Tag Archives: Eltham

WALL Project is being built!

Creative Writing, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Wall Project, ,

WALL – Our exciting community multimedia project for 2017/2018  

This project has a number of elements and is including the whole community in areas of creativity.

Bricks on the Wall

PlainPhotoBrickWallProject 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 .

We have heard from one primary school that they are planning to make ceramic bricks , which can then be installed on a wall on the school after the project . Other schools are now involved and planning exciting activities and brickmaking.

We now have mosaic , knitted , embroidered and crocheted bricks. A real mix of material and creative talent. El Recreo, our Eltham Spanish group are planning a fabric installation.

Free creative workshops are being organised at the Eltham Centre for all ages .so everyone can make a brick and be involved. These are family workshops and suitable for all ages .

Eltham library : 16th Feb and 31st May 2018 from 10.30 to 12.30am and 21 June 10.30 to 12

New Eltham Library : Sat 28th April 2018 from 2 to 4pm

Leading: Pragya Kumar and John Wingham

Writing on a Wall

Photo for WOAW publicity 5

 A short story and poetry creative writing challenge. This is on the theme of WALLS around us.  This is an exciting topic which encourages people to think about the walls around them and be inspired to express themselves creatively in prose or poetry. It may be a wall on a house or historic building, a wall dividing cultures or a personal wall within which inspires you to write. A great opportunity for all ages to be involved .

FREE Workshops were run by John Paul O’Neill to support the project and inspire everyone to join in and write a poem or a short story. These were at Eltham Library on 30th January 2018 ( Write a poem/short story – workshop  for adults) and on 3 Feb 2018 2 (Write a poem. Family wokrshop for all ages). These workshops were very successful !

Poems and short stories have now been completed and there were a high level of excellent. entries. The celebratory event with an exhibition and awards took place on  World Book Night 23rd April 2018 at Eltham library and was a great success with over 300 people attending . There were awards for children and adults. We were also entertained by the local Eltham ‘Make a Noise’ Choir The exhibition of a range of entries was on display at Eltham and New Eltham libraries

It is planned that a selection of entries will published in a book of the same name.

Writing on A Wall flyer Eltham Arts PDF

Leading: Gaynor Wingham and Miriam Storey

 

Songs across a Wall 

guitar-onWallSinger/song writers were challenged to write and perform their songs around the WALL theme.

We are planning a whole day of WALL songs as part of the Eltham Music Festival in Passey Place , Eltham High St on 21st July 2017. This will give a showcase of local talent. We may also have other events at local venues where singer/songwriters will have an opportunity to perform.

We have produced CD’s in 2016 (Aspects of Winter) and 2017 (A Plateful of Songs) of songs from our challenges , which have been an excellent opportunity for publicity for individuals and the Eltham Arts network.  We may be able to produce a CD this time .

 

Leading: Zahira al Zahira and Dave Kenningham

 

The Secret Story Garden 

SecretGardenBased 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

Leading: Miriam Storey

 

Green Walls

plantCellsPhotographer 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) .

Leading: Pragya Kumar (liaising with Sandra Marques)

My Wall

Liz Isitor

“My Wall” is a project by photographer Elizabeth Itisor. She aims to capture stories of local people by taking pictures of them against walls. Her final work will result in an exhibition in SE9 Container Gallery.

Leading: Pragya Kumar (liaising with Elizabeth Itisor)

 

Walls from the Water (The Foundation of Time) 

IMAG7027

Creative project from found objects (many bricks!) from mudlarking on the River Thames foreshore. No one is sure what will be created but it will be interesting and different! This is an 1860’s brick found at Greenwich from our WALL project display in the Eltham Centre (Nov 2017) . It was the star of the display and a talking point. Dave is an now expert on bricks!

Leading: Dave Kenningham

 

Over the Wall and Far away : New Eltham shopfront Mural

Mural on a vacant shopfront commissioned by NEBA (New Eltham Business Association). Completed Aug 2017 entitled ‘Over the Wall and Far Away ‘

A fantastic improvement (and talking point) loved by the community. Well done team !

