Creative Stoke newsfeed

^{New! 26.10.09}   
Stoke-on-Trent’s Andrew Stuart is planning a documentary on photographers’ rights in the UK, police stopping photographers, and the fight to show that photography not a crime in public places. Andrew is a 2nd year Broadcast Journalism student at Staffordshire University. He would like to speak to people who have been stopped by the police while photographing. If you’ve had that experience, or know someone who has, then please contact him via his website’s contact page.

^{New! 26.10.09}   
Script is running a one-day workshop event on “New Narrative Structures and Writing Opportunities in the Digital Age”. The event will be held in Birmingham, on the 7th November 2009 (10am-5pm). Tickets are £50 (£40 concessions). More details at the above web link. Due to the ongoing postal strike, those booking are asked to email your completed workshop booking form to:  catherine.edwards@scriptonline.net

^{New! 26.10.09}   
Added to the Directory: Summer Bank Studios, a recording studio in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent. The studio is 40ft x 20ft x 15ft tall, has a vocal booth and a large 35ft control room, and also has various rehearsal rooms. The studio currently has a special pre-Christmas offer on the MySpace page.

Additions to Creative Stoke, 22nd October 2009:

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  The Interior Design Practice. Located in Stoke town, Stoke-on-Trent, The Interior Design Practice offers highly personalised transformations for everything from traditional houses to apartments and corporate interiors.

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  Red Dog Photography. Located in Uttoxeter.

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  James Kemp (Ceramic Materials). Located in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, James Kemp are suppliers of colours and pigments for use in a large range of applications — from ceramics to plastics, glass and enamels.

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  James and Ward Architectural Consultants. With offices at the Staffordshire Business Village in Stoke-on-Trent, and at Walsall, James and Ward can offer a broad range of retail project experience, and also a team specialising in the design and procurement in specialist and private housing.

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  Envisage Design. Located in Stoke-on-Trent, Envisage are specialists in display stands and conference/exhibition accessories.

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  Bomark Studios. Located in Stoke-on-Trent, are providers of print, film and web services.

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  Sculpted Steel. Located near Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands, Sculpted Steel offers a combination of traditional blacksmithing skills and contemporary design techniques.

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  Jacqueline Harold Designs. Located in Longport, Stoke-on-Trent, Jacqueline is a designer-maker of handmade tableware including automata, ceramic, resin, and silverware.

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Are you the best Young DJ/MC in North Staffs? Stoke-on-Trent’s Young DJ/MC of the Year 2009 Competition is now open for entries. The competition is run by the Shelton-based DJ School and is open to any young local DJs and MCs/rappers between the ages of 12 and 25 years old, male or female. This year’s event will be held at Zen Nightclub in Foundry Street, Hanley, with special guest DJ and remixer Pete Bromley (Golden, Altern 8). Doors will open at 1pm for competition-entry bookings, and 2pm for guests. Price is £4 on the door. This year’s winner will receive: 1) a set of techniques decks and a mixer; 2) an agency contract with Verbal Arts. The best Young Rapper of the Year will receive: 1) a radio mic set; 2) a recording contract with Verbal Arts.

To register your interest as a competitor please send the following details to info@djschool.org.uk — 1. Full name; 2. Postal address; 3. Contact telephone number; 4. Age; 5. DJ or Rapper?

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Events listing:  Interested in the arts and metal health? Breaking Cycles are staging a one-day conference in nearby Telford, titled “Using the Arts as an Aid to Mental Health & Well Being”. The event will be on 12th November 2009 at The Holiday Inn, Telford (9.30am to 3pm), and will explore the role the arts play in mental health and well-being by showcasing examples of good practice in Telford and Shropshire, and enabling discussion for future developments. For further information and booking forms, please contact Helen Chesters at:  helen.chesters@telford.gov.uk

