Yorkshire arts groups lose lending service

A Yorkshire arts resource used by many amateur dramatic companies, choirs and orchestras has been earmarked for closure.

The Yorkshire Libraries and Information (YLI) Music and Drama Service on Balne Lane in Wakefield is due to close in March 2012.

The fate of its collection of scores and scripts will now be discussed at the YLI council meeting.

Critics fear many groups will close without the lending service.

Read more ..... (source).

Supporting Helmsley Library

Helmsley Arts Centre is keen to support Helmsley Library and Helmsley Town Council, which are seeking volunteers to help maintain library opening hours and develop new activities in the library space. NYCC Library Service's current proposal is to cut staffed opening hours at Helmsley from 19 hours to 15 per week.

Would you be willing to give a couple of hours per week of your time to help sustain this valuable and much loved amenity of the town?

There will be a meeting for potential library volunteers this Wednesday, 16 November, at 6pm at the Old Library Meeting Room in the Town Hall. Everyone is welcome.

You can register your interest in becoming a volunteer by email.

Welcome to our new Artistic Director!

In fact, welcome to Em Whitfield Brooks, the first holder of what is a new post, made possible by a Lottery Grant through Arts Council England. She begins her job later this month.

On Tuesday evening she met the Board of Trustees for the first time at their November meeting (seen here on the right with Margot Cairncross, Chairman of the Trustees)

Many of them she knew well, of course, because Em has been involved with the Centre for the last thirteen years, as a performer, theatre director and singer.

However, she brings to us a much wider experience of leading (and managing budgets for) arts projects large and small, in the north of England. She has particular expertise in working with community performance and arts education, involving people of all ages and abilities. For example, she is well known locally for her Community Opera productions for the Ryedale Festival. Elsewhere she has led and worked on projects in Durham, Scarborough, Leeds, Hull, Bridlington, York, Tyneside.....

Em is a freelance director, vocal teacher, workshop leader and published songwriter; she was a national trainer for the Sing Up Training Programme, running courses for teachers and singing leaders across the UK for four years; and has led corporate arts training courses internationally for organisations such as Marks & Spencer, HSBC, PwC and The Sage Gateshead. She recently returned from running workshops in Milan for the Map Consortium.

Em says, "I'm really looking forward to embarking on what will be a diverse and challenging role in a thriving organisation. I have particular areas to focus on, and will start planning for events and projects that will reach new audiences and participants, as well as continuing to entertain and nourish the Centre's core followers. There's lots that is already great about this place, and I am honoured to have been chosen to lead the artistic team. There never was a more important time for the arts to serve everyone in the community, and I cant wait to get started."

The appointment is initially for one year and is an important part of a two-year development project supported by Arts Council England. If we fulfill our first year objectives then we anticipate further lottery funding for the second. Thereafter, we'll be in a better position to sustain the post indefinitely.

The objectives are: to increase public involvement in the Centre through more effective marketing; to initiate and support Outreach projects and create new partnerships; to develop new activities and events for young people both at the Centre and in outlying areas; to support a programme that celebrates literature in all its forms; and to increase our income.

Quite a job! But Em is up for it, and has our full support.

'Doubt' at the Helmsley Arts Centre last night, an audience reaction

The Helmsley Arts Centre is very much Clap Trap Productions home theatre as several members of the company have acted and directed with the 1812 Theatre Company and members of the choir in 'Doubt' are in the youth theatre. As a result the audience was full of family and friends who thoroughly enjoyed their night out as these short vox pops illustrate:




Further information of the 'Doubt' tour, which ends at the Theatre Royal in York, can be found here.

Helmsley Arts Centre Poetry Competition

Theatre Stage Manager / Instructor wanted

Ampleforth College seek a Stage Manager with creative flare and technical expertise in equal measure. Ampleforth College Theatre puts on a varied programme of student performances throughout the year and the Stage Manager will be responsible for designing and delivering sets, lighting, SFX and all other technical aspects for each production.

The right candidate will have a talent and enthusiasm for working with young people and would be able to confidently train them in technical theatre production and the safe use of our facilities. Skills in publicity design, web content management, photography and video production would also be highly desirable. This full time role will require flexible working hours during term-time to meet the full demands of our productions but school holidays are given.

Closing date for applications - 4 July 2011.

Interviews will take place 8 July 2011.

Salary - circa £21,000 per annum.

Ampleforth College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and a Criminal Background check will be carried out on all successful applicants.

For more information and to apply, click here.

Exhibition at Ryedale Folk Museum

What's happening at The Milton Rooms?

Over the last couple of years ambitious plans have been drawn up for the transformation of The Milton Rooms in Malton into a new centre for the arts in Ryedale. A number of dedicated people have been working to translate those plans into action. And this summer sees the first fruits of their labours ripen in a short programme of exciting events both inside the building and outside, in the town.

