Helmsley School winner in National Park competition

A Guisborough sixth former won a prestigious musical composition contest last night (November 28) at an event celebrating the National Park’s 60th birthday.

And young writers from primary schools in Fylingdales and Helmsley won joint first prizes in a story writing competition.

Music competition winner Richard Bracknall

The National Park asked the budding composers and authors to create pieces of work inspired by the North York Moors.

On Being Seventyfive

listen to ‘On Being Seventyfive written and read by Brian Shackleton’ on Audioboo

Brian is a member of  Ryedale Writers at Helmsley Arts Centre.

Adult acting classes in Pickering

A new adult acting class is starting at The Friends Meeting House in Pickering and students will have the opportunity to learn from professional actor and director Mark Stratton. Mark is a graduate of the Mountview Theatre School in London and has vast experience across many areas of theatre and television, playing many diverse roles. He has toured China in ‘The Tempest’ for Northern Broadsides, and toured the UK with them in ‘Vacuum’ and ‘Wars of the Roses’ the latter of which started life at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Appearing in many regional theatres, he is equally at home in serious drama, comedy and musical theatre. He has worked on many television dramas and appeared opposite Anthony Hopkins in the film ‘Across The Lake’. “Living in the North York Moors has made me realise that there is little opportunity for adults to engage with certain arts, especially the craft of acting”, said Mark. “That’s why I co-founded Esk Valley Theatre with my wife, choreographer Sheila Carter. These classes are an extension of my dream to demystify theatre and make it relevant and accessible to rural communities. I believe many people have little idea how the craft of acting can help them in many areas of life”.

A new poem from Ryedale Writers at Helmsley Arts Centre

Read by David Powley

listen to ‘Keep in Touch by David Smith’ on Audioboo

Local authour Ian Johnson talks about his first novel 'The Witcher Keys'

In the wonderful Lion Inn atop the North York Moors local author Ian Johnson describes the remarkable background to his first novel 'The Witcher Keys'.

Ian, who is also a construction manager, was working on an old house that tenants had repeatedly quit complaining the house made them feel ill. Looking into what the problem might be led Ian to uncover ..... well.... let's let Ian tell the story:

The novel is published by The Book Guild on October 25th and, as Ian says in the film, there will be a launch at the Lion Inn next month. To order the book from Amazon just click the link below:

Helmsley Open Mic workshop invitation

Image Source

Open mic workshops are great fun and provide readers with 5 mins or so to read a few poems (or one long one), a dramatic monologue, or a short story of your choice to an appreciative audience. If you just want to listen that's fine too.

Just come along to Helmsley Arts Centre on October 5th, from 7.30pm to share your work or that of a favourite author.

Tickets just £2 on the door and children are free.

This event is part of the buiild up to the first ever Ryedale Book Festival taking place on October 20th - find out more here.

Listen to our new poem

listen to ‘Remembering the Cats by David Powley’ on Audioboo

Life Models required

People of all shapes and sizes are required for life drawing classes starting September 12th at Helmsley Arts Centre.

Classes are on Tuesday afternoons 2-4pm. Nude or partially clothed.

Phone tutor John Creighton on 01751 417 888 for further details.

Who's to Blame for the Financial Crisis?

Listen to our new poem, by Martin Vander Weyer, who, appropriately enough, also happens to be the Arts Centre's Treasurer.

National Theatre Live comes to Helmsley !

Thursday 6th of September  7.00pm

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time


Join us for the first screening of our brand new National Theatre Live series where Mark Haddon’s multi-award-winning novel is beautifully adapted into a stage play for the first time. In the intimate setting of the Cottesloe Theatre, NT Live will transport us to front row seats for this imaginative in-the-round production. Christopher is under suspicion of killing Mrs Shears dog. With an extraordinary brain, he’s exceptional at maths but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, but his detective work takes Christopher on a journey that upturns his world.
Starring Matthew Barker and Niamh Cusack.
Adapted from Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel by Simon Stephens.
Directed by Marianne Elliott.
Running time: approx. 2 1/2 hours including 20-minute interval

£12 / Concs: £10 (OFFER: All 3 NT Live shows: £30 / Concs £24)  Buy tickets now

The other two shows are : 11 October - The Last of the Haussmans with Julie Waters and Rory Kinnear,  directed by Howard Davies.

