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
Once again in 2018 we have a fantastic range of community led music events in Eltham this July. Ranging from jazz, folk, classical and rock , there is music in pubs, parks , churches and the town centre and local streets. All ages are catered for .There is even a Band for Babies event !
Project with local schools and community groups. Encouraging groups to draw/paint on brick size cardboard on the theme of WALLs. These will be incorporated into an installation in the SE9 Container Gallery and elsewhere .
Singer/song writers were challenged to write and perform their songs around the WALL theme.
Based around the theme of Francis Hodgson Burnett’s book we are working with Eltham Library to developing an outside garden area of the Eltham centre as play and art space. Art works will be developed along with part of the planting. This is dependent on agreement from the building owners. GLL have expressed support for the project
Photographer Sandra Marques looks at the cellular structure of plants. We are considering how this may interface with the secret garden project. Exhibition at the SE9 Container Gallery (Sept/Oct 2018) .
This innovative gallery , designer built from shipping containers, is in the Grounds on St Thomas More Secondary School, Eltham has been booked from 22nd Sept 2018 for four weeks. We are delighted that we will have the opportunity for four Saturdays to have an installation and exhibition of works from the projects and film generated by the project. There may also be other events organised in the gallery during the show.
This will be a film to explore some of the issues raised by the WALL theme and document the project. Gaynor will work with photographer Robert Piwko
Eltham Arts 