| |
|
|
| Front page | News | Feature articles | Comedy | Literature and poetry | Music guide | Theatre and plays | Dance | Visual arts films and photography | Help | Search | Blog |
|
Page last edited: |
News page 2011This page is part of the news section This news page contains news about all aspects of the arts and entertainment in Leicester/shire. On this page: Saturdays in the Cultural Quarter | Knife Crime Project | Next Wave | John Mayall | Englebert Humperdinck | Spark Campaign | Company formation | Riots | Venues to work together | Live music summit | Young Artists | Jon Ashworth's summit | Festival contributes to economy | Ed Miliband | Ross Grant | The culture debate | Music Collective | Creative Garden | Arts Council grants | New culture board | Call for arts strategy | Will Mayor support the arts? | Arts centre faces closure | Arts policy | Skateboard launch | Mayor holds culture discussion | Manorhouse festival | Opera on the big screen | See also: MPs John Ashworth and Ivan Lewis talk about creative industries. 16th December 
Let's do Saturdays is a new business-led Initiative aimed at making Leicester's Cultural Quarter, in the St.George's district, the destination of choice for young people and families on the first Saturday of every month. The initiative is the joint brainchild of Manic Music Productions's director Jed Spittle and Tina Barton of Wot Box Participation. In association with Sarah Waterston of Creative Catalyst, they have been developing a network of interested organisations, businesses and young people.This network is working collectively to provide a variety of activities, workshops, events and opportunities for young people and their families. "Our first Let's Do Saturdays kicks off on the 4th February", explained Jed, "and will continue thereafter on the first Saturday of every month. Young People and their families will be offered a variety of activities including Music, Dance, Gaming, Fashion, Art, Design, Film and Journalism. In addition we are working with establishments within the cultural Quarter to provide discounted, family friendly meals and reduced priced all-day parking". For more information please feel free to email Jed@ManicMusicProductions.co.uk Many of the spaces within the Cultural Quarter, Including the Screen lounge at Phoenix Square where the new young Singer/Musicains performanve platform Next Wave is taking place, have been opened up to young people by Tina Barton through her work as an East Midlands co-ordinator for the Somewhere_to project. Somewhere_to is a nationwide project aimed at helping young people find the space they need to do the things they love within sports, culture and the arts. It is a London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Legacy project that is funded by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to help build a lasting cultural and sporting legacy from the London Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK. More details can be found at http://www.somewhereto.com/regions/east-midlands. See our piece on Manic Music Productions 14th December Meet the Saxons 
Saxon played at the O2 Academy tonight. artsIn photographer Harjinder Ohbi was there to take some photos of the band live on stage.  Saxon's vocalist Biff Byford Formed in 1976, Saxon is a heavy metal band and were at the fore-front of the new wave of British Heavy Metal. They have sold more than 13 million albums worldwide. In the 1980s they became one of Europe's biggest metal bands. 9th December A Home Office funded project sets out to tackle issues of hatre and knife crime through music. Read more about Words with weapons on our Urban Music page 17th November Event for up and coming Singers Next Wave is the name of a new project for young singers and musicians, aged 12 to 21+. On the first Saturday of every month, Manic Music Productions Ltd., will host the region's best up and coming young musical talent in a new free event. The show will be held at the Phoenix Square arts centre in Leicester on teh first Saturday of each month, commencing on 3rd December. The show starts at 11.30 a.m. and finishes at 2 p.m. Artists wanting to take part should come to the next event and fill out an application form. Those taking part in an introduction set can then move on to a Featured Artist set. Featured asrtists will get a free recording session. More information is available on the Manic Music Productions web site 9th November Legendary musician performs in Leicester John Mayall at the DMH Photo © Harjinder Ohbi John Mayall and his band The Bluesbreakersperformed at the De Montfort Hall on Tuesday 8th November. Mayall has a huge discography going back to 1965. He has collaborated with string ot top rock stars inlcluding Eric Clapton, Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, Andy Fraser and Mick Taylor. He was awarded the OBE. Find out more about John Mayall 6th November Englebert at the De Montfort Hall Photo © Harjinder Ohbi Leicester's most famous singer Englebert Humperdinck performed at the De Montfort Hall on Monday 7th November. Although he was born in India, he and his family moved to Leicester when he was 10 and has maintained a home in Leicestershire since then, making him one our most iconic entertainers. He was awarded the freedom of the city in 2009. He has sold 150 million albums worldwide.  Photo © Harjinder Ohbi Supporting Englebert was comedian Richard Whymark. 13th October Film making project comes to Leicester People are being invited to join a four hour workshop on Friday 28th October, where they can learn about film making and production. The workshop will be aimed at amateur film makers in the community, rather than professionals with expensive equipment. The group will be asked to go away and make a short film about one day in their lives. They can do this with mobile phones and flip-cams. The Leicester group is part of a larger national project which will be edited into a programme called "Britain in a day". It aims to capture and document the life of Britain by bringing together video clips from people all the country. if you would like to get involved in this, please contact Amanda of Lumier Arts by texting her mobile on 07706 973 166. More information will be posted here as soon as it comes in. Information about the national project is available on the BBC web site. Third mayoral culture debate Read our report on our new Cultural Strategy page 3rd October Arts apprenticeship project success for Curve Leicester Curve theatre is pleased to announce that it has been successful in securing nearly a quarter of a million pounds of funding that will support the delivery of a three year programme to develop young arts entrepreneurs in Leicester and Leicestershire. Following an open application process, £240,000 of funding for the arts-led social change scheme will be provided by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Curve's scheme will invest in creative potential at a grass roots level and has been developed in consultation with young people and in collaboration with local councils and stakeholders. The scheme seeks to raise the standard of arts-led experiences in communities and will provide opportunities in the youth sector where services and provision have seen recent shrinkage and cuts in inner city and rural areas. Working with organisations such as the British Youth Council and Arts Council England, the project will also disseminate the achievements and learning from the three years at a national level. Curve's Associate Director, Adel Al-Salloum says "We are a socially spirited and vibrant theatre and we are thrilled that our funders have recognised our current success in working in the community and the potential Curve has to develop its work with young and emerging artists. "The project is about new ideas and how Curve supports young people to realise their ideas and turn them to enterprise, but this funding also means we can take a lead within the industry in creating new models for other arts and cultural organisations." The apprenticeship is open to all young people aged between 16 and 25 in Leicester and Leicestershire. Empowering 30 individuals to become leaders in both the arts and their communities through a programme of training, mentoring and investment, the scheme will in turn directly benefit a minimum of 300 members of the community. The entrepreneurs will work with a number of different communities to improve understanding of a critical issue or state of being through art, from young people in schools, people at risk, or the elderly, and draw on a broad range of performing arts skills to create new work, share experiences and learn new skills. The scheme will also create jobs as Curve recruits a programme manager and several specialist practitioners across the city and county to help deliver the project. Recruitment of the young entrepreneurs will take place from Nov 2011 with a ten week Arts Facilitation and Leadership training programme taking place from Jan to March 2012 at Curve theatre. Through March to August the entrepreneurs will research and implement their project and in August 2012, Curve will coordinate an annual Celebration Event at the theatre. This event will involve all entrepreneurs and participants from the different communities; bringing together the people of Leicester and Leicestershire through artistic, cultural and social exchange, developing a model of community participation and a sense of shared ownership of the theatre. Young people invited to get involed in CURVE 28th September Spark launches campaign to protect arts for children The Spark Children's Arts Festival is calling for public support as it launches a new fundraising campaign - Shine For The Spark 2012. The Festival needs to raise £10,000 to protect its education programme which makes a difference to thousands of children in schools each year. The Spark is calling for public donations to reach a target of £5,000 in an appeal which will see donations doubled by business contributions. Public donations will be matched pound for pound. The Spark Festival is delighted that Next plc has started the ball rolling by making the first business donation to the appeal. Spark Director Ellen Bianchini said: "This is a great start to our appeal by a major Leicester company and we hope that more businesses will follow their lead. Public and business donations are becoming increasingly important as public sector funding is squeezed. The arts for children are particularly vulnerabl - they are not statutory, not high profile, and not high on education priorities, yet we know that The Spark makes a big difference to the lives of thousands of children each year and boosts their learning. "Next year's Spark will run from 28th May to 10th June. The festival brings leading international and national artists creating work for children to Leicester for two weeks a year. In 2011 almost 13,000 people attended Spark events. The organisation runs an accessible and inclusive schools programme, taking the arts into classrooms, and subsidising theatre visits and workshops for thousands of children. From storywriting competitions and pop-up galleries to breathing new life into play areas in city parks, ongoing Spark projects are deeply rooted in communities across the city and engage children in inspiring ways. Find out more from the Spark Festival website 16th September News about the company takeover of artsInNews about artsIn Magazine being taken over by a company is on our artsIn Productions page. 5th September Kasabian hold secret gig on jumbo jet 
Internationally famous rock band Kasabian held a secret show tonight on board a Boeing 747 at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome. The band, originally from Countesthorpe, invited 200 guests to hear them play live inside the decommissioned aircraft. The closely guarded secret about the venue was announced only days before but rumours about it quickly spread like wildfire, as rock fans all over the UK tried to guess where it was to be held. Fans were asked, by mobile phone, to rendesvous at the Walkers Stadium, where a fleet of coaches took them to the airfield. Guests attending the free gig were treated to a hog roast in a marquee before ascending into the jumbo jet for the hour long performance by the band. More news on the Kasabian gig. Get the full story on our Kasabian Gigs feature page 10th August Venues hit by last night's riots The Exchange Bar and the SoundHouse were targeted by rioters last night. Both venues had a number of windows smashed between 11.30 p.m. and midnight when crowds of youths went on the rampage in the city centre.