                                          1 November - Timon of Athens with Simon Russel Beale, directed by Nicholas Hytner

Three poems about power

Two poems entered earlier this year in our poetry competition's 9 - 12 year olds category:
The Volcano by George Leeming, read by Louise Fitton
Engine Power by Marcus Allen, read by Martin Vander Weyer

And one poem entered in the 5-8 category:
Vicious Sea by Teagan Jones, read by Louise Fitton

The Sunne Rising at Helmsley Arts Centre

The Sunne Rising by John Donne, chosen and read by David Powley because way back in the mid 1960s it was for him such an exciting discovery : the combination of caressive intimacy with the poet’s delight in playing intellectual games as he builds up his argument against the sun. The sentiment is so relaxed and everyday (for lovers, anyway) yet contained and conveyed in a poem so tightly controlled in its rhythms, phrasing, shape, sound and argument.
John Donne, born in 1572 but still very much alive.
Do you have a favourite poem? Let us know and why you choose it.
And don't forget to send us your own poems to read and display at the Arts Centre.

Don't miss two fabulous plays performed by our Youth Theatre

Starting tomorrow!!!

The Blues Sisters is a lively and inventive comedy with music. When Madame Chantelle's School of Dance and Deportment is threatened with closure by evil property developer Barnaby Sludge, Maddy, Becky and Annie are transformed into 'The Blues Sisters'. They take on the crooks, but will they save the day?

Rain on Me, Mark Rees' award-winning drama for teenagers, won the Quidi Vidi trophy at the Scottish Youth Finals in Dundee in June 2001. This is a modern Romeo and Juliet with overtones of West Side Story and Roxanne. While the drama is serious in parts, it is hugely entertaining and contains realistic and sometimes hilarious dialogue.

Thursday 28 to Saturday 30 June, 7.30pm
£6 / Concs £5 Students & Under 25s £3

buy tickets now

Hello to the blogosphere!

Hello to the blogosphere! 

Em here, Artistic Director, in my first blog since taking up the post at Helmsley Arts Centre six months ago. Better late than never!

Very exciting developments to tell you about as our summer programme is under way and there's lots happening. 

The main news this week is that we've just signed a contract with the National Theatre to stream some of their productions ABSOLUTELY LIVE in our cinema. We are one of only 160 venues in the UK to be doing this, and we're hoping both our theatre and cinema audiences will love this new addition to the programme. I went down to the National last week to hear how it works, and was really impressed. They dont just film one of their performances from the back of the theatre; they build a platform over some of the front seats, they rig cameras, cranes and anything they need to get the best filmed version, they do separate rehearsals to ensure the filming goes well - and then fill the theatre with a live audience as well. So it really is as if you, in our cinema, are sitting on the very front row of the Olivier, the Lyttelton or the Cottesloe Theatre, and watching it all as it happens.

Nicholas Hytner, AD of the National, told us about the shows we'll be getting. The first one is Thursday 6th September; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime based on the book by Mark Haddon, filmed in the round, in the intimacy of the Cottesloe Theatre. Then on October 11th Julie Walters stars in bittersweet comedy Last of the Haussmans, which is getting rave reviews already. November 1st it's Shakespeare's Timon of Athens starring Simon Russell Beale, described by the Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". This rarely-staged play depicts a society in the throes of post-credit crunch upheavals, and will be set in the present, so a topical production indeed. And on Jan 17th we'll be showing The Count of Monte Cristo, a big swashbuckling family spectacle in true National Theatre style. So - something for everyone. Get your tickets early!

Keep in touch. Tell us what you want to see at your arts centre, and thank you for your support.

More soon....Em

Poetry at Helmsley Arts Centre : The Ticking Clock by Christopher Ware

The Ticking Clock is read by the author.
Bonfire is read by David Powley
The Power of Vision is read by Rachel Shackleton
In Search of Inspiration is read by David Powley

Poetry at Helmsley Arts Centre : Bonfire by David Smith

David Smith's poem is from a collection of his poems called "Unnatural Workings",  published by
Quoin Publishing, Middlesborough. The poems reflect his farming upbringing and his observations whilst travelling in the international freight business.

