Some of the treats in store include brand new shorts, live re-scores, deranged documentaries and some very special live performances.

• A literary yurt will play host to several authors a day reading from and discussing their writing - including Jon Ronson, Nat Segnit, Richard Milward, James Atlee, Katharine Hibbert, Richard King, Ben Masters and many more. Browse a carefully chosen selection of titles at the Lutyens and Rubenstein bookshop next door where all of our signings will take place. Each morning the Crazy Comic Club will convene where kids can create their own comic. 

• A Secret Post Office will allow visitors to send postcards to each other for free via a No Direction Home 'internal mail system' (example address: "Rob with the curly hair in the blue and yellow tent by the large oak tree") and a No Direction Home Games Track offers old-school sports day fun of the egg and spoon/tug of war variety.

Overlooking the lake will be a Flying Boathouse, curated by The Local's Howard Monk. Here you'll be able to grab an ale and take in all that the Flying Boathouse Society has to offer such as instrument-making, songwriting, live bands, quiz olympics, DJs and much more. Plus, Welbeck's School of Artisan Food will run a worskhop venue at the festival, offering classes throughout the day - including opportunities to learn everything from how to make butter from scratch to how to make Indian flatbreads.

To follow No Direction Home on Twitter click here and to connect with their Facebook page click here

For full details about the festival or to buy tickets visit: www.nodirectionhomefestival.com

Sound the drums for Sensoria 2012 

 

Sensoria, the UK’s festival of film, music and digital, returns from 21st-29th April 2012 with its biggest edition to date. Various venues in Sheffield will play host to live music, screenings, talks, exhibitions and industry sessions. Guests include Laurie Anderson, Bill Drummond, DJ Stingray, Scanner and more.

This year's programme strands include Listening to the City and Translating Culture, plus on 29th April the city's South Street Amphitheatre will come alive to 'Park Hill Sounds' - an open, participatory musical hour, from 3.30pm-4.30pm, which will involve different peoples from all across Sheffield engage with the creation of music. Sensoria invite all the people in Sheffield, of any age and background; asylum seekers, refugees, people that have lived in Sheffield all their life and people that may have only moved here recently, whether they play music or not, to join in. Participants can either bring an instrument or there will be some instruments/sticks available to freely pick up and play around with.

Additional Sensoria 2012 highlights include:

* Opening Night UK Premiere: Laurie Anderson's Another Day in America (aka Dirtday!)

Saturday 21st April/8pm/Sheffield City Hall Ballroom. Tickets from £20: Politics, desire, portraits of cities and of people combine with Anderson’s hallucinatory use of language to form an epic description of the current American landscape.

* Sensoria will also be hosting a special pre-festival Artist Talk with Laurie Anderson the previous evening, the 20th April, at the Upper Chapel, Norfolk Street, S1 2JD, 7.30pm.

* Motor City vs Steel City

Friday 27th April/11,30pm/DLS, Snow Lane: DJ Stingray, Forgemasters, Ryan Elliott and The Black Dog. Tickets £9.50 adv, £12 door.

Sheffield and Detroit. Two cities whose industrial decline has been offset by a surge in creativity. Pioneering hubs of electronic music that, in place of cars and cutlery, now export some of the most important records in the world. Motor City vs Steel City brings together some of the most important acts from each city for an all-night dancing party that showcases each city’s sounds in an old warehouse that used to produce cutlery, and now makes techno. 

* The Payroll Union, Early Cartographers and Black Gold of the Sun LIVE at The Upper Chapel, Norfolk Street, S1 2JD:

Wednesday 25th April 7.30pm, tickets £3 adv, £5 door: A night of Folk and Americana presented in the atmospheric setting of Upper Chapel, featuring The Payroll Union, Black Gold Of The Sun and Early Cartographers. Chosen by Bose to demonstrate the L1 systems.

* Headphone Gigs - FREE

Thursday 26th April - Sheffield Railway station forecourt

Saturday 28th April - Debenhams window and Moor shop units

You’ve heard of a headphone disco now come along to the world’s first live headphone concerts! On 26th April (5.30pm) Michael Eden will soothe your ears with his ethereal vocals amidst the chaos of Sheffield Railway station and Sheaf Square. On 28th April shop window live sets will include Sheffield’s own tribute to Kraftwerk (3.00pm & 3.30pm), plus a further appearance by Michael Eden (4.15pm) showcasing his sultry vocals backed by some of Sheffield’s finest musicians.

* Tara Busch: I Speak Machine + Scanner: Stolen Voices

Sunday 22nd April from 4.00pm SensoriaSpace, Trafalgar House, Trafalgar Street.

Commissioned by Sensoria in association with PRSF Women Make Music, Tara Busch has built a synthesizer and created an innovative ‘sci fi symphony’ I Speak Machine.  Tara explores artificial intelligence and her relationship with the machine – performing using a vocal effects processor to represent an android named G.E.N.A. Scanner – Stolen Voices  (part of the Listening to the City series) Scanner uses some of his massive archive of stolen voices from mobile phones to weave a live musical collage of intercepted mobile phone conversations.

* Pete McKee presents Musicartoons

Monday 23rd April, 8.30pm Dada Bar FREE: Music and animation is a dream team and combining the two makes for the perfect three minutes. Here we present a selection of Pete’s favourite animated music videos including Apparat, Erasure & Bjork.

For the full programme of Sensoria events click here 

To 'like' Sensoria on Facebook click here and to follow the festival on Twitter click here 

Musical warm up for the Olympics

 

Next week will see 200 members of the public taking part in a classical music world premiere and geting fit at the same time, as the musicians of Sheffield-based Ensemble 360 move into the English Institute of Sport – Sheffield (EIS Sheffield) to mark the 100-day countdown to the Olympic Games.

Believed to be a unique participation event, the premiere on Wednesday 18 April, 6.30pm (with a performance for schools at 1.30pm) is of Bolt from the Blue commissioned from the American composer Stephen Montague. It has been written as the perfect accompaniment to an active lifestyle – some sports scientists believe that classical music provides a better accompaniment for training than the pop-derived playlists favoured by many athletes.

Sheffield-based choreographer Anna Olejnicki, from Hype Dance, will guide participants through the steps of the routine, which will be suitable for all ages and abilities, and then lead the performance to the live music at EIS Sheffield. Those of a more sedentary disposition will be able to attend the work’s concert premiere the following day, Thursday 19 April, 5.45pm in the Sheffield City Hall Ballroom. 

Stephen Montague has written many major commissions including works for the Royal Festival Hall, Cheltenham Festival and the BBC Proms. In addition to writing for traditional orchestral forces Montague has also written numerous more ‘experimental’ works such as his Horn Concerto for klaxon horn soloist and an orchestra of automobiles, and a concerto for eight motorcycles, brass and percussion. Stephen will be at EIS Sheffield on the day to hear his piece and to take part in the fitness event.

Angus Smith, Artistic Director of Music in the Round, said: “We are very excited about making our own contribution to the Olympic year with a new piece linking sport and music. We have an exceptionally strong team for this event – musicians, composer, choreographer and hosting venue – and with this winning combination we are very confident that Bolt from the Blue will really set the adrenalin pumping.”

Lorenzo Clark, director of operations for Sheffield International Venues (SIV), which operates Sheffield City Hall and EIS Sheffield, said: “The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the biggest and most high profile celebration of sport and culture this country has ever seen. Unique events such as this Music in the Round premiere are a fantastic way of utilising SIV’s world-class venues to ensure the games leave a legacy for sport and participation which will benefit future generations in Sheffield for years to come.”

To book your place at the EIS Sheffield fitness event or for more information contact Music in the Round on 0114 281 4660 or info@musicintheround.co.uk

Connect with Music in the Round on Facebook and Twitter

'Andy Warhol: Late Self-Portraits' at Graves Gallery

Next week sees an exhibition of self-portraits of Andy Warhol - probably the most photographed American artist of the 20th century - from the late seventies until just before his untimely death in 1987, open at Museum Sheffield's Graves Gallery,on Surrey Street, S1.

'Andy Warhol: Late Self-Portraits', which runs from Wednesday 11th April to Saturday 1st December 2012, reveals the many faces of the artist who succeeded in becoming a household name. Though the intense and dramatic portraits invite us to read endlessly into them, the ‘real’ Andy remains elusive. Chameleon-like, he plays many roles, from pop star to shy introvert. The spectre of premature death, which had haunted Warhol since his near-fatal shooting in 1968, hovers in the background of these pictures.

This show features some of Warhol’s most iconic pictures and is co-curated by art collector Anthony d’Offay, who mounted the first UK exhibition of Warhol self-portraits in 1986.  The exhibition will also offer a unique insight into the ‘real’ Andy Warhol from the people who knew him best. Created by art historian Dr Jean Wainwright, The Search for Andy Warhol’s Voice features a series of audio recordings of Warhol’s family and close friends talking about the artist’s childhood, relationships and approach to his work.

The works going on display at the Graves Gallery are taken from ARTIST ROOMS, an inspirational collection of modern and contemporary art donated by Anthony d’Offay to Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation. 

The ARTIST ROOMS tour, now in its fourth year, is showing at 17 museums and galleries across the UK in 2012. The tour is made possible thanks to the support of national fundraising charity the Art Fund which helps UK museums and galleries to buy, show and share art.

Harley Live showcases Sheffield's musical diversity

Garage-rock, French dream-pop, folk-tinged indie-pop or an electronica gig you can experience while skating around a roller rink - these are just a few of the vibrant, eclectic live music nights coming up in Sheffield and the one factor this diverse line-up have in common is that they're organised by Harley Live.

Harley Live has been programming live music events in and around Sheffield for the past five years. In 2009 they developed the idea of Sheffield's free multi-venue music festival, Tramlines, which rapidly grew into a major event and soon earned the title of the UK's 'urban Glastonbury.'

Now ably supported by most of Sheffield’s music industry, Harley Live have the role of Tramlines’ Festival Director and also programme the lineups on a number of the stages, including the New Music Stage, the Cathedral, the Grand Ballroom and the Harley and manage many of the festival’s commercial relationships.

With the first round of Tramlines acts being announced next week, we had a chat with Kate Hewett, programmer for Tramlines/Harley Live, about Sheffield culture, musical heroes and we discover more about that special gig involving skates...

What qualities define the Sheffield cultural scene - and within this how would you sum up the musical spirit of the city?

'I've always felt that Sheffield's cultural scene is incredibly individualistic. It doesn't seem bow to trends or to look to what's successful elsewhere for inspiration, and I think that's part of what makes it so vibrant. At any given time, there are loads of independently-minded people, all working on really diverse projects, which means a pretty deep-seated cultural mixture to explore and engage with. 

When it comes to music, specifically, I think this independent spirit is really noticeable, with Sheffield artists often having ended up at the forefront of pioneering new sounds which have broken out to a wider audience. The city also has a really supportive DIY scene, meaning that even when a musician and their work remains underground, there'll always be a venue able to put on their shows and an audience to come and see them.'

How has Harley Live developed over the years?

'We've moved from just booking shows in at The Harley to working with a load of different venues, as well as to programming two of the main stages at Tramlines and doing a lot of the behind the scenes work on the festival. 

We now programme the live music calendar for Queens Social Club's amazing concert room, and have had some great shows there in the last year from the likes of Low, Best Coast, Efterklang and Portico Quartet. We've also promoted shows at City Hall's Ballroom, St George's Church, Skate Central and the Memorial Hall, and have a sold-out show coming up at The Lantern Theatre in May. Working with different venues has allowed us to broaden the range of acts that we're able to put on, which is really important as people become more selective with the money they're able to spend on music.

That said, our main focus is still on putting on the bands and artists that we love and that we really want to see playing in Sheffield. People seem to be responding pretty positively so far!'

What new plans/ideas are on the horizon?

'We've got loads of interesting shows coming up in the next few months, with my personal highlights being a homecoming show from Slow Club at Queens Social Club in April, and a Seattle hip-hop duo called Shabazz Palaces playing at The Harley in May, who will be playing Sheffield for the first time ever.

As well as those two, the one show I'm most looking forward to has got to be Rolled School, which we're putting on at the Skate Central roller rink on 5th May. We've got Scottish electronica outfit Errors headlining the show, and will be announcing a few more acts in the next couple of weeks. It'll be the third show we've put on at the roller rink, and the last two have been some of the most fun events I've ever worked on. We set a stage up at one end of the rink, and include skate hire in our ticket price, so the audience can skate around while the bands play.

We're also announcing the first round of acts for Tramlines next week, which I can't wait for. It's still very much a work in progress, but with what we have booked so far, I feel like it's going to be the best Tramlines yet.'

Who or what are your Sheffield Cultural heroes - who has personally inspired you creatively?

'When I started out promoting in Sheffield, I took a lot of inspiration from the nights I would attend myself. It was really reassuring to see that I was in a place where people could take risks and still find themselves with a dedicated audience.

As an example, a night like Razor Stiletto showed me it was possible to act purely on your instincts and still create something that people engaged with, and that's something I really try to do with everything I work on now.'

To see the full line-up of Harley Live shows coming up, visit: www.harleylive.co.uk/listings/

Connect with Harley Live on Twitter and Facebook 

Children's Hospital photo exhibiton assures families they are not alone

 

Fascinating behind the scenes photographs of The Children’s Hospital, Sheffield, are helping to reassure anxious families.

Three local photographers were given unlimited access to the hospital last autumn and the result is ‘You’re Not Alone’; the first exhibition to be displayed on the hospital’s ‘Long Gallery’.

Curated by The Children’s Hospital Charity’s Arts for Health programme, with backing from the Arts Council, the powerful photographs feature patients, parents and staff.

Cat Powell, Arts for Health Coordinator at The Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “By sharing patients’, parents’ and staff's experiences, the exhibition hopes to demonstrate that we’re not alone in our anxieties.

“We want viewers to reflect on - and even celebrate - what makes their own experiences of The Children’s Hospital so unique.”

Cat recruited three Sheffield-based photographers to the project; Andy Brown, Shaun Bloodworth and Richard Hanson.

Andy Brown focussed on the patients at the hospital, including photographing children both before and after surgery for teeth extraction in his ‘Being Brave’ series, the reactions of the young patients to having casts removed in ‘The Potting Shed’ and even surgery on an 11-week-old baby.

Andy said: “This project was an incredible opportunity. The thing I reflected on most during my time in the hospital was just how varied the experience of the hospital is for children.

“For most patients, the experience of hospital has the potential to be really quite intimidating; it is testament to the skills of hospital staff in putting patients at ease that I was able to photograph as I did.”

Shaun Bloodworth has worked as a photographer for 24 years and, as a child, was a patient at The Children's Hospital.

Shaun said: “I spent my time looking at the hopes and fears parents experience when bringing in their children to the hospital, through a series of portraits and interviews.

“What struck me most was the parents feeling of inclusion, in the care, decision making and outcome of their child's condition. It was apparent that becoming part of the extended family of the hospital was a very important part of the whole healing process.”

