*) Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Blues Cafe event with ‘Rooster’ on Friday 15th May has had to be cancelled.
TICKETS and OPENING HOURS
Unless otherwise stated alongside an event, tickets and further details are available from the Centre - details above. If you wish to pop in, our new Administrator (Rosemary) is usually onsite on Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings, 9am-1pm.
For some events, as marked, tickets are available from the Centre AND from the Record Shop, 99 High St, Crediton, 01363 774299
Programme - Summer 2009
Welcome to our brochure of theatre, music, dance and visual arts. Crediton Arts Centre exists for you and we hope you will join us at our events and classes. Come along ... you'll be very welcome.
Friday 15th May 8.00pm -
Blues Café - with Rooster *** CANCELLED ***
Front man Doug Roberston, bassist Keth Vaughan and guitarist Bill Baker were together in their first band back in the sixties playing support to some of the legends of that era. Since then they have each played in a wide range of musical contexts including Soul, Jazz, Country and Folk. Reunited recently, their enthusiasm for music making undiminished as Rooster, they are playing the music closest to their hearts - the Blues.
Robert Deane's experience as an orchestral percussionist has been a key element in welding together Rooster, working tightly with Keith's bass to provide an effortless but powerful rhythm section.
ROOSTER LOVE TO PLAY THE BLUES.
Tickets: £7/£5 (Record Shop). BAR
Sat 13th to Sun 14th June - Crediton Food Festival in the Town Square
Saturday : Morning and afternoon : growers, producers and makers of good food will be gathering in the town square to share their passion for exciting eating. Spend Saturday watching demonstrations, sampling from local stalls and finish off the day watching a popular food film.
Sunday : Mid-day onwards for the first time ever, gather for the Big Sunday Lunch -a vast outdoor picnic in the town square.
Sun 14th June 8pm - CRAMP Comedy Crunch
Two and a half hours of stand-up hilarity provided by a range of new and established talent for Crediton's first ever comedy night. Competitions and prizes. Visit: Crediton Rural Arts & Music Project (CRAMP) for full details. Tickets £5 (Record Shop)
Tues 16th June 7:30pm - Youth in the Square
An evening of stunning performances from Crediton Youth Theatre, QECC dance students, 'Scrambled legs' (sixth form break-dance group) and QE Jazz Band.
Tickets from the Festival Office (Evans Travel 01363 772386).
Weds 17th and Thurs 18th June 7:30pm - Sea Adventure Stories
In March Cheriton Bishop, Copplestone, Haywards, Landscore, Newton St Cyres and Sandford Primary Schools embarked on a project to explore sea stories. Three schools will perform their adventure on Wednesday followed by a further three on Thursday. Both evenings will feature the newly composed Crediton Sea Shanty. Tickets from the primary schools or at the door.
Fri 19th June 7:30pm - CRAMP Bands in the Square
The amazing NUMB perform in Crediton with support from Doozer and DJ Loctite, plus favourite local bands: The Waxroom, The Swamp Gods and Dirty Magic. For more info visit Crediton Rural Arts & Music Project (CRAMP)
Tickets £5 (Record Shop)
Weds 24th - Sat 27th June 7:30pm - Shakespeare in the Square 'PERICLES'
Crediton Arts Centre's seventh Shakespeare brings a large adventure story to the square. Dubious relationships, famine, storms at sea, jousting knights, love, loss, planned murders, pirates and woman trafficking: it's all there in this epic tale told and sung by a large cast of local actors and musicians.
Tickets £5 from the Festival Office (Evans Travel 01363 772386).
Following the success of our trip to Madrid last October, we are proposing to arrange another at the end of October 2010, to either Venice or Berlin. The cost for a B&B accommodation only trip is likely to be in the range of £315-£355pp with participants in twin bed rooms. As before, participants to arrange their own transport.
To be included in all future mailings on this, please contact Paul Cartwright, tel: 01363 774115
Email: pfc_art@lineone.net
10 weeks from 27th Apr. £70.
This informal friendly class is individually taught and
is suitable for both the beginner and the more experienced. A wide variety of media is encouraged
to explore the basis of composition, tone, form etc., as well as work to develop the imagination. Daphne Cartwright 01363 774115
Mondays 1:30-3:30pm - Painting for All
10 weeks from 27th Apr. £60.
