Added to Creative Stoke, 26th November 2011

^26.11.11   
Folklore and tales of North Staffordshire is a new Facebook group for…

“occasional news, chat and notifications on items of historical folklore and similar fantastical tales from Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire.”

^26.11.11   
Rachel Evans is a Staffordshire basketmaker, based in Oakamoor. Rachel is running a ‘Make a Willow Shopping Casket’ course on January 14th and 15th 2012, at Oakamoor Village Hall (Oakamoor is a few miles east of Stoke). The course is two days and costs £100, including all materials. Eight places are available, to ensure everyone learns lots. There are currently three places left. Rachel can do vouchers, for a lovely Christmas present. Full details from:  wheatcroftwillow@googlemail.com

^26.11.11   
Arts Derbyshire is running a competition to celebrate the nonsense poet Edward Lear’s bicentenary in 2012. The competition is open worldwide and entry is free. You are asked to write your own nonsense poem (up to 40 lines, one entry per person, not previously published). Chosen poems will also be published on the Derbyshire Literature Festival website. Entries must be received before April Fool’s Day on Sunday 1st April 2012.

^26.11.11   
Placements:  BBC Radio Stoke has three placements on offer for February, March, and April 2012 respectively. For over 18s only. Application deadline: 30th Nov 2011…

“The placement is aimed at those who live, or who are based, in North Staffordshire or South Cheshire with a demonstrable interest in radio and online [media,] and some knowledge of BBC Radio Stoke’s output.”

^26.11.11   
An auditions call has been put out by the North Staffordshire Operatic Society, for their staging of Me and My Girl at the Stoke Rep Theater in early summer 2012. Pre-audition workshops will be held on Friday 2nd and Tuesday 6th December 2011. Auditions will then be on 9th & 10th December 2011 at Thistley Hough High School. Full information from:  ginabrian@tiscali.co.uk

^26.11.11   
Job:  A new sculpture is to be commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the award of Keele University’s Charter as a university. The commission, to be funded by alumni and other donations, is for an outdoor sculpture. The university is now calling for the submission of design concepts, with closing date of 5th January 2012. See the Web page for full details.

^26.11.11   
Placement:  The Glasshouse Studio, at Jephson Gardens in Leamington Spa (easily accessible on the train from Stoke), are seeking an enthusiastic West Midlands -based Crafts or Design graduate (graduation within the last three years), for a placement at The Glasshouse Studio. The placement will offer the opportunity to work alongside an experienced mid-career artist resident. The resident artist will be working with community and the graduate placement will work alongside the artist with these groups. Deadline for application: 16th December 2011. Full details at the Web page.

^26.11.11   
Job: Staffordshire’s Lichfield Festival would like to hear from artists and facilitators, in any art form, who have experience of working on Education and Community projects. Each year the Festival’s Aspire L+P programme engages hundreds of local residents in arts workshops, performance projects and masterclasses. The Festival organisers now want to expand the pool of facilitators who run principal performance projects with school groups, and who participate in the annual Get Creative taster workshop series each July. Interested? Please submit your C.V., along with details of your work and any references from previous projects, by email to:  jennifer.smith@lichfieldfestival.org

^26.11.11   
Job:  The new Creative England is going for a re-brand…

“we’re keen to shed our old, transitional branding and develop a whole new identity. We want a brand that really speaks to creative industries companies and talent, all around the English regions, and we’re inviting SMEs specialising in branding and design to pitch for a £5k contract to deliver our new style.”

Proposals deadline is 9th December 2011. Interested? Email Martin Booth, Communications Coordinator at:  martin.booth@creativeengland.co.uk

^26.11.11   
Added to the Directory: Venombase Studios, a music and recording studio in Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent. They also have their VB Distribution and promotion company (to 17 digital stores worldwide). Studio costs are “priced in Stoke-on-Trent” and they don’t charge for equipment hire.

^26.11.11   
North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce has a new package to help local small businesses become an employer or boost their workforces. They are offering…

* workshops on employment law and payroll.

* free recruitment service via the City Council’s JET Business.

* possible grant aid of £500-£1,000 — if you create a new vacancy and fill it with a local person.

