1 March
It seems we now only have time to update this page every three months! However we can assure you that we have not been sitting on our laurels, there is much to report...
Firstly, we have now reached the final phase of the Big Lottery application for The People's Circus project. Kate had a telephone assessment with them a few weeks ago and we have been assured that we will have the result by the end of March. Everything is still very much crossed and we hope that we will not be posting depressing news on this page anytime soon!
Secondly, despite a few hiccoughs, and a bit of re-structuring the partnership with the Rye Festival is moving forward. A meeting last week at Rye College has resulted in a three year partnership project with Rother District Council, the festival and Rye College. We also hope to bring Rye Primary and the The School Creative Centre on board soon.
We will be submitting an Awards for All application shortly, to develop a multi-genre performance installation piece with pupils from Rye College and Rye Primary at the 2009 festival. Plans are then to develop this over the following two years to culminate in a whole town promenade performance for the festival in 2011. All very exciting stuff...
Kate heard in January that she had been successful in securing her Arts Council grant of 100k for the 2009 FUSE Medway Festival. As a result things have moved up a gear and she has been busy programming ever since. The 2009 programme is looking better than ever with some of the best UK artists descending on Medway in June.
Will has recently taken on a role as Artist in Residence at Heathfield Community College and will be there until Easter. This is keeping him busy and out of trouble for the time being...
Finally, as you may have noticed from the home page we are delighted to welcome Cassandra Pollitt to the Alchemy team as our new Associate Director (Education). We have worked with Cassandra in a number of different capacities over the years, including training with her at the Central School of Speech and Drama. As a drama consultant for the East Sussex School Improvement Service she is well placed to advise on how we can develop our school's partnerships. With her on board, we look forward to some fruitful developments!
5 December
Well, it has been nearly three months since we have had an opportunity to update this page. We have been no-stop since the summer, writing and submitting a number of funding applications in order to secure the future development of the company.
Firstly, in Kate's capacity as the Director of the FUSE Medway Festival an application was made to Arts Council England on behalf of Medway Council. The Council have also increased their financial support of the festival this year so it looks as though FUSE will be able to expand and progress in 2009.
Secondly, The People's Circus project has finally made it's way to The Big Lottery. After a significant amount of work from numerous people we are very proud of the project and believe it has all the right ingredients to be successful. Of course, nothing is ever certain, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. The project has also given us an opportunity to develop some significant partnerships and we hope that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship. Project partners now include:
Primary Partners
The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea
Rother District Council
Medway Council
Crawley Borough Council
Secondary Partners
The Hastings & St Leonards Excellence Cluster
The Bexhill Consortium
Action in Rural Sussex
The School Creative Centre, Rye
There has also been development in our relationship with the Rye Festival, who have asked us to develop a Children's Carnival within the town each year for the next three years. The project is still in the early stages, and funding needs to be determined, but it is hope that this will provide more partnership opportunities between the Festival, the town's schools, local businesses and The School Creative Centre. All very exciting stuff and we hope to get the go ahead shortly.
10 September
Circus Monkeys starts again today after the summer break. All details on the Circus Monkeys page...
09 September
First day nerves for Will today as he starts a new post at Sussex Downs College in Lewes teaching drama one afternoon a week. We wish him all the best!
www.sussexdowns.ac.uk
08 September
Fantastic news today - following the submission of our outline proposal to the Big Lottery Fund for the People's Circus project we have been invited to submit a full application. Much work to be done before the deadline on 30 November, however. A really exciting development that could secure the future of the company for the next five years.
Further details on our new People's Circus page...
30 August
The Langney Area Panel's Fun Day in Eastbourne signified the end to a very busy summer of circus engagements. Time for us to take a bit of a breather before the schools start back...
27 August
A productive meeting with JamBerry Ltd today, a company who specialise in training solutions for businesses. They are currently expanding their range of creative training packages and, as a result, are keen to offer our circus and carnival packages to their clients.
www.jamberry.co.uk
18 - 23 August
Another holiday, another set of circus workshops at the De La Warr Pavilion. This time a whole week was devoted to the art of circus with participants working towards a performance on the Saturday. A fabulous audience turned out to see the The Circus Olympics and were even rewarded with a bit of sunshine!
The excitment of the week was also compounded by an appearance on BBC South East. Presenters and crew arrived at the De La Warr on the next stop of their 2008 Deckchair Tour. Will and his merry band of circus trainees kept the crowd entertained and showcased their skills for the camera.
BBC South East Deckchair Tour 2008
15 August
A fantastic meeting today with Naomi Friedlander a drama and dance practitioner who is going to be joining the team and expanding the services we offer. A specialist with over 10 years experience, Naomi is certainly a very welcome addition to the Alchemy family. We are very happy to have her on board and are looking forward to working with her in the future. Keep your eyes peeled for our new workshops...
11-13 August
Another successful summer school - this time at Ratton School in Eastbourne. Three days of fun and circus frolics brought some sunshine to the otherwise horrendous summer weather!
2 August
Rachel and Ryan, both regulars from the Circus Monkeys circus club, had an opportunity to pass on their skills to others today at the Kites Family Fun Day in Eastbourne's Gildredge Park. Despite the inclement weather the day went well with an estimated 500 people coming along.