As above with the emphasis on the use of colour.
Daphne Cartwright 01363 774115.
Daphne will also help to prepare portfolios for entry to further or higher education if required.
Concessionary rates available for certain benefit holders.
Mondays 7:30-9:30pm - Watercolour
10 weeks from 20th Apr. £60.
Create successful paintings using watercolour. Course emphasis is on values, edges, colour and light over a range of subject matter. Suitable for all abilities.
Places limited to 10.
Details: Richard Teasdale 07985 314008
Tuesdays 9:30am-12:30pm - Life Drawing
10 Weeks from 28th Apr. £80.
Working from the nude model. Suitable for beginners to professional. In addition to fees, cost of model is shared between students.
Details: Daphne Cartwright 01363 774115
Tuesdays 1:30-3:30pm - Watercolour
10 Weeks from 21st Apr. £60.
Create successful paintings using watercolour. Course emphasis is on values, edges, colour and light over a range of subject matter. Suitable for all abilities.
Places limited to 10.
Details : Richard Teasdale 07985 314008
From 21st Apr. £18 per half-term.
Activities include games, physical and vocal
warm-ups, drama exercises, lyric and song
writing and working through improvisation
to develop characters and create original
musical theatre. We do not hold auditions
and all members get a speaking and singing
part in our productions. You do not need
previous experience but a positive attitude is
required. You can join at any time, subject to available
places - do come along as you'll be very welcome.
Early booking is advised!
To book
your place, please call 01363 773337 (leave
a message) or email: Jez
Wednesdays 5:15-6:45pm - Spanish
For those who started in January, this will be a continuation of the course. Newcomers with a few words of Spanish are most welcome.
5 weeks from 22nd Apr.
Cost: £30.
Course book : Take Off in Spanish (Oxford).
Tutor : Nancy Dowling (01363) 775656
Wednesdays 7:30-9:30pm - Life Drawing
10 weeks from 29th Apr. £60.
Details the same as Tuesday's session.
Thursdays 5.15-6.30pm - Italian Language Class
10 weeks from 23rd April (no session 28th May).
£5/£4 conc. per session.
The course will be aimed at beginners, or those with limited Italian, and will focus on conversational skills. There is no course book, but some basic course materials will be provided. Participants need only bring a notebook, pen and a small Italian/English dictionary if they wish. Details: Penny 01363 777261 / 07748 160368
Fridays 9:30-11:30am - Portrait Club
From 24th Apr. £2 per session including coffee, tea & biscuits.
A friendly group that meets in the art room on Friday mornings. Bring own materials and take a turn at modelling.
Further details: Sandra Chalton 01363 773518, or Hilary Hamilton 01363 772365.
Book Club
The Arts Centre hosts 2 book clubs. One meets in members homes around the district, and the other at the Lamb Inn in Sandford. The groups are very informal, tending to focus on the books rather than on food, for example ! Meetings are held throughout the year, roughly every 6 weeks. For information about both groups, contact Pam Barnard (01363 772357).
The Friends of the Arts Centre support its programme through taking part in activities, attending performances, giving time as volunteers and through a modest subscription. Current membership is around 160. An elected committee of The Friends meets about 10 times a year with various sub-groups taking responsibility for different areas of our activities. Annual subscriptions at present are £14 for an individual and £24 for family membership, though many Friends choose to give more than these basic sums. The money goes towards the running costs of the Centre, but Friends also receive the three termly brochures with information about forthcoming activities along with, where possible, regular email updates about future shows, classes etc. The Friends are the core audience and the most frequent participants in those activities. However, the last thing the Friends want to be is some sort of exclusive 'club', so we always try to offer the warmest of welcomes to newcomers - the Centre is there for the community. Further information is available either from Rosemary Stephenson, the Centre's Administrator (contact details at top of page), or the Friends' subscriptions secretary, email Geoff Fox (01363 772357)
The building which now houses the Arts Centre was previously part of Hayward's School. When new buildings for the school were constructed elsewhere on the site in the early 1960s, the enterprising Drama Adviser for Devon, Derek Bowskill, transformed the building into a well equipped drama studio, painting the space as a 'black box' and installing modern lighting equipment which students themselves could learn to use. These were exciting times in educational drama, with an emphasis upon improvisation and evolved performances developing alongside continuing, but more imaginative, work on scripted plays. For several years, the Devon Drama advisory team - in those halcyon times consisting of seven or eight members distributed around the regions of the county - used the Centre, meeting weekly to plan their work and testing out their ideas through practical dramatic explorations. The space was also used by other organisations - for example, local schools developed drama projects and education students from Exeter University came out each week to learn about teaching workshop drama.