The third photographer involved in this project, Richard Hanson, who focussed on the hospital's staff, said: “I came away from the Children’s Hospital with strong impressions of commitment and humour, proactive care and a desire for the children who come through this hospital to receive the best possible help available.”

Barry Whitlam, whose son Carter was born with only one lung and spent almost a year at The Children’s Hospital, said: “The gallery is a fantastic idea. It will hopefully help visitors to the hospital with their experience and give them an idea of what to expect. For me it was great seeing all the different areas of the hospital that hold so many memories.”

The exhibition will remain on the Long Gallery at The Children’s Hospital until June, with plans for a public exhibition in the summer.

The Long Gallery can be visited by appointment by contacting Cat Powell at The Children’s Hospital Charity, or can be enjoyed online at: www.tchc.org.uk/thelonggallery

Image: Photographer Andy Brown, stands before some of his 'You're Not Alone' images

New exhibition combines 1950s Fir Vale with 21st century Upperthorpe

 

Six decades of a changing Sheffield is the subject of a dramatic new art exhibition unveiled next week.

Celebrated local poet and author, Michael Glover, opens a new Occursus show on Thursday March 15th, held at DLA Piper's offices, at St Paul's Place, S1, with a reading from the "make do and mend" world of 1950s' Fir Vale - the setting for his critically-acclaimed 'Headlong Into Pennilessness' autobiography.

Now a national and international art critic, Michael will be joined by four Sheffield-based artists who will be showcasing their work, based around unexplored cultural heritage in the city. 

Matthew Conduit's photography is based around varying landscapes that often go unnoticed in the city. The former director of the former Untitled Gallery - now Site Gallery - is best known for his pioneering work on the Workstation cultural workspace and the Showroom cinema. 

When Berris Conolly moved to Sheffield in the 1980s he used and manipulated the landscapes he saw into striking photography. His work often highlights the ever-changing fabric of the Steel City and emphasises parts of the city that are often omitted in memory but always part of Sheffield’s cultural or industrial heritage. 

Setting her camera aside for this exhibition, Karen Logan will be presenting her original and unique sculptural designs. Karen is also heavily involved in developing artistic interest within the Sheffield community.

As a 23-year-old photographic artist, Joshua Holt originates from the Upperthorpe area and his critical photography is mostly concerned with accentuating parts of the city that are often ignored or unnoticed. 

These four artists have been brought together by Occursus - a city-wide group led by Dr. Amanda Crawley Jackson and students of the University of Sheffield, who also hold a weekly discussion group open to all at Bloc Studios, Arundel Street. The main aim of Occursus is to collaborate with both emerging and established artists to explore the ways in which we represent and inhabit our city. 

This exhibition is by private view only at DLA Piper, sponsors of Occursus, who are also set to support community art projects that will be unveiled in the next coming months.

Image: Castle Square by Berris Conolly

Alight takes centre stage as part of the Cultural Olympiad

 

This weekend, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus will be leading the Alight festival, part of Music Nation, a countdown event for the London 2012 Festival, the finale of the Cultural Olympiad. 

This flagship afternoon concert at Victoria Hall, on Norfolk Street, will take place on Saturday 3rd March 2012 and include rarely-heard works and a brand-new commission by Chorus member Yaron Hollander of Sassoon’s “Everyone Sang”. Alight will be a full day of music, dance and visual arts events taking place in central Sheffield and the surrounding area. 

Music Nation is a nationwide weekend of live music events held across the UK on 3 & 4 March 2012. Devised and led by the BBC, Music Nation is the first nationwide countdown event to the London 2012 Festival. BBC Radio 3, Music Nation’s principal media partner, is dedicating its weekend programming to Music Nation with additional programming across the weekend on Radio 1, 1xtra, BBC Scotland, BBC Wales, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC local radio. For full details on all the events visit bbc.co.uk/musicnation.

Sheffield's Alight will be divided into three timed groupings: Alight: Daylight, Alight: Twilight and Alight: Into the Night.

Alight: Daylight, 10am-5.30pm. A plethora of community events in a ‘festival’ style. Venues:  

• Winter Gardens

• The Hubs

• The Town Hall – with an event hosted by Sheffield’s Lord Mayor Cllr. Sylvia Dunkerley

• The Victoria Hall Methodist Church, Norfolk Street

• Sheffield Train Station

• Weston Park

• The Central United Reform Church

• Sheffield Cathedral

• Gatty Hall, Ecclesfield 

Performers will range from young children performers, to established choirs and music groups like BeVox and OutAloud, through to more unusual acts such as Babel Songs - which features music from around the world - and the Ecclesfield Handbell Ringers. Most events will be free to attend and all will be suitable for family audiences. 

Alight: Twilight, 7.30pm-9.30pm. A fully-directed show featuring over 650 local performers. Venue: City Hall. 

Alight: Into the Night, 9.30pm-early hours. Sheffield Hallam University students, as part of their undergraduate degree course, are designing and running 'Ignite' - a musical project with 18 – 25 year olds. Venue: Sheffield Hallam University Students' Union.

For more details about Alight visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AlightSheffield

 

Lovebytes 2012 presents Digital Spring

 

Lovebytes, a Sheffield-based independent digital arts organisation is set to present Digital Spring, a festival of art, science and technology at venues across the city next month. 

Established in 1994 to explore the creative and cultural potential of digital technologies and to provide an international platform for new work and ideas, Lovebytes this year hosts an exciting programme of interactive exhibitions, live art, performance, workshops and educational projects, from 22nd-24th March 2012. All events are open to the public, and many are free of charge. 

At the heart of this year's festival is Intuition and Ingenuity, an exhibition celebrating the life and influence of Alan Turing, one of the greatest minds Britain has ever produced. From inventing the digital computer and helping to decode the German Enigma machine to founding the science of artificial intelligence, the world today would have been a very different place without his ideas. 

Intuition and Ingenuity marks the centenary of Turing's birth, with new works by international digital art pioneers and emerging contemporary artists, including Roman Verostko, Ernest Edmonds, boredomresearch, Patrick Tresset, Anna Dumitriu and Alex May. 

The Lovebytes Spring Fayre is a fun, family-friendly event in Sheffield's Winter Gardens, offering a range of art, science and technology related activities to challenge and inspire young minds of any age. The event includes Victorian drawing machines, a headphone-only music festival, theremin performances, wandering 'artbots' and workshops in creative computing, animation and photography. 

Heading up the music strand of the festival is Pattern Discovery - a programme of experimental sound art in the surroundings of one of Sheffield's hidden treasures. In the daytime, Jana Winderen presents her immersive sound installation Spawning Ground in the beautiful Upper Chapel on Norfolk Street. Jana is one of the world's foremost field recording artists, whose work explores the sonic environments of aquatic creatures and the movements of ice flows. Following this, the evening moves to other sonic extremes with live performances from Bruce Gilbert, Russell Haswell, Peter Rehberg and Marcus Schmickler; an exceptional line-up to invigorate the senses. 

Throughout the festival, there is a strong emphasis on experimentation, new ideas and unleashed technological creativity across a wide range of forms and genres, from music and film to physical computing and live notation.Megadork is an extraordinary edition of Dorkbot, the international network of events that began in New York and spread around the world. This informal variety show is for people interested in electric and electronic art in the broadest sense; robotics, kinetic art, microcontrollers, interactive art, algorithmic music and net.art.

Visit http://2012.lovebytes.org.uk/ to see the full Lovebytes programme.

To follow Lovebytes on Twitter click here

Connect with Lovebytes on Facebook here 

University of Sheffield’s Spring concerts to explore disability, health & wellbeing

 

The University of Sheffield’s new spring concert season, organised by the Department of Music, includes a series of events examining links between music, disability, health and wellbeing.

Featuring acclaimed artists, such as Navarra Quartet, Steven Osborne and the Fidelio Trio, this innovative programme also features concerts and films which explore the role music played in the events of the Egyptian revolution last year - featuring singer and musicologist Reem Kelani - plus events held in association with the Sensoria Festival, including film screenings of La Dolce Vita, and silent films the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Metropolis, with live accompaniment.  

As well as these evening concerts, this Spring series - which begins this Friday 17th February, when the University in partnership with Music in the Round present Navarra Quartet who will perform Beethoven works, starting at 7.45pm the Crucible Studio Theatre - includes rush-hour Concerts, free lunchtime concerts and a lunchtime series at Museums Sheffield's Graves and Millennium Galleries, and Western Park Museum; all featuring University of Sheffield students.  

Music, Disability and Health and Wellbeing will investigate how disability has affected the musical output composers; how music and creativity can improve wellbeing and how music has raised awareness for health related causes. The Navarra Quartet are winners of the Outstanding Young Artist Award at the MIDEM Classique Awards in Cannes and, over the last two years have increasingly developed their international profile, appearing at major festivals and venues throughout Europe, Russia, the USA and Bahrain. 

Stewart Campbell Concerts Manager at the Department of Music said: “This season we feature several programming themes each demonstrating the importance of music in a number of varying disciplines, including science and health, politics and world culture and in the film industry.  

“I hope the series on health, disability and wellbeing will highlight the importance of music and culture on our wellbeing, whilst celebrating the impressive work being undertaken in this city within these two cross-cutting practices. I’m also pleased to develop relationships with our artistic partners allowing the series to further contribute to the civic mission of the University.”

Tickets for all events in this diverse programme can be bought from the Sheffield Arena Ticket Shop by calling 0114 256 5567, visiting www.sheffield.ac.uk/concerts or in person at University of Sheffield Students’ Union Box Office Western Bank Sheffield. 

Image: Navarra Quartet

Sheffield Unbound set to transform iconic city spaces

 

Sheffield Unbound is a major new project from Sheffield Theatres which will take live performance and imaginative design to new and unusual parts of Sheffield. Working in partnership with local communities, artists and businesses, the Sheffield Unbound project aims to transform your favourite spaces in the city.

Sheffield Theatres is inviting local people to nominate their iconic places and spaces in and around Sheffield to become the focus of innovative theatre projects. These spaces can be indoor, outdoor, large, or small-scale but they must be public, located in the Sheffield city area and be special to you!

The first-round deadline to submit your idea of a space for the project is Monday 2nd April 2012. An experienced panel, drawn from different sectors across the city, will then select the proposals they deem to offer the most exciting potential to take forward during the next few years, as exciting new partnership projects.

If you would like an application form to submit your nomination for Sheffield Unbound, please email Andrew Loretto, Creative Producer at Sheffield Theatres at: a.loretto@sheffieldtheatres.co.uk. Completed application forms and any supplementary materials should also be emailed to Andrew, or sent by post to: Sheffield Theatres, 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 1DA, clearly marking the envelope 'Sheffield Unbound.' Application forms should be submitted from groups or partnerships and show clear evidence of:

• Your shared relationship to the space

• Mixed public use (or the potential for mixed public use)

• Potential for site-specific live performance or artistic installation to take place in the space

• Potential, and need, for transformation of the space (this could be for example quality of design, urban environment, community cohesion)

• Partnership working

The Port of Sheffield - the first of what is hoped to be many Sheffield Unbound projects - is already being planned and set to be staged next year. This project is based on the waterways in the east of the city, with the audiences travelling in Dutch barges from the City Centre to Tinsley Locks and returning by tram. 

Using a script drawn together from historical research and verbatim stories, this production will include site-specific live performance, music and digital imaging, to create a contemporary mirror which reflects Sheffield's history, society and people, and the story of the city's industrial waterways.

The Port of Sheffield is being led by a new partnership between Sheffield Theatres and The Blue Shed, an innovative new arts, music and performance venue in Brightside, who are working in partnership with The University of Sheffield's MA Cultural History department. 

 

Image: snapshot of city's canal, as seen from the Five Weirs Walk

Two Tribes: The Miner's Strike Musical

 

Twenty-five years on from events of the day, two Sheffield based cultural figures are collaborating on an ambitious creative project which aims to bring the sights and sounds of the Miner’s Strike centre stage in the Steel City.

‘Two Tribes: The Miner’s Strike Musical’ began life as a concept two years ago, when an idea formed by local promoter and music producer Ralph Razor crystallized and he began to collaborate with Russell Senior, of Pulp, to create a drama, which tells the story of the 1984 Miner’s Strike, soundtracked by the music hits of the time. 

The story focuses on the relationship of two men - one a miner in South Yorkshire, one in Nottinghamshire - and is set within real life events including 1984’s Battle Of Orgreave. 

Called Two Tribes in homage to the Frankie Goes To Hollywood hit, the drama has moved into pre-production within the last fortnight, since Ralph and Russell have moved into office space in The Workstation, in Paternoster Row, to co-ordinate casting, production and funding applications.

Looking forward, Russell and Ralph are planning to stage taster scenes at this year’s Tramlines festival, before premiering the full version of their drama at a Sheffield venue - potentially The Crucible or South Street Amphitheatre - in early 2013.

We spoke to them from their Workstation base to find out more...

Ralph, how did the idea for Two Tribes form & develop? At what stage did Russell join you, or have collaborated on this project right from the start?

RR: ‘Russell came in right from the start. It was just an idea at that stage, which I thought might work, that had been rattling round my head for a bit and kept recurring. A couple of people said: ‘Oh yeah, you should give Russell a shout about it, so I did. I emailed him and said I’ve got this idea, what do you reckon? And he said it’s a ridiculous idea. I want no part of it!’

RS: ‘I came down to his house and said: ‘I’ll stop you making a complete fool of yourself with the accents. Ralph’s use of the vernacular is comical. From that, we started working on it and a month later I turned around and realised that’s it, I’m in this project. We were working on it together, without quite intending to.’

You’re now looking for potential cast and crew in Sheffield. Can you tell us a bit more about who you’d like to come onboard?

RS: ‘We’re looking for anyone in the city who’s over 16, who wants to get involved. You don’t need acting or theatre experience. We have 30 parts for men and three for women, so you’ve got a lot more chance of acting in it if you’re a bloke!’

RR: ‘We are seeking more male roles but the female roles we have are good ones - the women aren’t marginalised in the story, so they are strong parts. But obviously if you’re having a scene with several miners going into a pit, they’re going to be men.’

RS: ‘The age range is pretty much 16 to 80. The youngest characters in the play are 18 but a 16-year-old can play an 18-year-old can’t they?’

RR: ‘Yes we’ve got 18-year-old characters and then we’ve got their parent’s generation and we have a couple of older roles too.’

RS: ‘In particular we’re looking for anybody who can do a north Notts accent - it’s quite a hard accent to do. Yorkshire’s kind of dead easy. So anybody with that should consider themselves to have a head start really. We’re very much looking for help behind the scenes as well- everything from runners to people with skills in marketing, theatre, lighting, costume, hair.

RR: ‘I think anything that you could imagine in the artistic sphere, we’ll probably need.’

RS: ‘Or if you know how to nail two bits of wood together or construct a 20-ft pit head out of scrap metal, then that’s even better. Anybody that’s prepared to put a few hours a week into it, we’ll have.’

How important is the input of Sheffielders for this project?