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Job:  Sundorne Infant School, in nearby Shrewsbury, are seeking an exceptional musician to help them explore their Creative Partnerships enquiry question: “To what extent can music be used to enhance the creative delivery of other curriculum areas in order to support the learning journey of our pupils?” You will be working with a mixed (Years 1 & 2) class of 28 pupils, and with the school music coordinator. A fee of £3,200 is available. Planning will begin in November, with activities during Jan – April 2010. Application deadline: 1st November 2009. For a full brief please contact Iain Armstrong at:  iaincp@phonoscope.co.uk

^{New! 22.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  Supply2Gov is an online search portal for all lower-value contracts offered by local and national government. Previously requiring a subscription, use of the portal is now free after a simple sign-up. Paid subscriptions are being retained only for wide-area email alerts for new contracts. Contracts are posted on the site by all local authorities including Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Moorlands, Staffordshire, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Cheshire East Council. The fourth edition of the free booklet Tendering for Public Contracts : A Guide for Small Businesses (PDF link) may be useful reading for those interested in Supply2Gov. Public sector organisations may also be interested in the free national OGC Contracts database.

^{New! 21.10.09}   
The NoiseFloor Festival of sonic art will be held at Staffordshire University, from 16th to 17th January 2010. There will be a series of concerts throughout the weekend which will present eight-channel electroacoustic works. The concerts will progress to a less formal two-channel setting in the evening, where other forms of electronic music will be showcased. Interested in submitting fixed media or live works? Stereo and multi-channel audio or audio-visual works (up to 8 channels + sub) are invited for consideration. Equipment needed for diffusion of fixed media and audio-visual works will be provided — composers will need to provide their own laptop and performers for live pieces. Composer attendance is encouraged, but is not required. The submission deadline is: 20th November 2009 (postmarked). There is no submission fee. Full details are available here or contact Ben Ramsay at the Music Technology Department:  ben.ramsay@staffs.ac.uk

^{New! 21.10.09}   
Jobs:  Staffordshire University at Stafford require three Technical Skills Specialists to provide technical support to students, in: Computing/Games Programming (Ref CET09/3c); Film/Television (Ref CET09/3a); and Music Studios/Laboratories (Ref CET09/3b). Application deadline: 5th November 2009.

^{New! 21.10.09}   
Birmingham’s Shout lesbigay arts festival is offering a rare chance to attend a West Midlands symposium on queer theory and contemporary art, titled Troubling Desire(s) in Art : a Queer Symposium. It’ll be held on Saturday 14th November 2009 (9.30am to 4.30pm) and the price is just £5. At that price, tickets are likely to sell quickly and you should book as soon as possible.

^{New! 21.10.09}   
Added to the Directory: the neighbouring Creative Shropshire website, which appears to have launched in late summer 2009.

^{New! 21.10.09}   
Interested in a look behind the scenes at a thriving and profitable Stoke-on-Trent ceramics firm? Five new videos have been uploaded to the Emma Bridgewater YouTube channel in the past few days…

^{New! 21.10.09}   
Added to the Directory:  Visual artists may be interested to know that Weston Park (famous for staging the annual V Festival) has launched its own visual arts gallery in a Heritage Lottery Fund -restored building. Situated on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border just SW of Stafford town, the free Granary Gallery (open daily, all year, 11am–4pm) is a white-walled gallery, and its selling shows change each month. Contemporary shows are accompanied by items from the Weston Park reserve collection of old masters, and from local private collections — made possible by the modern environment controls in the gallery. Exhibiting artists are currently handpicked by Gareth Williams, curator to the Weston Park Foundation. The Weston Park website is also encouraging volunteer assistants for the Granary Gallery in 2009/10.

^{New! 20.10.09}   
There’s news today of a new £1-million Staffordshire Business Support Fund for small businesses in Staffordshire. The successful Black Country Reinvestment Society (BCRS) is joining with Staffordshire County Council, the European Regional Development Fund, and Advantage West Midlands to offer new loans across Staffordshire. The Fund will start to operate from November 2009, providing loans to small businesses of between £10,000 – £25,000 — repayable over four years. Businesses will have to be based in Staffordshire, employ fewer than fifty workers, and have been turned down for commercial loans by conventional banks. Watch for further details on Creative Stoke.