A writer of both short stories and poetry his work has appeared in "The Sid  Chaplin Short Story Anthology", Red Squirrel Press and Assent.

He was born and lives in North Yorkshire and now he has joined forces with Helmsley Arts Centre as a member of  Ryedale Writers at Helmsley Arts Centre, to be launched at the Centre on Monday 16th July at 7.00pm, further details of which will be announced soon.

And remember, if you have a poem of your own you would like to have read (or to read aloud yourself) do let us know. Likewise, if there's a poem not your own that you particularly like let us know about it and  a little of why you like it so much.

Bonfire is read by David Powley

Ryedale Open Literature Entertainment

A meesage from John Dean:

Now, with April’s sweet showers around, a new open access occasional literary group is forming. Ryedale Open Literature Entertainment (ROLE), with the aim to share poetry, plays and prose, initially in Kirkbymoorside, then at various Ryedale venues.

Examples of activities which will assist the launch of  ROLE, directly or indirectly, include:

* the Scarborough Literature Festival 

* a book launch by poet Paul Munden: poems and photographs of Shandy Hall, Coxwold. Thursday 12 April, 7 -7.45 p.m. at Kirkbymoorside Library tickets available £1 now at the Library;

* poetry sharing at and around the Daffodil Walk in Farndale on Sunday 15th April

* a WEA literary course launch ‘True Voices of Feeling’ - Friends Meeting House, Kirkbymoorside   Monday 16th April 10.45-12.45 for ten weeks.

If you would like to help with these readings, or at others in the future, please contact John at 01439 771639 or email.

John Dean

Local writer wins award

A Ryedale author has won an award for her latest novel.

Jane Lovering, who works as a science technician at Lady Lumley’s School, won the award for the Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year at a ceremony in London.

The title was awarded by the Romantic Novelists’ Association for her novel Please Don't Stop The Music, the tale of a jewellery designer and a musician who keep secrets from each other and the world.

Please Don’t Stop the Music now goes forward to the Romantic Novel of the Year competition, which is influenced by public vote.

Find out more about the awards here.

'Playhouse Creatures' coming to the Arts Centre - 17th & 18th May

1699, and the theatres have re-opened after seventeen years of suppression. A bawdy and troublesome new age has begun, and with it the entrance of the first English actresses allowed upon the stage. Nell Gwyn, Elizabeth Barry, Rebecca Marshall, Mary Betterton: flesh and blood heroines admired by many, but living a precarious life... the gutters ever ready to reclaim them.

'Playhouse Creatures' directed by Jonathan Lewis is a Blue Aces Theatre production. In the following video Jonathan chats with some of the actors about the play and the process of putting it on the stage:
 





Blue Aces Theatre Ltd is a touring theatre company run in association with Helmsley Arts Centre and based in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire. Founded by director Jonathan Lewis, the group produces high quality plays and educational workshops for local secondary schools, arts centres and theatres, (although we are keen to spread our wings and visit other areas!)

We have two ambitions. Firstly, every play we do matters to us; we choose projects with care and invest our work with a great deal of thought and passion. Secondly, we aim to give talented young actors the opportunity of working with professional performers. If you are aged between 16-30 and are serious about your acting, please get in touch.
Find out more about Blue Aces Theatre.

'Playhouse Creatures' is being performed at Helmsley Arts Centre on 17th & 18th May. Call the Box Office on 01439 771700 for tickets.

Our next film - 'War Horse' - 21 & 23 March

Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, "War Horse" begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets-British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter-before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man's Land.



Buy Tickets.

Parts 7 of Chris Ware's search for stormy weather

Part 7 : a new location to explore

Our Next Film - 'The Iron Lady' - 7/8th March

"The Iron Lady" is a surprising and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. One of the 20th century's most famous and influential women, Thatcher came from nowhere to smash through barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male dominated world.