RR: ‘It’s important in several ways. Primarily, we need people to get involved to help make it happen. I think also we are committed to launching it in Sheffield. It’s very much going to be, without sounding too cliched, a Sheffield play for Sheffield people. There’s not much point in getting somebody up from London and teaching them a Yorkshire accent when we live in Yorkshire.’

Who or what most inspires you about our city?

RR: ‘I’ve always found Sheffield to be exciting in an understated way. I think any musicians who have come from Sheffield and been successful have always had a slightly leftfield slant. There’s certain things they haven’t compromised with, which is great. When I first moved to Sheffield it seemed to be a breeding ground for weird, eccentric talent.’

RS: ‘I like the flawed eccentrics that keep plugging away.'

If you’re interested in being involved in Two Tribes, just visit: http://www.tt84.co.uk

To follow ‘Two Tribes’ on Twitter here or connect on Facebook here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singclude Project to overcome barriers for disabled singers

 

Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus is set to create exciting new possibilities for mobility impaired singers from next week, when BBC Radio 4's Disability Affairs Correspondent Peter White will launch its Singclude Project to the nation, at Sheffield City Hall's Memorial Hall.

Funded by Big Lottery Awards for All, Singclude is centred around the use of a portable electric stair-climber to enable singers with severe mobility impairments to access the, often temporary, seating areas provided for choirs. Singclude, which will be launched at a special event on Wednesday 25th January 2012 starting at 3pm, has been a collaboration between the Chorus and Sheffield International Venues Ltd. 

Richard Hunter, General Manager of Sheffield’s City Hall said: "We were very happy to help provide access to the Chorus's performance area for a member who needs to use a wheelchair. Singclude provided the solution and we are delighted that one of SIV’s venues is, so far as we know, the first in the UK to employ a stair-climber for this purpose."

Chorus Chairman Julie Smethurst said: "It is increasingly well-known that singing is good for you, and singing as part of a choir is even better! Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus aims to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, and our ground-breaking Singclude project takes this to a new level as it opens up choral singing at the highest possible standard to a, so far, very under-represented group of people.

"We do hope this initiative may inspire others to offer singing opportunities to people with significant mobility impairments thus allowing them to partake of the massive wellbeing benefits of choral singing. Locally we also hope to be able to share our stair-climber with other musical organisations whose members might be able to benefit from using it".

If you would like to attend the launch of Singclude please RSVP by email to kate_reece@sheffieldphil.org or call 0114 2339316.

The Chorus is leading Sheffield's Cultural Olympiad Alight festival, which is taking place on 3rd March 2012, and would love to see the stair-climber used to ensure that singing colleagues with mobility issues are able to fulfil their dreams of performing at the city’s most prestigious concert venue. 

Julie adds: “In the spirit of this special 2012 year, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus are proud to be able to help local people and we’d love any singers with mobility issues who wish to be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get in touch, and we’ll do our very best to help ensure inclusivity for all.” 

Tickets for the Alight festival shows are available from the City Hall. Book by telephone on 0114 2789789 or via: http://www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk/events

To connect with Alight on Facebook click here

To connect with Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus on Facebook click here or follow the Chorus on Twitter by clicking here.

 

Culture Club 'Participation' showcase night returns

 

Next week sees the final event in a trio of showcase Culture Club nights, organised and hosted by The North Marketing Agency and supported by Sheffield City Council, which will take place at Sheffield Theatres' Crucible Theatre and focus on the third theme in Sheffield's culture strategy, 'Participation'.

This free event, to be held on Thursday 19th January, from 7pm to 10pm, is set to be a fantastic opportunity to bring people from various creative communities across our city together to mingle, network and celebrate this region’s rich cultural diversity. The eight speakers/performances to be featured are: Hype Dance, Music in the Round, Now Then magazine, Sheffield Festival of Ancient Drama, Art in the Park, SKINN, Reflections Art, and Sheffield Theatres.

As with the previous two Culture Club showcase events, which took place last year and were linked to the city's Culture Strategy, there will be live tweets on the night on Twitter - to follow and join in the conversation search for #sheffculture.

In the run-up to next week, we chat to one of showcase speakers, Matt Shipton, Director of Nostoi Productions, who is currently producing the inaugural Sheffield Festival of Ancient Drama...

How did the idea for Sheffield Festival of Ancient Drama come about and how hard was it to get off the ground?

'I’d love to say that it was all a result of careful planning, but a lucky co-incidence set things off. In 2010 I began participation in a research council funded programme, called ‘Communicating Ancient Greece and Rome’, co-ordinated by the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at the University of Oxford. This programme is something new in Classics and aims to help researchers find opportunities to develop public understanding of the ideas, art, history and performances from ancient Greece and Rome. As it happens, it was shortly afterwards in the spring of 2011 that the South Street open air theatre began to emerge. When I came across a picture of the theatre on a website I couldn’t believe that such an incredible performance space was being built in my home city. And with the Olympics coming up, and the torch passing through Sheffield, it felt like the stars had aligned. I hardly needed to pitch the idea to possible co-organisers.

'Within a month I had signed up a very talented artistic director, Helen Slaney, an award winning poet and playwright, Henry Stead and acquired an indispensable event manager and co-producer in Lottie Parkyn. From then on, the Festival seems to have taken on a momentum of its own. We’ve has interest from across the world and many people from Sheffield and beyond have been in contact to ask how they can get involved. I wouldn’t say we’re quite off the ground yet, we’re still waiting to hear from potential funders, but there is no shortage of enthusiasm. Typically of Sheffield, the artistic community has been really supportive so far and everyone we’ve spoken with has given sensible and supportive advice on how the festival can become a success.'

What will the festival involve?

'If it was up to me there would be hundreds of events, from a Classics crèche to the lighting of beacons across Sheffield’s seven hills. Thankfully the rest of the Festival team have tactfully steered me away from these ideas, pointing out that 1. Not many people would be interested in them, 2. They’re totally unrealistic, and 3. We just don’t have the money. I guess they’re right (but I still hold out hope for future Festivals).

'What we have though is a really good mix of events for a first Festival. These will include putting on a grassroots poetry event, based on the amazing work done by London Poetry Systems, that will help establish a network of poets who take inspiration from the ancient world; film screenings of modern adaptations of ancient drama, where we hope to collaborate with local schools to hold drama workshops to show what ancient dancing and music would have been like and we would like to hold some sort of public debate about what importance the ancient world might still have for a city like Sheffield.

'Of course, how big we go with all of these ideas really comes down to funding and we’re still working on that. But the showcase event, and probably the one that will get all the attention, will be the performance of a new production of Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound at the South Street open air theatre. I think it’s probably this event that excites me the most as a classicist: we have the chance to bring ancient Greek theatre back to its original setting, performed in front of the city to which the story relates and from where the audience come from, and using participants from that community. Prometheus has quite an association with Sheffield and Henry Stead’s translation really brings these associations to the here and now.'

How important is the idea of participation to the festival and what impact would you like the festival to have on the people of Sheffield?

'Without the participation of Sheffielders this project will fail. We agreed right at the outset that we would involve the local community in whatever we do, whether this be in engaging local designers to help produce a Festival programme or inviting participants in poetry performances. Our whole ethos is about performance in the city, for the city and by the city This is what ancient festivals were all about and we’d like to stay true to the artistic form’s roots. Of course, we can’t be totally exclusive of the outside world and we do want to show off Sheffield’s talent to the rest of the country (another aspect of ancient festivals), but everything we do will have a community focus. We’re about to push the call to auditions for Prometheus out to the local community but we’d also like to invite volunteers from Sheffield for positions such as Assistant Director and Project Liaison for the Festival. Ideally, the impact we hope for is to leave behind an infrastructure that will allow other creative projects relating to the ancient world to develop, independently of our annual event.'

To keep connected with Sheffield Festival of Ancient Drama follow on Twitter and Facebook 

Image, of South Street open air theatre, supplied by Matt Shipton

Griffin Theatre Arts is all set for 2012

 

Established this autumn, Sheffield based arts CIC [Community Interest Company] Griffin Theatre Arts aims to excite, engage and inspire children, young people and families in active participation and enjoyment of the arts.

Their work is distinctly creative and original, educating through practical engagements that inspire exploration and thought. From the core of their work, Griffin Theatre Arts intend to push boundaries, inspire new thinking and develop creativity.

‘As an organisation, we actively engage and collaborate with regionally based professional artists, practitioners and educators in artistic and arts education activity to deliver high quality artistic work,’ explains artistic director Sarah Clough. ‘We will also work with nationally based artists to deliver certain skills and work.’

We talk to Sarah to find out more about their work and plans for 2012....

Why did you decide to set up Griffin Theatre Arts?

‘With so much uncertainty around about arts funding, the importance of ensuring that the type of work Griffin Theatre Arts deliver, is still being offered to our young people is vital. I spent six years working at the Crucible both as the Education Officer and as a Creative Practitioner seeing the worth, value and impact of arts engagement on young people; and as someone who’s had experience in this role in Sheffield, I believe that there is a space within the city’s cultural offer for the work that Griffin Theatre Arts delivers.   Working with a number of associate artists, which we employ on a project by project basis, also allows Griffin Theatre Arts to retain freedom in our creative direction.’

What plans have you already got in place for 2012?

‘Next year, we’re collaborating with the Lantern Theatre as part of their Shakespeare Festival, fromlateJanuary to February , which will include aworkshop delivered by former Assistant Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Helen Leblique, who’s also an associate artist with us. During the February half-term break we’ll also be delivering ‘Shakespeare in a Week’ and the play we’re focusing on is ‘The Comedy of Errors.’ 

On top of this, we have our Leap into Literacy workshops, for primary school teachers and teaching assistants. These sessions will explore local folklore and heritage in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, through literature. In May we’re working with Derbyshire County Council for their literature festival. Plus in late April/May, we’ll be holding Goblin Market, our storytelling workshop tour, based on Christina Rossetti’s classic pre-Raphaelite, English poem, which is designed for reception to year 3 pupils.

For us, the important thing we hope to see is impact and legacy of our work. We’ll be offering follow-up support to teachers and other education professionals who attend our sessions. From this, we’re hoping to develop a piece of work which plays with actor and audience engagement.’

Who and what are your cultural inspirations and heroes?

‘As an arts practitioner, I’m particularly passionate about Shakespeare - he creates such exciting and visceral work and makes it so accessible to audiences. I have to mention the Crucible too - as a stage it’s such an exceptional space. The more we can draw people to the city to experience this grand but intimate place from a young age, the better. We need to be engaging people in the arts at a young age and keep reinforcing the idea that culture is something everybody can, and has the right to experience.’

 

To connect with Griffin Theatre Arts on Facebook click here 

To follow Griffin Theatre Arts on Twitter click here 

5th birthday showcase for The Old Sweet Shop 

 

To mark its fifth birthday, independent arts shop and gallery space, The Old Sweet Shop [TOSS], situated in Nether Edge, is currently showcasing a collection of works from past exhibitors, supporters, and newcomers to TOSS alike, in a group show which celebrates this unique space's continuing ethos of collaboration and quality.

This exhibition, which runs until 24th December, includes artwork by Craww, Jon Birdseed, Phlegm, Sarah Abbot, Rocket01, Ema, Ladoza, Fauna Graphic and Andy Brown. In honour of reaching this milestone, the shop has also been expanded which means this brand new gallery space is on view to the public for the first time.

'It’s been an incredible 5 years,' says TOSS founder and owner Emma Hudson. 'We’ve been lucky enough to have exhibitions of artwork by the likes of Phlegm, Lord Bunn, Nikki Pinder, Ladoza Vs Bunnies of Doom, Pud, Emilie Taylor, Jenny Wilkinson, Elizabeth Von Graevenitz, Mikk Murray, Rocket01, Fauna Graphic, Kittenface and Famous When Dead.  The new gallery will give us the opportunity to develop our exhibition programme and provide a stand alone space to show yet more work by local artists.'

We chatted to Emma to talk more about Sheffield’s arts and culture scene….

What defines Sheffield cultural scene for you?

'It’s a melting pot of creativity and there’s a definite DIY ethos here. We don’t often shout loud enough about what we do, but there is always something of cultural interest happening. I also enjoy the overlap of art, music and film. People don’t necessarily stick to their particular ‘cliques’. Events like Sensoria are a good example of this as they manage to combine documentary, music and art. Also venues like The Riverside are so keen to combine theatre, art and music gigs and make it more than just a pub. I think that’s very commendable.'

What changes in the creative scene of the city have you noticed in last 5 years?

'One thing I have noticed, perhaps surprisingly, is that in the last couple of years I have seen more and more people become freelance or start to create work on top of their day to day job than 5 years ago. One good thing to come out a recession is that people have nothing to lose and can’t rely on being any employee forever. This makes people reach out and more often than not, stream their creativity.

Since I started, the DIY ethos has continued to grow and grow and, despite the recession, more and more things have started or developed. The work that Now Then, Pecha Kucha, and most recently Sheffield Culture are doing helps creative thinking to breed within the city and for ideas to develop. You could call Sheffield a giant Pin Ball machine with ideas being fired in all sorts of directions. It's also great that a lot more galleries and art spaces have sprung up. One of the best examples is 'A Month of Sundays', Pete McKee's gallery on Sharrowvale Road. It's got such a great feel of Pete's style.'

Who’s your favourite local artist and why?

'That’s a very difficult question to answer considering my job! I work with some of the most talented people in the local area and feel very privileged to do so. I have the outmost respect for artists like Phlegm and Kid Acne who have been ploughing their furrow for years and really sticking to their guns with the work that they want to do, and it always really comes across that they are not compromising.

It’s also been great to invite some new artists to show in the 5 year anniversary exhibition as well. I love Ema’s work and it’s great to be showing a internationally-renowned female graffiti artist who has close links to Sheffield. Jon Birdseed is one that also really stands out for me. I personally like to see the ideas behind someone’s work. And when it can be humorous and beautiful at the same time, which I find Jon’s work is, then that’s a double bonus.'

The Old Sweet Shop, 1 Nether Edge Road, Sheffield S7 1RU

Christmas Opening Hours:
Tuesday 13th - Friday 16th December - 10.30am - 6.30pm
Saturday 17th December - 9.30am - 5.30pm
Sunday 18th December - 11am - 4pm
Monday 19th December - Closed
Tuesday 20th - Friday 23rd December - 10.30am - 6.30pm
Christmas Eve (with sherry & mince pies) 10.30am - 3pm

To follow TOSS on Twitter click here

To connect with TOSS on Facebook click here

Image: TOSS 5th Birthday Exhibition flyer by Sarah Abbot

 

20x20 art installation makes Moor hip to be square 

 

A brand new installation at The Moor in Sheffield city centre is currently providing thousands of Christmas shoppers with an extraordinary customer experience, all focused on art works in the format of 20x20 inches square. 

The 20x20 exhibition is a technicolour showcase of over 50 artists and is housed in a disused shop front (renamed the White Gallery) next to Argos on The Moor, one of Sheffield's busiest consumer thoroughfares. The show, a joint venture between digital arts charity Access Space and the White Gallery, aims to provide a few delights and surprises to visitors to the city this winter.

