2016 - A Brief Look at Our 40th Birthday Year

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Dancers from Loughborough College take part in our fourth residency with dancer and choreographer Rong Tao from Chongqing., China.


2016 was a great birthday year for Charnwood Arts full of events, publications, workshops, ongoing groups and lots of great creative work with individuals. We’ve put this this little pictoral record of some of the things that happend throughout the year as a little celebratory publication for World Community Arts Day 2017.


January - commission of a new commemorative plaque to remember the 100th anniversary of the deadly Zeppelin raid on Loughborough - a day full of events, stories, music and powerful moments for our community.


January/February - Charnwood Arts’ good friend Rong Tao of Yu Wu Dance in Chongqing has worked with hundreds of children, young people and adults through four extraordinary resdiencies with Charnwood Arts and we have also visited him in China to run the project Spring Leaves Falling.

In our special birthday residency Rong Tao worked with students from Loughborough College and Fuelled Dance Company to choreograph two new works for Lakeside Arts Chinese New Year celebrations in Nottingham






There are so many longer and shorter projects, exhibitions, films, workshops and publications that were part of our birthday year that could form part of this e-publication but the list really is long! One thing we do want to do is share some of the work from our ArtsHouse project...yes it’s what it says on the label, a house where people can come to make art. It doesn’t matter about level of experience, familiarity with materials or timescale. We run groups for different age groups and also welcome many people who may have additional needs in terms of their current state of social engagement, health or well being. You will find a number of works produced by people attending ArtsHouse in this little publication. Here are a couple to start with...

Keith - I feel better when I am creating my artwork, planning my next move, seeing it come together. Title of artwork: Fragmenting Landscape Medium: Watercolour


Jo - I feel better when I am being creative Title of Artwork: These Things Make Me Happy. Medium: Watercolour and Pen


January/May - Working with Excavate, Chorus Theatre and Loughborough College we developed a community play based on the accounts of people affected by the Zeppelin raid on the town in which ten people died. There were 100 performances and events over the May weekend.






Olly - I feel better when I am in ‘the zone’ painting Title of Artwork. The Goddess Medium Acrylic Paint


Deepty - I feel better when I am knitting Knitted bag (Detail) Medium: Wool


Tracey - I feel Better when I am with my animals Medium pencil


June The Big Birthday Picnic in the Park








Julie - Don’t Worry Be Happy i feel better when i am stitching Medium:. EmbroideryÂ



Big Birthday Weekend Loughborough Twinning Event






After a fantastic summer with our third internship from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan we had an exciting and potentially far reaching endig to our partnership project ‘Market Town’ with Radar at Loughborough University in September. The former Arts College Foundation building and Generator Gallery in Loughborough Town Centre has long been in our sights and now with a new Community Interest Company we are developing advanced plans and funding bids to secure a future for it, we hope for positive news in 2017. As part of the Market Town Project Rotterdam based architects Stealth helped The Generator and Charnwood Arts stage an open weekend in the building to explore possibilities and potentials with a wider range of people. Stealth’s intervention contsructed a moveable presentational, meeting, eating, exhibition and performance space and Paul Gent - who created this drawinh of the building recorded the two days of conversations... well...turn the pages and find out...








Tara - Mosaic Piece I feel better when I am busy making artwork it helps with my anxiety Medium. Mosaic on Board




In June 2016 we invited local children to imagine what the Loogabarooga might be if it were a creature? The aim was to commission an artist to transform their ideas into a mural as part of the 2016 Loogbarooga Festival in Loughbotorough


In October 2016 artist Mike Walker took all the drawings submitted and produced a set of three murals which are now sited at Cobden School in Loughborough



Fantasy Creatures

An exhibition of artwork by young people from Charnwood Arts Groups.




Young people at Charnwood Arts have been meeting and working together through the ArtsHouse over the last couple of years . It is a vibrant and diverse group of people that produce artwork in varied mediums. These include: drawing, painting , digital art, coding, animation and much more. Japanese illustration and the artists’ digital and internet lives form the basis of this artwork. Mythical creatures in digital culture have captivated the imagination of many, in a world of gaming and avatars the unreal is given life. Young people at Charnwood Arts exhibited in 2016 in a large unadopted warehouse space in Leicester, producing and curating their own work. Their own brand of street art. Many young people we work with have experienced and are living with adversity.


Following on from the summer internship with students from NCKU in Loughborough, the Creative Continuum exhibition, workshop and time-capsule project took place in the Taiwanese city of Taiwan in October and November 2016.








The Creative Continuum - After having his portrait taken Mr Chou began coming to the exhibition every day often regaling anyone who would listen with his remarkable stories.






Pages from a book by Kole - one of the young people we work with through our engagement with a local inclusion project. He is developing as a young photographer and on the next couple of pages you can see more of his work.








A massive thank you to Charnwood Borough Council and Arts Council England for supporting us for almost all of those 40 years!



Made for World Community Arts Day 17/02/2017


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