Poets are the nicest people

I've just got back from having a lovely afternoon cup of tea with Gary Longden. Although we have had email communications for quite some time we have never met, so it was lovely to be able to spend some time chatting about poetry, Mysteries and arts related stuff in general. Gary writes poetry, performs poetry and is very passionate about the power of words. He's a leading light in the Lichfield Poets and also writes arts reviews for several blogs, newspapers etc. A while ago, Gary did some excellent workshops at Swinfen HMP&YOI for the Mysteries and he and Mal Dewhirst will be the practitioners for our Changes creative writing project (which will hopefully be underway in the not too distant future).

Catching up with friends

I've just got back from catching up with Friends2Friends. They are such a lovely, welcoming group of people. Their exciting news is that they have just become a registered charity and to celebrate the occasion they had put together and performed  a short drama about the group. This had focused their thoughts on what they wanted to do next May for their 2nd birthday, and was a bit of a 'trial run'. They thought the format worked well so want to stick to the overall plan but alter the content for our work with them. Their activities are structured around five themes: fundraising, life-skills, activities, learning and socialising. They are going to choose one thing from each theme from the past 2 years to turn into a short scene so that they end up with a drama representing what Friends2Friends is all about.
I am going back to see them again at the start of November when we will write down the  5 stories. They are also going to look out some photographs of the events so that we can build up a picture to turn into the drama. We will include some songs as well for those who prefer singing to acting.
I'm really looking forward to seeing them again and hearing their ideas and plans.

Shoebox

I've just got back from having a catch up meeting with Margaret from Shoebox Theatre in Tamworth who are hoping the research and devise their own Mummers Play.

This collaboration with Lichfield Mysteries is one of the ways Shoebox hope to sustain their work with an intergenerational group of vulnerable people. We are looking to run the project in 2014 – they would be working towards an outdoor performance so sometime between May – September? They are very flexible re. dates so we have some breathing space to put the funding in place. We are planning two research sessions and eight rehearsals with two professional practitioners.

It was good to chat 'community arts' with Margaret. It's in the nature of the job that sometimes you can feel a bit isolated (particularly when you are glued to the computer doing funding bids!), so it's helpful to have someone to compare notes and bounce ideas around with.  Fingers crossed for our respective funding bids!

Quick update

Well, it's been a while since I last posted on the blog but I've been busy in the meantime starting to put things in place to make our projects happen. I've applied for funding for one, got funding for another and I'm in the process of sourcing funding for the other two. I have also now found some lovely arts practitioners for all of the projects.
The current plan is that Changes will do their writing project over the winter and have a presentation event maybe around Easter time 2014, Friends2Friends will work on their drama in the new year ready for their presentation in May 2014 and 'At the Crossroads' will begin work in December ready for the performances at Lichfield Garrick Studio on May 9th & 10th 2014.
I'm meeting Margaret from Shoebox Theatre next week to make some detailed plans for their work so watch this space...

Temptation!

Ideas are now really starting to come together for our work with Tamworth Repertory Company. We are planning to engage participants in devising a new piece of work on the theme of  temptation involving writing, drama, music and film - working title 'Crossroads' - although our participants may have other ideas! We are looking at starting work in October with some introductory workshops and will be looking for participants to contribute to all aspects of the performance including acting, performing music, writing lyrics, costume, front of house, programme and leaflet production and any other aspect where the community can be involved  in its creation and performance. Provisional performance dates are the 9th and 10th May 2014. Watch this space and check out the Lichfield Mysteries blog, website, Facebook and Twitter for more details of the project and how you can get involved.

Changes write creatively

It's a little while since I first visited Changes at the Old Mining College in Burntwood, in fact it was cold and snowy and today we are having a heatwave. It wasn't actually that long ago - crazy British weather!
The group decided that they would like to do some writing, possibly, but not necessarily, poetry; we would like to keep our options open at the moment. The group at Burntwood will have around 5-6 clients. Interest in the project at Lichfield Changes was less than Burntwood but having chatted to Samantha Follows, I felt it would be worthwhile still  operate the project with both centres. Some clients are happy to go to either venue whilst some prefer to stay at their 'home' venue. Samantha and I discussed the possibility of alternating the venues for workshops and structuring the project such that clients could go to either or both venues.
We thought it would be good to have some kind of presentation event to mark the end of the project, probably using the Lichfield venue which is larger and would be more suitable. As the clients do not necessarily want to present their own work, I will approach some previous Mysteries participants and ask them to volunteer when the time comes.
 Changes are flexible as to the timing of the project but we want to aim for late autumn/winter. The clients find the winter months more difficult and it would provide a focus.
The practitioner we use will have to be reasonably flexible to coordinate sessions with the Changes timetables in both Burntwood and Lichfield. We discussed the possibility of members of local writing groups assisting with the project as volunteers. This would obviously depend on what the groups ultimately choose to do. We also talked about doing some collaborative group writing.
It is all still very flexible so the next step is for me to talk to some writing practitioners and ask them to come up with proposals for workshops to facilitate the project. Some funding is in place for this project but I may need to source some more, depending on the practitioners costing.
It's good to be able to start to move forward.

Progress report

So, I now have four lovely groups of people who are keen and eager to take an active part in the arts. They are all  new to Lichfield Mysteries, and the majority of them are also new to performing or writing -  excellent! A fifth group is in the offing but I still need to meet with them and discuss their needs and ideas. I'm feeling really pleased to have got this far and excited about the projects we are planning. (And the sun is shining !!!!)
I have been spending my time drawing up project proposals and budgets and trawling through potential funding sources. I have a few ideas so, however sunny it is in the garden and however exciting the Wimbledon final gets I can spend some time at the computer working on funding bids. Might enjoy the odd bowl of strawberries whilst I work though...