JOIN US! Creative Networking Evening, 15 March

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Book your FREE place via Eventbrite (click here) or by ringing Eltham Library on 020 3915 4347.

Date: Wednesday 15 March 2023

Time: 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

Location: Eltham Library, Archery Road, Eltham, London SE9 1HA (Google maps)

Are you looking to connect with like-minded individuals in your community? Would you like to expand your creative circle? If yes, then mark your calendars for 15 March and join us for a Creative Networking Evening at Eltham Library!

This free event is for anyone who is interested in the arts in Eltham and the surrounding areas within the Royal Borough of Greenwich – whether you are an artist, writer, musician, designer, or any other creative, be it professional, amateur or hoping to start, all are welcome, all ages. It is an opportunity for you to connect, collaborate, and share information about your work or interests with fellow creatives.

  • The evening will kick off at 6.30pm with the Eltham Arts AGM open to all, when you can expect to hear about what Eltham Arts has been up to.
  • A free wellbeing activity, as a taste of the wellbeing resource being launched (see below)
  • This will be followed by the launch of the Breathing Space zine, a wellbeing resource arising from the recent RGB-funded project. You can read about the Breathing Space project here.
  • Afterwards, there will be a Networking Session where you can mingle and get to know other creatives in the room. Refreshments, including some delicious light bites, will be provided to keep the conversation flowing.

So, whether you are a seasoned creative professional or hoping to start out, we encourage you to come along, make new connections and expand your creative network.

Please do book your free place so that we know numbers for the evening, especially the catering – thank you! – via Eventbrite (click here) or by ringing Eltham Library on 020 3915 4347.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Arts and Wellbeing Week

Community, Eltham, Festival

Well, lots of people enjoyed the Eltham Arts ‘Arts & Wellbeing Week’ during 16 – 23 July 2022.
The week consisted of the Creating Connections exhibition, shadow puppetry workshop and lots of other creative activities during the week in the library.

The week ended with a day of music in Passey Place where the local musicians played songs on the theme of Joy and Nostalgia for the Eltham Arts Music Challenge 2022.

More details of the week’s busy schedule and the fantastic participants on our Events page.

You can WATCH a flavour of that fabulous arty week in the video here, including some of those musical performances on that sunny, hazy day…

https://youtu.be/qPgPCzWE-UE

Creating Connections

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At Eltham Arts, we are proud to present our new project “Creating Connections”. This is an opportunity for the entire local community to get involved to inspire others and to be inspired.

The project has been funded by Arts Council England to work with young children and senior citizens of SE9 area to address their wellbeing needs through arts. Read more …

Our project Update – The younger members have taken inspiration from the letters they received and have created their shadow puppetry stories! We hope to put these stories into a small animation/film in the new year and share it with the community through our digital platforms. We are also aware that many members of the community may not have digital access. So, to encourage their participation, we collaborated with Eltham library and hosted letter reading workshops over the phone. We are also planning to share our final outcome in a live event in February if the situation permits. Letters received through the project will be archived in the library for all members of the community to access.

We will be uploading few more letters during the Christmas break. So if you know someone – a neighbour, a friend or someone in your family who has been struggling with isolation, then pick up the phone and read them a letter. A letter can bring a smile and make someone’s day. We hope the letters bring some cheer to those who might not be able to see family and friends this Christmas.

Wish you all a calm, relaxed and safe Christmas. May the New Year bring new beginnings, hopes and aspirations for a better future.

Here is a lovely letter from one of our young writers …

Revisiting Wall

Revisiting Wall

Revisiting Wall Logo

We hope you all are keeping safe and sane in these difficult times. We are determined to maintain our community arts group, Eltham Arts, which relies wholly on volunteers and want to make our own contribution to living with the current challenges.

We have decided to Revisit the Wall and develop creative responses to the ongoing situation. Please join in.

We want you to tell us – How do walls feel around you? Have they changed lately? Do they bond you or are they more isolating?

Read more on our new Revisiting Wall page …..

Eltham’s arty summer

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Hope you managed to enjoy some of the great summer events in and around Eltham!