^{New! 20.10.09}   
The Victoria Hall and Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent are staging two half-term youth dance workshops…

1) Hip Hop Dance is from 26th to 29th Oct, 10am-3pm each day. “An intensive and creative four days of high energy, hip hop dance with choreographer and director Lucie Talbott (Director of Dance Nuvo). The piece you create will be premiered on stage at The Regent Theatre in 010 Dance, the annual youth dance festival, on Saturday 30 Jan. Suitable for boys, girls age 10 – 18 and while previous dance experience is useful it is not essential. Venues: The Victoria Hall (Mon-Tue) and St. Margaret Ward Catholic School, Tunstall (Wed-Thurs). Cost: £80 all inclusive (£75 for families receiving benefits) (£50 each when booking two places at once). Plus costume costs – these will remain as reasonable as possible.”

2) Comedy Drama Workshops at the Victoria Hall. Cost: £10 per person…

* 27th Oct, 10am-3pm. Ages 8-11. “This fun and lively taster workshop will look at comedy characters, accents, facial expressions and body language. Don’t miss your chance to play the fool!”

* 28th Oct 10am-3pm. Ages 12-18. “Working with professional actors you will look at some classic comedy scripts from English television and theatre, and focus on perfecting accents, body language, punch lines and timing.”

Additions to Creative Stoke, 20th October 2009:—

^{New! 20.10.09}   
Stoke-on-Trent’s Stoke Your Fires festival of animation (Feb 2010) has opened the 2010 Stoke Your Fires Animation Awards for submissions. The categories include: Best Professional Regional Animation “Made in the Midlands”. Full information from:  info@stokeyourfires.com

^{New! 20.10.09}   
Museums for Schools is a newly-launched online directory for the educational provision for schools offered by 150 museums in the West Midlands. Users can also filter their search, for museums able to offer activities for a specific educational stage…

^{New! 20.10.09}   
Staffordshire Marquetry Group are running free workshops on 24th October 2009, at the Ancient High House in Stafford town centre. Participants will be introduced to the basic techniques of marquetry. All materials and tools are provided and participants will be able to make a simple coaster, pendant or keyring. Booking by email through the Group Secretary, Quentin Smith, at:  quentin@staffsmarq.freeserve.co.uk  Participants interested in learning more about marquetry, and joining the group, will be provided with further materials, and a DVD of the recent National Marquetry Exhibition. A gallery of group work will be on show in the Ancient High House from 20th – 24th October.

^{New! 20.10.09}   
Added to the Events listing:  Next week sees the launch of the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Youth Dance Network meeting. To be held on Tuesday 27th October (4.30pm to 7pm) at the Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, the meeting invites dance leaders, practitioners, artists, teachers and anyone working with young people involved in youth dance to meet others in the area, find out what they are doing and how they might obtain funding. The evening will begin with a free development class from 4.30pm-6pm with Rachael Lines of Stoke-on-Trent’s FRONTLINEdance, followed by an hour for networking (complete with nibbles and refreshments). If you cannot attend the 4.30pm class, you can still come along for the networking and information session. To attend you need to let Hannah White know you are coming — email: hannahwhite@theambassadors.com  or phone 01782 211221.

^{New! 20.10.09}   
Applications for U.Dance England 2010 (National Youth Dance Festival) are now open. U.Dance England will take place at the Birmingham Hippodrome from 1st to 4th July 2010. Dance pieces must be no longer than six minutes. The deadline for applications is: 30th November 2009. Those shortlisted will first perform at regional dance events, with the best being selected for the national event.

In Stoke-on-Trent our U.Dance regional dance event is on Saturday 16th January 2010 at The Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent. U.Dance England 2010 finalists will be offered a three-night residential stay, a workshop/seminar programme leading to a high-profile public dance performance. Interested? The application forms are online here.