20x20, in its sixth year, is the result of an open call for new art works in this specifically-requested format and runs until Tuesday 14th December 2011. The show has taken a short journey from Access Space's home, at 1 Sidney Street, S1 4RG.

Access Space arts programme manager, Jake Harries, explains: “The exhibition is a triumph for inclusion and participatory arts. Anyone can take part, from people who have never had work shown in public to professional artists who regularly exhibit, and it is growing every year. 

"This year we had more than fifty artists, of all ages, from Sheffield and the surrounding area submit their work. The only stipulation is that the work must be exactly 20 inches square. With just this one rule, it's amazing what a high quality and diverse selection of work is submitted. That's why we're taking this opportunity to show it right in the heart of the city. We think the exhibition helps to show just what a creative place Sheffield actually is.”

On Saturday 10th December Access Space staff, volunteers and artists will be at the exhibition to talk about their project and the charity will also launch its Friends Scheme. "In March we learned Access Space had lost its regular funding from the Arts Council of England from April 2012, so we are looking at ways to crowd source funds to keep our facilities free and open to the public," explains Jake. "We are inviting members of the Sheffield community to make contributions, starting at as little as, for instance, £1 by PayPal and £3 a month by standing order."

For more details about the Access Space Friends Scheme click here

To connect with Access Space on Facebook click here

To follow Access Space on Twitter click here

About Access Space: Access Space is the UK's longest running free, open digital arts lab, and is based on Sidney Street next to Yorkshire Art Space in Sheffield city centre. At Access Space, people interested in art, design, computers, recycling, music, electronics, photography and more meet like minded people, share and develop skills and work on creative, enterprising and technical projects

Image: Visitors enjoying 20x20 exhibition at Access Space

New contemporary Sheffield art gallery to open

 

Next month will see the impressive new Heartbeat gallery, created with a focus on showcasing and selling works of emerging contemporary artists, opening its doors in The Orchard Centre, in the West Bar area of the city centre.

On Monday 12th December 2011, at 6pm, this 900sqft gallery space at 14-18 West Bar Green, S1 2DA, will launch to the public with its inaugural exhibition, which showcases the works of six local female artists from Hangingwater Studio, located in the Nether Green area of the city. 

This show will bring together an exciting variety of works celebrating this studio's 10th anniversary. Since being founded in 2002, Hangingwater Studio has grown steadily as an artistic community focusing on the creation and teaching of art. In the same vein, Heartbeat aims to create an unpretentious and welcoming environment, presenting contemporary art works that prompt human exchange and dialogue. This first exhibition will include works by the following artists:

• Lena Papapanagiotou

Lena’s work is inspired by the observation of visual effects and the relation they have with light and, above all, colour. Sometimes the colour is powerful, absolute and definite and dictates the composition and some other times it is more sensitive and fragile, reflecting harmonious hues that balance between reality and illusion.

• JWJ Printmakers: Jan Slater, Wendy North, Anna Murray and Judith Webster

JWJ Printmakers are a group of individual printmakers who enjoy working alongside one another using a variety of techniques. They feel that working together leads to a sharing of ideas, supportive evaluation of one another’s work and a creative, sociable environment. Common themes in their work arise from an observation of the world around them, both urban and rural, natural and manmade. Collagraph, linocut, drypoint, wood engraving and monoprints are methods which enable JWJ Printmakers to explore and produce images combining colour, texture and line.

• Lesley Warren

Lesley seeks to discover a depth and spirituality in the structures and details of a landscape. The process of printmaking becomes a means of extracting the essence of her drawing. The print develops a slightly abstracted and unexpected form of the original landscape, expressed through the interaction of the textured surface of the printing plate and the layers of the printing.  Lesley uses collagraph techniques in these works.

To connect with the Heartbeat Gallery on Facebook click here

Image: Lena Papapanagiotou, Untitled (From “Surface” series), 2011

Sheffield premiere for dance sensation Flamenco Express 

 

Sheffield's Montgomery Theatre stage is set to showcase a troupe of internationally-celebrated, hugely-talented dancers and musicians from Madrid and London, when the exhilarating Flamenco Express show performs in our city for the first ever time, for one night only, next month.

Taking place on Saturday 3rd December 2011, Flamenco Express promises to showcase an amazing diversity of performers, who will bring their pure, passionate dance to the Montgomery Theatre, part of Montgomery Arts Centre Sheffield on Surrey Street, S1 2LG, led by the huge talent and vast experience of Jose Merino, in his long overdue return to the UK. 

Since his professional debut in 1992 Jose Merino has danced internationally with flamenco's greatest names including Antonio Canales, Belén Maya, Antonio el Pipa, Israel Galvan, Belén Fernandez, Rafael de Carmen and José Granero. 

Flamenco Express will begin at 7.45pm and tickets for this one-off Sheffield show are priced at £14.00.

For bookings visit www.arenaticketshop.co.uk or telephone 0114 256 5656.

For a taster of Flamenco Express, check out this YouTube clip  

What the press have said about Flamenco Express:

"Delighted the audiences who rewarded them with rapturous applause and encores" Dance Europe

"...utterly riveting variations of firecracker beats... tumultous fervour... indelible gracefulness" The Stage

To connect with Montgomery Arts Centre Sheffield [MACS] on Facebook, click here

To connect with Flamenco Express on Facebook click here 

Open Studios & show mark Persistance Works's first decade 

 

Staying true to Sheffield's international reputation as a city where people both make things and are fascinated by the making process, this weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of Yorkshire Artspace's flagship, award-winning city centre building Persistance Works, with new exhibition, PW10, and the opportunity to meet over 60 creative individuals at an exciting Open Studios event.

First opened in October 2001, Persistance Works, on Brown Street, S1 2BS, is Yorkshire Artspace's purpose built studio complex and was designed by Stirling Prize-winning architects Feilden Clegg Bradley. Not only has the building itself won numerous awards, including a RIBA Award, RIBA Yorkshire White Rose award and a Civic Trust Award Commendation, but since its creation this space has been home to numerous artists who create work which has been exhibited across the UK and beyond.

Yorkshire Artspace Studios will be open at Persistence Works and Porter Brook Studios in the city centre on Friday 18th November 5.30pm-9pm and Saturday 19th November 11am-5pm.  All the studios at Manor Oaks Studios on Manor Lane will be open on Sunday 20th November 11am-4pm, along with the farm shop and cafe. Plus, there will be workshops, demonstrations, refreshments and entertainment across all sites.

For the first time this year, visitors will also be able to buy works from selling exhibition PW10 which opens this Friday 18th November and Saturday 19th November, then runs from Wednesday to Saturday 11am-5pm until 21st December 2011. The show brings together artworks in limited editions of 10 by resident artists/makers, featuring jewellery, books, woodwork and ceramics, priced from £20 to £500.

Jeweller Jennie Gill is just one of the artists opening her studio and she will be showing a limited edition of ten rings as part of PW10. Her jewellery is hand made at her bench in Persistence Works and finds its way on to the fingers, wrists and necks of international rock stars as well as us lucky Sheffield locals. 

For further details about Yorkshire Artspace check out: http://www.artspace.org.uk/

To follow Yorkshire Artspace on Twitter click here

Images, of PW10 invitation & jeweller Jennie Gill, provided by Yorkshire Artspace

CADS: 'Our aim is help people create and innovate'

 

Situated over two ex-industrial buildings, including a former cutlery factory, in Shalesmoor, CADS [Creative Arts Development Space] is a growing multi-function arts complex which focuses on creative enterprise. CADS not only provides affordable studio space, but this creative hub also supports various in-house projects which are aimed at fostering and encouraging arts, music & media in Sheffield and beyond.

Founded by managing director Steve Rimmer, in September 2010, the vision of CADS is to create a community of artisan productivity, complete with facilities and services which enable people to develop their work. Currently CADS has 36 studio spaces, across four different locations, and houses 50 tenants, plus expansion plans are currently underway which would provide yet more space.

‘We rent studios for all forms of creative activity, from painters & jewellery-making, to fashion design, record labels and musicians,’ says Steve. ‘Through surplus studio space, free events and exhibitions, fundraising and creative networking, our aim is to benefit a wide and diverse range of people and help them to continue to create and innovate.’

Since its inception, CADS has already hosted 30 different events, which have included art exhibitions, film showcases, theatre shows and regular club nights are held at the main event space, former warehouse Dirty Little Secret [DLS]. 

Upcoming CADS events include the Renegade Pixies Mini Festival, which includes cabaret, music and performance, on Saturday 12th November and an all-day blues and ale festival, Bob’s Blues Gig, on Saturday 3rd December.

We talked to Steve to found out more about the origins of CADS and how this creative community has evolved...

How did CADS come to life?

‘I’d been running my own music events at various places across town, like DQ, for some time and I got to the stage around March 2009 where I needed office and storage space. Even though I’m from Sheffield I’d never really been to the Neepsend part of the city but I landed on some spaces available at Clarence Works, on Burton Road. There I could afford to take on three rooms for the price of one, but because I only needed one space, this gave me the opportunity to rent out the other two spaces as a gallery. Once we had our costs covered this way, I was able to take on more space but there wasn’t anywhere in town that was suitable. Eventually I ended up finding this space and CADS just took off from there.’

What events in Sheffield have inspired you?

‘My background’s in the music scene in the city - hip hop and Drum n Bass, then later the minimal techno and house scene. I never was really into the arts side of Sheffield’s creative scene but I’ve always been interested and involved in different types of music nights.’

Tell us more about your supported projects, including the Shalesmoor, Kelham Island & Neepsend Network [SKINN]?

‘SKINN is a CADS-supported project which came about when we started asking ourselves what we could do for the area we’re located in. We decided to set up SKINN as a body, which began life as a not-for-profit network of local businesses and organisations, which is now moving to becoming its own company. 

We’ve also launched other projects such as the Sheffield Art Forge - a locally-based group that raises awareness of modern art with a focus on digital and local artists - and our Digital Studios, which acts as an accessible digital space for community use, both which have become forces in their own rights.’

Follow CADS on Twitter here 

 

Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield - call for city's help

 

Following on from the announcement of the winners of architectural ideas competition, Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield, last month, Sheffield Hallam University, who co-led the competition with RIBA [Royal Institute of British Architects] Yorkshire, is now seeking to start a city-wide dialogue about how these successful ideas could be turned into real-life projects.

The competition encouraged architects, designers and artists to come up with innovative ideas that find new uses for the region's forgotten spaces, with the project sponsored by British Land, owners of Meadowhall, Creative Sheffield, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and developers and engineers Buro Happold.

The overall winning entry of Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield was Guiding Lights, designed by Chris Paterson, which brings to life Frog Walk, between Stalker Lees Road (off Ecclesall Road) and Sharrow, with animated 'avatars' and an LED screen. This screen interacts with travellers at night, using motion sensors to track their movements and generating bright colourful silhouettes, which escort them. 

A smartphone app could also be used to choose and customise avatars, which signal when other people are approaching to reassure lone travellers. The idea for the avatars was inspired by Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and the competition judges praised the project for its 'brilliant' solution to making people feel safer at night, as well as commended Chris' colourful and clear designs.

A second prize of £3,000 was awarded to Oliver Peach for his Wicker Spice design to develop an essential oil distillery in abandoned buildings in the Wicker area. The idea celebrates the local community's cultural mix and brings a new identity to the area. Both Chris and Oliver are graduates of Sheffield Hallam University, having completed Architecture and Environmental Design degrees.

Third prize, and £1,000, went to Doma Architects for their Food for Thought idea, which redesigns the dilapidated Millhouses barn into a self-sufficient community centre, complete with allotments and public café. The building, in Millhouses Park in Sheffield, was nominated as a 'forgotten space' for the competition by the city's South West Community Assembly.  

Now Sheffield Hallam University would like explore how these projects may see the light of day, with the assistance of the people of Sheffield. 'We would appreciate any help you can give us to get this message out,' says John Palmer, director of communications and public affairs at the University.

'It would be great if interested parties could use their extensive networks on Twitter, Facebook, email contacts as well as word of mouth, to ask if anyone has any suggestions about how to move these projects on. If you have any suggestions please contact Gerry Togher on g.togher@shu.ac.uk. 

'It would be great to think we can get a kind of forum going where people can come together to discuss some potentially really exciting projects.'

Image, of Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield overall winning entry, Guiding Lights, provided by Sheffield Hallam University

New creative community Hagglers Corner set to open

 

Situated on the edge of Sheffield City Centre, Hagglers Corner is an emerging restored creative space in Heeley, which is already home to 13 creative businesses and is set to become a vibrant focal point for a growing community of makers and doers within this city.

Formerly a factory building, Hagglers Corner aims to provide fun, innovative and nourishing ways for people to spend their time at this inspirational space, located at 586 Queens Road, S2 4DU. The mix of businesses based here all have an emphasis on making beautiful things and include a costume designer, florist, carpenter, designers and crafts people. 

Studio spaces are also set to be available for workshops. ‘The largest studio for hire is called The Light Room,’ explains Hagglers Corner co-founder Sarah Ingolfsdottir. ‘We've got a showroom, where we display and sell the beautiful products our tenants create, as well as items from other chosen makers.

‘There's also the cosy cafe, Hagglers Kaffi Hus, where you can sit and take in the hustle and bustle of it all. But most important of all, Hagglers Corner is a place where all these things meet. Making and doing and selling and brewing. All spilling out into our sunny courtyard.’

Hagglers Corner co-founder and carpenter David Knott, is himself a bespoke furniture-maker and expert kitchen designer, maker and fitter whose work will be displayed and sold in the showroom.

The first phase of the opening of Hagglers Corner will take place on 5th November, when The Light Room will officially be opened, from 9.30am-6.30pm. A stunning 1st floor studio set in the oldest part of the factory building, The Light Room features a working fireplace and exposed roof top beams combined with a relaxed feel. 

From 7.30pm to late, on the same evening, Hagglers Corner are hosting a Bonfire Night event which is a collaboration with reggae sound system Riddimtion. Tickets for this event cost £5 and the night will feature two rooms of music - one with Haggler’s Corner DJs playing an eclectic mix of tunes from funk to rock n roll while the other room will star Riddimtion’s sound system. 

The next development phase for Hagglers Corner will be the opening of the cafe, which is set for mid-November. The family-friendly Kaffi Hus will serve a range of homemade food, with many vegetarian options, all within a comfy setting.

‘The most important thing you'll find here is something more than bricks and mortar,’ explains Sarah. ‘It's a community: the momentum that comes from working alongside like-minded people. Hagglers Corner invites you to come and join in the fun.’

A small number of beautiful, flexible and affordable units, which provide a space for creative people and projects, are available to let. ‘All our units are finished to a high level, with oak doors, double glazing and Wifi as standard. Our communal facilities are just as good: toilets, showers, and The Snug, our communal sitting room, are all maintained by our communal cleaner,’ says Sarah. 