The Exchange Bar in Rutland Street, a leading venue for arts and live music, had several of its windows smashed. 
Live music venue The Sound House also suffered smashed windows as riot police chased groups of youths around the centre of the town, late last night. Manager Joel Lavender told us that he had spent the night at the bar, to ensure the safety of the building and to start the clean-up operation. Managers at the Sound House are to decide later today whether to go ahead with the shows planned for tonight and on Fringe Thursday. Customer's fears about safety led to many venues experiencing unusually low numbers of visitors, even for the Tuesday night, venue owners told us. Manager Joel Lavender told us "we are disappointed that we have had to cancel tonight's Fringe Festival gig with Humbe He, Haich and The Cold Sweat. We are disappointed that this mindless thuggery has affected our city's streets and businesses." 
The Shed in Yeoman Street went ahead with their lineup of rock bands last night, although one band from Brighton - The Call Back Academy - decided to leave without playing when there was a vehicle fire in the nearby multi-story car park. Large numbers of youths came into Yeoman Street when word spread that a vehicle was on fire. Owner calls for help from City In fact two of the night's bands that had come to Leicester at their own expense felt obliged to go home because of fears for their own safety. Shed owner Kevin Holyland commented "These riots are having a drastic impact on small live music venues in the city centre. We are all struggling with the impact of the recession and this is making it worse", he told us. Mr. Holyland called on the City Council to provide finanical support for small venues as they suffer from fans staying away. "Venues bring lots of people into the city centre's night time economy", he said. Twitter reports this morning that the burning vehicle was owned by charity Age Concern but it is not clear whether the fire as started deliberately. MP Jon Ashworth estimates it could cost up to £50,000 to replace Age Concerns bus and is appealing for help with donations towards the cost of a replacement - to donate call 0116 299 2233. 
Police closed off the junction of Charles Street and Humerstone Gate East at 10.30 p.m. although buses were still running at this time.  Police in Morledge Street last night photo © Chris Lay John Rance, Chief Executive of Phoenix Arts confirmed to us this morning that the arts centre had not been affected by last night's troubles. There was a sizeable police presence in Morledge Street last night at the height of the disturbances. No damage to CURVE was visiable when we went there this morning and sources at the theatre also confirmed today that no damage had been done to the building. Organisers of the Fringe Festival, underway this week at many city venues, told us "the plan for tomorrow as it stands is to go ahead as planned. We have been liaising with the police and we are taking the best advice we can. We are in the process of speaking to all the venues taking part tomorrow. If we have any changes to the events for tomorrow they will be posted on our Facebook Wall, our website, our Twitter and the BBC Local Radio stations and Mercury will also be informed." Last night calls were going out for people to help clean up the city. Pictures of the clean up operation have been published by Lea Moulds on his web site.
Newly opened shop Que-1 in Halford Street was boarded up this morning. The store opened only a few days ago to sell clothing to those wanting Hip-hop fashion wear. However, this was a precautionary measure; they explained on their Facebook page "Despite rumours going around, Que-1 did NOT get raided during last nights rioting acts. We took the proper precautions early yesterday to prevent any damage from being done. We will be boarded up for the rest of the week, however, we will still be OPEN for business as usual."
Despite damage to its frontage Curveside restaurant in Rutland Street was open for business as usual this morning.
Poundstretcher store in Granby Street was open for business this morning, despite a broken window. Many businesses were displaying open for business signs this morning. 
Windows were boarded up this morning at Charles Street pub The Last of the Plantaganets. Many messages of support to Leicester were being Tweeted today. In a statement, Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said "I have been overwhelmed by the way our city has pulled together following the mindless acts of vandalism last night. The police were excellent and I saw for myself how they helped to restore the peace and reassure people throughout the evening. "The council's own staff worked tirelessly to begin the clean up and ensure business as usual. And last, but not least, local people were truly inspirational in their show of community spirit and offers of help to get Leicester back on its feet after the disturbances. "I also want to personally thank local businesses for their determination in opening up as normal and showing that we will not be defeated by a small group of people who have no regard for others." More reports on various web sites including This Is Leicestershire, main news and comment from the Leicester Mercury. Coverage by the BBC of last night's events. If you think that young people rioting is something new, read this. 5th August Three of the city's main entertainment venues could be brought together in new collaborative working arrangements as part of proposals by Leicester City Council. Curve, De Montfort Hall and Phoenix Square could work more closely together on matters such as programme planning and marketing events, as well as sharing technical expertise. Leicester Assistant City Mayor, Councillor Ted Cassidy, and representatives of the three venues are meeting this week for the first time to discuss the programme plans, in the first of a series of ongoing regular meetings planned to discuss future programme ideas. The move is one of City Mayor Peter Soulsby's 100-day pledges to improve the way council services are run. The plans include better coordination in the way events are programmed and advertised between the three venues, as well as looking at how to improve customer services and make all three venues more attractive to visitors from the city and beyond. Curve is governed, managed and operated by the Leicester Theatre Trust (LTT) Ltd, while Phoenix Square is the responsibility of Leicester Arts Centre (LAC) Ltd. Each are limited companies and registered charities with a board of trustees. De Montfort Hall is managed and operated by Leicester City Council. Councillor Cassidy said: "These three venues are all major attractions which bring thousands of visitors to the city every year through their programme of live concerts, stage productions, films and other events. "We want to build upon this success by looking at how they can work more closely together as key parts of Leicester's overall cultural offering. "It is very early days for this process, but we want to explore the different ideas thoroughly with each of the venues before making any decisions, and this first meeting is the first part of that process." Curve chief executive Fiona Allan added: "We are delighted for Curve to host the first programming meeting of the three venues and anticipate it will be a very productive session. "Coordinating our efforts will ensure that Leicester's audiences are better informed and have more choice in what they see." 4th August MP Jon Ashworth tells us about his 'Summit' on Live Music 
MP for Leicester South, Jon Ashworth brought a group of people together last week at the House of Commons to talk about live music in Leicester (see our news item on this). Jon, a keen rock fan, invited leading people from national music bodies to join him at Westminster to talk about live music in Leicester. Jon told us "We wanted to bang the drum for the city and really pull together people who know what live music about." It was good that Leicester Promotions put their weight behind this event, he told us. "There was a great deal of enthusiasm for this event", Jon explained. "We need to get people talking about what a great place Leicester is for bands and live music." Attending the event were representatives from The Music Managers Forum, UK Music, BPI and Live Nation, as well as local people like Assistant Mayor Ted Cassidy and music promoter Andy Wright. One point arising from the meeting was that it is not necessarily a disadvantage that Leicester lacks a big arena, like those to be found in Nottingham and Birmingham. "Some acts prefer to play smaller venues, such as the De Montfort Hall", Jon told us, "they feel closer to the fans than in vast arenas." Jon thought that it would be good to "re-position the De Montfort Hall", in terms of its programme of events, and this is something that the Mayoral Team intends to look at, as we heard at the recent meeting of the Leicester Music Collective. Jon took the view that this iconic venue had seen many great bands play there over the years and Leicester people remember with affection and nostalgia the shows they have been to in the past with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Amy Winehouse and other legendary acts. "All venues need to think how they can play a part in the development of the live music scene", Jon told us. "Leicester needs to be more proactive with national agents and promoters. We need to shout about Leicester as a city that has a vibrant music scene. We need to put Leicester on the radar of the big national agencies, just as other cities do." Jon wants to see people banging the drum for Leicester at a national level and his meeting was held to set this ball rolling. Jon also reported that the Summer Sundae festival is held in high regard in the national music scene. It is one of the few 'local' festivals that is widely known and respected at national level and has gained a reputation for catching acts that are on the cusp of making it big Jon told us that one thing to come out of the night in Westminster is that there needs to be a group that is coordinating Leicester's efforts to make its name known at national level and this is something that Ted Cassidy picked up on at the LMC meeting, the day after. The national industry top brass were also impressed that Leicester is forging a new Cultural Strategy under the chairmanship of DMU Vice-Chancellor Dominic Shellard. We have reported on this elsewhere in the magazine. All in all it seems to have been a very positive event and one that might well have a long lasting impact on the fortunes of our live music scene. 