August 5th, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
Over the past couple of weeks I have been working for The Play House and Balsall Heath Children’s Centre on two play schemes. The first was a week long ‘Transititions project with 4 year olds to help the transition between nursery and reception. The theme for this was ‘The Farm and included a day at Umberslade Children’s farm, which I cannot recommend highly enough.
We also worked with an artist and two other teacher/actors.
The other project was a ‘Play in a Day’ for 8 – 10 year olds as part of an Arts Camp, which also was successful.
After Gerard and I meet tomorrow to discuss the next steps for ‘Don’t Blame it on the Wolf’, we are taking a few days break before launching into new projects and productions later on this month.
July 21st, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
Today has been a lovely day as I went to two schools where I had worked in the past on Arts projects. Both sets of children were leaving their respective schools and it was good to say a last good bye and wish them well. It was also good to visit two such creative, exciting schools. They know who they are!
July 19th, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
The past month has been frenetic at OSP. Schools are always interested in bringing in artists at the end of term and so we have been Storytelling at St Benedicts and Woodlands Infant Schools, both in Birmingham as well as supporting teachers, lunchtime supervisors and parents in their creative skills.
July has also seen the Premiere of the Wolfhamcote double bill. Both the ‘All of History is Here” and “The making of…” were shown to the local audience and are being trialled in schools in September.
I am fortunate to be part of a team of people supporting the setting up of a new initiative to bring a range to people to the new Library which is currently under construction. As part of this I had the opportunity to see the site as it currently is and the 4D computerised transformation that will take place over the next 6 months. Exciting times – the Library will provide great opportunities for Birmingham to reach out to its communities and celebrate all the various facets of the city and surrounding areas.
Unfortunately we heard this week that we didn’t get the City of Culture – a bitter blow for the team and us for the artists who would have benefited by the investment. I am only hoping the phrase ‘ keep calm and carry on’ applies to all the ideas and collaborations which have already started to develop.
June 15th, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
The past couple of weeks have been busy at OSP with development meetings here there and everywhere. I am working in collaboration with The Play House over the next three weeks at Shirelands Academy in Smethwick, Birmingham. They are a forward thinking school who are using their Creative Partnerships funding to develop their Year 7 teaching and learning and enrich the curriculum, through a thematic approach. We are leading creative project around the title of ‘What IF….?” More information to follow as the project is delivered.
The work the company has been doing with CRE8US practitioners and Woodlands Infant school has been getting very positive feedback both from staff and from the CCE who paid an impromptu visit recently. We have been asked to continue the relationship into the next academic year, which will be a pleasure.
My colleague Gareth was able to support Sarah at Aston Uni last week, in a presentation about the work we have been doing at the audiology unit; which will hopefully bring about more funding for role play.
Zak and Art are both in the final stages of editing for the Wolfhamcote Films; the premiere is booked for the 10th July at the church in the village – so watch this space.
I chaired the latest Equity meeting for the area last night, it was a small turn out but this gave us all a chance to mix a little more afterwards and get to know each others field as there were new faces to all of us. Any performer, back stage, designer , dancer, director or stunt person wanting to know more about meetings please get in touch.
May 24th, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
Today has been sweltering in the Midlands but it didn’t stop us at Open Stage donning hat, gloves and winter coat all in the name of art. Working with a local Primary school, who have been looking at Nepal, we created an interactive day where the children walked up Mount Everest, stopped at base camp and considered the challenges of such an adventure.
An enjoyable day was had by all with the teachers commenting that they were delighted with how it went. (”It turned out better than we could ever have hoped for”)
May 16th, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
For almost half a century the Midlands Arts Centre in Cannon Hill Park has been a significant hub for Birmingham’s local communities. For the past two years it has been shut for renovations and development but this month it opened to the public and I was there. I was delighted to see how many people turned up to see how it turned out.
