News — Page 10

High Peak Community Arts to be new charity partner for White Stuff, Buxton!

We did it!

Thanks to all our supporters who got online and voted – we have been selected by White Stuff to be their charity partner for their new store in Buxton.

Everyone at High Peak Community Arts is thrilled to have been chosen and we are looking forward to meeting their staff and using the opportunity to raise our profile in Buxton.

Sophie, our Youth Arts manager, said “Almost half our programme is based in Buxton, but we don’t have a base there – so it will be great to become a bit more visible to the general public and shout about the benefits of taking part in the arts!”

Alison, our Arts & Wellbeing manager, said “This partnership has come a critical time for us, as we are still replacing the revenue grant that we used to get from Arts Council England. Working with White Stuff will bring us in-kind support of more volunteers, and funds to support the organisation as a whole – We can’t wait!”

For more information on White Stuff’s charitable foundation click here.

Vote for US!! Deadline 30 August!

‘White Stuff’ is opening a store in Buxton, and choosing a local partnership charity. If High Peak Community Arts is chosen, ‘White Stuff’ will fund raise for us and volunteer at events. We would very much welcome this opportunity as funding is so scarce and funds from them would be unrestricted – this means their support benefits the whole organisation and all our work across the High Peak, not just in Buxton. We will be able to continue to create exciting, high quality projects in our Youth and Arts and Wellbeing programmes, using participation in the arts as an agent for positive change in people’s lives.

Click here to VOTE FOR US NOW!!

Please share with all your friends – we need your support!!
Voting is open till midnight on Sunday 30th August!

Many thanks!
VOTE NOW!!

Alison, Rick & Sophie

Project eARTh gets 5 years more funding!

Press Release

Project eARTh gets 5 years more funding!

High Peak Community Arts are delighted to announce they they have been awarded a 5 year grant of £365,255 from the Reaching Communities Fund of the Big Lottery to continue with their highly successful Project eARTh. The grant also includes £15,000 of a ‘Building Capabilities’ grant for the first year, for the organisation as a whole to review, develop and undertake any training needed to go forward .

Project eARTh (environmental arts and health) had a wonderful first 5 years with a whole host of participatory arts projects for people experiencing mental distress, with other physical impairments or long term conditions. In Project eARTh people get the chance to get out, meet other people, make friends, have fun, be creative, and work together to make art works for the community.

With participants from all over the High Peak, the project has created 33 artworks, many of which can be seen and enjoyed across the borough – including a ceramic human sundial in High Lee Park, New Mills, an aluminium archway in Granby Park Road, Fairfield, a Mosaic Trail in Gamesley Woodlands, felted wall hangings in Fairfield Community Centre and the Moorland Centre Edale, outdoor pizza ovens in Glossop and the Goyt Valley, a living willow arbour in Glossop, a living willow den and tunnel for Harpur Hill Children’s Centre, Ceramics at Dinting Railway Station, wooden sculptures at Poole’s cavern, a woven tapestry at Spring Bank Arts, a hand- made paper light for Blythe House Hospice, audio posts on the Sett Valley Trail and more! As well as our core participants, some projects have involved partnerships with community organisations and schools.

‘We look forward to starting a whole range of exciting new projects now’, said Alison Bowry, who co-ordinates the project. ‘And we welcome ideas for artworks – or sites to place them. If there is somewhere near you that you feel would welcome some artwork – indoors or outdoors – please get in touch. And if you feel your wellbeing would benefit from joining in, please get in touch too.’ The new project starts in mid- June, with groups in New Mills and Fairfield, and free transport for those that need it, including from Glossop for the New Mills group. Each session is led by a professional artist, with support from mental health workers, and volunteers. Attendance is free of charge.

Project eARTh is a partnership between High Peak Community Arts. High Peak Community Mental health Team, High Peak Mental Health Project and High Peak CVS.

Arts Award success!

We’ve just had our first moderation of the new Arts Award Explore level accreditation, with 26 young people from Chapel en le Frith and New Mills receiving the award!