We were delighted and proud that the New Eltham Lights Up community event on 27th Nov 2017 was staged right by the mural with local children carol singing and the lights being turned on by James Serjeant , Headteacher of Wyborne Primary School !

New Eltham Lights up 2

Leading: Pragya Kumar, John Wingham and Zahira Al Zahira

 

WALL Exhibition at the SE9 Container Gallery

SE9 Container GalleryThis 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.

Leading: John Wingham and Pragya Kumar

The Acting Class – film screening 

Eltham Arts were delighted to host a screening of ‘The Acting Class’ at Bob Hope Theatre as a part of their WALL project on Wed 21st Feb 2018 . This film which focused on the class barriers within the acting profession led to a lively Q and A with the Directors , Tom Stocks and Labour politician Trevor Macfarlane. A good evening with a thought provoking film.

The Acting Class (D.O’Neill & M.Wayne, 2017, 77mins)

All the world’s a stage but not all the players are equal. When Tom Stocks, a young man from Bolton has to turn down a chance to study at the East 15 drama school because he cannot afford the fees, he sets up a campaign to highlight socio-economic exclusion in the arts. Tom is not alone. Actors from working class backgrounds are struggling to get in and get on in an industry stacked against them. Established actors worry about where the next generation of talent from modest backgrounds is going to come from. Christopher Eccleston, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Maxine Peake and Samuel West are among those who feature in this film talking about the barriers to success. And this is an issue not just for those who see their dreams thwarted because they do not have the ‘bank of mom and dad’ to back them.  Who gets to be on our stages and screens matters to all of us. Whose stories get told, what images we have of ourselves, who we think ‘we’ are, helps shape our individual and national identities.

Awarded Best UK Feature Film by the Labour Film festival 2017.

Leading: Gaynor Wingham liaising with Inside Film 

 

Wall – the Film

Wall-Camera-woman-CaptureThis 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

Filming has started and the film will evolve over the next 6/9 months. documenting projects but also exploring wider issues in our community.  We are planning the film will be shown at the SE9 Container Gallery and elsewhere

Leading: Gaynor Wingham

 

Email elthamarts@aol.co.uk for more information or to discuss a project. or through the website contact.

 

 

Eltham Arts in 2016

Since last year’s successful Winter Festival, the Eltham Arts committee has been busy planning its activity for 2016.

Winter Song CD
Some of you may remember we organised a Winter Song Competition as part of the festival, in which songwriters performed their songs at the finale at The White Hart on Eltham High Street, on 22 November. We’re pleased to let you know that we are planning to record a CD of the 10 Winter Festival songs, which will be available to buy in due course.

Winter Festival 2016
We’re also delighted to announce that the second Eltham Arts Winter Festival will take place between 29 October-20 November 2016.

We’re working on the format now, so if you have any creative ideas, or would like to be involved, do let us know.

Eltham Arts postcard competition a success

Eltham, , , , , , ,

More the 300 Eltham locals displayed their creative talents for Eltham Arts’ latest competition – ‘A postcard from Eltham’, and winners were announced at a celebratory event on 23 April.

Local community group Eltham Arts was delighted with the number and standard of entries for its latest ‘A Postcard from Eltham’ competition, which challenged locals to design a postcard showing the town as an attractive and creative place to live, work or visit.

Two rigorous rounds of judging were carried out and on 23 April, the competition culminated in an awards ceremony at the Eltham Centre Library, where prizes were awarded in various categories:

WINNERS

Adult winners

First prize

Emily Tyrrell – If you go down to the woods…

First prize

Himani Weir – Where shall we go today?

Second prize

David Kelly – Eltham Hostelries

Second prize

Peter Roper – Eltham Views

Second prize

Sylvia Currey – Tudor Barn Reflexions

Third prize

Pauline Cahill – The Eltham Crossword

12 – 18 age group winners

First prize

Gemma Pellegrinetti – All Aboard the Eltham Bus

Second prize

Natalia Drake-Perello – Memories from Eltham

Third prize

Prize Siobhan Samuel

7-11 age group winners

First prize

Cameron Wren – The Eltham Centre

First prize

Annie Gadd – My Castle

Second prize

Oliver Jackson – Greetings from Eltham

Third prize

Ayesha Faquiri – Eltham

Under 7 age group winners

First prize

Seth Jayawardhena – Severndroog Castle

Second prize

Jay Kumar – Arts in my school

Third prize

Lola Weir – A Windy Day at Severndroog

Commenting on the competition, Gaynor Wingham, chair of Eltham Arts, said: “We were delighted with the response from adults and children to the challenge to design a Postcard from Eltham. The entries were really diverse celebrating Eltham today but showing a love of our fantastic Eltham heritage. With well over 300 entries the judges had quite a task and this is reflected in how many awards were given. Eltham now has some great postcards. We would like to thank everyone who has been involved in making this competition and community event such a success.”