Just some of the events we’ve loved included:

•  the many events at the Eltham Centre Library, Severndroog Castle, Queenscroft Park and our other lovely parks and venues
•  June’s South East London Textile Festival at Woodlands Farm
•  July’s Eltham Park Festival
•  the Greenwich & Docklands International Festival events in Eltham
•  July’s Eltham Festival arts performances at Passey Place

Photo-Stall-MiriamPragyaOther-
South East London Textile Festival at Woodlands Farm, June 2019

The Eltham Arts Team is busy with exciting future plans – we’ll keep you posted. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay in touch.

EA-Team-June2019
Just some of the Eltham Arts team meeting earlier this year

Meanwhile, next up is this year’s Elthamread – the book is Bookworm by Lucy Mangan. Lucy will be visiting Eltham library on Tues 29th October, put the date in your diary and join in!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !

Community, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Wall Project

With 2018 coming to an end and our annual Festive Singalong at the Eltham Centre now completed it is time to look back at the year

It has certainly been an amazing year with our WALL project which started in 2017 (with the New Eltham Mural) and has run all this year involving over 2000 people of all ages !

The Writing on a Wall creative writing competition fired the creative imagination of our community producing hundreds of short stories and poems on the theme of Walls in our Lives and an awards night on World Book Night which filled Eltham library ! A book with a selection of entries will be out very soon.

We organised another Song Challenge this year on the WALL theme and the singer/songwriters were even more in number . The July day in Passey Place ‘Songs Across a Wall ‘ was enjoyed by all the community as friends, families and shoppers all stopped to congratulate and listen to the performers . What musical talent we have !

The award winning film on the walls and barriers to working class actors ‘The Acting Class’ by Inside Film was screened in March 2018 at Bob Hope Theatre, Eltham. This ended with a lively debate

All year the local community have joined together to produce bricks ! Not any old bricks , but works of art from cardboard shaped bricks, ceramics, mosaics, glass, crochet. knitted and resin. Almost a thousand of these  were made into a Community Wall in the SE9 Container Gallery . It was magnificent. The exhibition of the WALL project with the community wall, photography , ceramics and textiles was the highlight of the project , bringing together all the aspects of the project.

We have continued to support and celebrate all local creative groups and individuals through social media and attending events . The Life in Eltham column in the Greenwich Visitor spreads the word all over the borough as well.

It has been hard work for all the team and not without difficulties and problems , but with so much local enthusiasm and support we have reached the end of the year! What will 2019 bring?

Happy Christmas and a happy and creative New Year to all our network!

from Gaynor

Invitation to WALL Exhibition!

Community, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Wall Project

You are invited to the opening event of the WALL Project !

An exhibition by Eltham Arts

 A multi media project involving the Eltham Community

Is a WALL a barrier? A connector? The exhibition is the voice and the vision of our community.

The exhibition reflects the different projects that have come together over the last year. It has caught the imagination of the whole community. People of all ages have created bricks using various media, photographic displays, artworks in glass and resin, a mosaic and a fabric hanging. The wonderful Community Wall will be built in the gallery with bricks created by individuals and groups reflecting what our local community has to say. The exhibition explores what WALLS mean to us in our lives.

The opening event takes place:

on Saturday 22nd September 2018
at The SE9 Container Gallery, St Thomas More School, Footscray Rd, Eltham SE9 2SU
from 11am to 3pm
There will be refreshments!
WallBanner
We will also be celebrating the Five Year Anniversary of Eltham Arts.
RSVP for the opening event. If you are unable to attend on that day, the exhibition will be open to the public on the following three Saturdays ( 29th Sept and 6th and 13th Oct) from 10am to 4pm

Hope you can come along and celebrate the creativity of our Eltham Community.

