Tag: March

Let’s Imagine a Dragon!

Posted on by Lucy Amos

To discover what local residents want to see and take part in at St George’s Festival on 21 April 2024 in March, we delivered a creative consultation event called ‘Let’s Imagine a Dragon!’ Free and fun drop-in creative activities for all ages at March Library were designed to inspire play, creativity and imagination. We used the opportunity to showcase and celebrate this year’s festival, showing films featuring the parade dragon displayed in all its glory and including specially composed music by young people.

Residents were invited to interact with artists and designers including Ricki Outis, Carey Outis, Liz Falconbridge and Karin Forman at ten different stations and get hands-on with giant neon green chickens, willow crocodiles, giant skeletons, digital dragons, a poetry scavenger hunt, and more… 

Thomas Lawes, a Babylon Young Associate, showed how to draw and design your own dragon on an I-pad with Tag Tool, which could then join a ‘digital family of dragons’ projected onto the wall for all to see.

Several parents bringing their children to the library said they thought they would spend half an hour at the event, but ended up spending 3 hours, having fun themselves and watching their children dress up as mice and strawberries!

The day wasn’t just designed for children and families, it was a day which inspired everyone. Even those reluctant to take part couldn’t resist trying on Mandinga Arts’ magical puppet costumes and become someone else for a few minutes!

The young people from 20Twenty Productions came along and were hugely inspired by the creative activities, especially having fun dressing up as hyenas and zebras with Mandinga Arts. Charles, the puppet creator, was on hand to explain how the puppets were developed and made – from initial ideas, to mock ups, to the real deal!

People added their ideas for next year’s festival, as well as which activities they most enjoyed to maps created by artist Carey Outis and Beth Haysom from Babylon Arts. 

350 people came through the doors. It was wonderful to see everyone laughing, having fun and letting go in a safe, warm environment – on a very wet and windy day! 

The community voice is shaping our planning of creative activities for the festival. We are now pulling together ideas for pre-festival workshops and on-the-day activities based on feedback from local people such as let’s have:

  • Drawing and painting
  • Making dragons on the Ipad
  • Shadow puppets
  • Animated dragon drawings
  • Puppetry workshop with stuff to try on and do
  • Wildlife and dragon-inspired costumes
  • Dragon cake making
  • Storytelling
  • A choir
  • Escape room
  • Dragon egg rolling
  • Willow sculptures

‘Imagine a Dragon’ has already inspired the local secondary school to ask Mandinga Arts to put together workshops for them to create dragon heads for the parade next April.

“It was fun and amazing” – participant

“The day went brilliantly! There was so much laughter! Families seemed really engaged, even the ones that were a bit reluctant because of the word poetry’’ – Charley Genever, Poet

Many thanks to Fenland District Council and March Library for helping and hosting, and to our other partners on the St George’s Festival committee.

Peggy Mends, Creative Producer, Fenland

St George’s Day Creative Launch

Posted on by Lucy Amos

Join us at March Library on 4 November from 11:30 – 3pm to play, explore and have fun with free drop-in creative activities and live demos for all ages led by local artists at our Creative Launch for St George’s Festival, 2024.

Meet a mesmerising Mandinga Arts custom-made puppet creature and try on costumes. Join Carey Outis as he shows you how to make puppets from willow and invites you to paint your own section of his dragon drawing. Choose materials and fabric with Ricki Outis and develop your own ideas for a St George’s Day parade costume.

Create shadow puppets with Liz Falconbridge and Karin Forman. Interact with the books in the library with poet Charley Genever, and ‘find’ words to complete a special poem. Try out a Tag Tool activity and create your own digital artwork with MarketPlace’s Creative Producer Louise Eatock.

Post your thoughts on the ideas wall of what you would like to see and do for St George’s Festival next April. Tell us which activities you most enjoyed at the Creative Launch – and if you missed this year’s Festival you can enjoy filmed highlights – or relive your favourite moments!

St George’s Festival

Posted on by Lucy Amos

More than 5,000 people from the local community joined the St George’s Festival in March, Fenland on Sunday 23 April 2023. MarketPlace partnered with Fenland District Council, 20Twenty productions, March Library and Cambridgeshire Skills to organise the event, including a range of activities and performances staged by local artists and groups.

In the month-long run up, MarketPlace delivered creative projects and workshops for adults and young people within the community. Artist Ricki Outis visited 9 local groups including Scouts, Cubs and Beavers, Hereward Community Rail Partnership, Macmillan Fundraising Committee, the Recovery Café and Edgy Women, to run screen printing workshops where over 500 participants created scales to decorate the parade dragon. Many participants had never imagined they might be able to take part in this type of creative experience. “I have never seen the Cubs so engaged in an art activity’ said Scout Leader, Gary Barnett.