3rd August Young Artists in the East Midlands UK Young Artists (East Midlands) is working nationally and internationally with 18 to 30 year olds whose work spans across all art forms; from visual arts to music, performance to literature. A national event for UK young artists will alternate in the cities of Derby, Nottingham and Leicester on a two year cycle. Lasting up to a week it will showcase exceptional young talent from around the UK in all art forms. Young artists will also have the opportunity to collaborate and take part in workshops, debates and symposium. In 2012, UK Young Artists will be partners in a world event for young artists, as part of the Cultural Olympiad. It will bring together up to 2,000 young artists from around the world to the East Midlands. Find out more on the UK Young Artists website. 28th July Ashworth hosts summit in bid to make Leicester top destination for music acts and bands and promote Leicester's talent Leicester South MP, and keen music fan, Jon Ashworth MP working with Leicester Shire Promotions is hosting a 'summit' dinner in the House of Commons, today in a bid to promote Leicester as top destination for big band and major music acts. Jon Ashworth MP said "I've always been a big fan of music and I see no reason why we can't attract more high profile bands and major music acts to Leicester in the same way Birmingham and Nottingham attract major acts "That's why I've teamed up with Martin Peters of Leicester Shire Promotions and pulled together this summit in the House of Commons this week with major figures from the music industry to bang the drum for Leicester and tell them what we can offer and at the same time promote Leicester's music scene and our local talent as well. "Given our large student population and with venues like the O2 Academy, De Montfort Hall plus our two stadiums, we should be able to get major bands and acts to come to Leicester when on tour. "I hope this summit will be a chance to discuss how we get more acts to Leicester as well as look at how we make it more viable for those venues to put on the acts.", Mr Ashworth told us. Those attending the summit will be representatives from the Leicester Alliance of Music Promoters; O2 Academy; De Montfort Hall; The Auditorium; City Council and Coda Music Agency. From the national music industry attending the summit dinner will be representatives of BPI (British Recorded Music Industry); Music Managers Forum; UK Music; Music Week and Live Nation. Editor of Arts in Leicestershire magazine, Trevor Locke, commented "This is a step forward for music in Leicester. Apart from big bands coming into town, I hope the group will consider the 200 bands resident in the city who will be looking for support slots." Links Leicester Mercury Article, 'Why does Leicester struggle to attract big bands?'. Leicester's resident rock bands (list of) . Our article on promoting live music in Leicester Editorial comment, 'A policy for the arts'. 20th July Festival Contributes £2M to Local Economy Research into the impact of the annual Leicester Comedy Festival shows that the event contributes over £2M to the local economy. The independent research, commissioned by Leicester Shire Promotions and Prospect Leicestershire, was completed by academic staff at De Montfort University and has been published today. The study considered the broadest possible economic impact of the annual festival and has established that the return on investment by the public and private sector is in excess of 20:1. The research was designed to include an assessment of the hard impacts of the event in addition to profiles generated via national media coverage and social networks. In addition to the hard economic facts, the report also provides details about the festival audience. Over 40,000 tickets were sold for the 346 shows which took place during Leicester Comedy Festival 2011. The research, led by DMU's Arts and Festivals Management staff, involved surveying almost 1000 people during the 17 day event which took place earlier this year. Members of the public stated that their favourite comedian is Michael McIntyre, followed closely by Jimmy Carr, Lee Evans and Sarah Millican. When asked about their favourite comedy shows on TV, the audience stated they enjoyed Mock the Week, Not Going Out, QI and Have I Got News For You 4th July Audience watches Opera on the Big Screen 
People brought their chairs down to Humberstone Gate this evening for a live broadcast of Puccini's opera Madam Butterfly. The Royal Opera House performance was screened live by the BBC in Trafalgar Square, nineteen other UK cities and Humberstone Gate. 
Before the start of the broadcast, opera singers Janet Fairlie (Soprano) and Australian born Ben Kerslake (Tenor) sang songs from popular operas including La Traviata (La donna e mobile).
Whilst the sound was not all that billiant, the screen was easy to see. Screened events are becoming increasingly popular. The Last Night of the Proms, from the Royal Albert Hall in London, regularly attracts thousands of people to Hyde Park and other broadcast centres around the UK. 22nd June Mayor launches 100 days Programme Leicester's Mayor Peter Soulsby launched his '100 days programme' in a blaze of publicity. We looked at it to see what it has in it about arts and culture.
The Leicester City Mayoral Team City Mayor Peter Soulsby begins his introduction to the 100 Days Programme by saying that There are many big and important challenges facing Leicester. Top of my agenda are jobs, investment, public transport, health, housing, green spaces and a fair deal for the city's workforce. His ambitious programme covers a wide range of subjects and activities. artsIn looked at the bits about the arts and culture. One of the themes highlighted in the programme is 'Our neighbourhoods and communities - people, culture and leisure.' The Mayoral Team plans to set up a Leicester Heritage Partnership, '... to promote the preservation,use and interpretation of Leicester's historic built environment.' artsIn likes this because we have detailed a lot of the historical buildings in the city in our section on Architecture. We also liked the commitment to 'Announce proposals for the City Mayor’ Festival Programme including how the City Mayor and Council will support festivals, events and our creative sector to make sure Leicester is recognised as one of the best cities for festivals and events in the country.' Leicester offers a wealth of festivals and vents throughout the year, as we show in our Festival News page. We suggested to the Mayor that the Council should support a festival to showcase the impressive talent of our local bands and music artists (see below) and suggested elsewhere how this could be achieved financially being mindful of the pressures on the public purse. Plans are being made to 'Start work to develop new creative workspaces at the Rutland Street site as part of our plans for the Cultural Quarter.' Being based in the CQ, artsIn likes this and we will follow progress in our articles on the Cultural Quarter. We think the Quarter is an asset to the city and its cultural life. 'Set out plans to bring Curve, De Montfort Hall and Phoenix Square into a more integrated partnership to include programming and marketing arrangements' is something we would endorse. We have commented recently on Leicester's flagship cultural venues in our Editorial. The proposal to 'Reach a decision through discussions with the Culture Partnership Board and other stakeholders on whether full exploratory work should proceed on a Leicester bid for City of Culture 2017', came up in the meeting at CURVE, as we report below. So, the crowded programme has some references to culture and the arts. This is good but as the Mayor said at his recent Culture Meeting, we wants to work closely with local organisations and interests. His commitment to partnership should mean that local artists and cultural leaders will be able to say what they would like to see the Council doing. As Sir Peter said in his introduction: We need strong and dynamic partnerships and that's the basis on which we will work. At the Culture Discussion held at CURVE he gave a commitment to engaging in a 'bottom up' approach and working with the wide range of cultural and artistic bodies, most of whom were represented at the meeting. So far, in the first 50+ days in office, Mayor Soulsby has shown his commitment to and support for the cultural community but it is up to local people to work out and put forward their ideas on what should happen. You can download a copy of the programme from the Council's web site 21st June Centre holds festival in bid to stay afloat Manor House Community Centre is to host a festival this Saturday (25th June) in a bid to save itself from closure. Threatened with closure, the community centre has the task of getting 2,000 people through its doors, in a bid to prevent the building being sold off to developers. The one day event, to be held at the Manor House Community Centre, will feature live bands, spoken word, dance performances, arts and crafts, drumming workshops and market stalls. A former stately home, the centre is owned by Leicester City Council who plan to sell it off to private developers. Event organisers hope to attract media coverage and convince the Council that the building should continue to operate as centre of community life and learning activitives.
