Creative inclusions

30-31 May

It has been a year exactly and I when back to Gloucester to visit the Cathedral and the plantation in the Garth. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the project has grown, all the trees and plants are doing so well. I am planning, now that I will be working in Bristol for the next few weeks, to visit again and tide up the plants, they could really do with a little trim.

25^th of May

I got onto the Eurostar and when to Paris for 5 days. I have been invited for a long time now to visit a school friend Vane, who is a diplomat at the Embassy of Macedonia in Paris.

I when with the intention to visit Galleries and create possible contacts, also myself and Vane have been discussing the possibility of using the Embassy space, which is a very old and beautiful building, as an exhibition space.

In spite of the weather I had an amazing time, I love Paris anyway is such an amazing city with so much to see and do, you never get bored!

I visited many interesting galleries, especially I liked the area of Marais in the 3e Arrondissement. I was very impressed by Palace de Tokyo http://www.palaisdetokyo.com/fo3/low/programme/ and the Le Plateau, Frac ile-de-France http://www.fracidf-leplateau.com/en/index.html

The last night in Paris I met an artist Lena Andonova, friend of Vane’s. Lena is a very nice young artist who is living and working in Paris, originally comes form Macedonia from Negotino which is 10km from my birth town Kavadarci. She is also working part time at the Palaise de Tokyo.

All three of us when to an opening at L’equipe de la Galerie, which is only few kilometers outside Paris, a very interesting publicly funded gallery that works closely with Palace de Tokyo. Here we met another artist that Lena collaborates with Stephani Hab.

24^th of May

Organised by friends of le Monde Diplomatique, At The Gallery, in Farringdon, London

I went to a film event ‘Mundi Romani: the World of the Roma’

As a people and as a culture, the Roma have been and continue to be misrepresented, mythologized, stereotyped, and scapegoated. There are at least 12 million Roma scattered throughout the world, yet despite being Europe’s largest minority, the Roma have been voiceless for centuries. This evening’s two films, Lashi Vita (the good life) and Paradise Lost: the Roma Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale, explain the nature of contemporary anti-Gypsy attitudes, and illustrate the resilience of the Roma people in the face of persecution. Film maker and director Katalin Barsony the co-producer of this documentary series by Duna Television Hungary and the Romedia Foundation , and the International Editor of Mundi Romani , Marion Kurucz will join us for the Q&A, together with Dr Nidhi Trehan whose new book Romani Politics in Contemporary Europe (edited with Nando Sigona) was published by Palgrave Macmillan last year.

19^th of May

ArtSway Associates meeting with DACS

The majority of the meeting was centred around a discussion on the potential of a partnership between ArtSway, the ArtSway Associates and DACS, and the potential for a digital platform for the distribution of artworks by artists directly to the public.

17^th of May

Creative Conditions: Mapping Artist Resources in the South East. Towner Gallery, Eastbourne.

I was invited as AIR representative to take part in a conference at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne. ‘Creative Conditions’ was initiated by Turning Point South East (TPSE), a consortium of organizations and individuals in South East England which is developing and implementing, in partnership with Arts Council England, a regional plan for the visual arts. The event aims was to foster an informal space for consultation and discussion, exploring the current landscape of artists’ support and resources in the region. It was to encourage a wide range of perspectives and contributions from visual artists, arts organisations and support agencies to fully explore where we are now and how we influence future initiatives.

There were 3 panels of invited speakers:

Panel 1:

Chaired by: Stephen Foster, John Hansard Gallery

Gilane Tawadros, DACS

Jonathan Parsons, ARC and Medway In Sights programme

Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, AiR representative

Panel 2:

Chaired by: Matthew Rowe

Mark Segal, ArtSway Associates

Emilia Telese, working with Fabrica / ArtSway and NAN

Kevin Wilson, Artpoint

Panel 3:

Chaired by: Tim Eastop CCI

Donna Lynas, Wysing Arts and Escalator programme

Julie Freeman, Method Artist , CLP programme

Stephen Beddoe, ArtQuest

These was a very productive day with an interesting mix of 50 invited professionals, including artist, curators, directors of publicly funded organisation, Arts Officers from Council Authorities from the South East region.