Two walking poetry workshops were organised with contemporary poet Charley Genever for members of the public. On the day she performed two poems at the start and end of the festival. 

Artist Cary Outis went around the town and drew his original dragon drawings on the windows of local shops, teasing the community into what was happening on St George’s Day. On the day, festival visitors drew their own dragons on the pavements while watching Cary draw a large dragon onto the window of the library.

Designed and created by the communities of Wisbech, Chatteris & March, the parade dragon became a magical moment of community creation and interaction, with the scales created in the workshops adorning the dragons’ bodies. The other MarketPlace activities throughout the day for families included storytelling with The Yarnsmith of Norwich, inspired by the dragon and medieval themes of the day, tote bag colouring, and a colouring competition.

“I’ve come to this event every year and this is the best it’s ever been”

A very successful St George’s Day Festival, showing how co-creation and co-operation with local organisations and community groups can work.

Kids Business

Posted on by Lucy Amos

Over a series of workshops, the Kids Business project enabled a group of young people in March to grow ideas, cultivate skills and create a new business, conjured up through their imagination. They came up with the entrepreneurial idea of escape sheds based on Harry Potter and Willy Wonka.

All the decisions were handed over to young people aged 5 – 15. They worked together in a creative environment across a range of ages and backgrounds. The project gave them space to think through ideas and select the nature of the business, making creative and practical decisions. The budding entrepreneurs were empowered to design and come up with wildly imaginative ideas. The project saw amazing young people designing, creating and running micro escape sheds in the town of March. 

“The creative space gave rise to friendships that can’t and don’t usually happen in the school situation“

With the decision to place the sheds in West Park, there was a great deal of curiosity and enthusiasm from members of the public passing through. The sheds were open to the public for two weekends, both of which were fully booked with a variety of family audiences, teenagers and young adults.

The project was playful with many creative aspects, but also combined with some serious learning curves about entrepreneurship and thinking about future aims and ambitions. The sense of ownership was a huge part of the success of the project – all the elements were thought through by the young people, including the key task of targeting certain audiences. Lots of work went into focusing on who their target audience were, and how they might make their escape sheds appealing to that audience.

Katherine Nightingale from 20Twenty Productions who co-created the project along with Hunt & Darton said: “This process of continual discussion and decision making was a genuine example of having young people have their say and being empowered to act on their voices being heard.”

“Creating new ideas and working with young people in our rural town settings is vital“

The young people openly said that the project had a positive impact on their daily lives, including family and school difficulties. It also helped them to think about their futures without fear. Parents were able to have some involvement too; some acted as a focus group where the young people pitched their ideas and invited them to vote for their favourite concept.

“The project allowed the young people to play within the structure and have fun being imaginative together. The creative space gave rise to friendships that can’t and don’t usually happen in the school situation – the intergenerational aspect of Kids Business with 5yr olds working with 14yr olds is delightful and so productive in terms of their learning how to work together.” – Hunt & Darton

“The project emphasised how important our work with young people is. Being able to offer new and varied projects that stimulate their minds and encourage them to interact with their community was brilliant. Creating new ideas and working with young people in our rural town settings is vital.” – 20Twenty Productions

The project was run by Hunt & Darton in partnership with 20Twenty Productions and commissioned by MarketPlace Creative People and Places.

#TinyDance comes to Fenland and Forest Heath

Posted on by Alice Cramer

Casson & Friends, an award-winning dance company based in London spent early Summer 2021 bringing their own unique style of dance and ‘people powered performance’ to our area. The goal? To speak to as many people as possible to create a dance inspired by what people love about where they live.

Dancers engaging with community members, especially young people, to create a bespoke dance for their towns and districts resulting in a Collaborative Choreography

The Community Producer POV

We asked Jodie Hicks, our Community Producer, to give her point of view about her summer worling with Casson & Friends.

Events in March, Wisbech, Brandon and Newmarket

Across four events in Fenland and West Suffolk two teams of dancers had the chance to engage with people of all ages, to dig deep and mine their thoughts and memories for choreography ideas and inspiration. It was a real joy to observe someone, with great animation, describe a cherished memory about their town or a certain place within it, and then to see the dancers transform these words into fluid movements. 

Casson & Friends brought their dance moves to Forest Heath in Brandon and Newmarket in August 2021, inspiring choreography moves with creative people in their creative places. Photography credit: Malachy Luckie.

