Join Performing Arts LeicesterShire!

Performing Arts Leicester (PAL) is a partnership set up by a group of venues and organisations in Leicester. Its mission is to positively change the perception of Leicester through its performing arts offer. Diversity and Quality are central to its work focussing on the following four main strands:

• Networking
• Professional development
• Marketing & promotion
• Research 

In the last four years PAL has been responsible for drawing in funds for professional development and project work of around £90k. PAL has also commissioned De Montfort University to carry out an economic impact study of the performing arts sector in Leicester and coordinated culture debates.

The PAL partnership is ever evolving. It is led by an elected strategy group of four people. The next elections for this group will be in May.

How to become a member

Eligibility: Fee paying members can be from any organisation with a constitution which is producing, promoting or supporting professional live performance in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland.

Fee (for a full financial year):

• £75 for organisations with up to 5 full time equivalent paid staff.
• £250 for organisations with between 6 to 10 full time equivalent paid staff.
• £500 for organisations with more than 10 full time equivalent paid staff

Membership Benefits

• Twice yearly full member networking opportunities with guest speakers
• Membership to PAL subgroups, sharing resources and expertise e.g. education, programming and marketing groups 
• The opportunity for members (and/or associate members) to apply to the NextGen professional development programme 
• Direct links with key decision makers through mayoral debates, dialogue with the Culture Board and conversations with press e.g. Leicester Mercury.

For queries about membership or to join contact Lucia Masundire at Creative Leicestershire on lucia.masundire@leics.gov.uk 

Seasons Greetings from Creative Leicestershire!

We are only a few days away from Christmas and the Creative Leicestershire team have had a really  busy month with lots of fantastic activity such as the Makers Mart at Curve on the 8 December where we had 26 stalls and lots of sales and commissions throughout the day, celebrating the Igniting Ambition programme at the final Culture Club in Derby on 14 November, hosting the Leicester 'Making a Living' networking evening on 4 December at the LCB Depot and working with the Performing Arts Leicester group to recruit Sue Pike to manage their new leadership and training programme for 2013-14 .  Lastly if you are working away over Christmas and looking to exhibit next year,  entries are now open for the Rutland Open Exhibition 2013.

This extremely popular exhibition of work by artists is organised by a sub-group of Arts for Rutland, and held annually at Rutland County Museum. Entry is open to Artists and Designer-makers (painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography (including digital), ceramic, glass, textiles and jewellery) from Rutland, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. This year's exhibition will take place between Saturday 2 March and Saturday 20 April 2013. For full details, download the application form .

We will be back on the 7th January 2013 so until then have a good break and...

The Creative Leicestershire December e-bulletin is now out, click here to download it 

Congratulations Ruth Singer

Ruth Singer, a former Creative Leicestershire Bursary winner has recently won the Craftspace Prize at the inaugural Contemporary Craft Open Exhibition at Unit Twelve, Staffordshire.


The inaugural Contemporary Craft Open Exhibition at Unit Twelve, Staffordshire was
selected by industry experts from Craftspace and Madebyhandonline.com and includes some
of the best contemporary craft being made today.

Ruth had two pieces selected for the show from her collection Monumental Folly; a new body
of work combining personal experience, emotions and the heritage of extraordinary buildings.
The pieces shown are a wall panel created using dyed and manipulated fabric from garments
along with personally-significant found objects, combined with hand stitch. The companion
piece, an over-sized pincushion, uses digital print and manipulation, along with handconstructed
elements referencing natural history specimens pinned to the base.

Ruth says “The work I presented for Unit Twelve marks a change in my style – using
personal issues and narrative alongside new techniques such as photography and mixedmedia.
I was absolutely delighted to get a award from Craftspace as I have so much respect
for their expertise in contemporary craft. It is a real boost to me creatively and gives me the
much-needed validation that my work is up there with the best. I will be spending the £100
prize money on exciting materials to use in my future work.”

Jennifer Collier, artist and Director of Unit Twelve Gallery says:
"I am so pleased that this award has gone to Ruth Singer, as she is a maker I have worked
with and admired for many years, and it has been a pleasure to watch this body of work grow
from an idea to fruition".

Emma Daker, Exhibitions and Projects Development Manager for Craftspace says:
“We were really pleased to be asked to select for the open Contemporary Craft Fair at
Jennifer Collier's gorgeous Unit Twelve Gallery in Staffordshire. We awarded our Craftspace
prize to Ruth Singer. We felt her works, 'Monumental Folly' highlight a new direction for
Ruth into more narrative textiles, which we think is very exciting!”

www.ruthsinger.com 

Stallholding, Enterprise Fairs and Dedications

The Creative Leicestershire team have been busy over the past two weeks with talks, fairs and the launch and dedication of Stand Easy, a memorial to honour Leicestershire's Armed Forces that took place last Friday at County Hall.

On Tuesday 30th November we attended the seminar for creatives on How to Present and Sell your Work at Craft Fairs at the LCB Depot aimed at emerging and mid-career designer makers and stallholders for the upcoming Makers Mart on 8th December.
The event was a partnership between Creative Leicestershire, Design Factory and LCB Depot and we were very fortunate to have two excellent speakers, Clare Gage and Phiona Richards come and give us their tips and advice on the key ingredients needed for a successful craft fair including producing a memorable stand and how to get the best out of social networks.