^{New! 19.10.09}   
Do you have a new project idea about how to creatively use or reclaim a local “natural asset”? Perhaps an annual programme for a sculpture trail, with land art training summer schools? Or enhancing a natural ampitheatre so it can be regularly used for outdoor storytelling and performance? How about a beautiful and immense willow-maze threading through otherwise impenetrable neglected woodland, as a first step towards reclamation by the community?

Advantage West Midlands and Natural England have launched a £2 million Natural Assets funding scheme, aiming to stimulate the use of the best of our natural environment in economic development and regeneration. Grant awards will range between £35,000 and £250,000. Current applications deadline: 6th November 2009. For more information on grants see the above web link — or contact Ruth Metcalfe, Grants Advisor at Natural England, at: naturalassets@naturalengland.org.uk

^{New! 19.10.09}  
  The Staffordshire Community Foundation are managing the county’s 2009/10 Comic Relief grants scheme. Grants are on offer, at between £1,000 and £10,000. Projects applying for a Comic Relief grant should: increase local services; build the skills of the local people; increase community cohesion; and respond to local economic needs. The application deadline has been extended and is now: 3rd December 2009.

^{New! 19.10.09}  
  Added to the Directory:  A fine new website for talented illustration graduate Emma Ridgway. Emma has recently returned to Staffordshire after completing her degree at Falmouth.

Emma Ridgway: Bob Dylan.

Emma also has an active weblog, showing her most recent work…

Emma Ridgway: Self-portrait in calligraphy, Sept 2009.

Additions to Creative Stoke, 16th October 2009:—

^{New! 16.10.09}   
All the external web links in Creative Stoke’s Directory have been checked for viability, using an automated service. Broken links have been either deleted, or found again and repaired. The Support Services page has been checked and repaired by hand.

^{New! 16.10.09}    
Job:  Staffordshire Moorlands Council is seeking a firm to produce a pilot advertising-bearing Council community magazine in November 2009. The Council requires a managed service contract with a single point of contact, for the three stages in the production, distribution and advertising sales administration. This initial quotation is for the production of a pilot issue in November 2009. Application deadline: 21st October 2009. See the web page for more information, or email:  procurement@staffsmoorlands.gov.uk

^{New! 16.10.09}    
Job:  Stoke-on-Trent’s Stoke Your Fires: festival of animation (Feb 2010) is offering an opportunity to design and make the eight awards/prizes for the 2010 Stoke Your Fires Awards. Fee: £1,000, to include all expenses. Deadline: 13th November 2009. Further information is available from Katie at: info@stokeyourfires.com

In 2010, the Festival will be set within a month of community animation activities such as a display at the Potteries museum, drop-in children’s workshops during half-term, special screenings of animation in the Forum theatre, and outreach animation workshops in schools and for community groups.

^{New! 16.10.09}    
Added to the Events list:  Do you use virtual worlds in further or higher education? Would you like to? A one-day Virtual Worlds In Education Forum is happening at Staffordshire University (Stafford Campus) on 2nd December 2009, 9.30am to 3.30pm. This JISC RSC event is open to people from across all post-16 education sectors in the West Midlands. Deadline for bookings: 25th November 2009.

^{New! 15.10.09}    
The Stoke-on-Trent British Ceramics Biennial now has an online booking form available for its one-day Artists Into Industry Forum, at the new Wedgwood Museum on Friday 30th October 2009 from 10am to 4pm. Tickets cost £25 per person, students £10.

^{New! 15.10.09}    
The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce has produced another edition of their excellent free booklet, A Guide To Sources Of Small Business Finance In The West Midlands (September 2009). This detailed guide has everything you need to know about current regional and specialist sources of funding for your small business, and can be freely downloaded from the web page.

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Added to the Directory: North Staffs Drama Association, the Five Towns Theatre (Stoke-on-Trent), the Longsdon Amateur Dramatic Society (Staffs Moorlands), and the Stone Little Theatre (Stone).