Find out more about this on Facebook | Mind your manor arts festival Details of this event are on our festivals page. 16th June Mayor holds follow up Arts & Culture discussion 
Newly elected Mayor of Leicester, Sir Peter Soulsby, now in his 42nd day in office, brought together a wide cross section of Leicester's cultural community tonight at CURVE. Chaired by DMU Vice Chancellor Prof. Dominic Shellard, a panel of experts from various fields of the arts and culture answered questions from an audience of about 200 people who gathered at Curve to take forward the discussion that had started during the mayoral hustings (we reported on this below.) What do we mean by "Culture"? Some of the first questions put by audience members were about what we mean by culture and whether we should be trying to define what we mean by it before we start planning it. artsIn editor Trevor Locke asked the panel if the word "culture" should be dropped in favour of "arts and creative industries." Fiona Allan, Curve's Chief Executive disagreed. Geoff Rowe of the Big Difference and Leicester Comedy Festival commented that culture spans a lot of elements of life. Priorities for culture need to be figured out for a cultural strategy because it means so much, he argued. Peter Soulsby responded by saying that a lot of time could be spent arguing over definitions. Michaela Butter from Embrace Arts urged people "not to silo culture." She called on people to think of imaginative new ways of thinking about regeneration. Rebecca, from the Arts Council, asked "what do we want to change?" Richard Clark from The Mighty Creatives warned that "culture has been marginalised in this city by some of the definitions we have had before." A questioner asked how we can capitalise on the vibrancy of the diverse communities in Leicester and how we can better engage with them. Councillor Ted Cassidy, one of the assistant Mayors, said "culture is about inspiration" and went on to explain how he had been to Londonderry in Northern Ireland, which had secured City of Culture status. He saw people there telling different histories to each other and thought we could learn a lot from this. Phil Hackett, Chair of the City of Leicester Museums Trust, said that he would like to see Leicester achieve the City of Culture status. Rebecca agreed and said that running for City of Culture would "galvanize people behind the vision." Peter Soulsby said that there is a lot happening in Leicester that many people are not aware of. A member of the audience commented that culture is all around us and pointed to the large number of bands that play in pubs and venues around the city, every evening of the week. More often than not they do this for free and represent a large contingent of cultural volunteers. Peter added that, far from being locked away in museums, heritage is all around us. Leicester has one of the richest built environments in the country with historic buildings still standing from Roman times through to the present day. "They form a backdrop to our lives", he added and "make Leicester what it is." Other speakers also picked up this theme of culture being part of everyday life, rather than something you need a ticket to see. We should be proud of our city and its music Someone asked what would a "more proud Leicester would look like." Peter Soulsby had commented that he often finds that Leicester people talk down their city and fail to recognise just what an incredibly culturally rich place it is. David Wilson Clarke, from the audience raised the issue of promoting gigs in the city's smaller venues. A musician pointed out that some bands say they are from "The Midlands", in an effort to avoid telling people they are actually based in Leicester. Trevor Locke said that Leicester is nationally important place for live music. He asked the Mayor if he would support the idea of a festival to showcase musical talent in the city. See his blog post on his subject which also includes the Mayor's response to this question. Panel member Geoff Rowe urged the Council to do something about the leafleting ban which is a big disadvantage to people organising small gigs. Arts Council representative Rebecca agreed that there is much of which Leicester can be proud about and we need to look at our city in a European context. "We need champions to big us up" she said. Young people to be engaged in promoting the city Michaela Butter urged us to nurture young talent and several people also referred to the need to keep arts graduates here by offering them opportunities to pursue their work. Leicester as a city should be compared to the best in Europe, not just the Midlands. Reference was made to the Let's Dance Festival. Someone from De Montfort University commented about a study they were doing of festivals and events and referred to the need to get businesses involved in retaining graduates by ensuring that there are resources to foster their creative talents. Leicester should be proud of its young people, Richard Clark said. There is a lot of strength in what they are doing. he wanted to make Leicester "a great place to grow up in." A member of the audience suggested that students and young people should be engaged to act as champions for Leicester. Young people come to Leicester in their thousands every year to study at our Universities and colleges. We should ensure that when they go back, at the end of their courses, they will tell people what a wonderful place this city is. Several people talked about the need for a gallery for the visual arts. There are a lot of talented artists in the city but since the closure of the City Gallery, it is difficult for them to find space to exhibit their work. Peter Soulsby commented that he was not entirely sold on the idea of a new building for this purpose, because of the huge cost involved, at a time when resources are being cut back. He understood the need for gallery space but thought that there might be more imaginative ways of providing this. He argued that the private sector is not building new art galleries because they would not get a return on their investment. Unlike brand new concert venues, visual art galleries do not make money, so new buildings are not the way to go when costs have to be justified. The need to work together in partnership Peter Soulsby said that the emerging Cultural Strategy should be headed up by practitioners and this was echoed by several commentators who urged a bottom-up approach. It would be easy for the whole thing to be driven by the suppliers. Peter said that he wanted to re-stock the membership of the Culture Board which had been inaugurated by the previous administration. He wanted it to include a much broader range of cultural interests. He pointed out that there was a Delivery Group engaged in putting the strategy into action. He was clear that people have got to work together to build the cultural strategy. It was clear that there is a commitment to fostering partnerships, which Arts Council Rebbecca agreed with. Part of the discussion considered the need for the culture community to have a voice in the Economic Strategy Forum. Assistant Mayor Ted Cassidy, a passionate advocate for arts and culture, also holds the brief in the Mayor's office for economic development. Several people talked about the need to engage the business community in cultural activities. Geoff Rowe said that leadership was required to ensure that culture was represented in other policy forums. In summing up, Fiona Allan said it has been an inspiring evening. "We must not be afraid of our aspirations", she commented. Richard Clark, on a cautionary note, asked people to get a "reality check" and be realistic about what can be achieved. Rebecca urged us to be clear about what we want to achieve. Phil Hackett advocated getting businesses involved. Samir Bhamra of Phizzical Productions vowed that Leicester is a "fantastic place". Sir Peter summed up by saying that he was very encouraged by this follow up event. "Leicester", he said, "has a rich culture and cultures, and our sharing of awareness of this is not as well developed as it needs to be." He told the meeting that Professor Dominic Shellard would be taking forward the development of the Culture Board. "There is a lot to do", he said "and we all need to pull together, think big and be visionary." The best thing about this meeting is that it happened. In these testing times of economic gloom, it would be easy to loose sight of the importance of Culture and the Arts for the well being of the community and for it to get lost in the plethora of issues to do with the urban situation generally. The fact that the new Mayor, within six weeks of taking office, was at the head of this debate indicates that he does in fact attach some importance to getting to grips with a policy for the arts. It is also significant that he does not see public culture as being the sole preserve of the local authority. He wants to bring the City Council into a community oriented approach based on partnerships among the many interests that have a stake in the city's cultural futures. The event was organised by Performing Arts Leicester (PAL) working in partnership of the Mayor's Office. A poster on display by the side of the stage stated "Leicester is where the performing arts boost the economy by £21 million and attract audiences of 602,000 a year", something to think about when weighing up the significance of the arts. Other pages you might like artsIn's Editorial Comment on a policy for the arts in Leicester. Our coverage of visual arts exhibitions in the city. Our section on the architectural heritage of Leicester. Our feature Come to Leicester - why this is such a good place for the arts. 15th June Urban arts to feature in Skateboard launch 
New enterprise Edition Skateboards launches itself this Saturday (Saturday 18th June) with a big day at the SoundHouse music venue. The all day event will include an art gallery, product offers, a barbeque, live bands, giveaways and some of Leicester's finest DJs. They will be holding an art exhibition, between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., throughout the venue. with pieces from from Edition designers, as well as other artists, tattooists and designers in the city. "With a BBQ in the beer garden, this will be a chance to eat, drink and see some of Leicester's young artists do their stuff", organiser Richard told us. From 8 p.m. live bands will take to the stage, including local melodic punkers More Amour, hip-hop ska band Karl Phillips And The Midnight Ramblers. The event will be kept going by a premium DJ line up, spinning Hip-hop, DnB and Dubstep till the early hours! Hosted by J-Man, artists include Jon 1st, Diablo, Murky Boy, King Richard The 8th, Aeroplane Dope, Tanda Beats, Ben Jammin, Johnny Mac, Books, and Braidee. Entry to the event at the Southampton Street venue is free but will be 18+ after 9 p.m. You can find out more about Edition Skateboards on Facebook. 14th May As the new Mayor gears up for work, we ask what he will do to support the arts?
