Community arts
Feature articles about community arts in Leicester and Leicestershire.
2Funky Arts tells us:
FREE STREETDANCE, DJING & MCING WORKSHOPS FOR 11-16 YR OLDS
Location Lancaster Boy's School, Knighton Lane East, Leicester, LE2 6FU
Are you aged 11 – 16?
Into Streetdance, MCing and DJing?
Join professional artists to sharpen your Urban Arts skills this Summer!
...Anyone can join, you don't have to go to the school to attend.
STREETDANCE with Vince
Monday 2nd August - Friday 6th August 2010 inclusive
1pm – 3pm
DJING with Kid J
Monday 9th August - Friday 13th August 2010 inclusive
12pm – 2pm
MCING with MNT
Monday 9th August - Friday 13th August 2010
2pm – 4pm
All workshops take place at:
Lancaster Boy's School
Knighton Lane East
Leicester
LE2 6FU
And it's all FREE!
Contact Lauren for an application form on 0116 222 0639 or email Lauren@2funkyarts.co.uk
Check our website http://www.2funkyarts.co.uk/ for more Summer programs and activities!
This programme is supported by SEAK.
http://www.facebook.com/2funkyempire#!/event.php?eid=136930799657321&ref=ts
Keith Greenhill presents ..."ME"
An exhibition of art works, under the nom d'art Shiloh.
All pieces remain untitled and are not for sale.
Shiloh means 'bringer of peace' and he hopes the
artworks bring a feeling of peace.
Currently showing at the Glenvale Gallery, Bradgate Mental Health Unit, Glenfield General Hospital, Groby Road, Leicester, LE3 9EJ.
Open Tuesdays 12.30 - 2.30 at The Arts Cafe or by appointment (07795 475806)
BrightSparks are pleased to announce that the the highly successful and popular 'ArtSpace' art workshops are to reopen! Commencing Wednesday 30th June 2010 at The Independent Arts Centre on Humberstone Gate, Leicester.
Click here to view poster
Down in Belgrave Gate is an Arts Organisation that is making waves. 2Funky Records is just the shop at the front. Behind the record shop is a state-of-the-art creative workshop space and an imaginative and ground breaking project that is opening doors to many disadvantaged young people.
2Funky Arts (2FA) has been around for over three and half years. In that time they have built up some remarkable services. Just behind the shop there is a creative learning centre with 10 workstations, providing young people with, among other things, a 12 week course called "Beats and Bars". The course enables youngsters to learn how to write music and lyrics and learn music production technicques. The course has been funded by Connexions Leicestershire, the youth employment people and is targeted at 16 - 18 years old who not in employment, education or training.
A passion for music provides learners with the motivation to attend the course and improve their knowledge and skills. Supported by caring and committed tutors, the project is reaching out to people who have otherwised missed out on formal schooling.
On the first floor, there is yet more, where 2FA staff can work with groups. Project staff also take their work out to schools, colleges, Universities and other organisations.
The use of music, dance, poetry and visual art encourage young people to learn a valuable range of new skills.
Specialist art forms on offer include street and break dance, MC-ing, lyric writing and vocal training, music and film production, photography, graphic design, Hip Hop, theatre and music promotion.
Social Enterprise
2FA is a Social Enterprise, one of the new community-based businesses that are gradually working alongside (if not taking over from) the more traditional charities and voluntary groups. It is run on business lines but 2FK have been fortunate in gaining support from the Big Lottery Fund and other sources.
They are also rolling out the business approach to up-and-coming artists through "Artist's Enterprise" - an opportunity for people with an arts background to learn about the creative industries. The sessions, led by established artists and industry insiders, will help artists to earn money from their work and to promote their activities to become more widely known.
The free, ten week course will take place at Base, 2FK's place in Belgrave Gate, and is available to 16+ people who are not in employment, education or training or who are on jobseekers allowance. The course is aimed at singers, MCs, DJs, writers, poets, music-makers, film makers and others.
As an organisation, 2FK want to move more and more into education and open pathways to employment for the young people who come through their doors. As with Soft Touch, the project has created opportunities for the most disadvanted youngsters, some of the whom have been through the courts and many of whom have missed out on mainstream education. They currently offer accredited training via the Arts Award.
Spell-binding hip-hop
2FK have joined forces with The Spark Children's Arts Festival to mount a major event "Igniting Hip Hop" which takes place on Saturday 12th June at Leicester theatre CURVE, in Rutland Street.
Billed as a "spell-binding evening of hip-hop, dance, poetry, lyricism and theater", the event will take participants back to the roots of the hip-hop culture. Performances will come from young people from around Leicester, supported by some of the best directors and choreographers in the business.
More information about the event is available from the Spark festival web site.
2FK doesn't stop at music; they are also venturing into comedy. Taking place at the Peepul Centre on 26th June is "Hilarious!", a comedy show featuring the likes of Junior Simpson, John Summit, Nathan Caton and Jamie Howard. another show is planned for the 28th August.
For more information see the 2FunkyArts website or join them on Facebook.
Word
The Y Theatre is the venue for the spoken word, on the first Tuesday of the month, starting at 8 p.m.
