Hello and Happy New year to you all! How’s it going?
ARCADE is back with a bang after a cracking time in 2021 and we just wanted to celebrate with a recap of our highlights over the last year!
Announcement alert! Team ARCADE Expanded
First of all, we are delighted to announce that our team here at ARCADE underwent quite the expansion, but due to all the exciting projects we’ve been working on, a proper introduction was missed - better late than never, right?
May we introduce you all properly to our shiny new team members:-
Jim Taylor - Assistant Producer
Jim’s interests are in digital media production, the evolving nature of festival culture and public participation. He is looking forward to developing deeper connections with local artists and forming broader networks across the sector in order to create opportunity and work where we live.
Shan Barker - Trainee Producer
Shan is very passionate about mental health, well-being and female voices. As she is just at the start of her career as a producer, she is excited to be a part of future community collaborations and seeing the impact they have locally.
Jen Burdon - Producing Intern
Jen is 21 years old and from Bridlington. She has recently graduated from Lincoln University where she studied Drama and Theatre studies. She loves watching Tarantino films.
Along with these new ARCADIANS, we also have the addition of 2 fantastic new associates, Yssi Wombwell and Kelsie Acton:-
Yssi Wombwell - Inclusions Associate
Yssi is one of the founders of the Black Heritage Collective, a representative body and consultative partner for people of Black Heritage in Hull and one of the founders of Make Noise, an organisation working to improve safety and visibility of marginalised genders in Hull’s music industry.
Kelsie Acton - Access Associate
Kelsie Acton is a neurodivergent access consultant, researcher and choreographer. She is currently the Inclusive Practice Manager at Battersea Arts Centre, the world's first Relaxed Venue.
Last but certainly not least, we have 2 brand new Trustee’s - Nadia Emam and Jo Crowley, our new Co-Chair.
Jo Crowley - Co-Chair
Jo Crowley is an Independent Theatre Producer who has produced over 40 productions, tours and projects for independent artists and companies presented in 48 countries across 6 continents. Jo’s producing specialism is in hybrid, collaborative and international performance and she is interested in artist-led, cross art form contemporary theatre, dance and live art.
Nadia Emam - Trustee
Nadia has worked extensively with the Stephen Joseph Youth Theatre and more recently with Sheffield People’s Theatre as a drama and poetry workshop facilitator and creative mentor, which recently led to her becoming an associate artist of the National Student Drama Festival.
We are over the moon to have each of these wonderful people on board and can’t wait to continue working with them in 2022.
Want to read more about team ARCADE? Click here.
2021: A smashing year of work
We are so grateful to have been able to produce some amazing work in 2021 and we hope those involved enjoyed it as much as we did.
In Summer 2021 we worked with the award winning KIT Theatre and brought you ‘Wardrobes’:
It appears that C.S Lewis was onto something with the Narnia books; Wardrobes really are portals between worlds! However, what C.S may not have known is that most of these accidental time-travellers ended up in Scarborough, and it was down to the children of the town to help them out!
The adventure began in Summer in Scarborough Schools with hundreds of daring local children aged 6+ being recruited into a secret society to help time travellers in trouble! The children were able to meet their time traveller at Scarborough Library where they taught them how to live in 2021 and then sent them on their way. Even more time travellers were helped by families at More Than Books, in Eastfield over the summer.
The adventure didn’t stop there! In September, Springhead School welcomed 2 mysterious guests from afar and explored music, drama and stories with them. A thoroughly wonderful time was had by all.
Wardrobes was Co-produced by KIT Theatre & ARCADE, commissioned by North Yorkshire Library Services & Scarborough Museums Trust and supported by the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Eat Me Cafe & National Literacy Trust.
With many thanks to project funders Arts Council England, Inspire Fund and Scarborough Children's University.
Thanks to the overwhelming success of the inaugural Northern Girls project in Scarborough, September saw the return of the project on a larger scale; taking place in York, Redcar and Bridlington! ARCADE had the absolute pleasure of co-producing the Bridlington work alongside Pilot Theatre.
The project brought together new writing by 4 young female writers, each making their debut, alongside 4 established writers, each with direct links to the area. Taking place in the garden of St John's Burlington Methodist church, participants had the chance to see their work performed by a professional team and the finished results were highly moving and full of female empowerment.
If you missed it, keep an eye on our socials as the webcast will be live very soon.
Northern Girls Bridlington was a Pilot Theatre co-production with ARCADE and was supported by Arts Council England, Creative Europe and the National Lottery Community Fund.
The festive period of 2021 saw our new and ambitious project, Grue, made with amazing artist Steve Wintercroft and our community at the Old Parcels Office. An interactive, immersive experience, Grue invited families to walk through a wintery world made of recycled cardboard.
The audience followed a gorgeous poem that took them on an adventure, following Callisto the reindeer on her hunt for snow. The walkthrough itself had audio buttons allowing participants the choice to read or listen to the poem, and was recorded by 2 acting students, Josh and Ellen who study at the local Coventry Uni.
Several build days saw volunteers come and create items, from houses to barnacles, out of donated cardboard. There were around 300 volunteers involved in the project and we were bowled over when more than 1000 people came to experience Grue. What started off as a small proof of concept very quickly snowballed into something magical and spectacular, receiving stellar positive feedback from our audiences.
Keep your eyes peeled as we are already scheming with Steve for our next adventure.
Grue by Wintercroft, produced by ARCADE, commissioned by the Old Parcels Office Arts Centre Scarborough, funded by Yorkshire Coast BID and supported by Kickstarter backers and Invisible Dust.
A look into 2022
We ended 2021 on such a high and it’s safe for us to say that 2022 is already shaping up to match it, with fantastic projects on the cards that we cannot wait to share with you…
Scarborough Stories is for anyone who has a story they would like to tell. Whether you’re angry or passionate about a challenge or an issue in your community, we are here to help you tell your story, your way.
In January, we are launching a series of free public workshops led by artists, exploring storytelling through different mediums such as creative writing, photography and music (just to name a few!) ending in a big culmination of performances in July (eeek!). Being involved in the final performances is optional and you can come to as many or as little of the workshops as you wish, or even get involved from home! We are really looking forward to hearing your stories!
For all the details and to get involved, click here.
Scarborough Stories is co-produced by ARCADE & Stephen Joseph Theatre with support from CaVCA and funded by Yorkshire Coast Bid and Arts Council England.
2021 allowed for in person meet-ups as well as continuing online zooms with our Scarborough Creatives group, it was lovely to meet people face to face finally! We are thrilled to be continuing these into 2022. They really are a great way to network and get to know what creative works are going on in and around Scarborough. They’re also fab for meeting like minded individuals from all sorts of creative backgrounds.
The next online meet-up will be taking place at 7pm on February 2nd over zoom so save the date for your diary! You can book here.
Have you got something exciting you’d like to talk about at our next online meet-up? Don’t hesitate to get in touch! Email info@hello-arcade.com.
And of course, there is so much more to come…
If you want to keep up to date with all things ARCADE, you can join our mailing list and follow us on social media
To all of our funders, supporters and partners, thank you so much for being a part of such a brilliant year for ARCADE and here’s to 2022!
Team ARCADE xx
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