Kites Family Information Service
23 July
A fantastic day today at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill. We provided a full carnival arts and circus day for the Hastings and St Leonards Excellence Cluster. Over 80 members of staff whole-heartedly threw themselves into circus skills, instrument making, carnival costume making, samba dancing and samba drumming to create a colourful parade at the end of the day which processed along Bexhill's seafront in the beautiful sunshine.
The feedback from the day was excellent with many people commenting that it was one of the best team building days they had ever had. Pictures in the gallery...
16 July
Another regular booking. Will was at Eastbourne Technology College leading circus workshops as part of their Venture Week. Pictures should be uploaded to their website shortly so check out the link below.
www.etc-sch.com
8 July
Kate was asked by the Creative Programmer for London 2012 Cultural Olympiad to lead a session on festivals working with universities today at the launch event for the 2012 Education Programme. The event was held at the University of Winchester and attended by delegates from across the SE region.
www.london2012.com
27 June
For the 5th year running Will was at Blatchington Mill School in Hove today running taster sessions for the new Year 7 students.
www.blatchingtonmill.org.uk
25 June
Will had a constructive meeting at Thomas Peacocke Community College in Rye this morning. He will be providing drama workshops for them and for the new primary school that opens in September as part of the Rye Festival. Discussions also took place about us developing a children's carnival next year for the festival.
www.thomaspeacocke.co.uk
19 June
The 4th Eastbourne Children's Carnival took place today. Kate began the carnival in 2004 as part of her role as the Community Arts Development Officer for Cavendish & Ratton Schools in Eastbourne. This year the event, which takes place along Eastbourne's seafront, was funded by Awards for All which allowed for the very welcome addition of Brighton Samba Band Carnival Collective who lead the parade.
14 June
The finale of the FUSE Medway festival saw Kate breathe a sigh of relief today after three jam packed weekends of street arts, carnival, exhibitions, outdoor performance and much more. The final event was Periplum's spectacular performance of Arquiem at Rochester Castle which was attended by over 500 people.
www.periplum.co.uk
Will also had a busy day today as he unleashed his inner gimp! Performing as part of the FUSE street arts day on Gillingham High Street, Pillow Fight Cup was released onto the Medway streets. The event was covered by Kent online (see below).
www.kentonline.co.uk
3 - 6 June
This was Batemans week for Cassandra, our drama expert, who provided two intensive devising days for Yr 10 students at Robertsbridge Community College. The students then went on to perform at Bateman's for two nights to great acclaim. Keep your eyes peeled for photos in our gallery...
31 May
Kate has a few busy weeks ahead of her as the festival she manages in Medway gets underway today. The FUSE Medway Festival is a 15-day celebration of arts and creativity that is different, diverse and daring. Check out the website for more details...
www.fusefestival.org.uk
27 - 29 May
Will was joined by William Pulleine to run the holiday circus workshops at the De La Warr. The course proved to be extremely popular again and further bookings have been made for the summer. William has also recently auditioned for The Circus Space so we wish him the best of luck!
www.thecircusspace.co.uk
24 May
Graham fulfilled our first booking on behalf of Peter Pinner Entertainments today running circus workshops for a Family Fun Day in Eastbourne.
www.peterpinnerentertainments.co.uk
15 May
Confirmation received today that we will be working alongside Yr 10 students from Robertsbridge Community College to create a physical theatre piece inspired by the life of Rudyard Kipling. The piece will be performed at Kipling's house, Bateman's as part of a bigger event called The Way Through the Woods organised by Heathfield Community College.
The performances will take place on 5 & 6 June 2008 from 7pm at Bateman's, Burwash, Etchingham, E. Sussex, TN19 7DS.
Tickets available from Bateman's and Heathfield Community College. Adults £5, Children £3.50
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
www.heathfieldcc.e-sussex.sch.uk
www.robertsbridge.org.uk
14 May
Kate met with the Eastbourne Festival team today to discuss future plans for the event. The festival has recently been handed over from Eastbourne Borough Council to the new Eastbourne Festival Community Interest Company. Kate will now be working with the festival as an Arts Consultant in order to develop its potential, realise its aims and source funding.
The Eastbourne Festival 2009 is scheduled to take place from 11 - 26 April.
www.eastbournefestival.co.uk
13 May
Arts Council Spring Briefings today. This provided an opportunity to meet with Carolyn Murphy the Arts Development Officer for Crawley Borough Council and discuss the forthcoming People's Circus project which we are currently developing. Carolyn confirmed that the Hawth would very much like to become one of the partners for the project alongside the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill and the Brook Theatre, Chatham.
The Hawth Online
12 May
Booking from a new client today. Kate, Will and Graham will be providing Carnival and Circus activities for over 70 adults as part of The Hastings and St Leonards Excellence Cluster team building day in July.
www.hstlexc.net
09 May
The Rye Arts Festival has been in touch to ask us to provide educational workshops for two schools in the town as part of the festival celebrations. Meeting to be arranged between ourselves and the schools to discuss further in due course. The 2008 festival will take place from 13 - 28 September.
www.ryefestival.co.uk