Mayor Peter Soulsby meeting the public by the Clock Tower today. Newly elected Mayor of Leicester, Peter Soulsby has appointed his mayoral team, with a deputy mayor (Rory Palmer) and six assistant mayors whose job will be to run Leicester, working with the city council to tackle the problems of the city and help it develop. We asked Peter Soulsby if one of the mayoral team would carry a lead responsibility for the arts, culture and creative industries. Whilst portfolios have not yet been allocated, Sir Peter said that this is a topic that would be worked on. He sees the team as needing to work together so that rather than just having a arts job, lead by one person, team members would be working together to tackle issues relating to culture and creative work. One key issue confronting the new team will be economic development - how the city can put together a strategy for growth that will pull Leicester out of recession. Peter Soulsby has already said, in the Mayoral hustings, that the creative industries would play a pivotal role in the commercial re-generation of the city. Asked if the Mayor will work with bodies representing the arts, Sir Peter said that he would be talking to the Cultural Partnership Board (see below) along with other groups that represent artists and cultural interests. He is keen to talk to groups and forums of all kind to find what practical actions would benefit the city. We asked him if the city would support the many festivals that add to the rich cultural life of the city. Sir Peter said that he would work with his team team to ensure that the Council supports these important events. He even suggested that there should be new music festival which can showcase the rich diversity of musical talent in Leicester. Picking up on an issue raised during the hustings, we asked if the infamous charges for leafleting would be dropped. He suggested that this issue will definitely be looked at and he understood how important publicity is to the many small music venues in the city centre. It was good to see the new Mayor mingling with the shoppers around the Clock Tower and there was no shortage of people wanting to ask questions and raise issues with him. Meet the new Mayoral Team | The City Council on Facebook 12th May 
Manor House Community Centre is a council-owned former stately home with exceptional potential as a community space; whether as drop-in centre for a chat and a coffee, or as creative learning space offering tuition in an increasingly diverse programme of arts-based and practical skills. Threatened with closure, the committee formed to save Manor House and has until June 2011 to get 2000 people through the door before the premises are sold off to developers. With the help of Big Lottery 'Awards For All' funding, Kaleidoscope Arts will be staging 'Mind Your Manor Day', a large-scale community event to help put this well hidden local treasure back on the map. We hope to attract widespread local media attention, helping publicise the cause to save Manor House and secure its long-term future. Details of the event on 25th June are on our shows list.
25th April Why policy is important for the arts Read our editorial comment on Arts Policy for Leicester We talk to shadow minister Ivan Lewis and MP Jon Ashworth.
23rd April A conservative take on the arts
We talk to Ross Grant, candidate for Mayor, about his views on the arts. On Monday we will be publishing our editorial comment on Arts policy for Leicester. Trevor Locke: What for you are the key issues to do with the arts? Ross Grant: They need to change things a lot from what they have done for the last decade or more. We have concentrated as a city and as a council on big projects and big infrastructure. That's not affordable any more, so now we should be concentrating on people. Money will go much further if we concentrate on people - their skills and their talents. Trevor Locke: Anything in particular you want to concentrate on? Ross Grant: A range of talents and ages, anybody who wants to be involved in the arts, whether they are creating arts or just enjoying it, participation in the arts. At the moment we concentrate resources on a very small group of people. Trevor Locke: What about arts in the community? What role do you see the arts playing in enriching communities and making them more cohesive. Ross Grant: Creative Industries in this city have always been very important. They can enrich in a very tangible way, by creating jobs. My Dad became an a successful artist and went on to employ nine other artists. Arts play an important role in supporting people with health issues and in keeping people alert in old age. It's also something that helps people after they have retired. This keeps them going and improves their quality of life. For children, it's a way of enhancing their learning. There is of course a lot of people for whom art is about enjoyment. Arts add to this city and it always has done. It should be a core part of the city going forward. Trevor Locke: Where there are cutbacks and a limited about of money for the local authority to spend on the arts, what should its priorities be? Ross Grant: We have got to make sure that we spend wisely and carefully. We put £300,000 into the De Montfort Hall, instead of getting a private company in to operate the programme. That decision was obscene. We could save money by bringing in a professional management company to run the shows. The Council would still be paying some money to the DMH but it would be better than the Council trying to do the whole thing itself. That £300,000 could be better spent supporting community groups, as they could provide other services to people for a whole year, at fraction of the cost. Trevor Locke: Should Leicester compete for any of these big awards, such as City of Culture? Ross Grant: We could do but I am concerned that bidding for these things eats away at your money. It's a gamble and if it doesn't pay off we would have sacrificed a lot. Also I am afraid that when we get into these bids, it's politicians who decide what art is and they impose their tastes on us. Ross Grant's Blog | Leicester Conservative Party website
21st April The Culture Debate took place at the Y Theatre tonight, one of a series of hustings where the candidates for the new position of elected Mayor of Leicester could answer questions put by the audience. A goodly cross section of the local arts and culture community turned up to fire questions at the panel of nine candidates (not all of them were there) in a session chaired by Dominic Shellard, Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University. On Wednesday 13th April, the BBC organised a debate at CURVE, televised after Question Time, on Thursday and the candidates also went to an event at De Montfort University where they were grilled, apparently by a determined audience. They also appeared in a number of specialised settings, such as those organised at the Leicester Gay Centre and one put on by the Ethnic Minority community. Some of the answers tonight were, as you would imagine, vote seeking expressions of support for the arts. Well they were not going to sit there and say that the arts was not important, were they? They all said how much they were enthusiastic supporters of the arts but their 'manifestos' were long on cheering but short on practical actions. 