The first workshop is to be held on 12th December 2011 (4pm-6pm), at the Chamber of Commerce offices on Festival Park, Stoke-on-Trent. Interested? Full details from Jill Levens at:  jill.l@business.org.uk

^26.11.11   
Need to reach that “hard-to-reach” rural audience with some print advertising? Cheshire FarmMart regularly sends 1,000 monthly print magazines to farms in Cheshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and North Wales.

^26.11.11   
There is to be a two-day public “Monsters Convention” in Manchester, accompanying the more formal academic conference called Monsters: Subject, Object, Abject (12th-13th April 2012). The organisers write that…

We would be interested in hearing from anyone interested in offering a talk or seminar at this [public] convention.

For full information please email Dr. Hannah Priest at:  events@hic-dragones.co.uk

Added to Creative Stoke, 22nd November 2011

^22.11.11   
The Burslem School of Art is offering creatives a…

“free of charge stall for selling your crafts and artwork in exchange for your skills shared in a free drop-in workshop or demonstration during the event.”

Application deadline: 7th December 2011. Interested? Email:  events@burslemschoolofart.com

^22.11.11   
Daniel Hopkins is trying to find out what happened to the graduates of Media Production at Staffordshire University, over the last ten years of working. If you are such a graduate, please get in touch with details of what you have been up to since graduation.

^22.11.11   
Michelin Development is a North Staffordshire based scheme that supports local small and medium sized enterprises with up to 250 employees. They can offer access to finance; unsecured loans from £5,000 through their associate bank at the Bank of England base rate; and a repayment period of 3 to 5 years. In most cases the applicant will be required to invest some of his or her own equity into the project. The loan is private so it can normally be used to ‘gear up’ public and other forms of loan funding.

^22.11.11   
The Awards for Young Musicians supports the nation’s most talented young instrumentalists. Specifically, those aged five to 17 years of age in poor families, who may be prevented from fulfilling their creative potential. Grants of between £200 and £2,000 are available. Application deadline: 23rd March 2012.

^22.11.11   
BBC Radio 3 are offering the opportunity for arts and humanities researchers based at UK universities to have their research ideas broadcast to the nation…

“Up to sixty successful applicants will have a chance to develop their programme-making ideas with experienced BBC producers at a series of dedicated workshops and, of these up to ten will become Radio 3’s resident New Generation Thinkers.”

Application deadline: 7th December 2011.

^22.11.11   
Job:  Make Some Noise, the Staffordshire music charity, needs a part-time (22hrs p.w.) admin person based in the town of Stafford. Deadline: 30th November 2011. Information pack from Tim Sharp, Chief Executive Officer at:  tim@make-some-noise.com

^22.11.11   
Are you 13-16 years old and interested in radio broadcasting? Future Creative: Radio is four-days worth of youth media training in the Midlands. To be held in February 2012 at NTI Birmingham. For £200 per place you get a…

“four day dip into the world of live radio with this fantastic four-day radio production workshop for 13-16 year olds. By the end of the four days, you’ll have recorded your own original short radio show for broadcast, utilising the library of pre-recorded audio you’ll have developed, captured and produced throughout the week. You’ll work in teams on elements of news, documentary, magazine, music, comedy and current affairs productions, while learning about the different markets for radio (commercial, public service, and community), scheduling, marketing and how to tailor your own show to listeners. Radio shows produced on Future Creative: Radio will be available for download online.”

They have a £500 ten-day Future Creative: Games coming in April 2012.

^22.11.11   
Samantha writes to say that she is a final-year Creative Entrepreneurship student with Staffordshire University (specialising in Graphic Design for print) and that she is looking for a placement or shadowing position within art and design. Ideally one that will enable her to understand… “how some creative businesses operate differently than others”. More details from Samantha at:  samantha.j.taylor13@gmail.com

^22.11.11   
The government has just announced that £250 million of public money will be diverted from colleges and other training providers, to directly fund employers with £2,275 of subsidy to offer genuine vocational training to jobless 16 to 24-year-olds. This builds on the success of the existing apprenticeships scheme. A total of £50 million will be available for the first year of the scheme (2012), and “businesses of all sizes and from all sectors can apply for cash from the New Year.” Hopefully some of the training will be among creative industries firms. Watch Creative Stoke for more details of this in the New Year.