Sophie Mackreth, our Arts Award Advisor, is trained in Discover and Explore levels and is using it in the Film Cuts Club and Tall Tales project.

This is a really good starter award for young people and works for those who are too young for the Bronze level, or if a project doesn’t clock up enough hours – It’s a lovely way to give young people recognition for putting in a lot of hard work during projects

We continue to use Bronze and Silver for our older or longer-term participants and we have a few of those in the pipeline – so watch this space!

Watch our Super Hero Film from New Mills Festival!

Every year we open our doors for New Mills Festival and this year it was 20th September, for character creation and a special story for the festival. We were showing films in the back room and the hoards came and created more than 30 characters to star in a super hero film like no other!

NEW MILLS FESTIVAL!

Blue John premieres to critical acclaim!

On 5th August thirteen young people from Glossop and Buxton joined forces to perform the World Premiere of their interpretation of the popular children’s story by Berlie Doherty.

Here are some thoughts from the audience:

And here is the lovely piece on High Peak Radio, put together by Izaac Cole:

listen to ‘Blue John Interview (High Peak Radio)’ on Audioboo

Contact’s The Novice Detective – New Mills, 3rd June 2014

High Peak Community Arts is embarking on a new partnership with Contact Theatre in Manchester, starting with the hosting of a show from their Rural Touring programme funded by the Arts Council. On 3rd June 2014 Contact, NRTF & Sophie Willan presented:

It was aimed at audiences young (13+) and old, preferably together – and this is what we all thought:
“It was absolutely brilliant!”
“Really, really funny!”
“I thought the writing was really profound, the performance was just hilarious…”
“I cried laughing!”

The Novice Detective

3rd June 2014

Providence Church, Mellor Road, New Mills

7.30pm, doors from 7pm

Tickets £6 (£3 under 18s and over 65s, and £12 family ticket), available from High Street Books or on the door.

Phone 01663 744 516 for more information.

We are keen to develop more links with Contact, as brand new, original theatre aimed at a teenage audience is rare in rural towns such as ours – so spread the word and the bigger the audience the greater the chance of more shows coming this way!

ICAF – The International Community Arts Festival, Rotterdam 2014

High Peak Community Arts have played an active part in the delegation from EMPAF (East Midlands Participatory Arts Forum), travelling to Holland and taking part in the Caravan of Dreams tour in the lead up to the ICAF event itself.

Working over the course of 5 days, with Paul Steele from Junction Arts, Andy Barrett from Excavate and Millie Ferguson from the Core, Corby Cube we visited locations and projects across Holland, which reflected the great range of community and participatory arts active today. We were joined on the Monday before the festival by Julie Batten from People Express, Madeline Holmes from City Arts and Sally Norman from Soft Touch, and compiled our thoughts and finding as we went, onto the EMPAF Caravan of Dreams blog:

www.empafcaravanofdreams.blogspot.co.uk

We also recorded clips and interviews from each location – which the EMPAF network are using to reflect on the experience over a longer period.

Here are two of Sophie’s blog posts, to give a flavour of the trip:

Ultimate team building… a view from the van

Sin Palabras workshop with Marco Ferreira

Dame Joan Bakewell becomes our Patron

We are delighted with our new champion, Dame Joan Bakewell, who was born and educated in Stockport. She is one of the country’s foremost journalists and broadcasters and was awarded a life peerage in 2010. She has a special interest in the arts and the elderly, and said:

“I am delighted to give High Peak Community Arts my support. Their work is so thoroughly worthwhile and their zeal for their projects exactly what is needed. I hope they go from strength to strength.”

This is a fantastic way to celebrate our 35^th year of working with those who have least access to arts and culture, the hard to reach and isolated individuals and groups in the community.

Dawn Bryan, our Chair of Trustees said :

“We are delighted to have such a patron. It is a real boost to all our workers and those who continue to benefit from our projects. It’s a lovely way to celebrate our 35 years and we are very grateful to Dame Joan for her support and encouragement”

http://knightayton.co.uk/female-presenters/joan-bakewell