‘Hagglers isn't just about space to produce work: there's space to sell it too. Our upstairs showroom is what makes Hagglers so unique: a place to display and sell the work our tenants and others create. We manage the space. You stock it. If you like the sound of what what we do, get in touch, and we'll show you around our happy little factory.’

For enquiries about Hagglers Corner email: hagglerscorner@yahoo.co.uk

To connect with them on Facebook click here 

Leading Sheffield cultural event PRISM hosts 10th Show

At the end of this month, one of Sheffield's leading contemporary art events, PRISM, will be hosting its 10th show, celebrating three years of art, music and conversation. 

Always held as one-night events featuring a variety of work, screenings and live music, PRISM is currently run by Darren Chouings and Jamie Crewe and offers the chance to experiment with new artisitic techniques and venues for both curators and exhibiting artists. 

As with all PRISM events, PRISM 10 - to be held on 28th October, 8pm-midnight, at The Orchard Centre, West Bar Green, S1 2DA and supported by Origin Broadband - will exhibit work by a selection of both emerging and international contemporary artists.

We chatted to Darren to found out more...

How did PRISM come about?

‘Prism was established in October 2008, which was the year I graduated from Sheffield Hallam University. The previous year, I’d already had experience of curating solo and group shows both at Hallam and outside the university. When I graduated, I looked at what  was going on with art events programming in Sheffield and I felt the city wasn’t as diverse as it could be. 

‘I had no money, but the first PRISM show was financed from my own pocket and cost about £800 to put on. It was held at the Showroom Cinema and we had 92 attendees. After that we held another two shows at the Showroom, then moved onto Bank Street Arts, S1 Artspace, The Orchard Centre, and Gate 5, which later formed part of CADS [Creative Arts Development Space]. For PRISM 10, which will feature 11 artists, we’re returning to The Orchard Centre. Since PRISM 1 the event attendance has risen to an average of 300 per show and is currently one of the most popular cultural events in the city.’

Does PRISM focus on particular themes?

‘There’s no specific theme but every PRISM show is based around the idea of “the event”. We bring together work that may be live performance, a piece that the artist only wants to show once, or work that deteriorates over time. We’ve also always kept the same prices on the door and at the bar. Part of the reason the event works so well is because of hype - the people who attend know if they want to see the show then they have to come for that one night only. You’ve literally got to be there to see it. I like the model we’ve set for this.’

What future plans are there for PRISM?

‘Overall we want to continue to promote creative talent in all forms and across all tiers, with around 60% of the shows consisting of emerging student talent and 40% from established artists. We’ve exhibited work from all over the world including Mexico, New York, Philadelphia, Barcelona, Italy and Greece, to name a few. Our aim is to exhibit student and graduate work alongside those of established artists.’

What’s inspired you in Sheffield?

‘I’ve been inspired by Bloc Assembly shows, held at Bloc Studios, from their early days. I started going to these shows in 2006 and they were fantastic events. I’m also inspired by student shows which make use of out-of-the-ordinary venues.’

To connect with PRISM on Facebook click here

To follow PRISM on Twitter click here

National consultation on local TV plans held in Sheffield

Sheffield is hoped to be included in the first tranche of 20 cities to be granted a local television licence. The UK representative body for the community broadcasting sector, Community Media Association, a non-profit making organisation based at Paternoster Row, S1, and Sheffield City Council recently hosted a national seminar in the city, focusing on the Department for Culture Media and Sport’s proposals for local television. 

Over 50 participants converged on Sheffield from as far afield as Scotland, London and the South West, to attend this consultation event held last month, which was supported by CM Solutions, Cultural Industries Quarter Agency and Showroom/Workstation who are also working, as part of a wider consortium, to develop a Sheffield local television channel. 

Watch a video report, made by Your News UK TV, here

The introduction of Sheffield local television would result in a new channel dedicated to the provision of local news and content, which will sit alongside other public service broadcasters to offer a new voice for local communities, with local perspectives that are directly relevant to them.

There was a strong consensus at this national consultation that, although the general commitment to develop local TV should be warmly welcomed, the proposal to require local TV channels to use a single monopoly provider for transmission should be rejected. Instead local TV channels should be free to own and operate their own transmission systems, in the same way that community radio currently does. 

Some of the other conclusions and recommendations which arose from this event include:

• Local TV licences should be framed by ‘key commitments’ – providing local licences, for local communities, meeting local needs, supporting the local economy, promoting citizen participation in media and link with other providers, such as hyperlocal websites, and encourage networking with other stations.

• Local TV stations should have the right to establish their own transmission system rather than be dependent on a single multiplex operator.

• Some local TV stations would not want responsibility for transmission. In which case they should be free to buy in services.

• Local TV may not be commercially viable without the back up of government loan or grant funding. Government could also act as a guarantor for initial costs.

• BBC could assist with audience measurement for local TV.

 

Connect with Community Media Assocation on Twitter and Facebook

 

 

Grin Up North ticket sales set to top 100,000

 

Sheffield’s very own Grin Up North Comedy Festival, which kicks off this weekend, is set to sell over 100,000 tickets, with a host of big name acts and the very best in new talent making their way to the city.

The Sheffield event is now viewed as only second to Edinburgh in terms of size and influence with the 2011 line-up including  Sara Millican, Alan Carr, Lee Evans, Reginald D Hunter and the legendary Comedy Store Players.

Toby Foster, Grin Up North Sheffield Comedy Festival co-organiser, said: “In just seven years the festival has grown from a modest affair to the largest of it’s kind in the UK. The people of Sheffield  have taken it to their hearts and we are pleased to say that more and more tickets are selling outside of the city which is great for everyone including the local hotels.”

And this year’s festival has two new recruits. Greyhound “Big Ron” and whippet Holly have donned  flat caps and comedy glasses to pose for this years advertising campaign, appearing on thousands of posters and festival programmes (see below).

For full line-up see www.sheffieldcomedyfestival.com 

Grin Up North Sheffield Comedy Festival is supported by Sheffield City Council, Real Radio, Creative Sheffield, Welcome to Yorkshire, Jury’s Inn, Sheffield Theatres, Stagecoach Supertram, East Midlands Trains, First, The Star, Sheffield Telegraph, Yellow Bus Events and The Last Laugh Comedy Club.

Matt Black: 'Keep trying new things and advance on all fronts' 

 

Next week sees the second of three special Culture Club Showcase Events, organised by The North Marketing Agency, which celebrate three core strands of Sheffield City Council's Cultural Strategy - Impact, Excellence and Participation.

Following on from the first 'Impact' event in May, the forthcoming 'Excellence' event will take place on Wednesday 21st September at The University of Sheffield's Firth Hall, on Western Bank, 7pm-10pm and is being supported by The University of Sheffield, in collaboration with their Ideas Bazaar event, taking place from 11am-4pm on the same day. For more details about Ideas Bazaar and to register for this free event, just visit: http://www.shef.ac.uk/ideasbazaar 

The Culture Club 'Excellence' showcase will feature 10 guest speakers/performers, including Tramlines, Sheffield Cathedral Choir, Greentop Circus, Sensoria and Off the Shelf Festival of Writing and Reading, who will provide a diverse snapshot of the cultural and creative excellence within our city. The event will be compered by writer and performer Christopher Green, who was recently asked to be the first ever Artist in Residence at the British Library. This event is by invitation only and for further details or to request an invite, please email: ben@nrth.co.uk. Live tweets on the night can be followed on Twitter via #sheffculture.

Just ahead of next week, we spoke to Sheffield-based writer and performer Matt Black, who is taking part in the 'Excellence' event to showcase Off the Shelf Festival of Writing and Reading...

Tell us how you’re involved in this year’s Off the Shelf?

'I'm running a Dead Poets Slam on October 11th - come dressed as a dead poet of your choice, in costume, read some of your poetry - that is, the dead poets' poetry, and there'll be judges to see who wins. It should be fun! There may be marks for costume, marginally, and I'm hoping that Bukowski, Plath and Emily Dickinson are free to come and judge. Also, I'm co-compering an Open Mic - all welcome - with the tall thin and very entertaining poet Stan Skinny on October 8th in the Winter Gardens from 11 till 3. If anyone wants to take part in either of these events just email: matt.black@pop3.poptel.org.uk. I'm also helping with a fabulous event showcasing Young Writers work, and with a Young Writers Open Mic, in the Winter Gardens, on October 19th in the evening, being organised by Vicky Morris, alongside the Cube young journalists work placement scheme which she is running over the next month. Cube really is the best mag created by young people for young people in the country I reckon. Finally, I've helped to organise a Renga writing workshop in the Winter Gardens on October 22nd with River Wolton - Renga being that very old Japanese poetic tradition where a group of poets get together and write sequences of haikus. Again, do get in touch if you're interested in coming to that workshop. 

What other writing or spoken word activities are you involved in locally and nationally?

'I help to organise the Writers Resource Centres that take place in Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham - if anyone's interested in writing, or wants any advice, then give Geoff a ring on 0114 253 6722 - he'll get back to you, as it's an answerphone, but he's got lots of info on all the writing groups, courses, and lots of other writing stuff that's going on all over South Yorkshire. I also help organise activities for young writers across South Yorkshire - workshops, Open mics, a yearly Festival, projects - and anyone interested in those could ring Geoff too to find out more.

With my other hat, which is myself as a writer - at the moment I'm finishing off a tribute to Edward Lear, whose bicentenary it is next year, called the Nonsense Olympics. It's nonsense limericks, alphabets and anatomies - all around the idea of Nonsense Sports and games, with illustrations, which I'm planning to read and perform over the lead-in to the Olympics, run some workshops in schools, and hopefully run some nonsense sports sessions as well. I think they are for children and discerning adults, with a few of them more aimed at the adults: "An athletics philosopher loafer/ who ran every race from his sofa/ Said, "Yes, I do find, the race run in my mind,/ Is more fun, and quicker got ofer." And of course please do pronounce that last line with a f not a v. I never thought I'd get into limericks - but as ever I'm following my motto - keep trying new things, and advance on all fronts. There's some rhyming animal sports too - Dolphin Golfin', Wombat Combat, Pig Tig, and of course Cricket Cricket and a whole bundle more. I'm also soon to embark on being Derbyshire Poet Laureate for the next 2 years, which looks like a largely unknown journey ahead, exciting and a bit scary!' 

What or who inspires you most creatively or culturally in Sheffield?

'Life, politics, cabbages, relationships, films, sadness, cafes, other artists, walking down the street, graffiti, small theatre, staring out the window, sleeplessness, beer, the Spoken Word scene, and the whole wondrous caboodle.'

If you were to write an ode to the city of Seven Hills what words would be essential?

'And, the, off, but, with, from, by - you get the gist! When and where, definitely. And definitely not twilight, or myriad. Some gobby words and some words about love. Lots of strong nouns, preferably with Anglo-saxon roots and only one syllable, a few choice adjectives. Very few adverbs. Steel. Liquorice. Cloudscape. Darn it, how do I know? if I did it, then I'd know.'

What advice would you give to anyone who wants to write or perform, whether in prose or poetry?

'Write. Read. Locate your anger. Locate your love. Have fun. Take it seriously. Don't take it too seriously. Watch films. Read. Get to know yourself. Watch other people. Don't expect fast cars. Read. Eat liqourice. Watch the world carefully. Get out there and try stuff out. Go to writers groups. Belief in yourself. Write. Read. Locate your anger. Locate your love. Write. Read. Get on with it.'

Can you sum up Sheffield in just one word?

'Pherlumpinocity.'

Image: Matt performing at the Crucible Theatre

Forgotten Spaces entries to go on display

 

Imaginative, ingenious - and controversial - ideas for Sheffield's 'forgotten spaces' will be unveiled at an exhibition at The Crucible Theatre from next Thursday 15th September.

Amongst others on display will be images of a giant golden frame that floats down Sheffield's canals, an urban beach in a city centre car park and a shower block for people who take part in sewer exploration.

The designs are all on the shortlist for Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield, an architectural ideas competition, run by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Yorkshire and Sheffield Hallam University.

The competition encouraged architects, designers and artists to come up with innovative ideas that find new uses for the region's forgotten spaces. The project is sponsored by British Land, owners of Meadowhall, Creative Sheffield, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry and developers and engineers Buro Happold.

Three winning entries, which will be announced at a ceremony at The Crucible on Monday 26 September, will be awarded cash prizes of up to £5,000.

Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield follows a similar project in London last year 2010 and is a unique celebration of Sheffield's imaginative regeneration of public spaces and Sheffield Hallam University's reputation around architecture, urban development and environmental sustainability.

The shortlist of 19, chosen from 60 entries, includes a range of innovative, far-reaching and practical ideas showing how to put overlooked or forgotten sites to use in the Sheffield city region.

John Palmer, director of communications and public affairs at the University, said: "We hope the exhibition will cause debate and discussion around the novel and striking ideas that architects, artists and community groups have come up with for Sheffield's overlooked spaces.

"It might inspire people in various parts of the city to revisit their own forgotten spaces and refresh and revitalise them with projects of their own. 

Emma England, director of RIBA Yorkshire, said: "It would be fantastic if one or more of these brilliant ideas could be turned into reality and we look forward to unveiling the winning entries."

Local secondary school children have also been asked to get involved in Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield by proposing and designing new ideas to revitalise overlooked spaces in their local communities.

A winning idea, and two runners up, will win up to £1,000 in resources to go towards improvements to their school or college. An exhibition of all entries will go on display in December at Sheffield Hallam University's Furnival Gallery.

Image, showing one example of the Forgotten Spaces shortlisted entries, supplied by Sheffield Hallam University

NCTJ Photo Show comes to The Winter Gardens

 

The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) is an independent registered charity, which delivers the premier training scheme for journalists in the UK - and since 1980, when the NCTJ's photography course moved to this city from Wednesbury, in the West Midlands, Sheffield has been the home of press photography training.

As part of the NCTJ’s 60th anniversary celebrations, a temporary public photography exhibition which showcases quality press photography and photojournalism from NCTJ-trained photographers - including many top names who were trained in Sheffield and work in regional, national and international media - will be on display at The Winter Gardens, from 14th to 23rd September 2011.

Following a successful run at The Guardian in London, the 50 images on display will show a wide range of subjects and photographic styles from the 1970s, through to the present day. 

NCTJ chairman Kim Fletcher said of the exhibition: 'The National Council for the Training of Journalists is 60 years old this year – we thought this exhibition was a great way of celebrating the work of some of those photographers who’ve been through our training over the years.

'More than 140 photographs were submitted to us from all over the UK and 50 were selected by the NCTJ photography board. When you look at these pictures you see just what a wealth of talent there is in British media – and we are really proud that the NCTJ has played a part in the development of that talent.'

Free Admission. Opening times: 8am-8pm Monday to Saturday and 8am-6pm on Sunday.

For more information about NCTJ training in press photography & photojournalism please Click here.

The NCTJ Photography Exhibition is supported by PhotoBox who printed the images.  