^22.11.11   
The government recently confirmed that feature-film tax breaks would continue to 2015. Apparently these public subsidies do not cover animation.

Added to Creative Stoke, 16th November 2011

^16.11.11   
There is set to be a short celebration/exploration of the Hanley Bus Station, Stoke-on-Trent, on 10th December 2011 (1pm – 3:30pm). Places are limited to just 15. Successful applicants will…

“explore the bus station and upstairs precinct with an introduction by Coffee Bar employee Carole, giving her personal account of the changing bus station over the last 16 years. [Also with] An introduction and dissemination of architects plans by Simon Hourihan, project manager for the new bus station development, and finally onto Peppers Garage for a tour by the owner Andrew Smith including footage of his extensive restoration.”

To get a place on this, email  info@rednile.org   including the following information: 150 words on your current creative practices, mediums or interests, along with a paragraph on why you would like to attend. Attach 2-3 pieces/images of recent relevant works at low resolution or supply Web links. Application deadline: 2nd December 2011.

^16.11.11   
Stoke-on-Trent’s Stoke Your Fires 2012 film festival has a new opportunity for film and animation students (currently in higher or further education in the UK). You’re asked to create a ‘sting’ (around 10 seconds). The best will be screened before films being shown at Stoke Your Fires, and also shown on the website. The winner will also get two tickets to a core training programme, worth in excess of £500. All films need to be complete and uploaded to YouTube by 5pm on 13th January 2012, and your completed entry form sent to:  competition@stokeyourfires.co.uk

^16.11.11   
Small or medium sized Staffordshire businesses, with growth potential via real jobs, may be eligible for some financial assistance from the BIC to help fund specialist intensive support. Your firm has to be in the Information, Communication & Technology, Creative Digital, or Business & Professional Services sectors. Up to £2,500 public subsidy is available, 25% intervention, to pay for an intellectual property strategy, advice on new product design and development, marketing strategy, etc. Deadline for applications: 25th November 2011. Full details from the Business Innovation Centre on: 0845 8458020.

Added to Creative Stoke, 15th November 2011

^15.11.11   
10,000 Small Businesses is a business-growth programme designed for…

“…leaders of established small businesses and social enterprises, who will benefit from targeted support and resources to help them define and achieve their business growth aspirations.”

Successful Midlands applicants will get business and management education, delivered over twelve sessions lasting approximately 100 hours, at the Aston Business School in Birmingham from November 2011. Applications are open now.

^15.11.11   
Added to the Directory: David Barber Pottery in Newcastle-under-Lyme. David was born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, and after a potteries apprenticeship went on to study a B.A. Hons. degree in Creative Arts, before embarking on a teaching career. In the last few years he has returned to the production of hand-crafted pottery that uses a stoneware clay which is dishwasher, microwave and oven safe.

^15.11.11   
‘Poetry at The Film Theatre’ is the title of a regional poetry evening event set for Wednesday 4th April 2012 (7pm-10pm). It will be at the Film Theatre on the Stoke campus of Staffordshire University, and it already has a slate of poets booked from Chester, Macclesfield, North Staffordshire, and Stafford. There will also be an ‘open microphone’ session during the evening. Tickets are available now (for collection at the box office on the night) for £4, from:  p_branson@sky.com

^15.11.11   
Stokies who dislike London may enjoy reading about the capital city’s complete destruction. Your editor is now giving away the 55,000-word historical anthology London Reimagined: an anthology of visions of the future city (PDF link). Yes, it’s now free in digital form, although you can also get it as a paperback for just £4.99. It’s generally a book intended for classroom use with students and as a ‘taster’ for science-fiction readers who think they might be interested in the Victorian fiction on the destruction of London, but who don’t know where to start.

^15.11.11   
Your editor has published a short blog article surveying all known novels and fictions set in Stoke-on-Trent. Many thanks to Fred Hughes for pointing out three of these to me, and for loaning me one of them.

