It’s been a busy week.
Not sang a note, but nonetheless extremely busy, with so many things
coming together.
On Wednesday I boomeranged on the 108 from one meeting to
another. The morning meeting of the
Consultation Group helping to formulate the new Rotherham Arts Strategy started
to work their way through what we hope will be the final draft.
The Strategy is looking good from my perspective and once
the final Aims and Objectives have been homed we’ll have a template from which
all Arts organisations and Promoters will be able to use and work to.
And the Group have an opportunity for a budding Journalist
or pro who might like to volunteer some of their time to Rotherham Arts. We’re looking for someone to write stories
about Rotherham Arts for submission to the Media.
After a discussion about publicity and the sometimes
negative approach to the Arts given by our local media it was generally thought
that is we could find someone to do more than the usual Press Release, and gear
stories individually to the needs of the various titles we might have more
success at getting our positive messages about Rotherham Arts into the public
domain.
Speaking for myself I’ve found the Meetings of the Strategy
Group really interesting, I’ve learnt so much about the Arts in Rotherham; above
all as a source of Networking and Meeting people from across the Arts scene
from Volunteers to Festival Organisers it has been invaluable.
That also goes for ROAR. And it was to the ROAR AGM that I
made my way on Wednesday evening. The
Development of ROAR has been nothing short of fantastic, in just a few years
the organisation has managed to establish itself at the centre and a focal
point for Rotherham Artists.
If you want to find out what ROAR is all about then head to
their Web Site
HERE
This year’s AGM reflected the development, and dare I say it
was nice to hold the meeting in a nice warm room at Westgate Chambers. Well done Liam for getting the double glazing
and heater in.
The opening of Westgate Chambers in December 2011, providing
affordable studio space to artists of all genres and a fantastic rehearsal
space is itself, and financed locally and by The Peoples Millions.
We were also treated to a talk from one of the people who
have found ROAR’s facilities and help useful.
A cleaner for the Council Bernadine Stocks is developing a fine
reputation for herself as an artist in Rotherham has a unit in the Imperial
Building which is part of the ROAR estate.
It’s so good to know that the ROAR units are all fully
taken, and that there is only one studio left in Westgate Chambers to be Let.
The appointment of Matt Butt as Development Officer will
also be of major importance to Rotherham Artists searching for funding or
advise about marketing etc. Matt took up
his post in December 2011, and by the end of 2012 is bound to be making an
impact besides being a familiar face around Rotherham events.
The AGM also noted the considerable contribution that Karen
Sherwood made to the development of ROAR in her role as CEO which she left in
January of this year. Taiba Yasseen has
stepped in as acting CEO, to oversee discussions about a bid under the Creative
People and Places Fund which needs to be completed by the end of April.
New members to the Board of ROAR are Kathleen Fletcher, Gave
Roberts and Tair (but only on the basis that he continues to supply the Board
with Cakes).
Now more about the Acoustic Rotherham projects for the year.
First up will be “Rotherham
Banners High” Saturday 2nd June and perhaps running into Sunday
3rd June. Banners High will
be highlighting Art as a statement of “protest” illustrated by a series of
events. I’m sure the significance of the
date will not be overlooked………..
We hope to encourage the involvement of the Rotherham Trades
Unions, and the mass ranks of the Left to come together for a March around
Rotherham using the Coalition Cuts as the focal piece of the
Demonstration.
There will be key note speakers, presentations, exhibitions,
and lyric Workshops and more.
On the evening of the 2nd June there will be a
Rock Concert.
We’re hoping to make the day / days seamless and offering a
range of events for people to visit or part-take in.
If you have any ideas for what might be included then please
get in touch. There will be a page on
the Web Site very soon but in the meantime Email me
HERE putting “Banners High”
in the subject box. Site page
HERE
At the end of July “Slamfest”
will be making what I hope will be début for the event. July 21st –
July 29th
This will be mainly a Festival of the written word, be it a
song lyric, poem or a full blown Novel.
It will feature short plays written by Rotherham writers,
Comedy, and Workshops / Presentations.
It will also incorporate a Battle of Bands featuring the very best of, and perhaps not so hot
local Bands.
It will also incorporate The Myke Barritt Music Trust Birthday Bash on 27th July,
a day long event of session music, poetry culminating in the coming together of
Myke’s Bands, The Rawmarsh Mashers, Earth Tales etc.