Image, of NCTJ photography exhibition on display at The Guardian, supplied by NCTJ

 

'For me, it's about painting something you know, that's close to you'

 

Since 2007, Sheffield-based artist and illustrator, Jonathan Wilkinson has been creating art prints and products which celebrate buildings and places people love and those which define our lives, under the creative guise of We Live Here. Even though Jonathan's work often focuses on distinctive Sheffield landmarks - the first ever We Live Here print depicted Tinsley’s now-demolished Cooling Towers - his art has an universal appeal and continues to be popular in Sheffield, the UK and around the world.

Next month sees Jonathan launching Britarama - a brand new series of artworks. Britarama paintings and prints will be featured in 'A Day in the Life' exhibition at fellow artist Pete Mckee's gallery, A month of Sundays on Sharrow Vale Road, Hunter's Bar, from 3rd September-1st October 2011. We spoke to Jonathan to find out more about Britarama, and, of course, chat about Sheffield…

Tell us about the inspiration behind Britarama? 

'I would describe the new paintings and designs as being a development of my We Live Here output in terms of their style and subject matter. The key difference is that they are colour and use more than my familiar duck egg blue and black and white. Although the new work features buildings and landmarks not all of them are iconic or indeed even exist. They are more personal and take inspiration from rather down to earth everyday things. What using more colour and developing my style has allowed is for me to produce images that are more personal and atmospheric. I studied fine art painting and printmaking and was drawn to landscape painting then. You can spend many years searching for a subject matter but I rather instinctively was always interested by what was immediately around me. In the intervening year between finishing University and starting We Live Here I would keep a library of photos of banal and everyday scenes photos I would take on my travels. So really to me it's about painting something you know, something that is close to you. So these paintings and the We Live Here designs have been an investigation into my own surroundings.'

What do you think makes Sheffield culture so distinctive?

'From my own personal experience, Sheffield is the most creative place I have ever lived, in that there is a support and appreciation of people trying to make a go of things themselves. Although I wasn't born in Sheffield, I do identify with the place and probably wouldn't have made the same career choices that I did had I been based elsewhere. I know that seems obvious considering that Sheffield is very much my subject, but I also think that it was down to the fact that people are proud of the city and like to support the little people like artists, musicians and local businesses.'

You've immortalised many iconic buildings across the city. What are your favourite places and why?

'I think I have Sheffield well covered so far but there is always a new view around the corner. That's the beauty of Sheffield being built on seven hills that you don't have to go far before you are faced with breathtaking views of the city as a whole. One Sheffield location that I have been fascinated by since I was a student, when my National Express coach was diverted on an unexpected route out of the city and the particular route took me through the Gleadless Valley estate, is the amazing Holy Cross Church. There's something rather unique and eerie about the way the ultra modern church sits a top a hill almost sucking all the surrounding flats and houses towards it. I'm so obsessed with it that I have immortalised it in one of my most ambitious designs yet that will be featured in the exhibition and available as a limited edition print from Pete McKee's gallery.' 

How can people buy your work and do you also take commissions? 

'If people are interested in my work then a lot of the new Britarama designs will be available as art prints from britarama.com from the start of September. The paintings will be available to buy through Pete's 'A Month of Sundays' gallery, alongside some other limited edition prints. I am always open to working on commissions and people can contact me via my website with any ideas they may have. In the future I will also be expanding the Britarama range on a regular basis.'

Portrait photo by Richard Bolam Digital Media

Contemporary watercolour show comes to Northern General Hospital

 

Next month sees The Clock Tower Gallery at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital playing host to 'Hydro Power' - an exhibition of contemporary watercolours by 16 artists, designers and illustrators, each with a strong connection to Sheffield. The featured artists have been invited to respond to this much under-rated medium, bringing their own individual personal interpretation and imagery, to create an exciting and diverse show.

Launching with a private view on Friday 2nd September 2011 6pm-8pm, 'Hydro Power' runs at The Clock Tower Gallery, located in the grounds of Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield, S5 until 27th September, and features work by Richard Bartle, Patrick Bridge, Gemma Brookes, Andy Cropper, Hondartza Fraga, Ladoza, James Newman Gray, Lesley Guy, Iris Harris, Warren Hayes, Rita Kaisen, Dominic Mason, Lianne Mellor, Jade Morris, Jane Walker & Sean Williams.

The aim of this show is to highlight the versatility of a medium more traditionally associated with landscapes and delicate paintings of flowers. Watercolour allows the freedom to evolve an image, exploring the potential for a figurative painting, for example, to go beyond the representation of a direct encounter to become something more complex and resonant.

Because the participants in 'Hydro Power' work in such a wide variety of creative disciplines, the breadth of watercolour as a medium is ably demonstrated – from illustrator James Gray’s extraordinarily-detailed cityscapes, painter Jane Walker’s loose brushwork, to designer Lianne Mellor’s quirky wildlife illustrations, with many interesting stops in-between.

'Hydro Power' also provides a platform for emerging artists to work and exhibit alongside more established artists, and benefit as a result, and further showcase the vast amount of creative talent which currently exists in Sheffield and South Yorkshire. All the artwork is available for purchase, with 25% of sales supporting Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

The Clock Tower Gallery, open Monday-Friday 9am-4pm, is an ideal venue for this large exhibition, with two floors capable of housing around 60 works in total. 

'Hydro Power' is kindly supported by Primebuy UK, suppliers of quality electricals worldwide and specialists in projector screens. 

Image supplied by 'Hydro Power' organisers

SotBB Profile: 'Burlesque is fun, friendly and liberating'

 

Founded in March 2008 by burlesque performer and pin-up model, Deadly Nightshade, Secrets of the Boudoir Burlesque [SotBB] is a quarterly variety and burlesque event held in Sheffield, which incorporates burlesque, striptease, vaudeville, comedy, cabaret, dance and drag...not to mention a few other little surprises! We find out more from SotBB founder Deadly Nightshade...

Tell us more about the Burlesque scene in Sheffield...

‘The burlesque scene in Sheffield has grown rapidly over the past three years, with more and more burlesque nights emerging along with fresh new talent. SotBB tries to showcase this new talent as much as possible and develop new performers into burlesque stars!’

What are the main myths about Burlesque and how do you burst them?

‘A lot of people think that burlesque is something sleazy and degrading, solely based upon striptease and titillation, whereas, burlesque is quite the opposite in my eyes. It is fun, friendly, and liberating. The performers perform for themselves, not for the titillation of anyone else and the audience remain respectful, welcoming and obedient. Burlesque is an art form and I think some people fail to realise that the actual meaning of 'burlesque' is to satirise a subject and turn it on its head. Burlesque raises and mocks issues of our time and is, on the whole, rather humrous.'

Who or what inspires you in Sheffield and the surrounding area? 

‘Sheffield is such a cultural, welcoming and understanding city and therefore, is the perfect platform for burlesque. This shows in the recent emergence of other burlesque nights throughout the city. Sheffielders 'get it'. You can see a huge vintage theme within the city - it is teaming with vintage shops, fairs, markets and people! Even some of the pubs and clubs wink in a cabaret style direction.’

What's coming up for SotBB? 

‘SotBB is having a very exciting year this year as we have just launched our burlesque lessons and 'for hire' services - you can now come to regular burlesque classes within the city or have private tutorials in your own home.  You can also hire out our show or a couple of performers for your own events/private parties. We also have our 'House of Horrors' show coming up on the 4th of September which we are very much looking forward to - it will feature a werewolf, fire, glass and stilt walking and a bed of nails!  SotBB are also proud to be a part of Oxjam this year and we will be holding a special burlesque event in October in aid of Oxjam. More details of this will be posted on our website soon!’

 

The next SotBB event, 'House of Horrors' will take place on 4th September at West Street Live, West Street, Sheffield S1, 7pm-12pm. Advance tickets £6 are available here  or £8 on the door.

SotBB blog: www.secretsoftheboudoirburlesque.blogspot.com

SotBB on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/nightshadeburlesque

SotBB on Facebook: www.facebook.com/secretsoftheboudoirburlesque

Deadly Nighshade on Facebook: www.facebook.com/deadlynightshadebelladonna.sotbb

Deadly Nightshade on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NightshadeSotBB

Cupola Contemporary Art celebrates 20th Anniversary

This Friday 5th August 2011 is a special date in the diary for Sheffield's Cupola Contemporary Art, based in Hillsborough, as the gallery (originally Cupola Gallery) reaches its 20 year anniversary, which will be marked with a celebration exhibition and party.

The opening evening of the exhibition, Cupola Open – 20 year celebration, will take place on Friday from 7.30pm onwards and includes refreshments, entertainment & a magician. The exhibition runs until Sunday 2nd October.

'Often seen as small, Cupola is deceptively large'

“It’ll never work”

“Is it the right place for an art gallery?”

“Good luck, you’ll need it!”

“Do you sell anything?”

Karen Sherwood, Managing Director & founder of Cupola Contemporary Art, explains how these are just a few of the common phrases, some of which are still regularly uttered, made by visitors to Cupola Contemporary Art, which established itself (uniquely Karen believes) between a betting shop and a launderette, round the corner from a football ground. 

'However, 20 years and 10,000 artists later, Cupola is still here, and drawing artists from all over the world as well as from all over the region. Often seen as small, Cupola is now deceptively large with around 2,000 square feet of exhibition space plus a multi award-winning sculpture garden,' says Karen.  

Cupola has grown from two small shop units housing both a picture framers and a gallery into three premises. The picture framers, now located across the road from the gallery in separate premises, specialises in framing original artwork to conservation or museum standards.

The theme of Cupola Open - 20 year celebration is 'the best of the best' and artists have flocked to exhibit their work, as Karen explains: 'Initially, I wanted to hold a selected competition for the anniversary exhibition, but decided that wasn’t really in the spirit of the gallery. My mission statement, for want of a better phrase, was always to support and celebrate the work of as many artists and creative people as possible and to be accessible and diverse.  

'Therefore, I have invited submissions and will be exhibiting work from over 50 artists, makers and jewellers in every space of the gallery. The exhibition will consist of every piece of work in every room, so the gallery will be brimming with new, exciting and diverse work. I’m excited as well as scared to death! This is going to be the most difficult and challenging exhibition I will have ever hung. But, as everyone who knows me knows – I LOVE a challenge!' says Karen.

Artists taking part live as close as a few streets away to as far afield as France, Chicago and California. Painting, sculpture, original printmaking, ceramics, glass, jewellery, textiles, photography, furniture and installation pieces will be on show. Prices range from under £5-£5000.

New work has been delivered by the following artists: Clare Bassett, Francis Berthault, Jessica Briggs, John Brokenshire, Jo Brown, Hazel Burnham, Rachael Boddington, Catherine Boyne-Whitelegg, Selina Campbell, Debbie Collins, Rachael Caddy, Gavin Darby, Valerie Daval, Paul Denham, Louise Eardley, Anne Earnshaw, Paul Evans, Peggy Fearne, Dennis Farrell, Laura Garcia Martin, Becky Gee, Emily Harvey, Sally Hargreaves, Angie Hardwick, Bruce Hardwick & Lyn Critchlow, Victoria Hawkins, Lyn Hodnett, Garry Jones, Juo Glass, Giuseppe Lambertino, Martin Langford, Lucianne Lassalle,  Frances Lee, Lesley Lister, Finbarr Lucas, Phyllis Mahon, Derek McQueen, Hilary Mee, Anne Menary, Leyla Murr, Deborah Newbold, Mari Ruth Oda, Viv Owen, Helen Parrott, Rakiba Patel (BIBA), Antonia Salmon, Anne Penman Sweet, Annette Petch, Beverley Porter, Rhapsody in Steel, Bruce Rimell, Viv Ross, Ian Rylatt, Louise Sanders, Paul Schatzberger, Liz Scrine, Nigel Senior, Helainer Sharpley, Amanda Simmons, Kate Sully, Stephen Todd, Liz Tolan, Liz Toole, Jean Usher, Mark Veale, Anna Mercedes Wear, Hanne Westergaard, Suet Yip

There will also be a number of other artists represented in this exhibition and throughout the gallery.

To follow Cupola Contemporary Art on Twitter click here or connect on Facebook here

Image supplied by Karen Sherwood [pictured fourth from left]

Shakespeare Open Air Theatre first for Peace Gardens

 

Critically-acclaimed GB Theatre Company are delighted to be performing William Shakespeare’s most famous love story 'Romeo and Juliet' and the ever-popular 'Twelfth Night' this week in the Peace Gardens, Sheffield City Centre.

Featuring traditional costumes, these special performances will take place between Thursday 28th-Saturday 30th July and it's the first ever time the Peace Gardens will play host to an open air theatre production.

Guests will witness shipwrecks, swordfights, hidden identities, forbidden marriage and of course, the amazing verse poetry and prose of the ‘star-crossed lovers’. The cast includes Gabriel Thomson (My Family, Enemy at the Gates), who will return to the company to play Romeo and Lucy Wray, one of London’s new hot talents of the stage, as Juliet.

Neil Sheppeck of Love & Madness and one of the country’s most exciting young Directors (Romeo and Juliet) and the ever experienced Michael Woodwood from Vital Stages Theatre (Twelfth Night) are the Directors for this year’s tour.

It is recommended that guests bring warm clothing and waterproofs as umbrellas are not permitted during the performance.

 

Details of productions:

28th July – 30th July, 7pm

Thursday 28th July - Romeo and Juliet

Friday     29th July - Twelfth Night

Saturday 30th July - Romeo and Juliet

Seated Tickets: £15.00

Picnic Tickets: £10.00

Concession Seated: £10.00 Thursday only

Concession Picnic: £7.00 Thursday only

Performance Duration: 2 hrs 30 mins

 

Venue Information:

The Peace Gardens, Sheffield

Pinstone Street

South Yorkshire

S1 2HH

 

Box Office: 0114 256 5567

Online Ticket Purchasing – www.arenaticketshop.co.uk

 

All aboard the Buskers’ Bus!

Tramlines 2011 is now back for the third time, and this year, people can travel around the ever-expanding festival site in style - serenaded by some of Festival’s hottest bands. 

After a resounding success last year, the Buskers' Bus is back - and this year it's is even bigger and better. Two double decker buses will take revellers around the festival, stopping at key venue destinations, all of course, for free. 

Lee Mullin, Buskers’ Bus Manager said: “Last year the Bromheads-curated Buskers' Bus was the highlight of many people's weekend, travelling round the city whilst being entertained by Sheffield's biggest artists. The Buskers’ Bus connects the peripheral venues with the city centre, making sure festival goers can take in the whole Tramlines site. This year we’ve pulled out all the stops. Two double deckers, national artists as well as home-grown talent, secret sets, sing-alongs and much, much more.”

The Milestone Blues and Ale Bus' starts at the Devonshire Cat on Wellington Street en route to Kelham Island and will feature bands like Pete David and the Payroll Union, Low Duo and Risky Heroes. The 'Steelworks-VOICE' Buskers' Bus' will cover Broomhill, Hunters Bar and the Train Station and includes Elephant Keys, Mothers Ruin, and Skint and Demoralised.