On stage at the Y were David Bowley (Independent)
Do they care about the arts? The first question from the audience went straight to the point: "What will the Mayor do for arts and culture? Will the new Mayor actually care?" Lee Sowden made an interesting philosophical point that freedom of expression is at the heart of democracy. Peter Soulsby made several references, throughout the evening to his passion for the arts, in what he often referred to as "our richly diverse city". As a very long standing local public figure, he knows more than most, just how many cultures are represented in Leicester. Like many of the platform speakers, Mu-Hamid Pathan said that we can be proud of our city and what has been achieved here. He also saw arts and culture as a way of breaking down barriers between communities. Cuts angle - can businesses save them? Rick Moore several times warned that the arts could be seen as a soft target in times of financial cut backs. He saw a role for the private sector in helping to sponsor the arts. Gary Hunt took the view that arts organisations need financial stability for their work to succeed. They cannot plan ahead in times of financial uncertainty. Ross Grant picked up the theme of Leicester being a great city whose achievements are often not promoted as much as they should be. He agreed with other speakers about the big flagship venues needing sustained investment but also advocated for the small community projects and smaller venues. Ross Grant was the first to mention the creative industries as being vital to the economic recovery of the city and potential creators of jobs. "The arts generate people with skills and talents and investment is needed to enable these people to grow and develop", he said. Arts in the community Most of the candidates spoke in support of the work of small community arts projects whose survival critically depends on funding. Getting people to participate in the arts was an idea that Geoff Forse returned to several times. He saw the arts was central to improving the quality of life of people and emphasised that funding is key to this. Later a questioner from the audience commented that funding for Black and Minority Ethnic Arts had been hit harder than most. The Cultural Quarter Responding to questions about the Cultural Quarter Business Association, Peter Soulsby attacked the city council for its lack of leadership. He saw this is as being an important development and it was left up to him, he said, to bring people together and draw Council Officials into the meetings. According to Gary Hunt, the Cultural Quarter was supposed to have a broad range of activities going on in it, but then the Council changed and it all but stopped. Peter Soulsby said that there were other buildings in the Quarter that could be brought into use to provide workshops and studios for artists. He was keen to see continued development of the Quarter. Ross Grant claimed that the City Council has lots of empty property that could be used for artists and there are lots of empty retail units in the city centre that could be used as placed to exhibit art works. Rick Moore, who works in the field of property, argued that the decline in property values had impacted on the growth of the Cultural Quarter. He said that the future develop of the Quarter needed really "sparky ideas" and that these were most likely to come from the private sector. Lee Sowden acknowledged that Leicester is recognised nationally as being a centre for the artistic excellence, a point echoed by Mu-Hamid Pathan and others. There are plenty of Leicester artists whose work reflects a high standard of excellence but we can be very bad at letting people know about it. "It's often difficult to get Leicester people to believe in themselves", Peter Soulsby commented, "we ought to be proud of what we have here". Gary Hunt made reference to "South Asian Arts" which have a high reputation but which is often overlooked.
David Bowley, Geoff Forse, Ross Grant, Gary Hunt Neglected Heritage A question about Leicester's heritage sites being neglected brought a scathing response from Rick Moore who claimed that "Leicester City Council was hopeless at managing its assets", that is, it's property portfolio, which includes important listed buildings. Peter Soulsby mentioned that Leicester was a wonderful example of a city with a built environment that exists from Roman times, through all the various phases of history, up to the present day. Hopefully he has been reading through our Architecture Section. "The significance of some of our wonderful heritage assets is not appreciated by the City Council", he insisted, "they lack understanding about what they should be doing to preserve our wealth of historic buildings". He wanted to see a strong local partnership created, bringing together "people who are passionate about the built environment." City of Culture Geoff Forse wanted Leicester to co-operate with other cities rather than to compete with them, which clearly rang a bell with some members of the audience. This was tried a few years back through the Three Cities Project. By contrast, Rick Moore thought Leicester should go for the "UK City of Culture" which would give us an "enormous lift".
Rick Moore, Mu-Hamid Pathan, Peter Soulsby, Lee Sowden Unfair Council charges attacked artsIn's Trevor Locke asked the panel if Leicester Council could be persuaded to drop its charges for distributing leaflets in the city centre, as this was a severe disadvantage to small arts events and gigs that could not afford the £120 involved. Most of the panel agreed that this should be reviewed. Urged to concentrate their comments more on specific practical actions and less on generalisations, Ross Grant picked up the challenge when he said that the De Montfort Hall should have its management contracted out to the private sector, a suggestion that brought a mixed reaction from the audience. "The large amount of money that has been spent on subsidising the DMH could have been spent on supporting community arts projects", he argued. Mu-Hamid Pathan wanted to see social enterprises getting involved in the arts. Lee Sowden was keen to see businesses brought into Leicester and be offered incentives to re-locate here. Gary Hunt wanted to see more business advice available to artists to help them get the most out of the resources that they do manage to get. When asked, via Twitter, if all the people at the Y tonight could meet again in June, after the Mayor has been elected, all the candidates agreed that, if they were elected, they would see themselves bringing people together to think about how the city could work with its arts community. Keep our Museums and keep them free It was good to hear that several panelists strongly supported Museums and recognised their contribution to education. Most of them wanted access to them to be free. Support for community arts projects came up several times and most panelists and some members of the audience commented on how important these were to the well-being and quality of life of many groups of people. Referring to projects that work with people recovering from mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction, it was noted that these projects eventually save money. Mu-Hamid Pathan commented that such projects don't just save money, they save lives. Ross Grant was very clear in his view that projects using the arts as a way of working with vulnerable and disadvantaged people, should be supported by the Mayor. In his view, the arts are about people and people in the arts should be asked how they think the money should be spent, rather than having the city council deciding that for them. What will the Mayor do? This idea was echoed by Gary Hunt who saw the Mayor as making sure that local people are involved in making decisions about how public money is spent. Each candidate had a different view on how the office of Mayor would operate and what the office holder would be, relative to the Council. To some, the Mayor was an enabler and advocate working on behalf of local people, to others the post required someone with vision and leadership, promoting Leicester and raising its profile at national level. They didn't see the Mayor as being an elected 'leader of the council' but a more proactive office, more in the way of a city manager, like the ones we can see in the USA and parts of Europe. In a wide ranging and sometimes controversial debate, the nine candidates touched on most of the leading issues that relate to the arts and culture. It was good that PAL (Performing Arts Leicester) got them together to focus them on this set of policy issues, as the arts had been notably absent in previous hustings. Hear the debate online through The Great Central. Do we get value for money from the arts? See our editorial on this.
19th April What's wrong with Labour's policy on the Arts? "The creative industries are vitally important for the economic recovery of the UK, " said Labour Leader Ed Miliband, in Leicester today to rally the local troops behind Jon Ashworth, candidate for the Leicester South by-election. Answering a question from artsIn editor Trevor Locke, Mr. Miliband acknowledged that the arts generally and the creative industries in particular were important for economic growth and the UK was able to attract industry on a global basis.
Ed was keen to point out that Labour Policy does support the Arts and does see the potential contribution it can make both for economic development and for its own sake. When he asked Trevor Locke why he thought that there was a problem with Labour's Arts policy, Trevor commented "It's just not getting through in the hustings that are taking place here right now". "Leicester stands out nationally for its culture, arts and creative industries and more could be done to put our city on the map", Trevor said. "If the politicians are not talking about this, maybe its because they lack a firm programme", he said. Speaking at a meeting of invited guests, Mr. Miliband expressed his support for the work of De Montfort University in developing key projects which would have a bearing on the future of Leicester. Looking relaxed and confident, the Labour Leader fielded a broad range of questions from party activists, people from the local community who might not have been Labour voters and students from Leicester schools and colleges.
Responding to a question from Geoff Rowe, of the Big Difference company and Leicester Comedy Festival, Mr. Miliband said that the 2012 Olympics would offer opportunities for people in the regions to get involved. He commented that sport is one of the UK's leading exports and hoped that British Athlete's would come away from London with a respectable collection of medals. So what does Labour have to say about policies for the Arts? See Mayoral Candidate Peter Soulsby's manifesto. 17 pages long ... try searching for the word "arts". To be fair, it does include the commitment "Explore the possibility of making a bid for the 2017 'UK City of Culture'." and "Continue to support small arts organisations in our City ... ". Labour will " ... also support Leicester’s strengths in the creative industries. " We have not yet seen a manifesto for Leicester South conservative candidate Jane Hunt. Gary Hunt is standing in Leicester for the office of Elected Mayor. Speaking on the BBC Mayoral Hustings at CURVE, he made a point of raising a wide range of specific local issues but the arts was not one of them. Zuffar Haq is the Lib-Dems parliamentary candidate in Leicester South. A trawl through the web sites of these politicians reveals that none of them have anything to say about arts issues, including the all-important key topic of support for our local creative industries. See our exclusive interview with Ivan Lewis and Jon Ashcroft.