The postcards will very soon be exhibited and on sale locally to showcase the local talent and creativity.

Eltham Arts has so far run a series of initiatives to celebrate the creativity in Eltham, including short story contest ‘Tales of Eltham’ and ‘Eltham in Verse’, which challenged locals to write poetry. Visit www.elthamarts.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for details on these initiatives and more.

Our story for Remembrance Day

This short story was one of our award winners in our Tales of Eltham competition. The author said it was inspired by the Eltham War Memorial, St John’s Church , Eltham High Street. It is a moving story.

REMEMBER
by Ann Tolladay

When he and his brothers finished at Roper Street school, he felt such pride when he was taken on as an under gardener at Eltham Palace. Bill was working in the post office in Passey Place and Eddy worked in the bank at the cross roads.

On a Friday they would meet up for a pint or two at the Greyhound pub. One night it was so crowded they went round the corner to The Rising Sun and there she was, fate had put the love of his life in front of him, all blond hair and blue eyes. They got talking and to his surprise she agreed to met him the next afternoon.

The Tarn could not have looked better, sun lush greens and flowers. Their feelings for each other blossomed too, they married at St. Johns Church and a year later the twins were born. They lived very contently in a two up two down in Sun Yard. Money was short, but his wife and children gave him a life full of love.

Now he lay here in the mud soaking wet cold and yes angry. The anger welled up in him, the destruction and carnage they were causing must be stopped. It was for the love of what he had left behind, for little families like his that he was prepared to do this terrible thing. The whistle sounded then the movement of men going over the top like a great unstoppable wave. At that moment he knew that what ever his fate, in one part of London what he had planted would continue to grow and even in a hundred years time people would remember and be proud of the sacrifice they were making .

Our Tales of Eltham book is launched!

With a hundred people attending the book launch at Eltham library on Saturday it was standing room only ! What great support for our community short story book Tales of Eltham, with over 90 short stories on subjects as diverse as love, loss, pantomime horses, ghosts and funerals for goldfish . Such a range of stories based on the theme of ‘An Eltham Experience’ has created a lovely book written by children and adults who live in the area or know Eltham well. With many authors being prepared to read their stories at the launch we were moved by some stories and laughed at others. What a great creative community we have in Eltham!

If you would like a copy of the book Tales of Eltham , copies are available at Eltham Library or email elthamarts@aol.co.uk

Tales of Eltham front cover

Five Big Ideas !

The Creative Eltham conference on 18th October was a great success. Fantastic networking and enthusiasm for developing the arts in Eltham.The five workshops were asked to come up with ideas on their ‘themes’ and then to select a BIG IDEA. These are the Five Big Ideas. People went away with lots of ideas that they were going to implement themselves. We will write a longer report of the conference , as we do not want to lose sight of the discussion and other good ideas . However, now we need everyone (Royal Greenwich Council, local arts groups, individual artists, events organisers, businesses ,venues and the community) to show their commitment , look at the Five Big Ideas and think about the future. Together we now need to see how we can take them forward.

PUBLICITY AND MARKETING
Publicity in Passey Place that promotes the arts and events in Eltham, which is able to be used by any local organisation. This should ideally be managed by the council and could be a digital board. Also an opportunity for a piece of local art to be displayed, similar to the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

BUSINESS AND REGENERATION
A four-week Eltham Arts Festival, perhaps as part of the Greenwich and Docklands Festival. An attractively-produced programme for the month, funded by adverts for local businesses, and incorporating as many events and venues as possible over Eltham. This would encourage performances and exhibitions in public and open spaces. This would also encourage businesses to be part of the Festival both by having events in their premises (e.g. open mics in pubs) and by bringing their produce (e.g. pie and mash/curry) onto the street alongside arts displays and performances.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Making the arts more ‘portable’, like the university theatre project and also marketing arts as a health benefit to both health professionals and potential users. Maybe a GP surgery (or new community hospital) could pilot promoting local arts groups and activities and forge closer links with a local group. Arts on prescription?