Both buses run a 20-minute circuit starting at the Devonshire Cat 11am-10pm Saturday and Sunday. The routes have been sponsored by The Milestone, Steelworks and VOICE. 

For times and updates check Bromheads Facebook page and follow the hashtag #buskersbus on Twitter. 

For more information about getting to and from the festival by public transport visit: www.travelsouthyorkshire.com

THE MILESTONE BLUES AND ALE BUS STOPS: DEVONSHIRE CAT - TRIPPETS - WIG AND PEN - THE SHAKESPEARE - CADS BLUES MAIN STAGE - GARDNERS REST - THE MILESTONE - KELHAM ISLAND - WEST STREET/BATH HOTEL - (then back to the Devonshire Cat)

THE STEELWORKS-VOICE BUSKERS' BUS STOPS: DEVONSHIRE CAT - THE BOWERY - UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD - BROOMHILL - FOLK FOREST/HUNTERS BAR - THE LESCAR - SHARROW LANE - LONDON ROAD - BRAMALL LANE - ST MARY'S GATE -LEADMILL/SHOWROOM - SHEFFIELD INTERCHANGE - HUBS - (then back to the Devonshire Cat)

Tim Bromhead: ‘My dream Buskers' Bus artist? Little Richard, from the late 50s’ 

Right now, it’s an extra busy time for 2010 Buskers’ Bus curators and Sheffield-based band Bromheads, as they’re currently locked in the studio, recording their next album. Still singer Tim Bromhead found the time for some Tramlines talk with us...

How did the idea for Buskers’ Bus first come about? 

‘The idea was presented to us by Dave Healy [one of the festival organisers]. The Tramlines team knew that we like doing gigs in weird places so they thought we might enjoy playing on a moving bus, and maybe know a few other bands that would like to have a pop too. Last year was great fun, I nearly broke my neck and I think most the other other bands enjoyed themselves too.’

Who would be your dream BB artist? (alive or dead)

‘I think I'd probably like to see Little Richard play on a bus. Obviously sometime in the late 50's. I think he'd make a good job of adapting to the unstable environment. And If they got a piano on the bus even better.’

What's next for Bromheads? 

‘We’re busy recording our album at the minute. It's all sounding good, just taking a bit longer than we thought, but maybe thats not such a bad thing. Hopefully we'll get a single out before the end of the year, and then the album out in the new year. We're itching to get out and tour the new record. It's been pretty frustrating having all this new material and not anyone having heard it yet. Our producer Ross Orton told us it's the best set of songs he's ever had the pleasure of working on. Which is quite a compliment when you look at some of the artists he's worked with.’

 

Photo from Tramlines 2010, supplied by stellamedia

 

Architects of Air 'walk-in art installation' comes to Sheffield Cathedral

 

Sheffield Cathedral is delighted to soon play host to Architects of Air, an internationally-renowned inflatable walk-in art installation, for the first ever time. 

From Saturday 23rd July - Thursday 28th July 2011, this visually-striking structure - which is manufactured from translucent PVC and called the Luminarium - will be found on the Sheffield Cathedral forecourt.

The structure, which has toured 37 countries across five continents, transforms natural light into a kaleidoscope of liquid light and colour spilling across labyrinthine pathways, cavernous domes and curved walls. For those who experience this installation, the initial reaction is often one of wonder and delight at the unexpected beauty it creates, which is often described as like 'walking through a stained glass window.'

Dean of Sheffield, Peter Bradley says: “Architects of Air’s luminously beautiful structures have haunted me since I first experienced them. I am proud that their first visit to Sheffield will be on the Cathedral forecourt. Visiting the Luminarium will change the way you experience light, colour and form, forever.”

The Luminarium is an eagerly-anticipated element of Sheffield Cathedral's Summer Arts Programme and this Architects of Air installation is designed to appeal to both children and adults. The Luminarium is suitable for all ages, abilities and is wheelchair accessible. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult, although some admissions sessions will exclusively be reserved for adults.

For more details about Architects of Air and ticket information click here

Tickets may be purchased in advance here or are available on the door.

View Architects of Air YouTube video here 

City's Tudor Square set to be Olympic running track with 2012 By Any Means

 

Open Weekend, the UK-wide celebration to mark one year before the start of the 2012 London Olympic Games, will see a variety of activities taking place across Sheffield over the weekend of 22nd-24th July 2011. 

The central all-day event, 2012 By Any Means, which is happening on Saturday 23rd July 2011, 10am-6pm, is set to turn Sheffield's Tudor Square into one extraordinary Olympic running track for the day!  

Arts organisations, sports and community groups, bands, dancers, parents and toddlers, people in fancy dress, ramblers, knitters, stilt walkers, gymnasts, singers and many more are set to be lapping the track using any means or in any guise.  

Not only will participants come up with weird and wonderful forms of transport - from skis to broomsticks and in all manner of fancy dress from Flamenco to diving suits - other organisations and groups will also be joining them, including a choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus, Sheffield Libraries’ Bookstart Bear with parents and toddlers, a group walking the track to Elizabethan music in full historical costume, gymnasts, karate experts, a marching band and pantomime ponies!  

Sheffield-based Pif Paf Arts have been commissioned to create a Flycycle, a fantastic means of transport which will take people around the track and as well as the spectacle of all the different groups making their way around the track, Tudor Square will be full of artists helping people to make fancy dress and carnival costumes and decorate their baby buggies, wheelchairs and bikes. 

Some of the activity on the day will reflect the culture of international athletes who will be resident in the city during that time and people will be able to have a go at Brazilian Capoeira and Carnival skills and enjoy Romany dancing. 

Each lap of the track will go towards a final distance covered throughout the course of the day.  The target will be 297km – the distance between Tudor Square and Marshgate Lane, Stratford – the site of the London Olympic Stadium. 

The whole 'journey' will be documented with time-lapse photography by Sheffield's Flying Monkey TV and shown live on a big screen in the square. 

 

For more information about Sheffield's Open Weekend Activities in 2011, click here 

 

Cindy's local food quest: 'I'll eat my way to a size Sheffield!'

 

Next week will see the taste buds of Sheffield's locals and visitors go into overdrive, as the city's second Sheffield Food Festival sizzles into action between 4th-10th July 2011.

These seven days promise to be extra-special gastronomical time for one local avid 'foodie' blogger in the city, Cindy Cheung - otherwise known by her Twitter profile and blog monicker, Missie Cindz. On a daily basis Cindy actively champions the city's local independent food producers, showcases eateries, shares/reviews great places for 'pub grub' - in fact she covers any topics which remotely relate to the Sheffield food scene.

During the Sheffield Food Festival Cindy's set herself an-extra special challenge - to eat her way to a size Sheffield!

We talk to her to find out more…

What's your Food Challenge all about?

'I've organised and curated The ‘Missie Eat Sheffield Food Week’ Challenge myself involving over ten different Sheffield food producers, each offering something tasty and unique. The food week should be interesting and challenging. I’ll be eating and drinking a huge range of Sheffield-related produce, ranging from making my own foods at home (breakfast and dinner) using Sheffield-grown produce and also eating & drinking homemade Sheffield goodness made by very talented Sheffield foodies. Everyone's welcome to visit my food blog to look up the finalised Menu Plan (tag: Food Challenges) or follow my food tweets: @MissieCindz hashtag: #MissiesEatSheffieldFoodWeek A word of warning though, the menu’s very Sheffield and tasty!'

Why did you decide to go on this delicious-sounding quest?

'The importance and purpose of my Food Challenge is to not only highlight and introduce these Sheffield Food producers and ingredients as seen in my menu plan for the week, but also it's about getting people to think about where their food can be bought and comes from in our city. Seven days x three meals plus 1 – 2 snacks and treats per day so that’s twenty one different ‘Sheffield’ meals (and also a lot of Sheffield snacking!). I'm asking people to join in, spread the word and start thinking about what you will eat and where and who you will get it from. I'll be dining on a mix of home-cooked recipes, eating out and ready available Sheffield snacks to show how buying locally doesn't have to affect our lifestyle. From curating the whole challenge, organising the menu plan, through to liaising with chefs/food producers and collection of food items, I can't say it's been easy and convenient organising this challenge but it's been fun and interesting – I've been introduced to a whole new vocab of foods. I'd like to say a big 'Thank you' to the Sheffield food producers, farmers and talented chefs for helping me with the Food Menu and kindly sponsoring my Challenge by ‘Feeding Missie!’ – without Sheffield Food, my Challenge wouldn't work.

Also I’m hoping that the challenge will help to highlight (and introduce) to Sheffielders and visitors (who are ‘Gastro Nutters’ like myself) the fabulous food scene our city has to offer all year round. Sausage rolls? Passe. Pre-packed soggy sarnies? Pah! Next week it's going to be all about ‘Eating Sheffield’ – meeting food producers and getting to know real food. It might be a bit difficult, but I’m sure it’s possible to eat my way to a size Sheffield...'

You're obviously passionate about food...

'Yes, personally, food has always played a big part in my life. It’s simple – I love food and it makes me happy! My food-related rambling, obsessively taking pictures of what I’ve eaten and blogging about all things food is not only a hobby - but has now become integrated in my daily routines. You should see the facial expressions on my friends when I’m shouting, “Wait, wait!!” just as they’re about to delve into our sharing platter to find me whipping out my camera, but they’ve grown used to it now! I used to think that the reputation of Sheffield’s dining scene was unfairly ‘shone away’ but my ‘Nomming’ road trips across the city has lead me to a growing quality of local suppliers, delicious eating venues, food producers and farmers – some  I could also call friends too.'

Grab your Missie Badge to enjoy some special Sheffield Food Offers

For the duration of the week from 4th – 10th July a selection of participating Sheffield food producers from Cindy's food plan and well-known Sheffield restaurants will be offering special offers on food and ingredients that feature on her Sheffield Menu Plan, to anyone sporting a Missie Cindz badge (see below).

Badges are available FREE from PJ Taste, Rutland Arms and Sushi Express by you just saying to the waitress "I'm following Missie Cindz". Wear the badge during Cindy's Food Week Challenge and you'll get discounts from the Sheffield Food producer.

For more details click here.  

 

Cliffhanger Festival climbs new heights for 2011 

Based in one of Sheffield’s biggest green spaces, Millhouses Park, Cliffhanger - the UK’s biggest outdoors event for outdoors folk - is set to take place on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July 2011. 

With more than 20,000 visitors over two days, Cliffhanger aims to inspire and involve people of all ages and this year there will be a visually-stunning, bespoke inflatable cube to replace the traditional big-top marquee. Plus there will also be more than ever for mountain-bikers & cyclists and the penultimate round of the IFSC Bouldering World Cup. 

Featuring elite competitions and professional demonstrations in rock climbing, orienteering, kayaking, mountain biking, running, mountain boarding, skateboarding, slack-lining, adventure racing and more, visitors will be able to watch incredibly talented sports-people of all ages at the top of their game, and then take part in the very sports they have just been inspired by.

Event co-organiser Matt Heason from Heason Events, tells us more about the festival...

How, when & why did Cliffhanger come about?

'It originally came about in 2005/6. Kevin Cheetham at Sheffield City Council approached me and we hatched the idea together. Then I had my first kid in the summer of 2006 so we shelved plans for that year and it happened for the first time in July 2007. Kevin and I both spotted the potential for a festival celebrating the outdoors in Sheffield.'

How has the festival grown since the early days? 

'It’s grown significantly. Visitor numbers wise we started off in year one with a very wet event and some 7,500 visitors over the two days. This year we are expecting in excess of 20,000. Sponsors have recognised the growth and the popularity and we have attracted some big sponsors over the years, even in the face of the recession with a lot of companies cutting back on events. The programme is the most noticeable thing to have changed. Each year we pretty much repeat what we did the previous year, tweaking a few bits and pieces to make them better, but we also add in a bunch of new spots or activities. This year for example we have a pump track, bike polo and disc golf - three things we’ve never represented at the event before. We’re also having a cricket exhibit /activity for the first time.'

How does the 'DIY' cultural attitude of Sheffield impact on 'Cliffhanger's success? 

'I suppose that you could say that by recognising the opportunity for the event Kevin and I then made it happen. It wasn’t like either of us had an order from above. I think that because it is a fairly unique event and one that has been developed by a close-knit team, the event has a very good vibe to it. The Bouldering World Cup was held at the event for the first time last year and the competitors, to whom it was really just one of seven competitions on the international circuit, fed back to us that it was the best event of the series. Feedback each year would suggest that this is felt by the general visitor too, with the vast majority saying that they will come back again and will recommend it to a friend. One thing we have made sure we do is keep the price low and make sure that it is a family-friendly event. There are one or two events that are loosely comparable with Cliffhanger (albeit indoors), but they tend to be commercial monsters, charging high ticket prices and then charging for programmes and parking on top.'

 

For full details about Cliffhanger visit: www.cliff-hanger.co.uk/

Find on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/heason.events

Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/HeasonEvents

Image provided by Heason Events, of mountainboard event during Cliffhanger 2010

Unique collaboration tells the untold tales of Sheffield

 

The University of Sheffield is this week set to showcase an inspiring example of how universities can give back to their local communities, when an innovative project entitled Storying Sheffield opens its doors to the public on Friday 17 June 2011, at the Jessop West Exhibition Space, Upper Hanover Street, S3 7RA.

Dr Brendan Stone, lead academic behind this project, tells us more...

For the benefit of people who've not heard of Storying Sheffield, could you say what it is?

'It's an art and community project based around the idea of telling stories which are less likely to be heard in mainstream culture. Stories are produced using a variety of media and artistic methods. The project has expanded quite a bit in the past year, but it began as a course at the University, in which half the students are undergraduates, and the other half are people from the city. At the moment, we're mainly working with people who are long-term users of mental health services or have physical disabilities. At the end of the course we stage a public exhibition in which the stories are told and displayed. Last year's exhibition was amazing! We had hundreds of people visit, and it was a wonderful celebration of the city and its people.'

How has Storying Sheffield grown over the last year?

'We've been working on other projects, in partnership with various external partners. An example is the 'Women of Steel' project in which we worked with Sheffield City Council and the Off the Shelf Festival of Reading and Writing. Students met women who had worked in the steelworks during WWII, and produced a remarkable film about the meetings and the women's lives. It's been shown in various places, to considerable acclaim, including the Showroom Cinema and the Town Hall. Other people we've been working with include Museums Sheffield, Rotherham Borough Council, and NHS Trusts from Sheffield and Nottinghamshire.'

What's next?

'Short-term: the exhibition! Don't miss it on Friday June 17th - it's free and everyone's welcome. It will be great! Longer term, our plans for next year include a storytelling collaboration with an American university; making digital stories about mental wellbeing, and working with older people in care homes. The approach we use is inclusive and democratic, with the idea being that people are supported and enabled to represent their lives in ways they choose to. We're always keen to hear from individuals and organisations who would like to work with us. Do get in touch if you'd like a chat.'