 Clare Gage designs and creates her distinctive textile inspired ceramics from her studio in Derbyshire. The inspiration for the Clare's range comes from her life-long love of textiles. She is passionate about products being functional as well as stylish and likes to celebrate the British tradition of afternoon tea http://claregage.com/

Top points from Clare:

1) Be product focussed, allow people to engage with your work and be interactive with your work

2) Make it memorable - have a brand identitiy, think about the 'wow' factor so you make the most of your hard work

3) Read the documents they send on what you can and can't do

Phiona Richards creates interactive book sculptures using traditional needlework techniques. From a ‘make do and mend’ mentality, she is drawn to books near the end of their existence and transforms them into pleasing tactile structures. Although her book sculptures appear to be fragile and delicate, they are quite robust and interaction becomes a therapeutic experience on many sensory levels. http://rarenotions.co.uk/
Top points from Phiona:
1)Get your pricing  right
2) Use your promotional material & think about packaging
3) Think about all your marketing - mailing list , newsletters and offers , sharing your news via social networks
4) Think about last minute planning - toolkit  so you can ....
5) Relax and enjoy the day
On Tuesday 6 November we attended the Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Fair in the Hugh Aston Building  organised by De Montfort University's Campus Enterprise Opportunities (CEO) team in the Student Gateway . We found we had a steady stream of students and recent graduates enquiring about Creative Leicesterhsire and met some interesting organisations supporting graduates and students in business such as  Enternships.com,  the DMU Enterprise Society, Princes Trust, Seed Creativity and Smith Partnership. Good Luck to Tom Wingfield who has just launched his intriguing new publishing company Tangible Publications http://tangiblepublications.co.uk/


On Friday 9th November guests were invited to the launch and dedication of Stand Easy - a memorial to honour Leicestershire's Armed Forces. The tribute is a striking bronze sculpture depicting four young recruits of all three services taking part in a military drill with a central  plaque inscribed with the words 'They Stand Among Us'  and was created by Glasgow based sculptor Kenny Hunter. Kenny worked with a group of cadets from Welbeck Defence Sixth Form college to develop the casts which were used to model the bronze figures and bereaved families worked with Kenny to develop the inscription. The implied absence of a fifth figure conveys a sense of loss yet also symbolises camaraderie, unity and personal identity.  The service was a  moving tribute and we were very proud have been there to support the event and the creative team who worked on it.

Coming soon ... Making a Living Hinckley, the Artists in Learning Networking event and Culture Club!

Creative Leicestershire E-bulletin November 2012

The latest Creative Leicestershire bulletin is out now.

Arts Council Grant for Opera Minima

Opera Minima (former Creative Leicestershire bursary winner) has just received news of their successful bid to Arts Council England for their production in November 2013 of Mozart’s Magic Flute.

The grant is £8,000 and it means that the company will be able to stage a much more elaborate show that would otherwise be possible, but still keeping ticket prices at a remarkably low level.
Music Director is renowned pianist, accompanist and repetiteur Nicholas Bosworth, who accompanies the performances, directing from the piano. Magic Flute will also have a small band with keyboard, flute, panpipes and glockenspiel as well as a plethora of electronic sound effects.

Opera Minima has received funding from the Arts Council nearly every year since 2004, and this is the third year running, a particularly commendable achievement in the current arts climate.

Singers are mainly young professionals in the early stages of their careers, but Minima’s growing reputation in the profession means that they often attract more experienced singers, especially for more challenging repertoire.

They are currently rehearsing Beethoven’s Fidelio, with a number of singers with an international career, such as Elizabeth Stannard in the title role who attracted rave reviews when she sang the role in Sydney Opera House: “ The greatest triumph of opening night belonged … to our Fidelio. Elizabeth Stannard … sang with confident, expressive artistry, her facility with the role’s challenging runs and wide tessitura easily compensating for a slight lack of heft..”

Gillian Leftwich, Artistic Director
www.operaminima.org
info@operaminima.org

Joining the Creative Leicestershire team!

I have now been here one week and in that time I have been introduced to lots of people I will be working with including the brilliant Creative Leicestershire team, Fred Brookes and Lucia Masundire. I've witnessed a brand new sculpture, created by Kenny Hunter, going up at County Hall - 'Stand Easy', a memorial to honour Leicestershire's Armed Forces. I've also been to two networking events and importantly found my way to the canteen!
The first event was part of the series of Wellbeing Wednesdays - a month of events, on each of the five Wednesdays this October, to help celebrate and champion the many ways which culture and the arts contribute to our collective and individual wellbeing. 'Your Choice' was held at the Atkins Building in Hinckley and around 20 different service providers chatted to service users and their carers about the services they had on offer, ranging from 'Beauty and Utility in the Arts' - managing arts and health projects, to Changing Minds - promoting positive mental health using the arts, sport and leisure, to creative writing workshops with Sue Mackrell and David McCormack to  3ZERO, a small recording studio in central Leicestershire catering for all abilities and all genres of music to Not Your Average Theatre group offering performance, drama and dance to adults with learning disabilities. It was a great event with over 100 people visiting the stalls and taking part in various activities .
The second event was the launch of the Sustainable Enterprise scheme with the Prince's Trust working with partners, Enterprising Leicester to encourage and support young people into business. We heard inspiring stories from the young people receiving their certificates from the Prince's Trust, about to launch their businesses and we were offered some impressive aims from Leicester's Business Support Network such as their assisting 2,812 people to start a business  and placing 180 graduates  into SMEs by 2015.

I hope I shall see many of you at a networking event soon and please don't hesitate to dop me a line to say 'Hi' .  To make sure you receive the Creative Leicestershire ebulletin with jobs and funding opportunities as well as events, sign up here

Catherine Rogers -  'the new' Arts and Creative Industries Manager

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