The impetus for what now makes up the life of the Centre began in the mid 1970s when Peter Hamilton was appointed by Devon County Council as Community Drama Tutor. In 1983, things took a huge step forward when a community play, Today of All Days, with a cast of 120, was produced under the guidance of the Colway Theatre Trust. A series of productions followed that event as a group of people came together to develop a range of artistic ventures. In 1992, the Crediton Drama Centre was formally instituted.
Over the years, the Centre has provided a home for many initiatives. The Brown Paper Bag Theatre Company actually pre-dates the Drama Centre, and continues to thrive, most recently producing a version of The Canterbury Tales in which the Centre became the interior of The Tabard Inn, with the pilgrims just back from their journey into Kent. There have always been classes in the visual arts - at present some six groups meet every week. The Centre has hosted a regular Street Jazz Dance group, a Photography group, two Reading groups, a Creative Writing class and Drama Clubs for younger children. In recent years, there have been projects in which nine new stage plays have been written, directed and performed, largely by new writers, directors and actors. In 2007, a dozen new radio plays were created and performed. Both these projects were taught by artists with national reputations. Various other groups hire space at the Centre, including Queen Elizabeth's Community College and the Woodcraft Folk.
The town is probably most aware of the Centre through its major outdoor productions of Shakespeare, begun in 1995 with Henry IV Part 2, and the annual festivals in Shobrooke Park. Four of the Shakespeares took place in specially erected arenas on the council carpark down Market Street - and those productions were a major influence in the town deciding to build a new piazza-style square on that site. In 2007, a 400 seat theatre was built in the new town square for the production of Measure for Measure. All of this work has been on a grand scale with budgets in excess of £25,000 secured from funding from well-wishers in the town community and other funding agencies such as Arts Council England South West and Mid Devon District Council. Before the Fire Station was razed to the ground to make space for the new square, the Centre performed a specially written play about firefighters in the station itself (and outside, for that matter, ignoring the November chill and rains); a handsomely illustrated book, Fire! Fire!, was produced to chronicle the work and lives of Crediton's retained firefighters. The project photographer was so impressed by what she was photographing that she has become a retained firefighter herself.
The Shobrooke Festival (with bands, artistic work by and for children, outdoor films et al) arose from a project funded by the Millennium Festival Fund. An amphitheatre, with power and water supplies, was sculpted from a gentle hillside leading down to the lake in Shobrooke Park, a beautiful landscaped estate about a mile from the town centre; the Shelley family, the owners of the Park, were willing and enthusiastic collaborators in the project. On the day of the amphitheatre's opening, over 1000 people visited the park to attend and take part in a daylong series of arts events mounted by local groups. Subsequently, the amphitheatre has seen schools productions, touring Shakespeare, and plays from the Brown Paper Bag Company.
Outstanding among our other activities has been a series of overseas trips led by Paul and Daphne Cartwright, both artists and teachers. Groups have visited Florence (twice), Barcelona and Venice. Plans are already made for a trip to Madrid in 2008.
A glance at past brochures would show how the activities and entertainment offered at the Centre have broadened in their appeal. We have had dance events, music, juggling, stand up comedy and a variety of self-help funding events, some of which beggar description.
In 2004, we took the decision to acknowledge the broadening of our base by translating ourselves from a Drama Centre to an Arts Centre.
Peter Hamilton retired as Artistic Director in 2004 and was replaced by printmaker Simon Ripley - though Simon's tenure was short-lived as running the Centre left too little space and energy for his own work. Both Peter and Simon remain very active members of the committee. Our Administrator is now Rosemary Stephenson, supported by our Caretaker John Downes, who doubles as a County Councillor as well as serving on the Management Committee of the Centre.