Buy Tickets

Call to artists

Arts and crafts people with a love of the North York Moors are being invited to take part in an exhibition celebrating the 60th anniversary of the National Park. ‘Your Place’ runs from 21 July to 19 August at the Inspired by… Gallery, Danby and will feature exhibits from 60 creatives whose work captures the area’s special qualities.

The Inspired by… Gallery was set up five years ago to give local artists an opportunity to promote their work to a wider audience. The Your Place exhibition will build on this ethos by offering 60 artists a chance to hire space at the gallery to raise awareness and sell their artwork throughout the four week run. The gallery is part of The Moors National Park Centre which attracts over 110,000 visitors each year.

The exhibition is part of a range of events to mark the National Park’s anniversary and will follow Inspired Landscape – a showcase of new work by six of the region’s leading contemporary artists Peter Hicks, Len Tabner and William Tillyer, Joe Cornish, Stephen Gillies and Kate Jones which runs from 13 May to 17 July.

Next Film - 'Hugo' - 29th February

Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Brian Selznick's award-winning novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret stars Asa Butterfield, as an orphan boy who lives in a Parisian train station. Sent to live with his drunken uncle after his father's death in a fire, Hugo learned how to wind the massive clocks that run throughout the station. When the uncle disappears one day, Hugo decides to maintain the clocks on his own, hoping nobody will catch on to him squatting in the station.

His natural aptitude for engineering leads him to steal gears, tools, and other items from a toy-shop owner who maintains a storefront in the station. Hugo needs these purloined pieces in order to rebuild a mechanical man that was left in the father's care at the museum -- the restoration was a project father and son did together.

When Georges (Ben Kingsley), the old man who runs the toy stand, catches on to the thievery, he threatens to turn Hugo over to the station's lone police officer (Sacha Baron Cohen, who makes every effort to send any parentless child in the station to the orphanage. But Hugo's run-in with Georges leads to a friendship with the elderly gentleman's goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), who unknowingly possesses the last item Hugo needs to make the mechanical man work again.

Buy tickets.

Helmsley's Jazz 'n' Swing Weekend - line up announced

The line-up of musicians for this first ever jazz 'n' swing weekend has now been announced. Tickets are still available for the weekend, programmed by international jazz drummer John Petters.  It will bring together a unique combination of traditional jazz, swing and American songbook music, played by some of the top jazz performers in the UK today.

The musicians performing include the incredible Julian Stringle on clarinet, who made his TV debut with Acker Bilk when he was just 14. He has since played with George Chisholm, Don Lusher, Kenny Baker, Cleo Lane & Sir John Dankworth and Meatloaf. He has recorded with Roy Williams, Marc Almond,  George Melly, Joe Brown, Chas & Dave and the Spice Girls.

Featured on double bass is Annie Hawkins, another great international musician dubbed "Europe's first lady of the double bass".

Also in the line-up is pianist Dave Browning, who has been playing the British jazz scene for 20 years to great acclaim and who’s main influence is the great Thomas 'Fats' Waller.

The weekend has lectures, a forum and quizzes and incredible jazz performances, including the music of Fats Waller, Benny Goodman and the wonderful ‘Satchmo’, Louis Armstrong.

It runs from 2pm on Saturday 24th March to late on Sunday 25th March.

Full details and online booking click here.

Tickets start from £4 and a full weekend tickets to all the events costs £65.

The Shed brings KAN to Kirkby

The Shed On Tour brought the folk group KAN to Kirkbymoorside Memorial Hall tonight and attracted an appreciative audience of 180+ to the delight of promoters Simon Thackray and Sue Wright.

KAN

Irish flute and whistle player Brian Finnegan and Scottish fiddler Aidan O’Rourke, front men with Flook and Lau, have joined forces with two of the brightest stars in the world of rhythm and accompaniment – Yorkshire-based guitarist Ian Stephenson, who works with Kathryn Tickell, and Jim Goodwin, drummer and percussionist with the Halle and Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, to travel an innovative new musical path.

Visit the KAN website here.

The Shed On Tour is a new collaboration between The Shed and Rural Arts North Yorkshire and will bring leading artists from the world of folk, jazz, country and contemporary classical music to village and community halls like ours across Ryedale and beyond.

The Shed has been awarded £34,500 from the National Lottery through Arts Council England to work with Rural Arts on this exciting new pilot project.

