Yorkshire Artspace Starter Studios - apply for 2011 intake

Yorkshire Artspace are are now inviting applications from artists/makers for the 2011 intake of their 3 starter studio programmes. This year they will be doing it slightly differently in that they will accept applications from talented, commited makers/artists from March 2011 onwards. They will be starting their interview process earlier this year in order to give selected artists enough time to re-locate to Sheffield if needed.

From their website:

The Starter Studio for Designer Silversmiths is located at Persistence Works Studios and offers early career silversmiths access to a large 108m2 shared and equipped workspace at Persistence Works Studios. Now in its 10th year, the programme provides ongoing business, mentor and technical support as well as commission and exhibition opportunities. This year all our current and many of our previous beneficiaries were included in Galvanize Sheffield, our bi-annual festival for contemporary metalwork taking place across the city. For our programme details, background on our mentors and a website list of previous beneficiaries, please click here

First deadline for applications for the Starter Studio Programme for Silversmiths is Friday, 13th May 2011 with interviews taking place on Monday 23rd May.

The Starter Studio Programme for Ceramicists is based at Manor Oaks Studios and offers early career ceramicists/potters access to a fully equipped 55m2 shared workspace for two years with ongoing business, mentor and technical support and exhibition opportunities at Museums Sheffield’s Millennium Galleries. For further details click here.

All our ceramicist starters also benefit from having dedicated time with our Manor Oaks artist in residence which, for 2011, is Edinburgh based ceramicist Frances Priest.

First deadline for applications for the Starter Studio Programme for Ceramicists is Wednesday 18th May with interviews taking place on Thursday 2nd June 2011.

The Starter Studio Programme for Engaged Practice will be located at our soon to be completed brand new Knutton Road Studios in the Parson Cross area of Sheffield. This programme is designed for artists who want to develop a career as artists whose practice is concerned with community/social engagement.

Apart from access to a workspace, the selected artists will also be offered paid work opportunities, dedicated time with the Parson Cross artist in residence (currently Lisa Gallacher) and access to mentor and ongoing business support. You will be based in one of new studios at SOAR Works which houses Knutton Road Studios.

Artist Ruthie Ford, who joined the first programme in 2010, has already benefited from paid work opportunities through the links we have with Sheffield City Council, Museums Sheffield and programme funding through Paul Hamlyn Foundation. For further details click here

If you want to visit us or like further information on our programmes, please contact Mir Jansen, programme manager for the Silversmiths and Ceramicists Programmes on mir@artspace.org.uk or Rachael Dodd, programme manager for the Engaged Practice Programme on rachael@artspace.org.uk or telephone 0114 2130111 or 0114 2130111.

A new wave ripples through Yorkshire's culture

As tickets go on sale for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Yorkshire region is beginning to feel the ripple effect of this momentous event which is not just a sporting stage, but also a cultural arena. As the world’s spotlight begins to turn to the UK in anticipation of next year’s games, imove, the Legacy Trust UK programme for Yorkshire, is launching the next wave of cultural events taking place across the region.

imove is bringing together the best creative talent from the region to produce a programme of events designed to inspire the public in the run up to the London 2012 Games. The programme is funded by the Legacy Trust UK - an independent charity set up to create a cultural and sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK, Yorkshire Forward and Arts Council England. Over the next 18 months, more than 100 events will be taking place across Yorkshire encompassing every artistic medium including dance, drama, music and photography and all sports from cricket to synchronised swimming.

The events will be region-wide, ensuring that everyone has the chance to experience the creative collaborations, many of which will be set against the backdrop of Yorkshire’s diverse and dramatic landscape or in unusual spaces.

These include:

‘The Mill – City of Dreams’, a project by Freedom Studios, uses the derelict Drummonds Mill in Bradford as a grand setting for a theatre production which explores the lives of the mill workers, using a cast and crew made up of the local community and ex-mill workers and their families, with performances taking place in March and April 2011.

The crowds at the Hull Super League Rugby Derby will be treated to a half time performance by Northern Ballet at the Hull Super League Rugby derby in April 2011 as part of ‘Don’t Just Sit There’ – a series of events involving some of the region’s top dance companies which aims to get people off their seats and moving.

A ‘Flying Day’ at Sewerby Hall in July 2011 on the coast of Bridlington will take place as part of ‘Wingbeats’, a music-theatre project which explores the relationship between flying and the striking landscape of East Riding.

‘Stanza Stones’ sees poet Simon Armitage working with the Ilkley Literature Festival and groups of young writers aged 13-18 taking them out onto the Pennines and creating a series of poems in response to the landscape. Alongside this work, a new series of poems by Simon will be carved on a trail of standing stones and rocks along the Pennines from Ilkley to Marsden – creating a lasting legacy from the project.

‘Sea Swim’ is a mass participation project involving sea-bathing at Scarborough. The project has a strong connection with poetry and creative writing and poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy has agreed to be its patron. Led by writer John Wedgwood Clarke and artist-curator Lara Goodband, this project will explore the relationship between swimming and creativity in literature and the visual arts, alongside the history of sea-bathing as documented in Yorkshire's unique museum collections.

New projects are still being commissioned as part of imove. Over the coming months, imove will be announcing more new commissions which will extend the programme into further towns and cities across Yorkshire and will ensure a lasting cultural legacy is left in the region in the slipstream of the 2012 Games.

Tessa Gordziejko, Creative Director of imove, comments: “We are extremely excited about imove and the creative programme that is emerging from the two worlds of sport and art that rarely co-exist. The inspiration and energy from the UK’s hosting the Olympics in 2012, combined with the Legacy Trust resource, has opened up a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase the huge pool of creative talent here in Yorkshire to a global stage. We hope that by combining these two disciplines in a fun and original way – we’ve produced a programme which will appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds from across the region.”

To find out more information about the imove projects and events happening in each area go to the imove website at http://www.imoveand.com/. The site will be regularly updated with new events and commissions. Source