PrepWallExhibit

 

Eltham Arts 2013-2018 Connecting the Community through the Arts

Community, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Newsletter, Uncategorized, , ,

Eltham Arts was founded by Gaynor Wingham in Aug 2013 following a successful community poetry competition ‘Celebrate Eltham in Verse’ which highlighted what a proud and creative community lives in Eltham and the SE9 area.2014-GaynorInLibraryBookLaunch

The aim was to connect the community through the arts. It has been a huge success and it is a good time to reflect and celebrate the last five years of Eltham Arts.  A small team of unpaid volunteers have achieved all of this with the support and love from the local community.

Creative Community Challenges

  • 2013 A Celebration of Eltham in Verse – Local writers invited to write poems to celebrate Eltham, Awards event for all ages on World Book Night. A published book with a book launch. An exhibition of entries:2014-BookCover-CelebrationElthamInVersePoetry
  • 2014 Tales of Eltham – Local writers invited to write short stories on the theme of ‘Eltham’ Awards event for all ages on World Book Night. A published book with a book launch. An exhibition of entries:Tales of Eltham front cover
  • 2015 Postcards from Eltham – Local artists invited to design a postcard about Eltham. Awards event for all ages on World Book Night. Published postcards. An exhibition of entries: PostcardsExhib
  • 2016 Eltham Arts Song Challenge – Local singer/songwriters invited to write and perform songs on the theme of ‘Winter’. Album produced and launched ‘Aspects of Winter – the Eltham Collection’. End of session 1
  • 2017 Eltham Arts Song Challenge – local singer/songwriters invited to write and perform songs on the theme of ‘a culinary nature’. Album produced and launched ‘A Plateful of Songs – the Eltham Menu’ GV-Article-EA-CD-Launch
  • 2018 Writing on a Wall – Local writers invited to write poems and short stories on the theme of WALLs in our lives. Awards night for all ages on World Book Night
  • 2018 Eltham Arts Song Challenge – Songs Across a Wall. Local singer/songwriters invited to write and perform songs on the theme of ‘WALL’ All day live music event in Passey Place, Eltham High St

 Eltham Arts Winter Festivals

  • For 23 days in November 2015 and 2016 produced two wonderful festivals with involvement of a huge number of local groups and individuals from Eltham and SE9. In 2015 there were over 120 events and over 150 in 2016. With music, theatre, exhibitions, an art trail, roving poets and many other events.
  • The Winter Festival involved thousands of local people in organising and attending events in their local area and to feel part of a thriving community
  • Terrific opening events in Passey Place and closing events in the White Hart pub. A great success.
  • Eltham Arts organised a wonderful professional opera evening in 2016 as part of the Festival photostableau

 Eltham Music Festival in Passey Place and July is … Eltham Music Month

  • 2014 Eltham Music Festival – Four Saturdays of live music in July by local musicians and choirs. Eltham Arts designed and publicised the programme with Royal Greenwich Regeneration staff
  • 2015, 2016 and 2017 Three Saturdays of live music in July by local musicians and choirs. Eltham Arts designed the programme with Royal Greenwich Regeneration staff and provided most of the publicity!
  • 2016 and 2017 ‘July is … Eltham Music Month’ programme drawn up and promoted with music events organised all over Eltham, including in the parks, pubs, heritage buildings and churches. The 2016 programme was supported by Eltham Ward Councillor funding. MuiscFest-Collage-Performers

 Xmas Festive Fun

  • 2015, 2016, 2017 Charity Carol singing in the Eltham Centre
  • 2014, 2015 Charity Carol singing in the White Hart Pub
  • 2014 Step in Christmas musical event. A first Xmas event for the newly reopened Severndroog Castle with Eldorado Extra. 24-XmasSingalong

 Arts talks and conference

  • 2014 Eltham Entertains – Five evenings of excellent talks and discussions on arts topics in Eltham Library
  • 2014 to date Linked authors to talk at Eltham Library and promoted local authors.
  • 2014 ‘Developing the Arts in Eltham. Free conference for the community with speakers and workshop groups to develop the Five Big Ideas.