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Job:  Flash Ley Primary School, at Stafford, are seeking a Drama Specialist to develop Year 6 skills in… “co-operative learning, team-building and the ability to reflect and discuss our aspirations through drama.” Delivery will be between January and April 2010. Application deadline: 9th November 2009. Budget: £4,000. Full details from Sue Harding at: susie23harding@live.co.uk

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Job:  Harpfields Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent is seeking Drama Practitioner and a Visual Artist/ Designer & Maker for an Ancient History project centered on the Romans. Delivery will be during the Spring Term of 2010. Budget: £3,000. Application deadline: 6th November 2009. Full details from:  jwardle@sgfl.org.uk

^{New! 15.10.09}    
The full programme (PDF link) for the Creative Industries and Creative Communities conference, to be held in Stoke-on-Trent on 11th November 2009, has been announced.

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Just three days left for small and medium enterprises in the West Midlands to apply for £3,000 Innovation Vouchers to be spent on hiring in academic support from local universities. At October 2009 the scheme currently has available 110 vouchers funded by Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund. Application deadline: 18th October 2009. Full information and application forms are the website, or email:  enquiries@innovationvouchers-wm.com

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Job:  William Shrewsbury Primary School, in Stretton, near Burton-on-Trent require a Creative Practitioner who can make a real impact in the school and bring us a “completely different learning experience” to a class of Year 6 children. You will work at the school between January and March 2010. Deadline: (tomorrow!) 16th October 2009. There is £3,000 available to support the work to include practitioner fees, travel and any resources. For a full brief please contact Angela Cloves-Hayden on 01283 239131 quoting “Creative Practitioner”.

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Job:  Aqueduct Primary School, in nearby Telford, require a Creative Practitioner in any discipline. The pay is £220 per day for a contract of up to eight days, beginning in January 2010. You’ll contribute to the topic of… “how we interact with, and who we are within, the world around us” to “help us to recognise the qualities and values of diverse cultures and global needs”. The age range of the children will be determined in consultation with the practitioner. Application deadline: 2nd November 2009. Full details are available from:  hazrobbins@googlemail.com

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Volunteer posts:  Stoke-on-Trent Library Service has secured a £28,000 grant to set up the StokeReads project. The funding will pay for volunteers who enjoy reading to be specially trained on how to run a group of adult readers, and what kind of books and literature to use. Group sessions may include reading aloud favourite passages and poems, discussing a book that everyone has just read, and inviting authors to discuss their work. If you are interested in setting up a group, or being a member of one, please contact Anne Mackey at:  anne.mackey@stoke.gov.uk

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Volunteer post:  An enthusiastic volunteer Arts Project Assistant (unpaid, expenses only) is required to work on the Christmas Lantern project for the Stoke-On-Trent Christmas Lights switch-on event, which will be held on 10th – 12th November 2009. The project is being run by Bristol-based Refab Arts. Application deadline: 20th October 2009. Full details from:  Emma Myers at:  info@refabarts.com

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Are you reading Creative Stoke from the nearby Peak District? Or perhaps you know a creative who lives there? The Leader project is a new £1.9 million Peak District project, starting this October and funded until 2013. Leader will offer grants from £3,500+ to enable…

“new micro-enterprise activity and helping existing micro-enterprises (less than 10 employees and £2m turnover/social enterprises) to develop new projects involving the development and/or promotion of local products and services.”

^{New! 15.10.09}    
Fancy a trip to Texas? UK Trade & Investment and Birmingham’s Fused magazine are inviting applications for a trade mission from the West Midlands music scene to SXSW Music from the 17th to 21st March 2010. Given that Stoke has such strong music scenes, it would be a pity if the city wasn’t represented. The aim of the trip is to…

“… take a group of companies representing music in the region in order to network, develop partner relationships, increase international trade, and meet companies interested in developing opportunities and investment in the West Midlands”

Deadline: 19th October 2009. Full details are available online.

