WAP Newsletter – February 2016
WAP Newsletter – February 2016
I hope you enjoyed Christmas and attended some of the great Christmas shows across our many arts
venues. A special thumbs up to Ben Humphries who was tremendous in Dick Whittington at The Swan
Theatre. Apologies to him too for having my daughter Nina on the stage with him for the third
consecutive year!
In January, members from The Worcestershire Arts Partnership met Darren Henley, Chief Executive
of the Arts Council of England (ACE). Darren was accompanied by Arts Council senior officers, Peter
Knott and Hugh James and all three spoke very highly of the arts offer across the county. They were
highly complimentary about the work of WAP and they spoke about the enthusiasm and commitment
from the arts sector. We now have to strike when the iron is hot with ACE and ensure that our offer is
heard and expressed loud and clear not just in this county but also across the region and beyond.
Worcestershire's new Arts Strategy
We have been working with our Development Manager, Debbie Birch on writing a new arts strategy, to
be called '1000 days', which will be led and driven by WAP. Over the next couple of months you
should be hearing from members of the Steering Group on the strategy and its priorities and action
plan. It is very important to us that we get this right and if you have not heard from any of us by midMarch please get in touch with me and we can send you over the draft strategy to look at so we can
consult with you. There is a survey to complete once you have looked at the strategy and the link for
this is https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FGN6XWC
As a reminder my email is [email protected] .
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WAP Newsletter – February 2016
We are looking to have the new strategy in place by April. Underpinning the strategy will be a new
marketing campaign which we hope will show the impact of our work across all sectors and
communities.
News from The Sub Groups.
Jump Start
As a reminder Jump Start has been running for over two years. It began with a number of theatre
practitioners getting together to look at the opportunities that existed for collaboration and creating
work together. This led to a performance evening at The Cube, Malvern, followed by two further
performance events.
On the 5th of March we go to The Worcester Arts Workshop for our fourth event with 5 new
plays. It will be a great night!
This event is just one part of what will be a stunning two day event at The Arts Workshop. On the 4th of
March WAP will be proud to be part of a day long Open Space event hosted by our friends, Vamos
Theatre. This event named 'A Meeting of Creative Minds' will see a number of the region's and
counties artists and arts organizations get together to discuss how they can create new and exciting
work across our county and beyond. There are a few places left and to book please go too To book
your place please go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-meeting-of-creative-minds-tickets19441177084I. If you'd like more information please contact Vamos Theatre's General Manager
Charlotte Gregory: [email protected] / 01905 312921.
Alongside this there is also a sociable side to Jump Start with informal drinks and get-togethers in
public houses too! The next one of these takes place on Tuesday 22nd of March at The Old Rectifying
House, Worcester. The facebook link https://www.facebook.com/groups/248446278623071 tells you
more but we would like to see you there, its open to artists to all art forms and it is a great way of
meeting new people and just relaxing.
In addition to this we are looking at developing a Jump Start visual art group with the same plans of
developing informal artists networks as well as opportunities to showcase new visual art. A number of
us had an informal meeting at The Boars Head, Kidderminster in January and are looking to replicate
the success of the performing arts work with a Visual Arts Showcase later in the year.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1042806179083986
New Prescriptions (Arts, Health and Wellbeing)
In November, New Prescriptions played a big role in a major arts and health event at The Courtyard
theatre in Hereford. The event took place on the 10th of November and was run by The Elmley
Foundation with support from The New Economics Foundation and brought together over 100 health
and well-being Commissioners and arts organisations to examine national best practice on arts and
health work and to look at some of the existing best practise that is taking place on a more local level.
There were guest speakers from the West Mercia Police (NAME?) as well as
In the spring we will be looking to run an arts and health event on the sometimes thorny subject of
ethics within artistic practice in a health setting. Please keep an eye out for what will be an
invigorating and exiting event.
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WAP Newsletter – February 2016
Children and Young People (CYP)
The CYP have been working with the arts consultant, Gina Biggs on developing a new ambassador
scheme for schools and arts organisations. This piece of work has been funded by our partners, Arts
Connect. Gina's report is to be published soon but we will be looking to create a new and vibrant arts
offer for young people, irrelevant of postcode and social background.
Also in the future the CYP group will be looking to develop its offer for Looked After Children and we
will report back on this in a future newsletter.
We have also been working closely with our colleagues at The University of Worcester on our second
'Moving on Staying on' event. This project is about maintaining skills within our county and aiming to
keep the future creative leaders within our county. The event took place at the beginning of November
and featured guest speakers Rob Watt, Theatre Director and Debbie Kermode, Deputy Director of
Birmingham IKON gallery as well as an introduction from ourselves regarding the countywide arts
scene. The event has led to some additional funding from the University to develop a mentoring
programme for up to 5 graduates. We will inform you more of this programme in future newsletters.
Worcestershire's new Young Poet Laureate is
announced
An 18 year-old from Earls Croome has been announced as Worcestershire's fifth Young Poet
Laureate for 2016
Ellie Courtman is a pupil at Hanley Castle High School. Her winning poems were entitled 'The
Little Match Girl' and 'The Importance of Shakespeare'.
She said:
"It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I feel very honoured to be Young Poet Laureate, especially
when I was up against such talented other young writers. I'll try to do as good of a job as
Chloe did."
The runners up were Jodie Young aged 14 from Lower Moore, Near Pershore, and Eleanor
Roberts, aged 16 from Pershore.
Twelve young people made it to the final round and performed two poems each in front of an
audience of friends and family at the final at The Hive in Worcester this Sunday (January 17).
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WAP Newsletter – February 2016
The judges included outgoing Young Poet Laureate, Chloe Clarke, who presented certificates to
the finalists. Other judges were Matt Windle 'The Poet with Punch' and County Arts Officer Steve
Wilson. MC at the event was performance poet Spoz, aka Giovanni Esposito.
Cllr Lucy Hodgson, Cabinet Member for Localism and Communities, who presented the winning
trophy, said:
"It is a tremendous pleasure to be involved with the Young Poet Laureate for
Worcestershire 2016. I am continually amazed by the talents of our young people in
Worcestershire the standard of entries was incredible. Well done all our winners."
Natalie McVey, from the Libraries and Learning Service, said:
"I cannot explain how proud I am of our young poets. The exuberant audience were
spellbound by all of the performances. Some made us laugh and some brought tears but
all of them made us think, and enjoy the moment that we were amongst such talented
young people."
The 'Word Up' competition is open to anyone aged between 13 and 19 living in, or going to
school, college, university or a youth club in the county.
This year's competition required poets to submit two poems, one on the subject of 'Light' and
another on a subject of their choice.
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WAP Newsletter – February 2016
Festivals Group
The festivals and outdoor events subgroup met on 20 November and discussed good practice in
recruiting and managing volunteers, and the potential for a sub-regional volunteer network. We also
looked at approaches to demonstrating a festival or event's economic impact. On the 11 March we will
be having a festival symposium event, 10.00 - 3pm at The Hive (with lunch provided) with
contributions from visiting speakers including Steve Heap from the Association of Festival Organisers
and a progress update on our subgroup commission, Story Jams, which has received Arts Council
GftA funding and will be developed for projects with a number of regional festivals in 2016. We will
also be looking ahead and considering the 1000 days draft Arts Strategy and the implications for the
festivals sector.
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