Plus of course on the 29th
July Acoustic Rotherham 16 at The Queens, Rawmarsh, for a full afternoon of
emerging and established local acoustic talent.
There is a Web Page for this Event
HERE where you’ll also find the contact details to include your
event or suggest what you would like to see going on during this week long
celebration of local writing talent.
The Rotherham Busking
Day will be Saturday September 29th. Once again we plan to flood Rotherham Town Centre
with the sound of music from 11:00am until 3:30pm – and beyond if people are
for it.
This year, because of the longer planning time we’ll be
looking to get organised a little better and have many more acts joining us,
especially as the earlier date should mean that we will not be frozen to our
guitar strings.
I’ve created a Web page
HERE where you can contact me about
inclusion in this year’s event, and where details will appear as the Day develops.
This will be the launch of the Rotherham Open Arts Festival
Fringe.
Yes, plans for the Official
Rotherham Open Arts Festival Fringe are already underway, and this year we
aim to make it bigger and better than ever.
Running from 1st – 31st
October 2012.
Plans for a series of Rock Concerts throughout the Borough,
featuring Rotherham Bands are being made.
These will be in addition to what we hope will be our series of Acoustic
presentations at the Old Market Place Gallery.
Workshops – writing projects and much more are all in the
early stages of development.
Once again a Web page has been created. We want your input into what you would like
to see as part of the Fringe Festival and or your input in the form of Events
that can be included as part of the month long programme. The Web page is
HERE
While I’m drawing together a creative team to help deliver
all of the above events, and seeking out Partners, please do not wait on
ceremony for me to contact you or receive a gold edged invite to become
involved. We genuinely want you, be it
artist, organiser, or just someone interested in a particular form of art to
get involved, and may your views known.
While it may seem that we have plenty of time, this is not
the case, wide ranging Festivals take time to put together and market properly,
so the real work starts now, and of course minimises the risk of high blood
pressure in the final run up to events.
I’d also say that it is
not Acoustic Rotherham’s intention
to step on toes. We are not seeking to take
the World over or go against any notion of democracy that some might have. For too many years I’ve sat in Meetings
listening to some great imaginative ideas, and more often than not nothing has
happened; and where something has gone off it has been of poor quality not
showing off either the professionalism of artists or Rotherham’s ability to put
stage quality Festivals
.
Already we are involving genres often overlooked as being
part of the Arts scene and we’ll be seeking to involve more.
What we are doing is setting time lines (Facebook users will
hate that term)and general conceptual frames within which every Arts Group in
Rotherham can programme. We ain’t
twisting arms, we are not excluding anyone if you want to be involved then this
is your chance to programme Events, and benefit from the mass publicity that we
will be seeking to generate for the various Festivals.
Of course Funding for these events will be critical. Unfortunately, we will not be able to go down
the FREE to all road that Acoustic Rotherham has famously used in the
past. Some events will have to be pay
events, to cover the cost of the venue and to make sure that our artists get
rewarded as they should be, not just for their appearance but for the hours of
practice and experiment that goes into creating the finished products presented
to the public.
There will be a pricing structure which will be set after
proper consultations for each of the main Festivals above.
And that is as far as I can go that this moment in
time. I have another round of meetings
with individuals from various possible Partners and an important next Monday at
ROAR after which I may be in a position to say a little more. Early, very early in March I hope to be able
to call together everyone so that any misunderstandings etc., that may still be
out there can be cleared and we can move on to start creating these worthwhile
events.
These are exciting times on the Rotherham Arts scene, as
more artists come out of their workshops, studios, rehearsal rooms, back
bedrooms and make their faces known. If
we are to really cash in on this Renaissance and build firm foundations upon
which our Arts Community can grow and thrive then we must strike while the iron
is hot. And we’ve got some really hot
things happening outside of what I’ve talked about above.
Which brings me nicely to a person who has already committed
some her valuable and scares time to helping Acoustic Rotherham.
Tina
Mckevitt. I’ll be honest, not having
from Tina for nearly a month I was getting rather worried, especially as it
seemed Emails were going unanswered and telephone calls not returned.
Eventually Tina broke through the communications barrier; I
think she was shopping at the time and probably her only time to chat.
Rally exciting news though as she has been working with Matt
her musical maestro, and a new member of the cast, Kathleen Jordan on her
historic music and words presentation
“A
Poor Prospect: Tales From the Workhouse” for which there is a full
performance in two weeks time on the 2
nd March at the Foundry in
Sheffield as part of what looks like to be an excellent Festival,
“Highlighting History”. You
can find the full Brochure for the event
HERE,
there’s something for everyone with events throughout Sheffield.