A moment which stood out for me was at National Play Day at The Spinney Adventure Playground in Wisbech. Not only did the parents and children speak to the dancers, but they actually got involved physically to help create these moves alongside them.

On a couple of occasions, some of the children would correct the dancers and suggest their own alterations to more accurately capture what they loved about their hometown. The connections and collaborative process was a truly wonderful watch after we have all spent the past two years keeping distance from each other.

Slowly but surely, as each day would draw to a close, singular movements would grow into short sequences and in turn develop into a dance performance lasting a few minutes long. Alongside this, MarketPlace was  on hand to invite people to also write down thoughts, feelings and also  provide some suggestions for filming locations for the final stage of the project, producing a dance film. 

Casson & Friends dancers performing their finished #TinyDance in Fenland for the final film.
Filming day photography: Jodie Hicks.

Bringing the moves together…

After our days in March, Wisbech, Brandon and Newmarket the dance teams went away and explored all of the information they’d gathered, narrowed down the filming locations to just three in each town, (no easy task) and put all of the choreographed motions together to create two distinct dances for Fenland and Forest Heath. 

Casson & Friends dancers performing their finished #TinyDance in Forest Heath for the final film.
Filming day photography: Jodie Hicks.

All that was left to do was film it. Our travels took us to all sorts of places from racetracks to mausoleums, and even a castle. The #TinyDance teams accomplished the astonishing feat of filming in 6 locations per day and performing the Tiny Dances a staggering 18 times over the course of each day!

It was exhausting just watching them! Not only this, but in true East Anglia fashion, the dancers and filmmakers had to compete with weather ranging from sunshine to wind and rain and back again and often in the space of an hour (which could be a little detail to look out for in the Forest Heath film). 

Clips from the Casson & Friends performers creating the final video on location in Brandon, Suffolk (Forest Heath).

What was never lost was the sense of fun and wonder from the Casson & Friends team. They had the chance to visit all of these little gems we have in our towns, and really experience for themselves; what we are proud of and what is distinctively unique about living in Fenland and Forest Heath.

The #TinyDance films will be ready very soon so be sure to keep an out on our social media pages or sign up for our newsletter to have it sent direct to your inbox. 

With all that said, where’s my popcorn…?

Written by MarketPlace Young Producer, Jodie Hicks.

Read about Casson & Friends’ Tiny Dance project and watch the final videos here.

To stay up to date with all our project news sign up for our newsletter.

Exploring with Escape from Fort Lagoon

Posted on by Alice Cramer

Members of Brandon Creative Forum, the MarketPlace team and Submersion Productions stand together for a photo in Brandon town centre.

Read about the Escape From Fort Lagoon R&D project here.

On Thursday 10th and Friday 11th June 2021, I had the pleasure of accompanying the team behind the immersive theatre game Escape from Fort Lagoon, by Adam McGuigan (Wake the Beast) and Jude Jagger (Submersion Productions), around several towns in West Suffolk and Fenland. They were scouting out possible locations where they could produce their water-based immersive theatre game experience as part of their Research & Development. Alongside this, they were testing out an app which audience members would use during the performance, experimenting with original songs with a choir and meeting lots of local people who would be able to advise and assist them on this journey. 

We started in Brandon and were guided around the town and their local riverside walk by members of Brandon Creative Forum who had some valuable insights into the town and the people who populate it. As the company would need access to a body of water to perform in, they could specify which places of the river were safe to swim in and where performers and audiences could enter the river. We discovered a series of jetty’s which could be ideal for little pockets of performance spaces. 

Members of Brandon Creative Forum, the MarketPlace team and Submersion Productions gather together in Brandon to discuss the plan of the day.

Next, it was onto Mildenhall where the team met Imogen Radford, a regular ‘wild swimmer’ in the River Lark. She went into great depth about the different safety considerations for swimming in rivers. Safety tips such as wearing waterproof protective footwear and getting into the water slowly to ease your body in gently to the sudden change in temperature and prevent performers and audience members losing their breath. 

Jude and Adam from Submersion Productions, and digital artist & app designer Jack get ready for wild swimming in the River Lark in Mildenhall.

Finally, we arrived in March and I helped Godfrey Smith show the team around the area surrounding the River Nene before meeting up with the March Can’t Sing Choir. I have lived and grown up in March my whole life and it was interesting to see it through the theatre company’s eyes. I think I forget to appreciate how green it is and how many open spaces we have on our doorstep. Coming from Manchester and London, they were amazed at just how far you can see and how many wide-open spaces we have.