For more details about Storying Sheffield visit: http://www.storyingsheffield.com/

Follow Storying Sheffield on Twitter: @StoryingShef

Image provided by Storying Sheffield

Sheffield dramatic group presents The Rivals 

 

Sheffield-based dramatic group The Company, formed in 1990 and dedicated to the production of high-quality theatre, will next week bring Sheridan's The Rivals to life at the University Drama Studio. 

Written in 1775, Sheridan's dialogue crackles with wit even today. As the comic drama unfolds, Captain Absolute, masquerading as Ensign Beverly, courts a beautiful young heiress, Lydia Languish. Her aunt Mrs Malaprop has other ideas, as do his rivals Bob Acres and Sir Lucius O'Trigger. Expect rapiers at dawn, pistols at elevenses, deceit, double deceit and double double deceit and all in the name of love!

The Company is noted for its production of classic plays and adaptations of classic novels and has delivered critically-acclaimed productions of a variety of works including Shakespeare, Stoppard and Austen. The group holds open auditions for all their productions and are always keen to welcome new actors, stage crew and technicians, as well as generally encouraging members to take part in all aspects of their productions, on-stage and off.

The Rivals will be performed at the University Drama Studio, Shearwood Road, Sheffield S10 2TD at 7.30pm from Wednesday 15th to Saturday 18th June 2011. 

Tickets cost £7 or £5 for concessions, and are available from The Company box office at www.thecompanysheffield.co.uk/boxoffice/ or by calling 0114 201 0090.

Listen to an interview with director Craig Walton, courtesy of cast member, Emma Wass, who is a broadcast journalist and linguist based in Sheffield by clicking here

Image provided by Emma Wass, of Alison Munro, who plays Mrs Malaprop in The Company's The Rivals

Review: ‘Impact’ Culture Club Showcase Event  

 

On Thursday 12 May 2011, the first of three special Culture Club events, organised by The North Marketing Agency and supported by Sheffield City Council, provided the cross-section of Sheffield’s creative community who attended at Site Gallery, an evening-long snapshot of work created by a selection of Sheffield-based artists, organisations and companies, who are making a cultural impact outside the Steel City. 

Compiled under the theme of ‘Impact’, to coincide with one of the strands of Sheffield City Council’s new culture strategy, the evening began with introductions by Amy Carter, Head of Arts, Museums and Cultural Promotions at Sheffield City Council and Laura Sillars, Artistic Director at Site Gallery, before the featured presenters (who were available to attend in person) talked about their work and showcased examples via film, video, slideshow and live hip hop dance. 

The presentations, profiling a diverse creative spectrum which spans theatre, music, design, dance/fashion, art, illustration, architecture, magazines, games/digital and film, were from: Forced Entertainment (theatre), Third Angel (theatre), The Crookes (music - video blog), Human Studio (design - video clip), Hantu Collective (dance/fashion), Faunagraphic (art), Nick Deakin (illustration), Coda Studios (architecture), Article (magazines), Team Cooper (games/digital), and the South Yorkshire Filmmakers Network (film). Digital support was also provided throughout the evening via by a live Twitter stream, using the hashtag phrase #sheffculture.

One of the presenters Terry O’Conner, one of the founder members of groundbreaking experimental theatre company Forced Entertainment, talked about the early days of the company from when they launched in 1984 (she explained how they had a rehearsal room in the Wicker and one of Sheffield’s most famous contemporary sons Jarvis Cocker was living above the space at the time) and how, within two years, they were being invited to take their work abroad. As Terry explained: ‘50% of our work is now seen abroad, as we’re showing work as often in Europe and the rest of the world as in the UK.’ 

Mural/graffiti artist Faunagraphic, aka Sarah Yates, profiled a wide range of her work which, not only adorns various industrial/urban locations scattered across Sheffield (she explained how they attract ‘urban explorers’ to the city from London and beyond), but can also be found across various locations across the UK and abroad. 

The next Culture Club event to be supported by Sheffield City Council, will be taking place on 21st September 2011. This event will be held in collaboration with The University of Sheffield and will focus on another theme within Sheffield City Council’s culture strategy, ‘Excellence.’

Image: From Faunagraphic presentation, photo by stellamedia

 

Team Cooper: ‘We’re interested in the act of being playful'

 

Next Thursday 12 May 2011, sees Team Cooper being featured in a special Culture Club event at Site Gallery, Sheffield, hosted by The North marketing agency and supported by Sheffield City Council.

Team Cooper are a digital studio based in Sheffield which builds browser-based games, tools and applications, mainly using Adobe Flash. The company’s clients range from large international broadcasters to small agencies looking for a partner to help them out with a Flash-based project. Most are based within the creative and digital industries and they have also worked with companies in insurance, mining and yachting. Team Cooper offer their clients interesting and exciting ways to communicate their brand, products or services to their customers by engaging with them on today’s digital playing field.

‘We make quirky digital entertainment. We’re interested in game play and the act of being playful. We’re excited by electronics, new technology, the internet, all things digital (and zombies). We love what we do,’ explains Emma Cooper, Team Cooper’s Production Manager/Digital Creative/Concept Coordinator (‘but I like to call myself Head Girl, as it’s shorter and feels more appropriate’).

We talk to Emma to find out more about the company...

Tell us how Team Cooper started life and what have been your biggest moments so far?

‘Team Cooper was born in 2006 and started by my husband Tim. It was just him for the first couple of years but we’ve steadily grown and now there are six of us working full time in the team. In October 2009 we launched Beastie Burgers [www.robotlizard.com/games/beastieburgers/]our first in-house production. Its quirky style and black humor have helped it achieve a cult following and has had well over 4 million plays to date. Other highpoints have been getting to the last stage of the BBC @ North program [www.screenyorkshire.co.uk/news/news-archive/bbc-north-announces-yorkshire-companies-for-new-in], landing Sky as a regular client and signing our biggest single game contract to date with an American broadcaster.’

You’ll be showcasing some of your work at the Culture Forum event next that’s taking place at Sheffield’s Site Gallery next week, to tie in with the general theme of the evening, ‘Economic Impact.’ Can you give an insight into how this idea translates for Team Cooper?

‘Creating online games and tools means that our potential geographical reach is huge. Beastie Burgers was a massive hit in Spanish/Portuguese speaking countries, much to our surprise. Last year we sent Russell out to Canada to support an installation we worked on with one of our clients. We’ve also experienced some success in the US with a project that will be launched in August this year. We’re hoping that this will lead to new opportunities in the US in the future.’ 

[Related links: www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6278/going_games_from_web_development_.php?page= - Tim's post-mortem of Beastie Burgers project. http://teamcooper.co.uk/blog/balancing-act-in-vancouver/ - Russell's blog about Canadian project]

Why do you think Sheffield fosters such a huge creative community?

‘I think it’s that old thing that we’re the country’s biggest village isn’t it? Generally the quality of life is amazing. The facilities we have available to us are world class. We’ve this fantastic heritage of music, problem solving, science, engineering and design. We retain more students than any other city. If we weren’t fostering a huge creative community then something would be terribly wrong.’

Who are your Sheffield culture heroes?

‘I have a lot of geek love for the Lovebytes festival, it’s awesome! [http://2011.lovebytes.org.uk/]. The fact they’ve had their funding cut is rubbish. Businesses like us thrive on the kind of ideas and energy that festivals like Lovebytes create. We need that kind of cultural input. Working at the bleeding edge of an industry means that we need to look beyond that industry to see what’s possible, what everyone else is doing and what might be coming around the corner so we don’t get caught out or left behind. Cuts like this may save money in the short term but ultimately I think it’s a false economy.’

To find out more about Team Cooper visit: http://teamcooper.co.uk

Follow Team Cooper on Twitter: http://twitter.com/teamcooperltd

Sensoria festival takes to the streets in 2011

Sensoria, the UK's Festival of Film and Music, is delighted to announce a packed programme for its fourth edition, running from 29 April - 8 May 2011 in Sheffield.

As the festival opens on Royal Wedding Day, 29 April 2011, events are kicking off with a Sensoria Street Party. To be held across Devonshire Street in the city centre, the street party will feature a day of alfresco entertainment, including buskers, street & children's entertainers, live music and a 70-stall street market on Devonshire Green. This event, organised by the team behind Sheffield's Tramlines music festival, will also boast a wine shop, cocktail bar, and a host of gourmet foods.

Between 4-7 May, Sensoria will also host an outdoor screen presenting themed daily programmes of films including hip hop and streetdance, plus musicals, live performance films and Sheffield on Film.

This year Sensoria also welcomes Bill Drummond to Sheffield, as the festival’s first ever composer in residence. Drummond will be based at Sheffield Forgemasters, a global force in steel production and engineering, and is set to compose a score a day which will then be posted around the city.

Other highlights of the festival include:

Bibliotheque Discotheque (Library Disco)
Sensoria has a reputation for events in unusual buildings and this year the festival felt there was no better place to bring background music to the foreground than Sheffield’s Central Lending Library. DJ’s include Jerry Dammers, Jonny Trunk, Richard Bradley (The Pony Harvest) and Ian Cracknell.
7pm on 3 May, Sheffield Central Library, Surrey Street, S1

Steel City Pulse (in association with Galvanize Sheffield Festival)
Many Sheffield musicians have referenced the industrial sounds and sights of Sheffield as a major influence on their work, the rhythmic sounds of the steelworks are like the heart and arteries of the city. This unique event will bring drummers and percussionists from various Sheffield bands together for a performance full of bombast, set against an industrial backdrop - the sound of a forge hammer will kick off proceedings.
7pm on 7 May, Portland Works, Randall Street, S2

65daysofstatic live soundtracking 'Silent Running'
Sheffield's own instrumental post-rock four-piece 65daysofstatic have moved away from their standard touring format to present a new project for 2011 – live soundtracking the 1972 sci-fi kitsch classic, ‘Silent Running’. The film will be presented with the original dialogue intact, as an engaging cinematic experience featuring 65daysofstatic’s barrage of sound and multi-textured music.
8pm on 6 May, Queens Social Club, Queens Road, S2
 
In the Nursery, Sieben & special guests
Sensoria is pleased to present a rare hometown live concert by Sheffield artists In The Nursery and Sieben. The concert will celebrate the 30th anniversary of In The Nursery’s first live gig at Sheffield Art College and the launch of their new studio album ‘Blind Sound’. In The Nursery are best known for their cinematic sounds and highly percussive live shows. Sieben is the critically-acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer Matt Howden.
7.30pm on 5 May, City Hall Ballroom, Barkers Pool, S1

SensoriaPro
A 2-day industry event that explores innovations in music and the moving image. This year Sensoria welcomes Feargal Sharkey, Mary Anne Hobbs, Rob da Bank, Martyn Ware and more. Discussions and sessions include getting music placed in film and TV, tribute bands and nostalgia, music festivals, production music and what makes a great music video.
5 - 6 May, Showroom Cinema, Paternoster Row, S1

For more information about Sensoria or to download a full 2011 festival programme visit: http://2011.sensoria.org.uk/

Follow Sensoria on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sensoriafest

Image supplied by Sensoria Festival from 'Planet B-Boy' - one of the hip hop/street films to be shown on Sensoria outdoor screen

2Weeks 2MakeIt 2011, a ground-breaking music video competition taking place in Sheffield which randomly matches filmmakers with musicians to collaborate to create a music video from start to finish in just two weeks, is now open for applications.

Organised by the South Yorkshire Filmmakers Network (SYFN), the competition - in its fifth year – invites competitors to make their new films, in preparation for a Gala Competition Screening of all the work in late May/early June 2011 at the Showroom Cinema. Dr Rob Speranza, 2Weeks 2Make It Coordinator and Producer/Head of Operations at SYFN says: ‘There are great prizes in this year’s competition, including a cash prize, a record distribution contract, some development awards for musicians and fantastic ‘2Weeks 2MakeIt’ beer from Peak Ales.’ 

Those who are selected as competitors will be invited to a launch event taking place at the Sensoria Festival of Music and Film in Sheffield on 5 May 2011, at the Showroom/Workstation, Paternoster Row, S1 2BX. 

‘During the daytime on the 5 May, we'll merge our 2W2MI Industry Day with the Sensoria PRO Day,’ explains Dr Speranza. ‘There will be some great training sessions and masterclasses aimed at both filmmakers and musicians, providing guidance about making music videos, getting the most out of your budget, what clichés to avoid and much more!’.

That evening all the competitors will be randomly matched. ‘That's when we say, 'GOOD LUCK! You've got 2WEEKS 2MAKE IT!!’’ says Dr Speranza. The deadline to complete the videos will be exactly two weeks from the launch, on 19 May. 

For more information about 2Weeks 2MakeIt check out SYFN’s short film about the competition on their website: www.syfn.org/2weeks.html

2Weeks 2MakeIt 2011 application forms are available on www.syfn.org/2weeks.html, or by emailing Dr Rob Speranza directly on Rob@syfn.org or speranza@btconnect.com. 

For more information about Sensoria visit: www.sensoria.org.uk.  

Links:

www.syfn.org/2weeks.html

www.sensoria.org.uk

www.showroomworkstation.org.uk

 

 

 

Social media and events taking centre stage for new Culture Forum

Sheffield City Council’s recently-launched culture strategy is to be supported by three special cultural events and a dedicated social media online presence, over the next 12 months.

Funded by the Council, these exclusive events and digital channels are designed to enable individuals and organisations within the grassroots cultural community of Sheffield to stay connected with each other, under the banner of a Culture Forum for the city.

Two Sheffield-based businesses have been appointed on a freelance basis by the Council to support the Culture Forum. Ben Duong, founder of The North marketing agency, is co-ordinating the three events, under the banner of The North Culture Club. While Stella Eleftheriades, director of copywriting and social media specialists, stellamedia, is taking charge of the social media and blogging accounts.

Amy Carter, Head of Arts, Museums and Cultural Promotion at Sheffield City Council, says: ‘The three events will be themed around the main objectives of the cultural strategy with the first being ‘Economic Impact’ on 12th May, and will be held in conjunction with the Site Gallery. We will be showcasing a diverse range of Sheffield based creative individuals/businesses that have done some amazing work outside of the city, not just in the UK, but also internationally. For example, Human Studios currently have an exhibition of their work in a gallery in Tokyo; Nick Deakin created an illustration character for a Coca-Cola advertisement; and Forced Entertainment, a theatre performance group, will be going on a European tour from April.’

The other two events are set to take place on 21st September 2011 and 19th January 2012 and will be themed around ‘Excellence’ and ‘Participation’. During the events, follow live tweets on (hashtag) #sheffculture.

To join the Culture Forum on Facebook search for ‘Sheffield City of Culture’, to follow on Twitter use @sheffculture and blog posts and further information will be featured on: http://www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/culture.

Listings and notifications of events, workshops and exhibitions can be sent to culture@welcometosheffield.co.uk

Sheffield City Council’s culture strategy is a direct follow-on from Sheffield’s 2010 UK City of Culture bid and is a call to action for the people of the city to get involved and participate in cultural activity.