You can watch KAN footage on YouTube here.

Chris Ware and the Benbecula Saga part 6

See how the paintings develop.

Our next film - The Deep Blue Sea - 22nd February

 
There couldn't be a better fit for playwright Terence Rattigan than film-maker Terence Davies, in his adaptation of The Deep Blue Sea, one of Rattigan's most touching plays....The film taps into the emotional thrust of the play, aided by an understated but eloquent and finally very moving performance from Weisz that's one of the best she has accomplished on screen....

Davies dares to fillet the play of some of its extraneous characters, and not all the dialogue is Rattigan's. He collapses most of the first act into a 10-minute wordless sequence and occasionally adds his own take on the affair between Rachel Weisz's Hester, married to Simon Russell Beale's High Court judge, and Tom Hiddleston's Freddie, an RAF pilot who scarcely deserves her love.

What he does tap into is the emotional thrust of the play, aided by an understated but eloquent and finally very moving performance from Weisz that's one of the best she has accomplished on screen.

Comparisons with David Lean's Brief Encounter seem obvious. And this, in its own way, has the same feeling for the period, in this case the post-war fifties, and the same sympathy with characters bound by the constraints of the time.

A request for help

Chris Ware's Benbecula video diary part 5

More stormy weather to paint.

Our Next Film - My Week With Marilyn - 15th February

"In 1956, Marilyn Monroe came to Britain to make a movie at Pinewood Studios with Laurence Olivier. This was the tense and ill-fated light comedy The Prince and the Showgirl, scripted by Terence Rattigan, a film that became a legend for the lack of chemistry between its insecure and incompatible stars. One was a sexy, feminine, sensual and mercurial diva. The other would go on to make Some Like It Hot.

The story is told – or part of it – in this intensely enjoyable, entirely insubstantial movie featuring glorious performances from Kenneth Branagh and Michelle Williams as Olivier and Monroe, participants in a love triangle of two stars and a nobody. The whole thing is seen from the standpoint of the film's star-struck third assistant director, Colin Clark, son of the great art historian Kenneth, and younger brother of the notorious Tory MP Alan. The movie-mad youngster had wangled a job in Olivier's production office, been hired as a dogsbody on the movie, and something in this pretty ingénu caught the eye of Marilyn herself. With her genius for enslaving dazzled men to a courtier's life of gallantry and self-abasement, she made him her confidant and helpmeet. In 1995, Clark published his diaries from that time, but then in 2000, landing a deferred dramatic punch, published a further memoir – on which this film is based – revealing an intimate, romantic week alone with Marilyn when her husband Arthur Miller had gone away. Of course, he fell hard for the bewitching star". Read more. Buy tickets.

UNCORKED at the Helmsley Arts Centre

There's a new night launching at Helmsley Arts Centre, led by new Artistic Director Em Whitfield Brooks on Friday 17th February. UNCORKED will feature spellbinding sets from three top accoustic acts with fine wines and nibbles in the bar between each act.

The music on the menu at this first UNCORKED event will be:

Beccy Owen: A welcome return to HAC for Beccy, described by the NME as a “delinquent Carole King,” Beccy’s latest album of intent is the self released long player ‘Down With Gravity.’ Produced by Joe Rusby her third album features performances from world-class luminaries such as Kate Rusby, Peter Tickell and Rachael McShane, and is hailed as “a stunning collage of tender romanticism, off-kilter harmonies and disarming rhythms” (Alt Vinyl). Her music has been endorsed by Elvis Costello, who described it as “lovely and original” following Beccy’s live session for BBC Radio 2’s Janice Long. She has performed alongside Maximo Park, Rachael Unthank, Nitin Sawhney, Northern Sinfonia, Bellowhead, Jim Moray and Field Music; she supported the award-winning folk collective Bellowhead on tour, appeared on BBC 2’s The Culture Show, and was nominated for the Performer of the Year award at the Journal Culture Awards. “A fallen, aggrieved, dark angel and a very, very special talent” Music Week. “A soulful, guiding light.” Metro “A real discovery…Gorgeous” – Janice Long, BBC Radio 2. Beccy spends a lot of time these days singing with North East supergroup Sharks Took The Rest, so this is a rare opportunity to catch her mesmerising solo performance.

