Image credit: Anthony Hopwood

This round-up sees us welcoming back some established events, plus saying hello to fresh faces too: always a pleasure thanks to Nottingham’s dynamic creative scenes!

First up, a can’t miss celebration in Market Square – as in, you literally cannot miss it if you pass through! Last year I stumbled upon this celebration by accident and stood open mouthed and amazed by the costumes, the dancing, and the music. Yes, it’s time once again for the carnival celebration inspired by the Mexican Día de los Muertos – the day of the dead. Presented by ArtReach and funded by the Joyce Carr Doughty Trust, Night of Festivals: Box of Tricks is a special preview of the forthcoming Night of Festivals 2012. Featuring some spectacular constumes and dancing, as well as special Michael Nyman screenings in their mini-cinema, it’s worth getting down there, and best of all, it’s free! Night of Festivals: Box of Tricks runs this weekend, 28th and 29th May.

If that weren’t enough, this weekend also sees the launch of NEAT11, the Nottingham European Arts and Theatre Festival. Nottingham’s Hatch have programmed a series of alternative and experimental works across the city to attempt to discover what it means to be British, German, Polish, Iranian, Belgian, English, European and/or a horse. See their website for details, or for the full programme, see the NEAT11 site.

Next, on Sunday 29th, Nottingham’s digital community presents an open day and party for the Nottingham Hackspace. If you’ve not heard of this remarkable space before, come and have a nose. If you’re passionate about technological reuse, repurpose, reinvention or invention, or the creation of anything textile, metal, wooden or digital, the Hackspace is somewhere you’ll be wanting to spend some time. The open day will feature tours, demos, presentations, BBQing and much more.

It’s a busy weekend, so make sure to remember your packed lunch and we’ll see you there

Well the holidays are over, for now – but what a marvelous thing to have a week ‘bookended’ by bank holidays – might even be rarer than a solar eclipse!  Hopefully you made the most of it (if you had the opportunity).

Now it’s back to work, but at least we still have the beautiful sunshine to maintain some ‘happy’ hormones, before the rain comes.

Fear not, this is not intended to be a prediction of the weather – but the near future for Nottingham is looking even brighter (spiritually, at least) – as there are plenty of arty and cultural activities to keep us all occupied over the coming week.

Here’s a brief round-up of just some of these events:

Fluorescent Sheep

Date and time: 3rd – 14th May. Open Tues-Fri 12-6. Sat 11-5. (Private View: 5th May 6-8pm)
The venue: Surface Gallery

This entirely volunteer–run gallery has yet another intriguing collaboration to offer lovers of contemporary art…(picture above courtesy of the Surface Gallery website).

This curiously titled exhibition, alone, is enough to entice me for a visit. If only to answer one question - will there be any formaldehyde sheep?  We’ll have to go and see for ourselves, but it promises to be a fascinating exhibition, with or without – so move over Damien Hirst!

More details can be found on the Surface Gallery website.

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Unveiling

Date and time: Private view 6th May – (6pm to 9pm). Runs until 28th May 2011
The venue: The Crocus Gallery

Another group exhibition of the ‘multi-disciplinary’ kind is on display from 6th May at Crocus Gallery – a venue that in the year since its launch, has fast grown its reputation for creativity with genuine community spirit.

“‘Unveiling’ features a diverse range of works from photography to installation. Representations range through physical decay to emotional trauma.”

We would less easily recognise the good things in life, without the bad that we also experience from time-to-time - it may also be possible to see beauty in decay. This thought-provoking exhibition is likely to ensure we take an inward look, to help us find out.

‘Unveiling’ will run alongside the current exhibition to celebrate the Gallery’s first birthday.