FUNDING AND DEVELOPMENT
Building a structure around Eltham Arts. The big question being whether Eltham Arts wants to remain a community group which continues to respond to local artistic development and opportunities or, if it wants to be a bigger player which can attract larger funding pots.

ARTS FOR ALL
A ‘pop-up’ tour of Eltham, with art displays and performing arts along the way e.g. drama in Passey Place; music in the parks; art in cafes and restaurants or a photo exhibition. Artists could be invited to add to a display, which could then be auctioned. Pop-up shop where artists can sell their products.

Creative connections

Eltham Arts Conference workshops
Conference attendees discussing creativity in Eltham

More than 70 locals met on 18 October for ‘Creative Eltham – Developing the Arts’ – a conference designed to showcase the creativity and passion for the arts in Eltham.

Organised by Eltham Arts, the conference was held at The Friendship Centre in Glenure Road, and featured an afternoon of arts-related discussion and activity. The event began with three keynote speakers, the first of which was Miranda Williams, cabinet member for Culture and Creative Industries, Royal Greenwich Council. Williams said that Eltham has a “thriving arts community, which the council is keen to support”.

She detailed arts activity supported and undertaken by the council in Eltham so far this year, which included the summer music festival at Passey Place, organised in association with Eltham Arts. Williams agreed that activity such as this “helps to animate our town centres and provides opportunities for artists and audiences to come together and promote community events.” Williams concluded by encouraging local arts organisations to apply for the council’s Community Arts Fund. “The fund encourages partnerships between established organisations and the community, and I encourage you to apply,” she said. She also recommended listing arts events and organisations on the council’s directory.

Apply for Greenwich Council’s Arts Fund.

Dr Heather Lilley, senior lecturer drama, University of Greenwich, then took the stage to discuss reminiscence theatre – a technique that involves producing pieces of theatre from memories. In 2012, the university acquired an archive of reminiscence theatre productions created between 1983 and 2005, and have been using them with their students ever since. The material is used to create theatre from memories with the elderly in mind, which inspires audiences to link back to a time when their lives were perhaps fuller and involved new experiences. This type of theatre also encourages interaction between young and old people.

As a result of the work undertaken, the university has toured nine care homes in Greenwich and Woolwich, and hopes to extend this initiative. “It’s purely a positive experience for both groups,” said Lilley. “The performers and audience chat afterwards, and have a meaningful conversation prompted by particular subjects in performance, not just stories, real memories, real lives. There is a real responsibility to students to express the memories as authentically and as truthfully as possible.” Lilley encouraged attendees to visit the (free to access) archive and use the material. “There’s no reason why reminiscence theatre cannot be brought to Eltham,” she said.

The final speaker of the afternoon was Amy Ash, learning and participation curator at the Gerald Moore Gallery. Ash explained that although the gallery operates in collaboration with the school, it’s also a service to the community. She detailed several projects that have been undertaken by the gallery this year, which included a weekly arts outreach programme facilitated by Eltham College’s sixth form students, where local primary schools were visited. “We’ve already seen a difference in engagement here,” said Ash. The gallery also facilitated a series of talks which culminated in an exhibition, and are working with local organiastions (including Eltham Arts) to create other new opportunities for the community.

After some networking, attendees broke into groups to discuss several areas affecting the arts: health and wellbeing; business and regeneration; funding and development; publicity and marketing and arts for all. The discussions were then summaried and fed back to the whole group, and will form a blueprint for Eltham Arts’ activity going forward.

View photos from the Eltham Arts Conference.

The next Eltham Arts event will be the launch of our Tales of Eltham book after the successful short story competition earlier this year. The launch will take place on 1 November 2014 from 2.30pm at Eltham Library. For more details, contact us.