Dave Keegan: Excellent singer-songwriter, who channels a whole host of left-field pop and rock influences in his melody-driven, bittersweet acoustic songs. Dave’s powerful performance style, versatile voice and compelling songs always hold audiences spellbound. If you haven’t seen Dave perform solo before you’re in for a real treat.

The Cornshed Sisters: these four singers, hailing from Tyne and Wear, offer a stunning and original blend of guitar pop, folk tales, protest songs, piano ballads and gospel. Their sound is magical, with songs displaying a healthy disregard for unity of subject matter. One of their singers Liz Corney was a huge hit with Icene at Helmsley Arts Centre last year. Recently signed by London-based label Memphis Industries, this appearance is part of a tour to highlight the release of their first album Tell Tales on 9th April. The future is bright for this group - you’ll see them here first… Uncorked @ Helmsley Arts Centre Friday 17th Feb 7.30pm Tickets: £9 - includes free glass of wine Box Office: 01439 771700 or book online.

Chris Ware : Facing the Storm part 4

At last some stormy weather! And some paint!

Catching up with Chris Ware: Facing the Storm part 3

And here's the third part of Chris Ware's diary.

Chris Ware : Facing the Storm part 2

Here's the second of Chris Ware's video diaries....in quick succession as we've got behind with updating you!

Chris Ware's Benbecula painting project: Facing the Storm part 1

We'll be following Chris on his new project through his video diary reports. Here's the first.

Local performers star in acoustic night - Friday 10th Feb.

The next acoustic night in the Studio Bar of Helmsley Arts Centre features 10 of our best local performers doing a couple of songs each. A real mix of styles from a plethora of talent of all ages!

Plus, we’ve a real treat in store from our special guest performers Luke Hirst & Sarah Smout, playing and singing original songs and arrangements with acoustic guitar and cello. Luke and Sarah were winners of last year’s Wath Festival Young Performers Award who you can watch below:
 
 We kick off at 7.30 and finish by 10.15pm.

Our next film - 'The Ides of March' - Wednesday 1st February

The Ides of March is a serious film that reveals Clooney as a director capable of welding his fellow performers into a superb ensemble while sustaining both dramatic tension and moral focus. He's a liberal of a critical kind, and his respect for the audience takes the form of expecting us to understand that in bringing a self-critical searchlight to bear on events surrounding the Democratic party he isn't attacking the liberal left. He's simply addressing himself to the complications and vagaries of electoral politics...

...complications in which everyone ends up fighting to save themselves, their careers and ambitions, trapped by human weakness rather than being persuaded by superior arguments or circumstances. But is it better to win and deliver on half your pledges or retain your purity and achieve nothing? ....

From a review by Philip French in the Observer.


 Buy tickets here.

Marketing and Development Officer, Helmsley Arts Centre

An exciting and challenging opportunity to devise, develop and deliver creative and successful Marketing and Development strategies, working alongside a small team of paid staff, strongly supported by a large team of volunteers, at this well-established hub of the arts in the heart of rural North Yorkshire.

A 2-day per week freelance post for at least one year, subject to review after six months.

Salary: £8,640 p.a (£23,400 p.a. pro rata)

Closing date for applications: Friday 24th February Interview date: Wed 7th March

To start as soon as possible after that date.

For further information email: Em Whitfield Brooks

Our next film - 'Anonymous' - Wed. 25th January

Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Sigmund Freud, namely: who actually created the body of work credited to William Shakespeare? Experts have debated, books have been written, and scholars have devoted their lives to protecting or debunking theories surrounding the authorship of the most renowned works in English literature. Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when scandalous political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles lusting for the power of the throne were brought to light in the most unlikely of places: the London stage.
 

Buy tickets here.

Watch the Channel 4 David Hockney interview

Artist David Hockney speaks to Channel 4 News Culture Editor Matthew Cain about his life in Yorkshire and Los Angeles as a major new show, A Bigger Picture, opens at the Royal Academy of Arts.
 