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Karin Kihlberg and Reuben Henry
Consequence of Retrospect

Date and time: 7th May (Opens at 18:00) - 4th June
The venue: Trade Gallery

“Taking a selection of video artworks from the last seven years of collective practice the exhibition Karin Kihlberg & Reuben Henry -  ‘Consequence of Retrospect’; draws together a series of artworks that use cinematic devices, forms and structures as departure points for exploring relationships between the viewer and the (moving) image. ” (Descrption from the Trade Gallery website).

Opening times can be found on the website.

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Also this Saturday:

May Fest

Date and time: 7th May from 11am to 5.30pm
The venue: The University of Nottingham

This is a day of free, fun and activities for all ages and interests. The event last year was fascinating and gave a real insight into many of the great research projects in progress at the University.  It promises to be a wonderfully creative way to find out about science – through fun activities and experimentation.  So, get your ‘inquisitive’ hat on, and head down to the city centre campus this weekend.

More details can be found on The University of Nottingham website.

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Later this month we see the arrival of ‘Neat 11’ – the Nottingham European Arts and Theatre Festival – more about this one nearer the date – but if you’d like to get in early and guarantee your seats, you can now book tickets online.

Do you agree with this statement – and is it possible that being more creative gives us more reasons to be happy?

A toolkit to get everyone started on the path to ‘happiness’ has been launched this week, through a new group called ‘Action for Happiness’.  And it started me thinking, about what this really means – how it might manifest for me and for my community in Nottingham. Surely, you can’t just tell people to be happy – we’re either happy already, or not, aren’t we?

Not necessarily, maybe there is a need to look at what they have to say.

I think we’d all agree that taking on new and exciting challenges makes us happier – from the pure and simple sense of achievement and pride. And so why not set yourself some additional ‘creative’ challenges to help yourself, and others.

We know that Nottingham is a creative place, so on that basis, does this also mean that it’s a happy place too?  Making lots of money shouldn’t be your main objective, and it certainly isn’t guaranteed to make you happy – but if you begin from a sense of pride and achievement, and meet new people in the process of growing a reputation for being enthusiastic and selfless – this is a good place to start.

There are plenty of creative individuals out there in Nottingham that may hold the answers. We’d love to hear what creative actions make you and others happy, so let us hear them.

Visit the ‘Action for Happiness’ website and see if you can pick up some tips for life. Get those creative ideas buzzing!

The poetry I’m actually referring to is Nottingham Poetry Series’ new journal 1110. ‘One story, one picture, 10 poems’ is the strapline and the journal promises to be a high quality, thought-provoking walk through the slightly odd yet beautiful realms of the human mind. Let’s hope so, eh? Anyway, it’s in motion from next week when the first issue gets sent out so get your orders in first and tell us what you think of it.

You’ve got about a week or so left of NottDance – the festival of dance currently wowing audiences across the city. I notice one Twitter review today called it ”Beautiful, ethereal, trippy. Wow. Am loving I Infinite. Beg steal borrow a ticket …” So you have been told – get in! Ticket and event details are on their website.

If you’re down at the New Art Exchange tonight then you’ll be lucky enough to catch Soumik Datta performing his Circle of Sound show which is an audio-visual feast of Sarod (for those of you who don’t know, the sarod is an Indian stringed instrument popular in Hindustani classical music) and drumming. Soumik is one of the most acclaimed Sarod players around and says of the show: “Your mind wanders when you improvise. You see things, visit places, revisit a memory: a girl on a cycle, the creak of a floorboard, the shape of a temple dome, windows like orange square eyes on the face of a skyscraper, the skyline of a city, the bend of a dancer, the calm breath of traffic, the regularity of escalators, the faces in a crowd. These when combined make up your circle – your circle of sound.”

If you can handle that, the show starts at 7.30 and costs £8 admission.

And finally! Your thoughts are needed on a business venture designed to keep hold of all our top graduates from Nottingham’s universities right here in the city. Those nice chaps behind Esendex would appreciate it – for more detail check out this website. Thanks.