When we met up with the choir, we split into two groups; one group was trialling the app which Jack Hardiker had designed to test if the choir members could learn some short phrases to sing from their mobile devices, and one group to be taught these singing parts by the choir master Sally Rose. Speaking with Jude and Jack who led the app group, I think they found this exercise especially enlightening as they realised that learning these short songs from an app was no replacement for a choir master who could correct things as she went along, and practise blending these different parts together to make a really beautiful sound. 

The groups join together on the green for singing with Sally Rose and March Can’t Sing Choir in March.

On the second day, we met with David Johnson at the Empress Pool in Chatteris where the team experimented with the acoustics of indoor pools and used the time to reflect on what they had learned and brainstorm new ideas for how the show would need to adapt to what they now know. After this, David gave us a walking tour of Chatteris town centre. He provided  the team with information on his experiences of how to organise events and arts projects in Chatteris.

From there we drove to Gildenburgh Water in Whittlesey where the team swam in the lake and learnt about the different safety measures that the owners would insist upon should performers and audience members need to go into the water. We walked around the area and found some quite interesting little patches of field which could be suitable for performance spaces. 

The groups explore suitable performance areas in Chatteris and Whittlsey, including the local pool and green spaces.

At all of the places that we visited, the team were taking pictures of everything and making notes on what would work and what wouldn’t work at each location. They were taking into consideration factors like how accessible it would be for members of the public, how far people would have to walk, how loud the noise in the surrounding area would be, how enclosed it is and what (if any) access they would have to the water. I believe that actually trying out wild swimming for themselves and learning how they would need to adapt the show to take into consideration what they now know has been a crucial step towards putting on a show here. 

Jodie, Colin and Buster the dog from MarketPlace stand together for a photo in Chatteris town centre with David Johnson, a film maker based in Chatteris, Jude and Adam from Submersion Productions, digital artist & app designer Jack and theatre designer & costume maker Abby.

Also, testing the capabilities of the app they are developing with members of the public and learning what tweaks would need to be made, would not have been achievable without this Research and Development stage, supported by the Arts Council of England with National Lottery funding. 

The project has the potential to be unlike anything Fenland and Suffolk have seen before, so now more than ever I have learnt how important this stage in the creative process is, and how it will now go on to inform so many decisions – both creatively and logistically in the future when Submersion Productions take the plunge and perform it. 

Written by MarketPlace Young Producer, Jodie Hicks.

Read about the Escape From Fort Lagoon R&D project here.

To stay up to date with all our project news sign up for our newsletter.

Tiny Dance

Posted on by Alice Cramer

Across Summer 2021, MarketPlace teamed up with Casson and Friends to make Tiny Dance – short dance films inspired by conversations with communities in Fenland and Forest Heath. Collaborative Choreography you might say.

The dancers visited 4 market towns around Fenland and West Suffolk (Forest Heath) and chatted to residents about what they loved about where they live. They also encouraged people to collaborate on some moves – watching the dancers and helping to shape choreography.

Casson and Friends are a record-breaking dance theatre company that aims to always be accessible, interactive and joyful. The company believes in ‘people powered performance’ – dance that is co-created with the help of the public.

Tiny Dances are short dance films inspired by the shared conversations, stories and anecdotes, plus choreography ideas. Choreographer Tim and his team of dancers use the information shared to create a bespoke dance reflecting our unique rural landscape.

View the finished videos below and let us knowwhat you think.

#TinyDance Fenland

Event photography credit: Malachy Luckie.

Casson & Friends brought their dance moves to Wisbech Play Day at The Spinney Adventure Playground on Wednesday 4th August and March Market on Saturday 7th August, inspiring choreography moves with creative people in their creative places. Take a look at the final #TinyDance below and view the full album of photos here (credit Malacky Luckie).

Casson & Friends dancers performing their finished #TinyDance in Fenland for the final film.
Filming day photography: Jodie Hicks.

#TinyDance Forest Heath (West Suffolk)

Event photography credit: Malachy Luckie.

Casson & Friends dancers spent a week focusing on Newmarket Memorial Gardens Earth Arts Festival (19th August) and Brandon Festival (21st August). Talking with local people helped them create a unique West Suffolk dance.

Take a look at the final #TinyDance below and view the full album of photos here.

Casson & Friends dancers performing their finished #TinyDance in Forest Heath for the final film.
Filming day photography: Jodie Hicks.

Read about how our Community Producer, Jodie Hicks got on this summer with Casson & Friends.

To stay up to date with all our project news sign up for our newsletter.

Creative Chat ‘n’ Blog – Leanne Moden

Posted on by Alice Cramer

Listen to Leanne’s podcast episode here.

