Live Art In Lincoln

No post since January is frankly shameful, a consequence I blame on been too busy. I’m therefore declaring that we will blog weekly (at a minimum)… although I’m sure we say this every time we blog.

Our new programme Eccentric England starts on the 4^th May, a mere 3 weeks away! The flyer, press release, press and online marketing merry-go-round is in full swing…

Anthony Schrag’s project ‘The Normal Parade’ is chugging along nicely. The search for the most normal person via the Normal Person competition appears to have caught the attention of the locals. BBC Look North ran a story on the project, which meant we got onto TV! Whilst the local paper ‘The Echo’ are running a series of articles calling out for applications, and Anthony will be out and about in Lincoln high street in mid may with applications and a big sign, doing a bit of canvassing to the locals. A small package was delivered to the office the other day, in a small brown box that initially appeared to be a bomb, but in fact turned out to be a trophy to be awarded to the most normal person. Excellent!

Whilst the Eccentric England programme is nearly upon us, we are working on the development of the Charter of the Forest project taking place in Chambers Wood in August. Artists Richard Dedomenici & Tereza visited the woodland last week, led around the site by Liz Fluety from the Forestry Commission. Richard managed to find out what was and wasn’t allowed in relation to his contribution to the project, no dogging, fires, chopping down trees and paintballing. Glad that’s sorted.

Look North video

Hello!

New Years resolution – endeavour to make more frequent blog posts. Possible a rocky beginning since we are almost a month into 2011 already…but from this point on I will keep you up to date with all the travels, trials and tribulations of Lincoln Art Programme.

Firstly, very exciting news. We have published are very own newspaper! It records all of the events and activities held throughout 2010. We shall be distrabuting them across Lincoln, so keep your eyes pealed. Alternatively if you send me an email,including your address to [email protected] I’ll pop a copy in the post.

Plans for the forthcoming programme ‘Trivia of Eccentric England’ are steaming ahead…. watch this space!

Tomorrow Im heading of to a day of Strategic Marketing Planning training. Quite the mouthful and sounds rather intense but thankfully there is the promise of tea. Fingers crossed I come back with a wealth of knowledge!

Bethan

The work load has increased some what in the last few weeks. We recently found out that we had received funding fro the Cultural Olympiad for our 2011 programme, which is fantastic news! However we need to confirm other funding for the programme in early December, meaning its funding application time. One of our aims is to get more funding to pay for the time we put into the organisation on a more representative scale.

A couple of weeks ago we had the launch of the S Mark Gubb, Union, project. The event had a wonderful atmosphere and the gusty wind certainly helped the flags he produced fly. A bugle player played ‘The Colour’s’ as we raised the flags atop the Usher Gallery. The flags will remain on top of the building until November. For more information see:

http://www.lincolnartprogramme.co.uk/smarkgubb.html

At the end of the month we have a family in residence as Townley and Bradby come to stay in a windmill with their children. They will have three types of events for people to attend, an artists talk, child led tour of the city, and open house sessions. They intend to explore the use of the family in producing art work, and will open up their residency to show people their lifestyle and working methods.

Amelia

Search Party took Lincoln on in a marathon game of ping pong. The Bristol duo, a performance company, specialise in participatory work that looks to actively engage the audience in actions that often involve sport, and competition.

Over the course of three days the artists staged an event where the artists played challengers who were aiming to win points for the city of Lincoln. Despite the rain and occasional gust play went on for the majority of the three days. After the first day of play Lincoln were trailing on Search Party’s lead significantly winning 4 games to 21. The score didn’t improve as the third day finished; Search Party 61, Lincoln 14.

During the course of play we had the mayor, various members of the Lincoln Crusaders Table Tennis Club, and the number one player in the county challenging the artists. Despite the Crusaders scoring points for the city it wasn’t enough to rescue Lincoln. Lincoln became the lowest scoring city Search Party have played to date. It was also the first time rain had stopped play, which was an interesting experience, some challengers played through it, others had Wimbledon moments being rained off.

The Search Party event attracted thousands of people, crowds came and went, supporters returned, and reporters watched from a distance. The event felt that it had built a connection with the people of Lincoln, and the citizens came together to play for pride.

In a couple of weeks time we have S Mark Gubb‘s flags being launched from the top of the Usher Gallery. This is to tie in with the re-opening of the gallery after it’s refurbishment. Gubb has looked at the representation of the four nations in the Union Jack for the commission. Being a Welsh / English descendant Gubb is particularly interested in Wales representation on the flag. The flags will be historical versions of the current Union Jack flag.

For the launch event on 25th September, we will have ceremony in the Usher grounds to watch the flags being launched.

See our website for more information:
http://www.lincolnartprogramme.co.uk/

The Search Party event is just around the corner. Next weekend they will take on Lincoln in an epic table tennis tournament. Our intern Bethan has manged to get the Mayor to play the opening game, which promises to be a great start to the three days! (28-30)

Its been a busy week, we are planning for the other two commissions of the year, S Mark Gubb and Townley and Bradby. S Mark Gubb is making a set of flags to fly on top of the Usher Gallery to mark it’s re-opening after refurbishment. The flags will look at the history of the UK nations and how they have been represented in the Union Jack over the years. This stems from Marks interest in national identities as a half Welsh half English artist living in Cardiff.

We are planning the flag launch for September 25th, and I am currently researching traditional nation cakes to serve as people watch the flags rise. There are some obvious cakes, Welsh Cakes for Wales, Victoria Sponge for England, Scotland has a good selection including Caramel Shortbread, Dundee Cake and Marmalade Cake, however Ireland seems to have less of a sweet tooth and less tradition cakes. So far I have found a Gur Cake, which I have eaten and is actually quite nice.

This week Anna Townley also came to Lincoln for a site visit. This October Townley and Bradby will be having a residency on a barge in the Brayford Wharf (an expanse of water in central Lincoln). The artists have two children aged 2 and 5 who they will be bringing with them on the residency. One of the largest worries we had was looking after children on a boat, however for some people this is every day life so I am sure its manageable. Anna has never been on a narrow boat, so we are looking forward to see how the experience will shape their work and what the experience will be like for them.

Amelia