It’s weekends like this one just gone that really make me feel privileged to live and work in Nottingham. Light Night and Lite Night 2011 were a fantastic celebration of Nottingham’s diverse creative spirit; a crystallisation of our purpose here at Creative Nottingham!

In case you missed out on any of the magic, you can glimpse it for yourself on the numerous photography sets that have sprouted around the internet – including our own retrospective on Creative Nottingham, or alternatively on our flickr feed here. In fact, the one thing I’ll be taking away from Light Night (apart from the excellent events and exhibits, of course!) was the sense that cameras and their tripods were themselves blossoming from the ground like so many shiny mushrooms, such were the myriad lenses on view.

Being the place it is, Nottingham doesn’t rest there, however. You have a few days to catch your breath before we launch headlong into the Nottdance Festival 2011. Dance is an artistic medium whose star is definitely on the rise at the moment, with the resurgence in popular interest partly down to Saturday night TV shows like Dancing with the Stars *shudder*. Away from the tacky TV lights, the programme for this year’s festival can be found here (.PDF link) – a nutritious health-shake alternative to the fast food entertainment offered by ITV, the BBC et al. What’s more, Nottdance has now well and truly come of age – the festival is 21 years this year, and can therefore legally drink in America. Says Paul Russ, Chief Executive of Dance4:

The festival’s 21st birthday feels like an important moment to recognise the coming-of-age of one of the longest running and most established dance festivals in the UK…

Events take place across the city and beyond, including at the Playhouse, the Contemporary, Hopkinson’s Gallery and more. The festival runs from 23rd Feb right through to the 13th March, so expect to hear more about what’s happening in the coming weeks, or catch up on the official Dance4 blog here.

And with so many exciting things to do and see – it will be hard to know where to start. So we’ll try and help you out.

Nottingham is an extraordinarily creative city with great potential – most of us know it – but we need to get the message out there to prove it. There is no better way to do so, than Creative October – now well and truly under way.

Supported by Nottingham City Council, the month-long celebration covers a whole range of creative talents the city has to offer – and it’s worth giving you a reminder of just some of the events taking place during the first week.

Details of the following events can be found on the Nottingham City Council website.

• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Masterclass
• Sunday Tea Party with Jeanne Roberts
• TEA PARTY and launch of fashion and craft exhibition at Dwell
• Tour and presentation of the Nottingham Creative Business Award winners
  - Moot and the One Thoresby Street art complex
• Hetain Patel showreel
• Graphic Design – Nick Chaffe at the Train Station
• Exhibitions – John McLean Photography at Castle Galleries,
  Katrin Moye Ceramics at Stuart Thexton and Scene Photography
• Nottingham Playhouse exhibition
• Lakeside Arts Centre showreel
• Maber exhibition
• Q Byke exhibition
• Scene Photography
• Antenna Mondays, Beck Street
• Create and Celebrate and the best of Nottingham film makers
• Nicola Monaghan and Michael Pinchbeck (previous Creative Business Award Winners)
• Labels Album Launch
• Dance4 presents The Featherstonehaughs: Edits
• Artful Minds – Art Exhibition
• Creatively Confident
• Oxjam
• You Minx Window Exhibition
• Local Designers Market

If you want to put your own creative talents to the test, look out for events that are part of THE BIG DRAW.  The Campaign is taking place in 20 countries around the world. It aims to encourage and connect visitors to museums and gallery collections, urban and rural spaces – and the wider community – through the medium of drawing in new and enjoyable ways.  A very worthwhile mission – so look out for opportunities to join in.

Presenting a nostalgic reflection on memory and history, ‘UNNAMED’ is the new Exhibition by Yelena Popova, at the Lakeside Arts Centre, Wallner Gallery. (See picture).

A Russian born artist now living and working in Nottingham, Yelena is currently a second year student at the Royal College of Art (MA Painting).

Open until Sunday 7th November, opening times can be found on the website.

A reminder that Monday 4th October is Wine Tasting Night at Antenna.  See the Antenna website for further details.

