Voice Your Vision – Turning Point

On Monday 8 November 2010, more than 70 visual arts professionals, artists and curators gathered at The New Art Gallery Walsall to celebrate the strengths of the visual arts in the West Midlands and debate the priorities and challenges for the future following the government’s recent budget cut announcements.

West Midlands enjoy a thriving, vibrant, highly active and promising visual arts scene with many galleries, public or private, showcasing the best of modern and contemporary art in the region and artists, artist-led organisations and collectives creating work of high standard that represent the region nationally and abroad and contribute towards its creative industries. The aim of the event was to find ways of strengthening the visual arts in the region, advocate for the significance of the sector in the cultural, social and economic life of the region by working in partnership in order to maximise resources and foster further creativity.

Voice Your Vision is a Turning Point West Midlands event. Turning Point is a national network set up to deliver a shared vision for growth in the visual arts and is supported by Arts Council England. This event was part of developing a strategy for the visual arts in the West Midlands.

For the feedback notes from the day go to http://www.tpwestmidlands.org.uk

The TPWM network will be developing some of the priorities identified.

TPWM is putting in place an Artists Opportunities Bulletin on its website – at http://www.tpwestmidlands.org.uk/opportunities.

It will list Funding, Commissions, Calls for Work, Courses & Workshops, Job, Residency and Internship opportunities that people tell us about.

To subscribe to the Bulletin or submit details of an opportunity, please email: artistsnews&opportunitiestpwm@bcu.ac.uk

Images by Ming de Nasty.

Open Weekend 2010 Images

Images courtesy of Brian Homer, Timm Sonnenschein, Emma-Jo Tucker and Lee Jordan.

Open Weekend

Saturday 24 – Sunday 25 July 2010
11am – 4pm

The New Art Gallery Walsall kick starts the school holidays with an array of free and fun filled activities for all the family inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As part of the Cultural Olympiad and the countdown to the Games, The New Art Gallery Walsall will be contributing to the hundreds of sporting, arts and culture events across the UK on Open Weekend.

Visitors are invited to come and join in the fun and games, where there will be lots of exciting things to do and see over the two day extravaganza! So why not get into the Olympic spirit and drop in to the Gallery on Saturday 24 July and Sunday 25 July to help us count down two years until the start of the games with a free fun- packed weekend for all to enjoy!!

Your first challenge is to put yourself in the frame in the self portrait photography booth on the Saturday 24 July between 11am and 4pm. Strike a pose with your family and friends and take your own photo using our unique self portrait photo booth that engages and involves people creating powerful photographs of themselves. You even get to choose your favourite shot and take your free print home.

Get arty and drop in to the medal making workshop on Sunday 25 July, 11am – 4pm which will give you a fun hands-on experience of making medals with the use of modelling clay. The modelled clay medals will then be cast into plaster and can be taken home to be awarded to someone who you think deserves them the most ! This workshop is suitable for all ages.

Beccy Roberts, waterways artist, will be hosting a canal boat painting workshop throughout the weekend, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 July, between 1pm – 4pm. Visitors are invited to fold their own origami boat, and to learn how to paint the traditional roses seen on all narrow boats. A plan of the canal network will be available to engage visitors in finding out more about the canal networks and discovering places. The challenge is to see how many boats can be set sail on the canal over the weekend!!

The New Art Gallery Walsall has been granted the Inspire Mark the badge of the London 2012 Inspire Programme. The London 2012 Inspire programme recognises innovative and exceptional projects that are directly inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

All events are funded by Arts Council England and are free for all. No need to book, just turn up on the weekend!

For more information on the workshops, activities and photography competition taking place the same weekend at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Bantock House Museum please go to www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk

For more information call 01922 65 4400.
The New Art Gallery Walsall, Gallery Square, Walsall, WS2 8LG

Freshly Squeezed

Hello folks,

For those of you who missed last week’s phenomenal Freshly Squeezed music night with Birmingham Conservatoire composition students performing delightful music specially composed and inspired by the Epstein Archive, have a look below. Soon we will upload a short film with extracts from each performance.

Photos taken by Ian Egner.

Home of Metal – We Need You!

From Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 June 2010, 10am – 6pm, Home Of Metal will be taking up residence in a disused shop located at City 10, 18 Queen Square in Wolverhampton city centre, inviting fans to bring along their memorabilia & stories to be photographed & recorded to contribute to the digital archive or drop in to look at some of the Home Of Metal related wares we have already discovered!

Home Of Metal are looking for everything from concert tickets to photographs, badges, album covers, t-shirts, demo tapes, fan letters, fanzines, flyers, lyrics, posters, press articles, set lists and promotional materials to build the collection online, which will inform a series of major exhibitions which are being developed for 2011.

On Saturday 19 June, 2 – 6pm, renowned rock photographer Steve Gerrard will be in residence, fans are invited to have their portraits taken by him in their prized band T-shirts to feature in the Home Of Metal Exhibition.

Thursday 17th June – Saturday 19th June
10am – 6pm
Home of Metal open days
@ City 10 Shop, 18 Queen Square, Wolverhampton

P.s. Even if you can’t make it to Wolverhampton you can still contribute to the archive here – http://www.homeofmetal.com/

Refugee Week events In Walsall

Events and activities that bring people together and help different people in Walsall understand each other better.

Exhibition about migration to Walsall at Museum
Throughout June there will be a display about Eastern European communities in Walsall. For more information please contact Aldona Grupas on 07701 095199

Different Pasts Shared Future professionals event
Refugee Awareness Event for Professionals
Wednesday 16th June 2010 10:00 a.m. – 15:00
Education Development Centre, Pelsall Lane, Walsall, WS4 1NGThe event aims to:
• Increase engagement between mainstream organisations and specialists from refugee, asylum & migrant backgrounds
• Provide information about immigration processes and rights
• Explore issues of concern for new communities in region
• Map and share current practice addressing identified issues
• Address gaps in service and develop joint regional working on issues
• Influence relevant policy and practice development

Celebration Cricket Match
On Thursday 17th June Handsworrth Park Cricket Team in Handsworth, Birmingham will host a celebration cricket match with Walsall Asylum, Refugee and Migrant Association Cricket Team. The Walsall team include young people from Afghanistan living in Walsall who invite Walsall supporters to come and cheer them on. For More information Please contact Liz on 01922 686218 or 0771819 5661

Taste The World
On Saturday 19 June, at 1pm The New Art Gallery Walsall will host Taste The World, a chance to taste dishes from countries around the world made by migrant communities in Walsall and to find out about their countries of origin. For more information please contact Clare Taylor on 01922 653114

From OUTSIDE to Involvement Migrants Project Drop In
On Tuesday 15th and Thursday 17th June the Drop In Sessions will be having an Open Day and celebrating Refugee Week by doing some of the ‘Simple Acts’ campaign. For more information please contact Connie Van Horn on 01922 653114 or email vanhornc@walsall.gov.uk

Allotment Group open morning
Walsall Asylum, refugee and Migrant Association will host an open morning on their Allotment on 11th June at Slaters Lane Allotments. For more information please contact Deb Slade on 01922 653114

Schools Simple Acts
An opportunity for children and young people to engage in one of the 20 Simple Acts campaign activities:-

1. Cook a dish from another country
2. Tell a child a story from another country
3. Watch a movie about refugees
4. Do a quiz on refugees
5. Say a little prayer for me
6. Read a book about exile
7. Sign off your email with a note about refugees
8. Find five facts about refugees
9. Find out who you REALLY are
10. Visit a Refugee Week event
11. Smile
12. Learn to say a few things in a new language
13. Have tea with a refugee
14. Share a song
15. Join a big action campaign in support of refugees
16. Share your sweets
17. Give a book about refugees as a present to someone
18. Define the word “Refuge”
19. Take a picture of you and your pro-refugee banner
20. Play football with refugees
21. My Simple Act

If your school would like a visit from the From OUTSIDE to Involvement Project Team and/or be supported with Simple Acts [resources available] please contact Connie Van Horn – Migrant Development Officer on 01922 653114 or email vanhornc@walsall.gov.uk

For more information, please contact Liz Allsop, Access, Entitlements and Special Projects Manager (Newly Arrived, Gypsy and Traveller Pupils), Traveller Education Support Service Team (TESST), 01922 686218 or 0771819 5661 liz.allsop@walsallcs.serco.com