TOUR OF EASTBOURNE CULTURAL CENTRE, ARTISTS' PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND NETWORKING EVENT
On Saturday we donned yellow waistcoats, hard hats and boots for our tour of the Cultural Centre. This is due to be ready in Spring 2008. The event was organised by Towner Gallery in partnership with Blue Monkey. Matthew Rowe, Artistic Director, took us round the spaces – some for showing the Permanent Collection, other spaces large enough for huge international shows. From the cafe on the top floor you can stare at the South Downs. In the adjoining Congress Theatre we listened to members of SpRoUt, an interdisciplinary collaboration of artists, talk about their year-long workshops with schools and the final 4 pieces of work produced. We completed the afternoon by serving wine and giving everyone the opportunity to talk to each other. see: www.sproutart.co.uk
Good news this week. We have been awarded a New Initiatives Grant by Eastbourne Borough Council to run two more BMPD events over the coming months. These events will specifically aim to support artists in the run up to the first ever Eastbourne Cutural Festival which will take place in March 2008 to coincide with the opening of the new Eastbourne Cutural Centre.
In addition, we have been invited by The Towner Art Gallery to work with them to promote an artists' networking event which will take place on the 18th August alongside new work from Amy Cunningham and Hayley Skipper from the artist collective SpRoUt. The SpRoUt artists will talk about The Space Between project and about their wider practice.
SpRout were commissioned by The Towner Art Gallery to develop an ambitious public art project, The Space Between, in partnership with local schools as part of the Building Sights programme, a series of ongoing projects to raise awareness of the Towner’s relocation to the Eastbourne Cultural Centre.
APD MEETING
I travelled to Portsmouth on Wednesday for the APD meeting at Aspex Gallery. Artists Professional Development is a group meeting of organisations who run events for artists in the South East coastal region from Bexhill, Eastbourne, Brighton and Portsmouth. The meetings are held at alternating venues. We share information and are discussing the possibility of running a regionwide event.
Judith attended a meeting in April and this was the first one I have attended on behalf of Blue Monkey Professional Development. It was also my first visit to Aspex Gallery in its new location on Gunwharf Quays at Portsmouth Harbour. It is housed in a former naval storehouse for ropes and its contemporary fittings reflect the contemporary art it shows.
I had lunch on the Quays with a fellow hen Jeannie Driver (www.henweekend.org ) and we watched the boats and ferries moving up and down the harbour as we discussed plans to develop our own practice including showing each other round the art venues of our respective cities.
We're hoping to run two or more events in the run up to the Eastbourne Cultural Festival ( due to take place in March 2008) which will help artists to prepare for Open Houses and for events which they may want to run. We've applied for a New Initiatives Grant from Eastbourne Borough Council which we hope will enable us to do this. We want our events to be a focal point where people can exchange information and ideas and we hope that we will contribute to the development of a lively and vibrant arts community in Eastbourne.
We built a mailing list and sent out questionnaires to ask what artists would like a Professional Development programme to include. After months of talking to interested people, consulting and discussing possibilities, we put together an introductory evening of speakers from 5 organisations to give 10 minute talks on artists' resources already available in the wider area (De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill; Fabrica, Brighton; Talk about the Work, artists' critique group, Claremont Studios, Hastings; also a short introduction to the new Eastbourne Cultural Centre due to open Easter 2008 and to the Eastbourne Open Houses 2008.
We had over 90 people book for the Blue Monkey Professional Development and Networking event held on Tuesday 19 June at the Underground Theatre. The evening was a great success. We asked people to give some final feedback so we can tailor any future sessions to their needs.