When lockdown came into force in March 2020, I lost all my freelance work overnight. As a performance poet, I do a lot of arts and music festivals, and the cancelation of these left a real hole in my calendar. I also run workshops in schools, and I had two large schools projects cancelled because of the pandemic. 

It was certainly a shock to begin with, but as a freelance artist, I’m fairly used to precarious working. Thankfully, since Spring 2020, I’ve been able to work with wonderful organisations like MarketPlace, and be part of innovative projects bringing creativity to communities in the digital space.  

As an educator, I was initially concerned that video conferencing would be complicated and sterile when compared to face-to-face facilitation. Luckily, the fantastic folk at Paper Cranes – the writing collective I run in Nottingham – were supportive and patient while we worked out how to switch to online sessions. Now, I relish the challenge of teaching groups online, and being able to continue to write with our collective has been a real boost to my mental health too! 

I also took the opportunity to do a number of live performances over Zoom, and I’ve really enjoyed ‘visiting’ events across the world. Being able to connect across borders and time zones has enabled collaboration on a scale I certainly never thought possible before!  

Over 2020, I’ve been intensely grateful to those organisations providing creative opportunities for artists and communities to work together. The MarketPlace Creative Conversations project in August 2020 was a wonderful example of this. The collaborative poem we produced is something that I am immensely proud of. 

Writing during a pandemic has been tricky at times, especially when the news seems so consistently overwhelming. But I have learnt how to ‘go with the flow’ a little more, and pounce on inspiration when it strikes. I’ve also learnt some brand-new skills, like video editing and production, which has allowed me to explore new ways of working and flexed my creative muscles. 

It’s been a hard year for the creative sector, but I’m grateful to have learnt new skills, participated in exciting projects and connected with so many lovely people. More importantly, I am grateful to all the key workers in the UK, who have ensured that our hospitals, care homes, supermarkets, post offices, healthcare, education services and other vital facilities continued to run through 2020. 

Thank you all.  

Written by poet, Leanne Moden.

Listen to Leanne’s podcast episode here.

Read about Leanne’s More Than Music project here.

Creative Chat ‘n’ Blog – Sally Rose

Posted on by Alice Cramer

Listen to Sally’s podcast episode here.

What has lockdown meant for me?

I will be honest: to begin with, I didn’t miss the frantic journeys to and from the car, arms laden with P.A. equipment, with bags… bags of songbooks, bags of instruments (shakers, foot tambourines, hand bells, boomwhackers), bags of tea (3 kinds of), coffee, milk, squash (2 kinds of) and biscuits (numerous varieties).  Then came the realisation that all my future work and income had gone. 

Gone!  

At first, I tried to continue as best I could – positively – and like so many , I spent time recording videos and posting online.  I wanted to continue to reach out to the communities that I had established over the previous 4 years.  I wanted them to have something to refer to – a kind of guiding light in the face of growing darkness. Listening to the birdsong in the garden, throughout last summer, I spent wondered for hours thinking about the people who I no longer saw; those with whom I no longer had a physical connection; those whose collective voices had been cruelly silenced by an unknown killer.  

Unfortunately, the very nature of my work meant that not everyone could access and interact with online content. This got to me and gradually, I eased back.  Sometimes, for no reason at all, I felt the unstoppable, overwhelming urge to weep, tears rolling down my cheeks with the realisation that I could not connect fully with others through the internet.  I missed connecting in person: in real time.  Several people who attended my groups have lost their lives since last March. 

If they do return, my communities will not be as I knew them.

When lockdown eventually lifted last summer, the March Can’t Sing choir met up for several outdoor, Covid 19 secure, singing sessions. On those days, my heart burned as brightly as the summer sun and tears flowed down my cheeks, yet again, as I heard the collective voice soar as one with the buzzing bees overhead.  It is something I will never forget! 

People sometimes ask me why I lead people who ‘can’t sing’.  Well, all I can say is that the very act of singing is a magical thing.  Having a focus, having a purpose, connecting, breathing as one, having a go, laughing when things go wrong, being proud of something that you achieve, lifting depression, raising self-esteem, learning to use your body to sing, all brings people together in no other way that I know of… and it is so worth it!

As I reflect, I know that keeping my passion for singing is one thing that I will do.  There is a new dawn on the horizon, yet the world on which it will shine is still uncertain.  I still have my moments. I only hope that singing will rightly take its place, centre stage and re-unite communities once more.

Written by singer, Sally Rose.

Listen to Sally’s podcast episode here.

Read about Sally and the March Can’t Sing Choir here.

+

Subscribe

* indicates required
I am interested in activity in