4th April Big turn out of Leicester Music Industry Tonight's meeting of the Leicester Music Collective saw a big turn out from the local music industry at its third meeting, this time held at the LCB Depot. Musicians and band members joined record labels, radio DJs, music managers, promoters and assorted rockerati to hear a talk by Summer Sundae boss Rob Challice. Headed up by Steven Jones, Natalie Walter , David Wilson Clarke, John helps and others, the LMC launched another of their leaflets The LMC Music Guide, which lists a wide selection of shows at venues across the city. Copies of this will be available from their web site (see link below). The meeting also discussed the idea of a bursary scheme, which, they explained: "Essentially we're looking to offer small grants to worthy music-based projects within the county - be it to bands, community groups, promoters with original ideas or what have you. We need your input on how to decide who gets the money, and how to make sure it is well spent, once it has been distributed. " Rob spoke about the way that the Summer Sundae festival has grown since it started in 2001. About 75% of the audience come from the East Midlands, so the event is a big boost for Leicester, he told the meeting. The festival benefits our local city in a lot of ways and is a boost to the local music scene, he said. Example and McFly are among the many acts appearing at the festival and a big demand for tickets from fans is to be expected. Rob also talked about the hundreds of applications that had been sent in from bands and artists seeking a place on the SS stages. He gave a few tips about how acts could improve their image to make it easier for selectors to get a better sense of what they are about. He suggested that bands should not neglect their Myspace pages as these are widely used by people in the industry to check out bands. He also said that SoundCloud is becoming more widely used to give access to music tracks. Bands hoping to get festival slots should make sure that they present themselves well and give the kind of information that selectors are looking for, was the headline of this part of the discussion. The BBC's Dean Jackson backed this up by pointing out that the Introducing programmes often played a major role in bringing new acts to the attention of the public. Dean paid tribute to Leicester's music scene which is now getting national attention from the music industry. "Bands should make sure they have at least one video of them playing live as this is very important to people who are checking out the band", he explained. "Many eyes are now focused on Leicester artists", he said. Mention was made of Leicester artist Luke Bingham whose work is now receiving national attention. Dates for forthcoming meetings of the LMC have already been set: 6th June, 1st August, 3rd October and 5th December. Venues for these meetings will be announced on their web site and Facebook page. The organisers invited people to send in their suggestions for keynote speakers at these events. During the audience discussion there was (more) talk about how to make live music gigs more attractive to local people. Plans are afoot to put several local bands on to the BBC's big screen TV in Humberstone Gate. There were lots of good ideas about how to get more people to turn up at local live music events. The Leicester Music Collective web site
31st March Arts Council grants good for local bodies CURVE's bid for funding has been successful. Prof. Philip Tasker, Chair of the Board of the Leicester Theatre Trust said, "Earlier this year, Curve submitted an application to the Arts Council England National Portfolio Funding Programme for funding for three years, beginning in 2012. "We have learned this morning that our application has been successful, with Arts Council England stating 'a good application from a producing theatre with a growing reputation based on high production values, [with] strong potential to make a considerable contribution to ensuring excellent art happens.' " Prof Tasker continued, "We are grateful for Arts Council England's support and that of Leicester City Council, our other major funder, as we continue to build both audiences and Curve's reputation for producing quality theatre and hosting the very best of visiting and community work. As our new Chief Executive, Fiona Allan, joins us next week we look forward to taking Curve forward into a new and exciting chapter." When the funding period starts, from 1 April 2012, the theatre will get Arts Council grants of £1,903,000 for 2012/13, £1, 946,769 for 2013/14 and £1,997,385 for 2014/15. From 2012 onwards, Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media in Leicester will receive conditional funding of £245,000 spread across three years from the Arts Council England for its innovative programme in the digital arts. Executive Director, John Rance said: " .. .I am delighted. The Arts Council Funding will really help us to develop our digital arts programme. We will use the funding to attract more work of national and international standing to Leicester's Cultural Quarter whilst also helping the burgeoning community of local digital artists through commissions and exhibitions." "We're about to celebrate our 100,000th cinema customer and the growing numbers of people using the cafe bar and educational facilities means there are great opportunities for cross-over activities and for a wide range of people to experience the digital arts". The arts programme is developed with the support of De Montfort University, which is a leader in the field of digital arts and technologies. "The partnership with De Montfort University means that we have access to unparalleled expertise in the digital arts and we can show some truly innovative and experimental work as well as supporting the artists of the future through student exhibitions". Another Leicestershire arts body has also been successful
with its Arts Council Funding.
A delighted Charnwood Arts announced that the highly regarded
organisation has been accepted into the new National Portfolio Funding scheme,
with an award of £131,000 rising
to £137,500 in 2014/15.
In a major shake up of national arts funding, Charnwood Arts has
been chosen as one of only 695 successful organisations out of the 1,333 which
applied to the Arts Council. "The challenge now is to raise additional resources, both within and outside the public sector, if we are to deliver the amount and quality of work to which the people of Charnwood have become accustomed. We are optimistic that new partners will come on board and by adopting different ways of working we shall succeed. We are disappointed that the Arts Council decided not to mainstream our pioneering work in literature but happy that the quality and importance of this work was acknowledged. This bodes well for seeking funding from other sources."
Culture debate for Leicester Mayoral candidatesIn the week that Arts Council England have announced major cuts for arts organisations across the UK, Performing Arts Leicester (PAL) is announcing a debate by the prospective Mayoral candidates on the future arts and culture in Leicester. Titled "Arts and Culture: not the icing on the cake but the main ingredients of a successful city", the debate will be chaired by Dominic Shellard, Vice-Chancellor of De Montfort University and Chair of Leicester's Cultural Partnership Board. The event will take place at The Y, East Street, in Leicester on Thursday 21st April at 6 pm. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance by calling 0116 255 7066. PAL is inviting candidates to debate the notion that "excellent arts and culture can change life in Leicester for the better, for everyone, and need sustained investment." Ellen Bianchini, PAL member and director of The Spark Children's Arts Festival, said "We believe that the arts and culture are crucial to every city's sense of identity, its history and its ability to bring its own communities together. A culturally vibrant city can attract investment from businesses, retain its young talent, bring new talent in, and build a skilled and creative workforce for the future. Leicester has huge potential, and we want to contribute realizing that potential. Public debate is a way of everyone getting involved." Geoff Rowe, Chief Executive of Big Difference Company and PAL steering group member commented: "There is hard evidence that Leicester's cultural sector is a growing contributor to the city's economy. With a new Cultural Strategy being developed that will shape the city's cultural life for the next five years, it is timely for a public debate on how we can maximize opportunities for economic and social growth through the arts." The organisers are inviting the public to submit suggestions for questions to the candidates before the debate: please email info at sparkfestival.co.uk by midday on 15 th April. Performing Arts Leicester (PAL) is a partnership set up by a group of venues and organisations in Leicester . Its mission is to positively change the perception of Leicester via its performing arts offer locally, regionally, nationally and internationally by ensuring that Leicester's performing arts offer is coherent, excellent and inspirational. Diversity and Quality are central to the work of Performing Arts Leicester.
25th March Creative Garden arts networking eventOn Friday 25th March Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media was awash with creativity for the 'Creative Garden', a networking and business exhibition event run in collaboration with the creative arts magazine From Dusk 2 Dawn.