Not a sweet chariot - one of the publicity photos at Lakeside Arts

Following the example of our current guest blogger, Scott Sherrard, and his answer to where do ideas come from, we start with a very different event.  At the Nottingham Uni Park, Highfields, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, 8pm, is a production of “Decky Does A Bronco” (follow the link for a translation).  All the actors are trained acrobats, which is a clue.  The Lakeside promoters have advice for blog readers not currently in Nottingham: we recommend that people wrap up warmly and bring a waterproof jacket. 

Too much fresh air for you?  Stay indoors and watch a film.  Better yet, make one.  If you fancy your chance at British cinematic glory, BAFTA are now accepting entries for Short Film Award and Short Animation Award 2010/11.  The closing date is 29 October, and you should note that this year they will be judging via an online viewing platform – so don’t leave it too late to find out what that means.  [But BAFTA themselves don't know yet either, their website says this part of the rules is "available soon".]  There is no entry fee. You can read more either on the EM Media summary page or the BAFTA website itself. And by the way, my diary is free for 13 Feb 2011, so if you do win, and you haven’t got an escort….

Just in case you don’t win a BAFTA, you might like to learn about other ways to market and distribute your films.  The EM Talent Network is running an evening course, one night only, on 14 October at Antenna on “Digital Distribution and Marketing Strategies”, including a talk by the Head of Distribution at Dogwoof.  There is a £25 charge for this.  We are mentioning it now as the number of places is limited.  Full details are on the site for ordering tickets.

Wrap up warm tonight!

Image courtesy of Hatch

There’s nothing like a bank holiday weekend for proving how quickly time goes. So here are some opportunities for which now (or PDQ) is the best time to act.

Creative industries - tell the council what you think 

As you might have guessed by now, here at CreativeNottingham we are serious advocates of Nottingham’s creative industries. There’s a lot of great stuff going on in Nottingham. Some of which gets celebrated and some of which deserves much more of a mention. So we’re very pleased to see that Nottingham City Council, Nottingham Trent University and others have identified the creative industries as one of five key sectors that can help grow the local economy. Now they want to hear from the community. Tell them what you think by taking part in their survey here.

Share your skills at Rufford Craft Centre

Rufford Craft centre is now accepting applications from professional artists/makers who offer workshops to the public. Apply by Monday 20 September 2010 to be considered for their February to June 2011 Programme. They’re particularly interested to hear from you if you have something new or different to offer.

Work at the Birds Eye View Film Festival

Here’s your chance to work at the Birds Eye View Film Festival which celebrates and supports international women filmmakers. The organisation is currently recruiting for its 2011 festival. They need a Marketing Manager (Social Media, Emarketing and Partnerships) and a Marketing Manager (Print and Distribution). The application deadline for both roles is 13 September so if you’re interested apply here now.

Wanted - Live Artists, Chrononauts, story tellers and more

Hatch is currently looking for seeking performers and performances for Hatch: It’s About Time which takes place on October 10 2010 in Leicester and on 10 November at Nottingham Castle as part of Sideshow, the official fringe to the British Art Show 7. They need performers from any discipline and background and at any stage of their career and they are very interested in new and developing ideas. The deadline for submissions is Friday 17 September. Depending on funding, you may also be paid for taking part! Full details here.

Image by Evan Agee

Designers

Carrying a torch for the 2012 Olympics?

Like the idea of your designs being viewed by millions of people around the world? Find out how to apply to design the Olympic and Paralympic torches for 2012, plus the Olympic and Paralympic cauldrons, packaging for the torches pre and post use and more, here.

Filmmakers

Docs 360 extended

Do you make documentaries? Docs 360 gives you the chance to win £5k cash and £20k worth of digital marketing support for your feature documentary project. And the deadline has just been extended! Apply now here. 

