Adam Speaks Launch Croome Court

 

Today was the launch of Adam Speaks at Croome Court (National Trust). This is a project I have been working on as part of a team from Room 204, Writing West Midlands.

The Lead Artist on the project was Chris Alton. I will be writing a full blog post as soon as I can. I had a great afternoon at Croome, it was wonderful to see all parts of the collaboration come together and as for Adam’s Tree House (as it is now known), it was an amazing feat of art and engineering! A beautiful space that the NT team at Croome will be using well, I already have the inside line on a few possibilities.

Loved the fact that in the FREE cupcake Marquee there was an ideas board for how to use the art, which will now remain for at least a year.

To mark the opening of our new Chris Alton Adam Speaks exhibition we will be holding a launch day on Saturday 25 November with a packed programme of activities. The official opening will take place at 3.30pm by Artist Hew Locke.

Adam Speaks Tree House Launch Saturday 25 November 2017

From 12.00pm to 4.00pm, we have a full programme of activities inspired by the Adam Speaks project and its participants.

Church Hill Marquee: 12.00pm – 3.00pm Build a Robert Adam inspired structure and share it with #Adamspeaks

Poetry in the Adam Speaks Tree House 12.00pm – 3.00pm with Kurly McGeachie

Long Gallery Croome Court:

12.00pm:         Birmingham Institute of Theatre Arts

12.30pm:         The Sixth Form College Worcester

1.00pm:           Birmingham Institute of Theatre Arts

1.30pm:           The Sixth Form College Worcester

2.00pm:           Birmingham Institute of Theatre Arts

2.30pm:           The Sixth Form College Worcester

3.00pm:           Formal opening speeches in the Long Gallery.

3.10pm:           Birmingham Institute of Theatre Arts performance in the Adam Speaks Tree House.

3.30pm:           Formal opening of the Adam Speaks Tree House by Hew Locke

Words for the Birmingham Institute of Theatre Arts and Kimichi School provided and inspired by Writing West Midlands Participants.

Adam Speaks themed cupcakes will be available in the marquee on Church Hill throughout the day. (Subject to availability).

  © 2017 National Trust

Our poems were exhibited along with the Adam Speaks display in the participation area downstairs, which isn’t as bad as it sounds, they’re passed by everyone on the way to the Tea Room.

They also inspired the dancework of the Birmingham Institute of Theatre Arts and Kimichi School group, which was a delight to know. Every tree has a strong root foundation, no matter how invisible it becomes. Everything starts with a strong base and I for one am delighted that some of that was our ink.

It was a great opportunity and one I thoroughly enjoyed and Chris Alton’s Room 204 workshop is going down in history as the longest workshop I have ever taken part in. Time flies when you’re having fun!

© 2017 Nina Lewis

Immensely proud of my old mobile phone for managing such great shots!

 

 

RELATED LINKS:

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/croome/projects/adam-speaks

 

Poetry Swindon Day 2 – Evening

After the excitement of the afternoon poetry ramble, people were hungry and lots of drinks and amazing cakes were bought and consumed. After that was served and cleared away we were all ready for more poetry.

17:00 to 18:00 READINGS RJ Museum Tent-Palace
Poke into the poetry box! Treasures of the heart, inca-named stardust, and various severed body parts! An hour of humour and water with Sue Rose, Emma Simon and Simon Williams.
Emma Simon won the Prole Laureate poetry competition in 2013 and loss, love & severed body parts scatter through her first collection Dragonish (The Emma Press). Simon Williams latest collection, Inti, was published in July. Sue Rose is the author of three poetry collections. Heart Archives was published by Hercules Editions in 2014.

An hour of poetry from Sue Rose, Emma Simons and Simon Williams. Sue Rose read from Heart Archives – Hercules Editions, Emma read from Dragonish – Emma Press, Simon read from Inti.

It was an enjoyable and well received reading.

Simon Williams

 

Emma Simon

Sue Rose

This left time for tea and a myriad of jobs to do before all entering the Tent Palace for the final reading of the night. We finished with Primers.

20:00 to 21:00 POETRY PRIMERS RJ Museum Tent-Palace
The 2016 nationwide Primers scheme of The Poetry School & Nine Arches Press discovered the talents of Ben Bransfield, Cynthia Miller and Marvin Thompson.
Ben Bransfield was named a Teacher Trailblazer by the Poetry Society in 2015. Cynthia Miller is a Malaysian-American poet, currently part of Room 204, Writing West Midlands’ creative development programme for emerging writers. Marvin Thompson’s poems/sequences have appeared in a number of magazines.

It was an evening rich in poetry.

Primer Poets introduced by Tony Hillier and pictured with Publisher Jane Commane.