Creative Garden brought together local creatives and arts-related businesses, ranging from students and graduate newbies, through to established companies and freelancers. The event was designed to encourage conversations between creatives and businesses and to provide an opportunity for the two to connect and build working relationships. The Creative Garden event in Leicester was the second of two events held in the East Midlands, and followed the successful first Creative Garden at The Enterprise Centre in Derby which saw 350 creatives come together. Editor and Creative Director Dan Lamoon of From Dusk 2 Dawn magazine said, "Bringing the community together through creativity and growing new business is the seed of the Creative Garden. Giving opportunity to nurture, network and build working relationships and enterprise in the creative sector of the East Midlands. Chief Executive John Rance at Phoenix Square said "Phoenix Square is proud to support the Creative Garden and the already strong creative community that thrives in Leicester. "It is these types of events that will give young people an opportunity to not only showcase their creative talents but also help them make the next steps in their careers" Mr Rance said. John Coster told us: "It's great to see this space being used for activities. The event is making good use of the spaces available at Phoenix Square. Today shows the creativity of the people of Leicester. The weather has been brilliant and turn out has been really good". John estimated that over 500 people attended the event. At one of several presentations in the main cinema, Carol Leeming talked about her organisation Mainstream, which is based at the LCB Depot. Launch in April 2007, Mainstream has delivered a wide variety of events for creatives and artists in the East Midlands. She explained how Mainstream is all about blending inclusivity, creativity and diversity; "our aim is help people to collaborate and learn from each other, " she told the audience. She saw the East Midlands as being "a beacon for cultural diversity in the arts." Carol explained that "literature is a strength in our region, especially in live events for the spoken work, for poets and rappers." Find out more about the Mainstream Partnership. Here are some of the many exhibitors that artsIn met at the event:
Embrace Arts at the Richard Attenborough Centre
The stand for Designer/Illustrator John Cook and his colleague Emma Fitzpatrick was particularly interesting. They have worked on graphical visualisation of medieval Leicester. The drawing in the top right of the above photo shows their visualisation of what Leicester looked like circa 1400. John has worked on a variety of illustrations that show what life was like in ancient times. Find out more from their web site.
Ruth Singer is a designer specialising in hand-constructed bespoke textiles made from vintage, recycled and organic cloth. Her web site is ruthsinger.com where you can see more examples of her work.
Some of the products from Knitted Online, producers of custom knitwear at high street prices.
Hand made jewellery 
Ben Ravilious is a photographer and also runs Ultimate Web, a company that designs e-commerce and CMS websites for the creative industry.
Paintings by Jacob Escott
Seed Creativity is a multi-disciplined design studio based in Leicester; their web site has some vivid examples of their work.
Radio station Demon FM set up a studio at the event; here they are interviewing John Coster from Citizens Eye. 
Fine art photographer Daniel Proud brought along some of his creative photographs. Using a variety of special techniques, he takes photographs that become works of digital art. 
Fashion is something Leicester is noted for.
So well done Dan Lamoon and colleagues from Dusk 2 Dawn for putting it all together. We certainly hope there will be another event like this one in Leicester. It was a great success. Dan, you deserve that feather in your cap! Visit the Dusk 2 Dawn web site.
15th Februrary The new Cultural Partnership Board was formally launched on Wednesday 9 February.After the first meeting of the Cultural Partnership Board, its chair, Professor Dominic Shellard, vice-chancellor of De Montfort University said that its members had resolved to be a strong, passionate and independent minded advocate for the arts and culture. Other board members are Councillor Rob Wann, cabinet lead for culture and leisure at Leicester City Council, Alistair Reid, strategic director for development, culture and regeneration at Leicester City Council, Ann Oliver MBE, executive director, British Theatre Dance Association and Leicester College of Performing Arts, Peter Knott, director, Arts Council East Midlands, Geoff Rowe, chief executive of Big Difference Company, Pat Weller, chief executive of Curve, Don Kotak, managing director of Sabras Radio and Vasant Bhakta, arts promoter. Professor Shellard said: "The Board members unanimously agreed that arts and culture have a crucial role to play in the lives of the citizens of Leicester and the United Kingdom. As such, we regret the funding constraints within which the City Council has been obliged to operate, and acknowledge that efforts have been made to mitigate the effect of cuts. "However, we call upon all the mayoral candidates to commit themselves to increasing investment in arts and culture, and look forward to asking them what their attitude to arts and culture in the city will be, not least at the mayoral debate to be held on Monday 18 April at De Montfort University."
5th February Councillor Abdul Osman supports the arts at launch of bid for Leicester Mayor.
Speaking today at the launch of his bid for elected mayor of Leicester, Councillor Abdul Osman pledged his support for the museums and art galleries of Leicester. We asked Cllr Osman to comment on the recent Leicester Mercury article, reporting the City Council's proposals to make cuts to museums and art galleries. He told us "We are being pressed to find savings in font-line services. I am keen to see museums continuing to support educational work and want to encourage partnerships with our Universities and schools." "I would prefer it if we did not have to introduce charges for admission to museums and art galleries but in the present financial climate I can't rule that out", Cllr Osman told us. We asked if private and social enterprises could be involved in helping to keep museums open and properly funded. Cllr. Osman told us, "All businesses are struggling at the moment with the impact of the recession. Even major sports organisations are struggling to keep private businesses in sponsorship." "But I do see a role for social enterprises and charitable trusts in helping to maintain the small museums", he told us. 
Councillors Roberts Wann (left) and Abdul Osman (right) Councillor Robert Wann (Cabinet Lead for Culture and Leisure) told us: "It's important that our museums and art galleries stay open. If they close we will never get them back again." "Leicester has a rich vein of culture and festivals, like the Leicester Comedy festival, that are vital to the life of the city", he went on to say. Robert Wann has been a strong supporter of live music and comedy in Leicester and acknowledges the role they play in keeping the city at the forefront of music both in the Midlands and nationally. Other candidates in the Mayoral elections include: Sir Peter Soulsby, Rita Patel, Veejay Patel, Ross Grant and footballer Alen Birchenall.
30th January Culture group calls for strategy for LeicesterCultural group We are Lesta is calling for a cultural strategy for the city of Leicester. The group is calling for people to share their ideas and thoughts about what should be in the strategy, particularly those that have a stake in cultural activities and those that would be affected by it. 'The group LESTA is for all types for creativity music, visual, literature, performing arts, events and most important the wonderful people that make it happen. Big love to them', announces the Facebook page for We are Lesta campaign. Behind the campaign is leading artist Carol Leeming, who urges: ' Importantly go out and keep supporting arts and culture in our wonderful richly diverse city!' Carol goes on to say: ' We also invite you to contribute creative heads of your own and be added to the We are Lesta campaign so that they can be highlighted. This can be done by joining the specific 'We are Lesta' - Facebook page and also FD2D website/ blog. This will enable culturally diverse grassroots individuals to contribute their own or others profiles, achievements, memories, stories, images, discussions and reviews regarding those 'creative heads' past present or future - that have personally inspired them most .' You can read the whole story on the We are Lesta Facebook page. Facebook users can also post their own messages here. The Spring issue of From Dusk 2 Dawn is out now and available from arts venues.
28th January Festival of ideas, insight and inspirationThe Cultural Exchanges festival - 28 February - 4 March 2011 This prestigious festival held at DMU, Leicester, features guests and speakers from the arts, media, literature, politics and film. The latest confirmed 2011 festival guests include:
The main programme is often complemented by workshops, day conferences and performing arts events. The festival's current patron is Lars Tharp , Director of the Foundling Museum in London and 'expert' on the BBC programme, Antiques Roadshow The festival started in 2000 and is organised by our third year students on the BA (Hons) Arts and Festival Management course. It attracts upwards of 4,000 people every year. The 2010 festival highlights included: Ken Loach - celebrated British film director, Germaine Greer - distinguished Academic and Writer, Josie Long - award winning Comedian and Writer for the Channel 4 hit series Skins, Stephen Deuchar - former Director of Tate Britain, Alexei Sayle - iconic comedian and writer, Gob Squad - international live art performance collective , Tim Exile - acclaimed Producer and Musician signed to Warp Records Previous festival guests include Sue Townsend, Bonnie Greer, Adele Parks, Janet Street-Porter, Ben Okri, Billy Bragg, Andrew Davies, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Grayson Perry, Alan Moore , Trevor Nelson, Debbie Issit and Lemn Sissay. Other pages you might like:
|
Promote your business Any breaking news is tweeted by us straight away Need website hosting? for websites and email We have the right service for you |
|
Home | About
us | Advertise here | Contact
us | Editorial | Features | Feedback | Help | Links | Press
information | Site index | Promote
live music | |
 |
Trevor Locke explained to him that Leicester stands out in
the UK as a centre for the development of creative industry but that the hustings,
currently taking place in the run-up to the elections on 5th May, had not focused
on this issue.
Standing the middle of the room in his shirt
sleeves, on this warm and sunny afternoon, rather than from behind a rostrum,
this was an informal opportunity for people to get up close to the Leader of
the Opposition and listen to his views on a wide variety of topics, as he answered
questions from people in the room.