Admission £3 (£2 concessions)
WORD! is the longest running poetry and spoken word night in the East Midlands. It consists of an open mic and booked act and is now supported by immaculate film visuals and live feed. If you'd like to perform, turn up at 7 p.m. and speak to the compere.
WordLeicester on Myspace
Other events in this series are listed on our Events page
Introducing: Safe Inside. Safe Outside.
Leicester acoustic band Refuge have taken an interest in the use of music for community growth. They have a passionate interest in supporting and understanding mental health issues.
This has led them to work with SISO (Safe Inside. Safe Outdide.) Their partnership with this Leicester based project will culminate in the release of an album that will primarily challenge negative social perceptions of mental health.
The work will provide a platform for poets, lyricists, artists and performers as well focusing on the impact of environment and community for people with mental health issues.
Due for release in October 2010, the new album will be called Allowed a Voice and will feature the singles Recovery and In the back of my mind.
The singles will showcase the lyrics written by people who use mental health services who are involved in the SISO Project. Artwork for the project will be propduced by community artists at Soft-Touch (see below.)
People involed in the SISO Project have experience of mental health and the exclusion and stigmatism that often accompanies it.
Refuge lead singer, Pete, told us: "I suffer from Bi Polar disorder and my hope is that the album will help people to speak freely and without prejudice about mental illness. We hope to raise awarness of the positive attitudes and projects that are freely available today."
Singles from the album will feature original poems written by people who use mental health services. The tracks will be available for download from i-Tunes Amazon from June 2010 onwards.
Members of the public who wish to support the work of the project can make a donation via the band's web site Refuge Music. For those not able to make a donation, the songs will be made available free of charge.
Pedestrian provides Urban Arts Training, Media Training, Exhibition space, meeting rooms and hot desking mobile environments. Formed in 1998, they are now located in their new premises at 34 - 28 Rutland Street (opposit the LCD Depot.)
Pedestrian is now an official National Open College Network Internal Verification Centre! This means that not only can they accredit the workshops they deliver, but also deliver any NOCN course or unit.
Pedestrian also has a range of products. From educational aids to important tools of the trade to the freshest garments, you can rest assured that they only make goods of the highest quality. Check out their wares here and then buy them from the shop!
Our new feature page kicks off with an article about Soft-Touch.
Soft Touch Arts works on hard messages and hard kids but it's really got its finger on the pulse.
Soft Touch is a community arts project that works with young people.
Based in Leicester, its strapline is arts for positive outcomes.
Soft-Touch creates opportunities for kids to get involved. Enjoyable, challenging and creative activities are offered.
The project helps kids to develop new skills that make a difference to their lives. Many of the young people who have got involved have grown and developed. A set of options have opened up for them, that have made a difference to their lives.
Soft Touch uses arts to help young people reach and realise their potential and to achieve positive outcomes in their lives. For some this will be for the first time in their lives.
Soft Touch has been reaching out to groups and communities for over twenty years.
It has achieved a strong reputation for its work in reaching out to young offenders and Gypsies and Travelers.
Gypsies and Travelers are one of the groups that are hard to reach and with which Soft Touch has worked successfully. The project has given young people from these communities a chance to have their own say and share their experiences.
A series of magazines has been produced. Young people have explained what life is like for them. They have also talked about the problems they face at school. This has helped other people to understand them and to know what they are really like.
Many of those Soft Touch has worked with have been excluded from mainstream clubs and services.
Soft Touch knows that the arts can make a difference to people's lives. Many of the young people who get involved come from widely differing backgrounds. Some of them are new to the UK. The Project helped kids who were newly arrived in Leicester, to make a magazine in which they told their stories. Some came here on long and dangerous journeys, often fleeing from war, poverty and disease. The Project helped them to make friends and to meet people who helped them to settle in.
Trevor Locke of Arts in Leicestershire has worked with Soft Touch before on subjects like young people and drug taking. He was very impressed by the way the project enabled kids to put their messages across in a way that other kids could relate to and understand.
Trevor met with Tim Burke, Chairman of the project's management committee, to find out about how the organisation is run, both as a non-profit organisation and as a Social Enterprise. He was impressed by the dedication of the people who have for a long time kept the Project afloat and enabled it to grow and develop.
Trevor visited the Soft Touch Studios in Leicester's Clarendon Park to see what is happening there.
Music features in the work of the Project. Young People are helped to make and perform their own music.
Kids at Soft Touch come to the project from all over Leicester. They get a chance to work on visual arts, graphics, fashion, dance, drama, films, animation, sculpture, crafts and computer-based design. It is a hive of activity and a lot goes on during the evenings.
Trevor was impressed by the care taken by the workers to enable kids to do what they want to do and by the way that the staff approach their work. They are very special people. It takes very great skills to help kids who have been disadvantaged and marginalised to find themselves and engage in things they might never have tried before.
Soft Touch also works on the New Parks Estate and other places in Leicester/shire. It works in partnership with many organisations such as Connexions and the YMCA.
You can find out more about Soft Touch from their website
www.soft-touch.org.uk
See our review of one of the groups of young people from Soft Touch who are now making an impact on the live music scene in Leicester
See our review of Nemasis performing live at the Shed.