Ben Bransfield

Cynthia Miller

Marvin Thompson

The night followed with traditional free toast, the bar was open and just through the first thicket of trees a Bonfire complete with camp fire log seats, was enjoyed by poets and punters. The team caught up once the bar was closed.

See, I told you this festival was special!

It felt like this was a late finish after the toast and bonfire… but as I was to discover… this evening had nothing on late.

Photography Credits: Mark Farley (Official Festival photographer), Gram Joel Davies and Richard Jefferies Museum © 2017 Copyright remains with them.

Poetry Swindon Day 2

Photography Credits: Mark Farley (Official Festival photographer), Gram Joel Davies, Jennifer Berry and Richard Jefferies Museum © 2017 Copyright remains with them.

So the hardest thing about being on the team helping at Poetry Swindon? The mornings! It was lovely to have the comfort of a bed and I really enjoyed sharing a room with Sarah L. Dixon. Seeing the three resident poets in our hotel was a joy bigger than the happiness my soon to be off the scale Hash Brown addiction brought me… but I am a night owl*, not a morning person, definitely in need of a vat of coffee by Day 2 and panic stricken with the realisation that I may not be able to make this marathon.

*This came in handy for late-night bar duties though.

After a lovely cooked breakfast (and no washing up) – believe me, for the volunteer team, this is a big thing… although after all the washing up over at Artsite, there wasn’t so much at the Museum, thanks to the ECO-plates and spoons (biodegradable) and no cooking thanks to the Vegan catering and not much breakfast washing up thanks to the generosity of rooms.

The best thing about volunteering (not obviously the best thing), is knowing what to wear in the morning! At the RJ Museum we had morning briefings and time to get the place ready for the programme to begin. I think Hilda and many others in the team had already been preparing and cleaning for about 3 hours before we arrived just after 9 AM.

Day 2 Friday 6th October

Friday morning started with a workshop, one in which volunteers could participate fully, with the exception of making sure everyone was alright and carrying over a few resources only one member of the team had official responsibility – so the hat could be taken off (often a literal measure at Poetry Swindon) for a bit.

The festival programme always offers workshops with the resident poets.

10:00 to 12:00 WORKSHOP: Liberation Through Constraint Sun Inn
With Tania Hershman
Sometimes, imposing constraints can actually set your writing free. We will experiment with various ways to restrict yourself, playing with form, content and length – and seeing what results!

 

10:00 to 12:00 WORKSHOP: The Dynamic Poem Holiday Inn  With Daljit Nagra
Poems can sometimes seem flat and lack vigour, they can drift along in a dreamy mood without any conviction. Daljit will explore with examples from contemporary poetry how to put the fizz back into a poem. Participants should expect to have attempted at least one new lively poem!

I had chosen to take part in Daljit’s workshop, last year I went to his Masterclass at Poetry Swindon and I couldn’t wait to be led by him again.

There was an exciting buzz over at The Holiday Inn, not just for the participants. Daljit discovered the wonderful 007 Bond style briefcase in the corner. I have since attempted to order something like this, but you have to hire people to laser cut the foam and it is ridiculously expensive.

You all want one too now don’t you?

It was a fabulous workshop which resulted in a good few skeletal poems in my notebook.

After which Lunch was served and like Cinderella the team were all reunited from Poetry Ballrooms back into stewarding roles. To serve drinks and lunch, sell books, keep everything clean and tidy and make sure everyone was having the best festival experience.

The afternoon saw two events starting with an open mic. This event was ticketed and people were able to pre-book open mic spots. Another element I love about Poetry Swindon is all Festival Pass ticket holders can perform at the festival as part of the open mic event in a guest spot. This is a real bonus of buying a festival pass and something it would be great to be offered by other festivals. Although, this is another treasure that makes Poetry Swindon stand out, gleaming and shining as it does.

13:00 to 14:00 OPEN MIC – Strange Days RJ Museum Tent-Palace
‘There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.’ Edgar Allan Poe
Read us poems that don’t see straight. Poems that bounce, poems that are unflat, poems that pretend to be other things…or just bring us your anything strange! With special guest readings from Rachael Clyne & Jinny Fisher.
Spaces limited.

Jinny Fisher

Bethan Rees

John Mills

Vik Shirley

Robert Stredder

Jonathan Robert Muirhead

Iris Anne Lewis

Shaun Butler

Sarah L. Dixon

Miranda L. Barnes

Rachael Clyne

Photography Credit Gram Joel Davies ©2017

I sadly missed the next event. I was not quite ready when it started and after wandering around to try to find the bunch of poets in hats, I gave up. Most regrettable, it looks like it was a wondrous experience. Hats were compulsory!

14:30 – 16:30 Coate Water Poetry Ramble

Starting by the Mulberry Tree take a voyage of discovery to Coate Water with Poet Sarah L. Dixon, expect to be surprised, exercised and poetised.

 

Photo Credits to Jennifer Berry © 2017