^15.11.11   
The Arts and Humanities Research Council has just launched its Skills Development Call. They want to help to develop…

“innovative, collaborative training packages, that will meet a range of capacity issues in the arts and humanities. Institutions can bid for up to £60,000 of funding for each award to propose a mixture of activities and programmes that will respond to skills gaps or capacity issues in strategic areas of need. Awards will be for up to 18 months in duration. […] must be in one or more of the strategic areas of […] Heritage and Design…”

^15.11.11   
StaffsLive has a short video report from the recent ceramics industry conference held at the Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent…

Other creative industries -related videos by the students at StaffsLive, that you may have missed in 2011:

Staffs University Creative Writing Society ‘open mic’ night highlights | Staffordshire University Art & Design Show 2011 – Opening Ceremony | Paine Proffitt’s F.A. Cup paintings | Emma Bridgewater’s Royal Wedding designs | and Potteries dialect ringtones

^15.11.11   
The BBC is reporting that the Stafford Post newspaper is to shut its doors this week.

^15.11.11   
AngelShares, the new crowd-funding website for arts organisations in the Midlands, has just launched.

^15.11.11   
Congratulations to the Spode Museum Trust. They report that a Spode museum is set to be launched at the former factory in Stoke town…

“Stoke-on-Trent pottery is expected to open next spring thanks to a £50,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.”

“Spode Museums Trust said it would be collaborating with artists, film-makers and photographers to capture the ‘living history’ of the site.”

The Spode Museum Trust is now seeking volunteers to help with this new Museum. Full details at their website.

Added to Creative Stoke, 13th November 2011

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Producers’ Lab is a forthcoming two-day free workshop for aspiring film producers, as part of the Stoke Your Fires film festival in Stoke-on-Trent. Dates are 20th and 21st February 2012 (10am – 6pm). It will give participants…

“the opportunity to learn all about the role of the producer and how to prepare, produce and distribute a short film. The workshops will be delivered through a series of interactive sessions, screenings of award-winning short films, and case studies.”

Tickets are by application only, and you must be able to attend all hours on both days. Application deadline: 20th January 2012. To apply, email  info@stokeyourfires.co.uk  with a…

“one-page document listing your experience to date, why you want to take part in this programme, and how you think it will help you in the future.”

^13.11.11   
“Write The World” is a new local competition being held by the Stoke-on-Trent City Library archives. Young people (age 12-19) are invited to write a new text (a poem, story, etc) inspired by documents held in the city’s archives department in Hanley (on the third floor of the library). There’s a £100 prize on offer, and your work will be displayed. Full details from Anne Mackey at:  anne.mackey@stoke.gov.uk

^13.11.11   
Self-employed creatives who are expecting or who have low earnings (below £5,315 in the tax year to 5th April 2012) can apply not to pay Class 2 National Insurance payments. You do this by completing form CF10 and submitting it to HMRC.

^13.11.11   
Burslem School of Art in Stoke-on-Trent is offering new short courses in digital photography (40 places) or ceramics (90 places) to local unemployed people. These part-time courses have been funded by the government’s Skills Funding Agency, and thus presumably won’t affect your dole money. Full information from the School of Art office on:  01782 810808 or email:  info@schoolofart.co.uk

^13.11.11   
Three textile felt workshops for advanced crafts makers are to be held in Lichfield, Staffordshire. The three “Exploring Surface Texture” days are all between 16th-30th November 2011.

^13.11.11   
Job: In what might be quite a relevant commision for large-scale ceramic makers, sculptural proposals are invited for a new public artwork that will form a large-scale floor work of the UK Geological Map. Your editor can envisage patterned ceramic base elements holding shaped and cut rocks, for something like this. Fee: £20,000, inclusive of rock-cutting costs. Proposal deadline: 6th January 2012. Full details from Dr. Darren Grocke at:  d.r.grocke@durham.ac.uk

^13.11.11   
Redstone Willows offer a range of country crafts workshops throughout the year at their rural training centre in Alsager, near Stoke-on-Trent. Redstone is booking now for creative workshops between December 2011 and June 2012.