'David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture' spans a 50 year period to demonstrate Hockney’s long exploration and fascination with the depiction of landscape.

The exhibition includes a display of his iPad drawings and a series of new films produced using 18 cameras, which are displayed on multiple screens and provide a spellbinding visual journey through the eyes of David Hockney.

Our new video is here: Ryedale Artists at Work 2

June had an exhibition at Helmsley Arts Centre in November, 2011. Here she shows us how she begins a painting and then talks about some of the paintings in the exhibition. You can see more of her work on her website.

'Tea and a Tale' in Malton tomorrow

Sunday 15 January, 5pm

Milton Rooms, Malton

Tea and a Tale

Dominic Goodwin reads two classic short stories:

Uninvited Ghosts by Penelope Lively and 

Rumpole and the Chambers Party by John Mortimer

Tickets: £3.50 including tea and cake!

More info.

Our next film - 'The Help' - Wed. 18th January

The Help is an uplifting and inspiring movie that shows what happens when a southern town's unspoken code of rules and behaviour is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship.





Based on the best-selling phenomenon and one of the most talked about books in years, The Help is an uplifting must-see movie event. Starring Emma Stone (Golden Globe Nominee, Easy A) as Skeeter, Viola Davis (Academy Award® Nominee, Doubt) as Aibileen and break out sensation Octavia Spencer as Minnie, The Help is a funny, heart-warming and thought-provoking book about three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who risk their jobs, reputations and lives when they embark on a secret writing project together. Deeply moving, filled with poignancy, humour and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the ability of a small group of people to shine a beacon of light in changing times.

Like us on FaceBook

Read the book

Invitation to a World Premiere

Easingwold Players' sister company "Gobbledigook Theatre" will be presenting the world premiere of "Our Night Out" at the Galtres Entertainment Centre in Easingwold on Wednesday 18 January 2012. The play has been written by Phil Grainger and Dave Jarman and stars Bromwyn Jennison and David Pike (of 1812 Theatre Company fame) and - fresh from playing Phileas Fogg for 1812 - John Lister also features as a dodgy policeman.

"Our Night Out" has been selected to be part of this year's ‘Theatre Live Initiative' which means that the performance will be broadcast live to dozens of theatres and picture houses throughout the county. Surely this will prove to be the pinnacle of Bromwyn's and David's illustrious careers. So, wouldn't it be unfortunate if some inmates from a local prison chose this night to tunnel out of their cells? And it would be even more unfortunate if they've got their calculations wrong and the tunnel comes up through the stage at the Galtres ....!

Performances take place at 7.30pm on 18, 19, 20 and 21 January and there is a matinee performance at 2pm on 21 January. Tickets are £7 (£5 for U16's) and are available from the Galtres Centre.

Cameron vs Independent Cinema

Riotous debate has exploded following David Cameron’s comments on the state of the UK film industry. During a visit to Pinewood Studios, West London, the prime minister has urged film-makers to produce more films with mainstream box office appeal, in order to better distribute National Lottery funding. This situation would provide successful film companies with extra support, whereas unproven film-makers would be put in an even less fortuitous situation than they already find themselves. Therein lies the problem with Cameron’s postulation; it is difficult to predict the success of a film, as the past few years have provided box-office surprises. However, it is believed that more funding will enable certain film companies to grow, and will therefore have more influence when it comes to marketing, thus ensuring a hit at the box office.

The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire are two such examples of films that were surprisingly successful at the box office, critically acclaimed, and lauded with trophies come awards season. It was impossible to foresee the success of either of these films, despite the involvement of star Colin Firth and director Danny Boyle, themselves proven successes in their own right.

Read the whole article.

Yorkshire - top of the world again!

The campaign to promote Yorkshire as a tourist destination has beaten some of the best travel brands on the planet for the second year running, winning a prestigious World Travel Award for the World's Leading Marketing Campaign. It means in the past two years the county's destination management organisation has beaten a who's who of the travel industry to put Yorkshire on the global map.
 