Film fans

Let the skeletons out

For a few days next week at the Broadway Cinema you can get to see Skeletons, a surreal black comedy, shot in the East Midlands and created by a Derby filmmaker.   And winner of the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. This Monday’s screening also includes an introduction and Q and A with the director, Nick Whitfield. Book your tickets here.

Business-owners

Free inspiration for new businesses…

Starting your own business=exciting+scary. Fortunately there is support available to help you take those first steps into self employment.  A new series of workshops from Business Link is aimed at helping you find answers to essentials like how to find and keep customers, managing money and even working out if being the next Richard Branson is really for you. Find out more here.

…and recognition for established businesses

Business-owners, here are some questions for you: Does your business have a base in the UK? Does your business employ at least two full-time workers (or part-time equivalent)? Do you believe your business is one of the best? Can you demonstrate commercial success? Then you deserve the recognition of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise business. Find out how to apply here.

Writers

Blooming scribes wanted

Wild Orchid Theatre in Derby is looking for short plays, monologues, stories and poetry for “Wallpapered Tales”, a performance of new writing as part of Derby City Council’s “Art in the City” project.  Winning writers will receive a script in hand performance of their work by actors on Saturday 14th August in the shop, as well as promotion by Wild Orchid Theatre and Derby City Council. But you’ll need to be quick. The deadline for applications is this Monday. See how to apply here.

Artists

Innovative workshops needed

New Art Exchange is one of the venues for this year’s BRITISH ART SHOW 7 (BAS7) launch and exhibition from October 2010 to January 2011. They want to complement the exhibitions with innovative two hour workshops from 30th October to 18th December 2010.  All art forms will be considered - visual arts, spoken word, new media, dance, mixed media…Fees will be £100 for a two hour workshop.  Interested? Contact the NAE Education and Learning team with proposals and a CV. The deadline for receiving proposals is Friday 20th August. For more information, get in touch with the New Art Exchange.

We’re seeking Nottingham’s brightest visual artists, illustrators, designers, photographers, sculptors, textile artists, digital artists and so on, to become to front sides of our first printed postcard marketing campaign. Each winning image will feature on up to 1000 postcards to be distributed by us around Nottingham and the East Midlands area. Your website/contact info will be prominently displayed on the postcards and you will be interviewed for a showcase feature on the blog. Everyone from students and graduates to the most experienced creative folks are welcome to enter, the only criteria is that you must have strong links to Nottinghamshire.

How to Enter

Email up to 3 JPEG images of your work to post@creativenottingham.posterous.com
by August 7th 2010

Include the following Information in your email -
• Your Name:
• Website and/or Email:
• Titles of Your Images:
• Medium of your Images:
(eg: photography, digital art, acrylic on canvas, textiles)
• Your Link to Nottingham:
(eg: Live in Sneinton, Studied at Nottingham Trent, Work in City Centre)

Note – You must be happy for all the information you provide to be publicly displayed online.

Jpegs images must be standard web resolutiuon (eg:- no larger than 100dpi and 700kb in size and in RGB format. Winning entries will be required to provide the image in a Higher Resolution format suitable for printing.)

Entry Criteria

• You must be living in or have strong links to Nottinghamshire.
• Images must represent the concept of ‘creative nottingham’ either literally or symbolically.
• Photography, Fine Art, Illustration, Digital Art, Textiles, Stills from video or animation work and Design work all accepted, surprise us!
• You must be the legal copyright holder on all images submitted
• You must be willing and legally able to permit web use of your images and printed reproductions onto free postcards.

The winning entries will receive
• Your image featured on up to 1000 printed postcards to be distributed around Nottingham and the East Midlands.
• A credit and web link (or email address) on every flyer featuring your image
• A credit and weblink (or email address) and your image featured on our website www.creativenottingham.com
• A feature/interview with you featured on our website Blog.

Entries are already coming in and can all be seen on our Community Page and will be automatically Tweeted, so keep your eyes peeled!