^13.11.11   
Job: Stoke-on-Trent’s Unity is advertising on their website for a Teacher with the ability to teach one or more national curriculum subjects. Arts and youth culture lead the provision at Unity. Full information from Matt on 01782 409508 or:  matt@unitystoke.co.uk

^13.11.11   
Job:  the Marie Curie Cancer Care West Midlands Hospice want to commission two artworks (£45,000 and £12,000, respectively) for their Hospice in Solihull, just south of Birmingham. ‘Expressions of interest’ deadline: 2nd December 2011. Full information from:  wmhart@mariecurie.org.uk

^13.11.11   
Down in South Staffordshire, there is an exhibition opportunity for contemporary West Midlands glass artists to help celebrate 400 Years of Glass Making in Stourbridge and Wordsley. The Broadfield House Glass Museum is to hold a special exhibition celebrating the 400th anniversary of glassmaking in the district in 2012. The… “new work will be exhibited alongside existing displays or features”, and it appears it must be for sale. Full details are here (Word .doc).

^13.11.11   
A date for your diary…. what’s being billed as a major national Arts Council England debate/conference, “State of the Arts”, is set to be held in Manchester on 14th February 2012. It’ll be part of the Manchester International Festival.

Added to Creative Stoke, 9th November 2011

^09.11.11   
Added to the Directory: Denstone Contemporary Art Gallery, near Alton Towers. The Denstone also has a series of workshops coming up. They are unique in offering short glass or ceramic courses. Courses include ‘Introduction to Throwing’ or ‘Decorative Slipware Techniques’ with Paul Marshall, a senior technician in ceramics at the University of Derby for 25 years. Also available are ‘Valucci Glass Courses’ (an introduction to making glass dichroic jewellery). The Denstone has a cafe and even a B&B. More details at the website, or in this Uttoxeter Advertiser profile.

^09.11.11   
Do you run or attend a local poetry group? BBC Radio Stoke are looking for someone to go to their studios and record some poetry this week. Interested? Contact Amy on:  01782 221249.

^09.11.11   
Burslem School of Art is set to stage the 1st Potteries Empty Bowls Project. The School is calling for crafts makers and artists to donate handmade bowls for Empty Bowls 2011. See the Web page for more details.

^09.11.11   
The Ceramic Review magazine is offering a writing prize. Entrants should write a 650-word text that explores the Stoke-on-Trent Ceramics Biennial (now in its last few days for 2011, so catch the shows now) or the ceramic heritage of the city. Deadline for submission: 13th November 2011. Submit to: writingprize@ceramicreview.com

^09.11.11   
Surface Collaborative has an artists’ opportunity in Burslem. A unique temporary pop-up art space is opening in Burslem town centre, Stoke-on-Trent, and they are looking for artists to exhibit their work. Artworks will also be displayed and sold online. Deadline for submissions is: 18th November 2011, at 5pm. For details about how to apply please email:  marcus.surface@gmail.com

^09.11.11   
The Stoke Your Fires film festival now has tickets available for its two-day masterclass. ‘Seize the Future’ will be held at the Mitchell Arts Centre in Hanley, from 23rd-24th February 2012…

“The workshop will feature multi-media presentations, breakout groups, and interactive sessions. There will be networking opportunities during coffee breaks, lunch, and throughout the workshop. Everyone will have a chance to connect and lay the groundwork for future collaborations. The workshop will be taught by Sandi DuBowski, producer of A Jihad for Love and Outreach Director of The Good Pitch, and Peter Broderick, leading distribution strategist and President of Paradigm Consulting.”

This workshop costs £150. Places are strictly limited to twenty, are on “first-come, first-served” basis, and must be booked by 17th February 2012. Interested? Send a short proposal for a project you would like to work with at the workshop, along with a brief C.V. or biography, to:  floury@sidf.co.uk

^09.11.11   
The organisers of the forthcoming ‘East meets West’ exhibition are looking for…

“emerging photographers and filmmakers who are based in the East or West Midlands, or who have recently graduated (in the last 2 years) from a Midlands university.”