    Eltham Arts Conference workshops
    Conference attendees discussing creativity in Eltham

 

Wall project 2017/2018 – multi media project involving all the community

  • Over the Wall and Far Away – mural on vacant shopfront in New Eltham which became the focal point for their Xmas lights celebrations
  • The Acting Class films. Organised a showing of an award-winning film at Bob Hope Theatre about class barriers in the acting profession
  • Writing on a Wall – creative writing competition. Poetry and short stories all ages. Awards night
  • Songs Across a wall challenge. Invited singer/songwriters to write songs on a WALL theme. All day event July 2018 in Passey Place Eltham
  • Bricks on the Wall – inviting the community to be part of a community wall project. Bricks produced in all types of media by all ages. Organised first Arts Award for y1 pupils at Haimo School.
  • WALL exhibition planned Sept/Oct at SE9 Container Gallery HungryTums-Progress-team

Support for local groups / individuals /regeneration

  • Set up a large arts network all over Eltham and SE9 for individuals to make links
  • Provides venues and information and a platform to enable musicians to showcase and build a business.
  • Social Media support to celebrate and promote what’s going on in Eltham and the SE9 area, Eltham arts local network members and businesses. Over 3200 twitter followers and active Facebook account. Newsletters, leaflets and posters.
  • Raised money for local and national charities and supported local fundraisers.
  • Eltham Arts awards 2016 to the White Hart, Eltham Library and SE9 Container Gallery.
  • ‘Life in Eltham’ monthly arts column in the Greenwich Visitor by Gaynor Wingham since Dec 2013 and features by Gaynor and others.
  • Partners in the redevelopment and regeneration of Eltham High St. Supported the development of Passey Place for community use.
  • Partners in community projects (e.g. Age Uk B&G Silver Sunday Yarnstorming )
  • Worked with the local police to organise the Eltham Park Festival in July 2017, bringing arts and music to the festival
  • Links with Eltham New Zealand since 2013. Hosted guests Sept 2017 and they have also organised similar projects inspired by us in their community to celebrate Eltham in Verse and the WALL project. Linked the two libraries in the UK and NZ.
  • Membership of GAVS, South Greenwich Forum and Eltham Town Centre partnership.
  • Set up stalls with free activities at local festivals
  • The Eltham Arts team attend many events provided by local partners, using social media to promote.
  • Help individuals to set up social media and support their initiatives
  • Encourage fun and creativity in Eltham and SE9IMG_4910

Songs Across a Wall – live event Sat 21st July at Passey Place, Eltham programme announced!

Community, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Wall Project

2018 July Music Month WALL event

ELTHAM ARTS SONGS ACROSS A WALL

PASSEY PLACE – 21ST JULY 2018

10.15 AM  DANIEL RUSSELL “Bridges over Walls”

10.30AM   JIM PARRY  ‘Once Upon a Wall Medley’

10.50AM   MARTIN GUHA  ‘I’m watching you’

11.10AM   JOANNA GIRDLESTONE ‘Thru the Lines’

11.30AM   CAROLINE KNOTT  ‘Walls (Too high to climb.. low enough to trip over’)..

11.50AM   ELEN BLANEY ‘You Must Decide’.

12.10PM   DAVID FOWLER  ‘Empty Towers’

12.30PM  INDIAN DANCE LED BY ARCHANA PATIL

12.50PM   ANGELA MCCARRON ‘Back To The Wall’.

1.10PM     TONY CLARKE  ‘Map of the world on her wall’

1.30PM     MARIANNE-ROSE TOVEY (LEXY) ‘Tongue And Groove’.

1.50PM     CON MALONEY ‘Billy’

2.10PM     JIM RADFORD ‘Walls of Fear’

2.30PM     KEITH FERRIS  ‘All Life Is There’,

2.50PM     ALAN CUMMINGS/LITTLE BEACH “Let The Walls Come Down”.

3.10PM     DAVE KENNINGHAM AND

ZAHIRA AL-ZAHIRA ‘The Wall’

3.30PM     LIAM FITZPATRICK ‘Across A Wall’

3.50PM     RON RICHARDSON ‘Blood on the Wall’.

4.10PM    INDIAN DANCE LED BY ARCHANA PATIL

4.30PM    FINALE