Destinations and brands of the likes of Brazil, India, South Africa, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Etihad, Kuoni, Expedia, Visit London, Thomas Cook and Visit Scotland have all been beaten by the marketing campaign for Yorkshire which picked up the prestigious award at a ceremony in Doha last night.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "Yorkshire is a world beater and winning this award for the second year running proves it. We have gone head-to-head with some of the best brands with bigger budgets than us and come out on top again.

"The award is testament to the 25,000 brilliant businesses that make up Yorkshire's tourism industry; their quality ensures we are able to compete on a global scale with the best in the world. It also shows how far we have come in three years since Welcome to Yorkshire launched, that we now judge ourselves against the world's best and not just our competitors in the UK."

The back-to-back wins come after an impressive 2011 for the county. It continued to outperform its peers in independent research backed by the award winning marketing campaign, "Welcome to a whole lot more going on". For example the value of international trips taken to Yorkshire are 22% UP compared with a rise of just 3% nationally (International Passenger Survey).

25m people have seen the Welcome to Yorkshire marketing campaigns, just one strand of the high-profile promotion of the county, which also includes innovative use of social media, development of the award-winning yorkshire.com and regional, national and international media interest.

WORLD'S LEADING MARKETING CAMPAIGN FINALISTS, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority; Egyptian Tourist Authority, Embatur Brazil, Incredible India, South Africa Tourism, Spanish Institute of Tourism, Welcome to Yorkshire.

Job opportunity with local artist

I am looking for a small-business manager/administrator for initially one day a week (from March/April 2012) to keep me and my accounts organised, look after visitors to my studio and help develop my growing business as part of a small team.

The ideal person will like organising, working with the public, getting detail right and developing creative ideas. You will need good IT skills for book-keeping and accounts (Excel), managing the mailing list (email), stock-keeping and ordering supplies.

The job is based in my open studio at Levisham Station, although some home-working on accounts and projects is possible by agreement. A typical day involves dealing with phone calls and post, meeting visitors, ensuring they enjoy their visit, and processing resulting sales of paintings, prints and cards. Heavy and pushy selling techniques are not required - visitors to the studio enjoy a no-pressure environment where they are enabled to buy pictures they like.

While in the studio you would invoice for work, update annual accounts and prepare them for submission to my accountant, log and manage weekly expenses, and manage and record all sales, including spreadsheets for limited edition prints.

There is potential for involvement in exhibitions, running projects such as group visits and painting expeditions, marketing the website and other initiatives as we seek to expand sales away from the studio.

You can visit my website here.

If interested, please email me at chris@warehouseart.com to arrange an informal discussion at this stage.

Profile: Celebrate North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is the largest county in England with a rich history of arts and culture with many professional artists and hundreds of voluntary arts groups, societies and clubs, providing opportunities for thousands of people to take part in voluntary arts activity every week with exhibitions, choral evenings, pantomimes and plays, displays and demonstrations, festivals and outings.

People join these groups because they’re fun, they meet other people with similar interests, and get the opportunity to explore and express their creativity, and maybe learn some highly technical skills. They do it because they want to. In this predominately rural area the voluntary arts play a key part in allowing people access to the arts.

York & North Yorkshire Voluntary Arts Partnership has been set up to provide a connection between these groups, offering support through a website, newsletters, meetings, training events and through being an advocate for the sector.
 
To join the Celebrate North Yorkshire website database you must be a voluntary or amateur group or organisation based in York and North Yorkshire.

They will accept listings from individuals and organisations that provide services to voluntary and amateur artists and groups in York and North Yorkshire. These eligibility criteria may be reviewed on a case by case basis and the final decision remains with the steering group of the York & North Yorkshire Voluntary Arts Partnership.

Find out more.

Acoustic Music Night - Friday 13th

It’s time for another great night of live acoustic music this Friday 13th at Helmsley Arts Centre

We’ve another great line-up so hope to see you there.

Taking part will be:

Peter Reynolds
David Swann
Stan Graham
Lynn Sunley
Issy Zarb
Martin Heaton
J2Ali’s
Nick & Lynn Blair
Maggie Groom
Kyle Frazer

Special guest performer: the one and only Bluesbeaten Redshaw who you can see in the video below playing at the UK's first ever Cigar Box Guitar festival!



The evening starts at 7.30 and entry is only £3.00 payable on the door.