Selected work will be shown at the Derby QUAD, and at the Light House in Wolverhampton in the Spring of 2012. Specifically, they are seeking…

“existing photographic works and short films that broadly relate to the theme of heroes. This could be the super heroics of costumed heroes, or documenting simple or unnoticed acts of heroism that occur every day.”

Application deadline: 5th December 2011. Full details are here.

^09.11.11   
Following the recent Arts, Health and Wellbeing conference held in Stoke-on-Trent, the Creative Health CIC and Staffordshire Arts & Museums Service have announce that they plan to merge the old praXis and Creative Remedies websites, and to develop a new online resource for arts and health practitioners across the region. Plans for the new West Midlands Arts Health & Wellbeing Network website are being developed, with a view to launching the site in February 2012. Membership will be free. As part of the planning process, Creative Health CIC and Staffordshire Arts & Museums Service are keen to hear your views about the content of the new website, so please get in touch via Kate Gant at:  kategant@creativehealthcic.co.uk

^09.11.11   
The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts is offering a new Face Britain exhibition opportunity, open to all children aged 4 to 16. Create a self-portrait, to be displayed in public across the nation. Simply upload your self-portrait to the Face Britain website between November 2011 and March 2012. Any medium is acceptable, including drawing, textiles, sculpture and carving, painting, illustration, digital CG, or photography.

^09.11.11   
Job:  The Stafford campus of Staffordshire University requires a full-time Film Technologies lecturer (ref: CET11-04) to teach on the B.Sc. Film Technology Awards. Application deadline: 17th November 2011. Full details are available at their recruitment website.

^09.11.11   
Job:  Staffordshire County Council and Craftspace’s Making Moves craft development scheme is seeking experienced Exhibition Designers. Succesful applicants will design flexible and contemporary ‘build and interpretation’ for the project’s touring exhibition. The exhibition will launch in June 2012, and travel the West Midlands region at twelve non-traditional venues until May 2013. The fee for the exhibition design and build is £7,500 (inc. travel, production, packaging and delivery to the first venue and VAT). Deadline for applications: 28th November 2011. For a full brief please contact Emma Daker at:  e.daker@craftspace.co.uk

Added to Creative Stoke, 8th November 2011

^08.11.11   
A new crafts gallery is set to open at Congleton on Saturday 12th November 2011. The Peanut Gallery will be at located at the Victoria Mill Arts Centre in the town.

^08.11.11   
‘Meet the Author’ is a book launch with a difference, at Clayton branch library in Newcastle-under-Lyme on Wednesday 16th November 2011. Six local authors will read from their new or recent volumes, and chat to the audience about writing and publishing. The event begins at 7.15pm. The authors are: Phil Emery, The Shadow Cycles (sword-&-sorcery ‘for the twenty-first century’); Ralph Alcock, The Loving Son (crime fiction); Gill Hargreaves, A Triangular Affair (love, passion, and family tensions); Dennis Wilton, Battlefields of the Mind (philosophy and psychology); Roy Gray, The Joy of Technology (science fiction); Richard Ayres, Waterloo Sunset (relationships between people).

^08.11.11   
Business Birmingham is holding a two-day 2Digital event on 16th-17th November 2011. This aims to showcase what the West Midlands region can offer potential investors in the digital gaming sector. Places cost £99, but that package appears to be aimed at those outside the area who want to visit and see what we have to offer. They do however also have a Launch Future Gaming one-day conference, which seems to be open to those based in the Midlands, for which tickets are priced at £199.

^08.11.11   
Firms in Stoke and Staffordshire are invited to a free Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership seminar with “sales pitching specialist” Mike Kingston on the opportunities arising from the London 2012 Olympic Games, and how to access these. The seminar will cover: last-minute purchasing; the Torch Relay in Staffordshire; post-games conversion work on the Olympic Park new-build; housing and offices around the Olympic Park after the Games; and export opportunities around the Olympics. The date is 22nd November 2011 (9 a.m. to 12 noon) at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent. More details from:  p.mccarron@wmchambers.co.uk

^08.11.11   
The Chamber of Commerce Enterprise Club has a talk on “Relocating Your Business & How to Avoid the Pitfalls” on 10th November 2011 (4.30 p.m. – 6.45 p.m) at Staffordshire University. More details from:  annedeaville@nscci.co.uk

^08.11.11   
Audiences Central, the Arts Council-funded West Midlands audience-development consultancy, has announced it will cease operating at the end of March 2012.