Helmsley Arts Centre is pleased to be in partnership with The Milton Rooms. We have set up together a framework for future collaboration and mutual support, so that together we can provide Ryedale with an exciting range and balance of arts events and activities.

The Milton Rooms aims to collaborate with established and emerging artists, to make Malton a hub of excellence for the arts, in all creative fields.

With the dedication of a new, energetic team of artists and performers and the support of world famous Patrons (Kathy Burke, Imelda Staunton, Jools Holland and Bill Nighy) the Milton Rooms is set to Launch with an ambitious program of events starting from June an id well under way with the re-animation of this historic building.

"Oh, my word. Brilliant. When can I come up?"

- Imelda Staunton

With the largest sprung dancefloor in North Yorkshire, and a new forty seat Studio Theatre and plans for Artist Studios, the Milton Rooms will be turned into a state of the art venue for visiting productions, community events and in house productions.

"Really Exciting. Makes perfect sense for this to be happening."

- Kathy Burke

The Milton Rooms is launching it’s new program of events with a night of Music, Comedy, Magic and Dance at its Gala Evening hosted by Barry Cryer (June 12th). This is followed on by a night with the Peatbog Faeries and then a unique in-house production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream Directed by Nick Bagnall (The Milton Rooms co-artistic Director). With a cast of over 170 taking place throughout Malton for one night only this promises to be an event like no other (June 26th).

For further information on events or how to get involved get in touch, check out the website or visit The Milton Rooms as the doors are always open.

Click image above to view our events calendar

Remembering Tony Burns, ARIBA FRSA 1936-2011

Tony Burns was the Arts Centre’s architect for 20 years, and one of its most devoted supporters. He came on board when the project was still no more than a loose collection of ideas about what to do with the semi-derelict Old Meeting House, and his patience in drawing and re-drawing endless versions of what we might build was remarkable — but he loved the design process itself just as much as he loved eventually seeing the building come to life. He even forgave us when opted to keep the stage at the west end, rather than turning the building round and putting the stage where the garden is, which was his preference. His patience in waiting for years before we were able to pay him was also exemplary, and a hugely valuable contribution in kind.

Tony was a modernist at heart — as a student he once hitchhiked to Finland to meet one of his architectural heroes, Alvar Aalto. But like most British architects he was rarely given the opportunity to design anything that approached the avant-garde. So it is good that the Arts Centre shows off some characteristically bold Burns design touches — the roof shape at the east end, the round window from the office to the foyer, the strongly contemporary west frontage. He was very proud of the Arts Centre, both as a building and as a living institution, and I personally felt privileged to have worked closely with a professional who was so tolerant and encouraging of an opinionated amateur architect like me. I miss the Sunday afternoons when he would call in, en route home to Castle Eden in County Durham from his (very contemporary) weekend hideaway in Sproxton, for a session of scribbling on tracing paper to see how we could improve on the latest plans.

Tony had been unwell for some years but was working almost to the end, and had recently received a Gold Medal from the RIBA and been appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. The Arts Centre was well represented at his funeral in Castle Eden on 27 May. All our condolences go to his widow Maureen and their children and grandchildren.

MVW

Website helps companies recycle unwanted sets

Theatre companies can now advertise and recycle old sets and costumes on a new Freecycle-style website specifically designed for the sector.

With the tag line “giving your unwanted set a new home”, Set-exchange.co.uk has been launched with the aim of encouraging production companies to share unwanted sets, costumes and props with other theatre organisations across the UK for free. Companies including the Royal Court, Glyndebourne and the Lyric Hammersmith have already pledged their support to the website.

Read more ... (source)

Free theatre comes to Yorkshire Quaker Meeting Houses

All shows start at 7.30pm.

Andrew Lloyd Webber announces £32m arts fund

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s charitable foundation is to embark on a £32 million grant-giving programme targetted at supporting the arts.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has announced that it will use the money generated from last year’s sale of the composer’s Picasso portrait - Angel Fernandez de Soto - to help fund culture, heritage and the art.

The foundation today announced a £250,000 donation to UK charity Nordoff Robbins, which specialises in providing music therapy sessions to people suffering from autism, dementia, depression, stroke or terminal illness. It will use the money to help maintain its music therapy unit at the BRIT school in Croydon and to fund their work at the unit.

Mark Wordsworth, chairman of the trustees of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, said: “Previously we have concentrated on fine art and arts education, but we have decided to help a broader scope of people and projects directly with the funds invested from the Picasso sale. Andrew Lloyd Webber is delighted that the money he gifted to the foundation is now being used to contribute to a wide range of projects and is making a significant difference to many people’s lives.”

Other beneficiaries of the Foundation’s support announced today include Chickenshed, All Saints Church, Margaret St, London, Burghclere Primary School Band, Time Spanners, the Monega Association, Haringey Shed and The Orpheus Centre.