^{New! 14.10.09}    
Job:  Just two days left to apply for a Trainee Workshop Leader post with Radiate, which offers professional development for West Midlands artists who are interested in working with children. You’ll be a West Midlands’ artist / trainer who wants to gain professional experience working in a school over the 2009/2010 school year. Deadline:  16th October 2009. For full details of this post, please email:  admin@radi8.info

^{New! 14.10.09}    
Cheshire’s Tatton Park Biennial has announced 2010 dates (8th May to 26th September 2010). The Biennial will feature 30 artists, performers and writers who are asked to respond to the local landscape and local sense of identity. Most commissions are by invitation only, or are for Cheshire artists only. But one of the open competition calls appears to be open to artists living in North Staffordshire, if they can show that they work in the North West…

“Tatton Park Biennial invites artists who are currently living or working in the North West of England to develop site-specific proposals for the 2010 Biennial: Framing Identity. One artist will be selected to participate in the Biennial with an awarded budget of £5,500 to cover fees, materials and expenses.”

^{New! 14.10.09}    
Are you interested in ancient sites in the British landscape, and the people who live near them? You may be interested to know that there’s a major new £1.4m conservation and recording project in nearby Cheshire. Habitats and Hillforts was officially launched in October 2008, and now has a website. It’s a major series of Heritage Lottery-funded conservation projects, with parallel arts and crafts projects, that will be…

“focusing on the chain of historically important hill top Iron Age forts that lines Cheshire’s Sandstone Ridge”.

Details of Habitats and Hillforts’s future 2009/2010 countryside crafts courses and arts training events can be had from:  habitatsandhillforts@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

There is also the major Habitats and Hillforts arts project “Interloper”, which will be a three-year undertaking by artist Patricia Mackinnon-Day. Her series of arts projects will run during 2009 – 2011, and will explore the idiosyncrasy of remote rural communities as well as being an investigation of the natural world along the Sandstone Ridge trail.

^{New! 14.10.09}    
Jobs:  North Staffordshire’s Partners in Creative Learning (PiCL) has another four opportunities at local schools:—

   1) Park Hall Primary, at Weston Coyney, Stoke-on-Trent, is looking for a Creative Partner from any background, to help the school address the question: “How can the natural resource of the outdoor learning environment be effectively utilised to drive forward creativity within our school?” The project will take place during the Spring term of 2010. Deadline: 2nd November 2009. Budget: £3,600. Full information is available from:  parkhall@sgfl.org.uk

   2) The Thomas Russell Infants School, at Barton-under Needwood in Staffordshire, is seeking a Creative Practitioner from any creative background, to make use on the schools’ fabulous grounds to help answer the question: “can collaboration and interaction working on an outdoor investigation result in more confident, creative learners?” The project will take place during the Spring term of 2010. Deadline: 2nd November 2009. Budget: £3,700. Full information is available from:  mrsjkelly@googlemail.com

   3) St Andrew’s C.E. Primary School, at Weston near Stafford, is seeking a Creative Practitioner to develop ideas for a Numeracy Trail with elements of role-play, differentiated tasks, and activities which would need to be sustainable and updateable. However, the school will be open to the practitioner’s ideas. The project will take place during the Spring term of 2010. Deadline: 30th October 2009. Budget: £4,000. For a full brief please write to: Mrs Kate Edgecombe, St Andrew’s C.E. Primary School, Ferrer’s Road, Weston, Stafford. ST18 0JN.

   4) Belgrave C.E. Primary School, at Longton, Stoke on Trent, are seeking two Creative Practitioners to rework and remodel role-play areas in an existing classroom — making them into magical worlds that can inspire creative writing. The school envisages a storyteller/writer and a maker/environmental artist, but will welcome applications from any creative background. There will be a Planning Day in December, with Project Activity from January until the end of March 2010. Evaluation day in April / May 2010. Deadline: 9th November 2009. Budget: £3,500. Full information is available from:   susie23harding@live.co.uk