^08.11.11   
Despite the ongoing massive cuts to the BBC production capacity in the Midlands (leaving the Midlands with just Doctors and The Archers and half the Asian Network), BBC Birmingham Drama is now…

“…searching for exceptional new and emerging writers from the Midlands who want to write drama for television. [The] Heartands [scheme] will provide an industry training and development opportunity for writers with some of the most experienced producers in the country. A shortlist will be invited to a masterclass day.”

A 30-page sample script is required, deadline: 2nd December 2011. Full details at the Web page.

^08.11.11   
An interesting and unusual conference has been announced for 2012, at the Stoke campus of Staffordshire University. Hedgerow Futures Conference 2012. One of the strands is ‘Relationship with People’, which potentially opens it up to examining countryside crafts such as a hedge-laying. Your editor can imagine creative possibilities like — a foyer photography show that documents hedge-laying traditions and survivals in the West Midlands, along with portraits of the hedge-layers, accompanied by a print-on-demand Blurb book sold at the conference. The venue will be the new Staffordshire University Science Centre, and the conference is set for a weekend in September 2012.

^08.11.11   
The succesful young children’s creativity festival called Just So now has 2012 dates for your diary. 17th – 19th August 2012, at Barnswood, near Leek, Staffordshire.

^08.11.11   
The North Staffordshire branch of the Classical Association has details online for their late-2011/2012 programme and reading groups.

^08.11.11   
Burton Writers is a new writers’ group, down at nearby Burton-on-Trent.

Added to Creative Stoke, 4th November 2011

^04.11.11   
Artists are invited to submit visual art (2D or 3D), photography, sculpture, animation, illustration, design. To be displayed in temporary artspace in vacant apartment units in the town of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Also to be displayed and sold online. Interested? Application deadline: 18th November 2011. Please contact Marcus for further information, at:  marcusjwemyss@hotmail.co.uk

^04.11.11   
Midland Heart has Live/Work units at affordable rent in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. For more information email:  livework@midlandheart.org.uk

^04.11.11   
The major U.S. publisher Random House has a new National Geographic book out now, on the Staffordshire Hoard, Lost Gold of the Dark Ages. The new book is named after the 2010 National Geographic TV documentary. In November 2011 National Geographic will show a further new documentary, “Secrets of the Lost Gold” which will update the story.

^04.11.11   
Added to the Directory: Verbal Arts is a website for a new group of…

“applied and performance arts specialists based in North Staffordshire. They provide poetry and theatre workshops throughout the West Midlands. Verbal Arts works with schools, college, hospitals and numerous other agencies and individuals.”

^04.11.11   
Staffordshire County Council has small £600 music and arts grants for 2011/12. Application deadline: 31st March 2012.

^04.11.11   
Staffordshire University is hosting an ‘Introduction to Film Directing’ workshop, and a ‘Cinematography’ workshop, for people aged 19-25. The date is Sat 26th November 2011 (10am-4pm for each workshop, it seems you can’t go to both). Full information from:  info@104films.com

^04.11.11   
Your editor has a slim volume of poetry available now, Visiting Myself, collecting the best poems I’ve had published in small magazines over the years.

^04.11.11   
Richard Bellamy writes from Grimsby. They need a potter there, since the one they had has let them down…

“We have built a pottery with a 14c.ft. kiln in our skills centre in Freemnan Street Market (an acre of covered market, community hub and Skills Centre). Our potter has let us down. Is any capable potter, unemployed, who might like to live by the Coast — Cleethorpes is two miles from site — at The Freemens Lincolnshire Pottery. […] We hope to have a training pottery, as well as one that can produce decent mugs, etc (not bought in biscs). […] ERDF bid for £1.5m, which will receive the final OK within a month or so, to build a state-of-the-art Creative Hub […] great opportunities to develop a regional pottery.”