Break a leg Tina.
Of course we’ll be looking to present this fantastic bit of
South Yorkshire work at one of our events if not all………
Someone who will be playing a key role throughout “Slamfest”
is
Roy Blackman.
Unfortunately, Roy has not been enjoying the
best of health over the Winter and has not been getting out as much as he would
like. However, he will be making three appearances
this week. On Monday he will be at the
Darnall
Writers Club; Tuesday he’ll be hosting the
Handsworth Folk Club at
the Cross Keys, Handsworth where
Paul Pearson is the main guest and
on
Wednesday 22nd he’ll be joining a host of Rotherham’s finest at the Woodlands
Club, Clifton, Rotherham (it’s opposite the new Mosque) to celebrate the life
of one of Rotherham’s favourite sons
Harry
Darkson who died in February of 2011.
Ray Hearne, Andy Hoult, Dave
Oldroyd, Stephanie Little, The Rawmarsh Masher plus a host of others will be
providing the music in what promises to be an excellent evening for
Charity.
Facebook friends will not have missed this week’s flavour of
the week, the Governments “Workfare”
programme, and how some Multi-National Companies have been using it to
increase their profits.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for real training for work,
but this Government programme is nothing short of near slave labour. People are forced into the work place to fill
shelves or break down cardboard boxes in many of top retailers with minimal
training and for nothing more than their benefits; an hourly rate well below
the National Minimum wage.
Tesco appears to be the Company taking most of the flack if
only because they are bare faced about it, by actually advertising jobs with a
wage at Benefits levels.
These schemes are supposed to get people into work, and
besides being threatened with having their benefits stopped if they refuse to
take a placement, the poor soul is told that there is a good chance that they
will be offered a job at the end of the set period. Of course it’s hard to find anyone that may
have been offered a job this way, indeed most people on asking are told by the
likes of Tesco “why should we take you on? I can get as many people as I like
for nothing.”
This all comes at a time when apparently British Industry is
saying that they cannot find workers with the skills they need. Indeed Digby Jones believes that at least 10%
of our unemployed are completely unemployable.
My very simple question would be, where are the Apprenticeships? Where are the Training Programmes? It’s my belief that British Industry only has
itself to blame, their lack of investment in “people” has failed us all, not
just the Companies that need the skills.
One really wonders just how many of the four hundred skilled
jobs that are to be created at the new Rolls Royce Factory at Catcliffe will
actually go to Rotherham people.
This is yet another reason why we need to have a thriving
and outgoing Arts scene in Rotherham.
Involvement in the arts can help to give people confidence, build skills,
self-motivation and training; it can also provide stimulation for debate and
discussion, and an environment that people can be proud of. Can we not fail to be proud at the difference
we’ve seen in All Saints Square area and in particular the new gardens that run
around the Minster area.
Keep an eye on the overall debate.
My goodness we’re in danger in turning this into a bit of a preachy
Blog…………….
I’ve already covered many of the major highlights of this
week while bringing you up to date with Roy Blackman’s activities of the week,
important as they are should you be looking for a
Roy Blackman CD.
However, Ash Wednesday will bring you Hillsborough Ballads
at The Burton Street Foundation, and
Storm
Trees are playing live at Delaneys in Sheffield.
A new or newish Open Mic for Thursday has been
created at The Castle Bar in Conisbrough, while on Friday it’s The Bar
Stewards Sons, Acoustic Cabaret at Thawleys in Wombwell.
Plus all the usual weekly and monthly Clubs and Sessions.
And as we move into March there are just so many great
things happening, I seem to get more landing in my Inbox every day. If your event / Festival is missing then get
in touch.
You can find it all
HERE
I try to keep you up with news of what our Acoustic
Rotherham friends are to. So it’s great
to see that
Steve Chapman-Smith, he
with the big voice of The Troubadors has a solo Web Site devoted to some his
great music and all his activities around Yorkshire. Check it out
HERE
I’ve a whole pile of links that I need to check out for the
Blog and I hope I’ll be able to update you in next week’s Blog.
A bit of a heavy marathon this week, so I think I’ll end it
all now. Watch out for any updates in Thursday’s
News Email.
Whatever you’re doing this week have great fun, support
local music and keep it live.
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