The space has much to recommend it however some of the finishing leaves a lot to be desired (perhaps the opening arrived too early for the final touches) and the infrastructure wasn’t quite up for the numbers who turned up and wanted to try out the food and drink.
My main criticism of the space (as far as I have experienced it so far – I have not been to see a show yet) is that the bar is very clinical and uninviting and that the central space which should be somewhere relaxing, is not condusive to sitting and chatting. The settees are very hard backed and feel like they are there for perching for a few minutes before seeing a show or film rather than settling in for a night of conversation.
What impressed me? The two art galleries – one which had a Sampad retrospective and the other which had birmingham inspired artifacts and images. The new theatre rehearsal space looked interesting also (I will be able to report more when I get to actually go inside – it was locked on the open day.)
May 7th, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
Tuesday was a fascinating day for me as I was again asked to be part of a panel on Radio 4’s Today programme. I travelled down to White City and met with both the Birmingham panelists and the four people who had been part of a panel in Manchester. We were shown round the offices of the BBC and then to a room where we met with John Humphry’s who spoke with us for about half an hour. Despite being nervous, the longer chat helped me to focus on responding to the questions asked. I wanted to speak about how none of the parties mentioned the Arts and Cultural industry in the debates but was spoken over by a ‘gentleman’ who wanted to ‘answer the question’ so by the time I got to speak the question had changed.
The debate was really interesting and there were a good range of views. Peter, who was also from Birmingham shared similar views to me and after the edit (down to 15 mins) we both got a fair airing I’m pleased to say.
Anyone wishing to listen to it can follow the following link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8661000/8661534.stm
April 23rd, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
I have now listened to my efforts and know its not just the leaders who need a second go at being interviewed in a live debate! My usual, slightly tongue-twisted sentences kicked in particularly at the beginning of our contributions. But the feedback some from complete strangers was that the panel did well and came across as honest voters thinking about what they had heard.
(this is the link to the interview)
April 23rd, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
This morning I took a leap into the unknown and joined in the political debate on John Humphry’s Today programme. Yesterday I received a twitter from Louise Teboul the co-ordinator of Common Purpose with whom I have been looking at Leadership. It asked for floating voters in Birmingham to join a panel for the programme to resoond to the leaders debate. I tweeted and emailed and before I knew it I was in the Mailbox at 8 am this morning having spent the wee small hours watching the debate and making notes. I was interestingly the only woman on the panel and the only person from the Arts; not that the arts or educcation came up. The 8 minutes went in a blur and whilst I had lots of positive things to say we started the debate with who we weren’t going to vote for which sent us down a path of what we didn’t like about the leaders style and substance. Perhaps the most interesting thing that the 4 of us all agreed on was that whilst the was potential for blocking policies we wanted the parties to work together more to get us through a tough time and that a hung or balanced parliament may well be a good thing.
How did I do? no idea – I am disappointed I didn’t say specifics (the debate in the green room beforehand was more candid and interesting/ specific) but I managed not to call Nick Clegg David Clegg (which I had done in the Green Room – I am not great first thing) and I got to sum up some of the things I felt.
A new experience but one which I am glad I have chosen.
April 19th, 2010 by Admin
No comments »
Today I have been working with Claire Marshall, Michael Supple and Nikky Smedley (for CR8US) to support a local school in their journey towards a new, more creative curriculum. We had a very positive day where the staff gave a huge amount of themselves to the process. During the morning we looked at the schools core values and in the afternoon began to harness the passions and interests of both staff and pupils with these in our planning.
Feedback from staff:
• I would like some more days like this to help understand how to encourage children to be more creative and myself be more confident in delivering. It has been very informative and enlightening, just need a little more input / direction to give me confidence.
• Today has shown just how much flexibility we can now have to try things, be more creative – planning has become more exciting – and nice to see more staff becoming more open-minded and creative.
• Today has made me realise I have relevant skills / ideas that can be used in the school. I have also gained confidence during the day and felt part of a team.