Interested? Contact Richard at:  office@EnrolledFreemenOfGrimsby.org

^04.11.11   
Age 16 to 25? Need somewhere to… do something creative? www.somewhereto.com is a new UK website where you can find spaces that are willing to let young people do the things they love. 377 spaces listed so far, offered for free!

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A new group for the older community in North Staffordshire, Shropshire and South Cheshire is holding an open day at the new Keele University Sustainability Hub on 24th November 2011. Project ‘Grey Matters’ at Keele is a new outreach initiative at Keele, and is aimed primarily towards the ‘ageing’ (55+) local community. The Open Day starts at 9.30am, includes a number of presentations and gives attendees the opportunity to become a member of the group.

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Those living up toward the Moorlands and the Peak may be interested in knowing that Derbyshire is having a Creative Innovation Expo at B2net in Chesterfield…

“The 2011 Derbyshire Creative Innovation Expo will take place on Tuesday 8th November 2011. The event will link the Derbyshire Creative Industries Sector with both public and private suppliers of business innovation services”

Added to Creative Stoke, 1st November 2011

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The final chapter of the fabulous “vampires in Victorian Stoke-on-Trent” Blood and Bone China drama series has just been released: Chapter 12. Here’s a link to the just-released “Director’s Cut” version of Chapter One with Playlist to start you off, and here’s an embedding of it…

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CodEye, a new digital storytelling/illustration series from Stoke-on-Trent…

Episode One

Episode Two

Episode Three

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Your editor is pleased to announce that my new and original 60,000-word novel is available now. The Spyders of Burslem is a historical mystery, with a dash of steampunk…

“It is the year 1869 in the pottery town of Burslem, where a new age of industry and learning struggles to be born. A young graduate has arrived to teach the workers, but finds himself on the trail of a deadly evil.”

Available to buy in paperback, or as an ebook for the Amazon Kindle ereader on the Kindle Store at either Amazon USA and Amazon UK.

A free sample (Chapter 5) is available on the website.

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The Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) has announced that all oil paintings in public ownership in Staffordshire have been uploaded to the Your Paintings website for the nation to enjoy. This last batch completes the coverage of the West Midlands counties.

Above: The ironically titled “Brotherhood of Man” by John Maler Collier, depicting a leftist group planning a bomb attack. Acquired by the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in 1936, and now a centre-peice of the oil painting collection. Available as a print.

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AirSpace Gallery in Hanley is inviting people to create one of the 24 boxes for display in their street-front show window in the weeks before Christmas…

“The box should respond to the festive season, love it or hate it, think Alternative, Conceptual, and Eyecatching. Each day of December one of the boxes will be opened — and the contents revealed”

A max. £10 donation is invited per application. Application deadline: 14th November 2011. Full details on the AirSpace website.

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Added to the Directory: Robert Leyland, the Chief Photographer for the British Army and former department head at the Defence School of Photography. Robert now lives in Blurton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Above: “Buckingham Palace Scooter Run” No.18, by Robert Leyland.

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The 2012 Acoustic Festival of Britain will be held locally, at Uttoxeter Racecourse, and now has 2012 dates for your calendar:  25th – 27th May 2012.

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Added to the Directory: Timothy Christopher Osborne. Timothy specialises in portraits of the people of Stoke-on-Trent.

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The Creative Communities Unit at Staffordshire University are offering a free workshop in “Youth Work: Bringing Communities Together”. As part of the workshops they are hoping to produce a
short video of participants’ experiences, which they…

“can then share with partner organisations to help promote the positive youth work taking place across the region”.

The workshop is being held on Friday 4th November 2011 (10am – 12.30pm) at the Learning Exchange (Room L225, Flaxman building, Stoke campus). Places are limited, so please phone to book a place on: 01782 294793.

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Staffordshire University Creative Writing Society now has a website for their Work In Progress magazine.

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Some advance funding news. Creative England has secured £5-million of funding for a forthcoming national “Digital Champions” scheme. This will aim to provide…

“[match-]funding and market expertise to [high potential … SMEs in … Birmingham and the West Midlands] working in cross-platform content and services [in respect of] new market propositions and content”

More details soon.