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01/12/2009
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Customs House Announces Panto Tour
19/10/2009
Customs House Announce Panto Tour
The Customs House have announced details of its second library tour in support of the pantomime Sleeping Beauty.
Following the huge success of last year’s tour where over 350 children took park, the venue has announced even more dates for this year’s tour.
The tour dates are as follows:
Monday October 26 – thePlace, Sunderland @ 11am
Tuesday October 27 – Cleadon Park Library @ 11am
Hebburn Library @ 2pm
Wednesday October 28 - East Boldon Library @ 11am
Jarrow Library @ 2pm
Thursday October 29 - Whitburn Library @ 2pm
Friday October 30 - South Shields Library @ 11am
Children will get a chance to meet Barry the Basset and the three good fairies who will tell their version of Sleeping Beauty and everyone will get a chance to get their photos taken with the cast.
Every child will also get a fantastic Sleeping Beauty balloon.
Customs House Executive Director Ray Spencer said: “The huge success of last year’s tour meant there was not a question we would do it again.
“This is a great chance for children to meet some of the panto stars up close before they come and see the show.”
*Sleeping Beauty, sponsored by Hays Travel, runs from Wednesday December 2 until Sunday January 3. Tickets start at £6.50 and are available by calling the Box Office on 0191 454 1234 or by visiting www.customshouse.co.uk
Members of the public have the chance to get creative and see their work exhibited as part of an art project inspired by the regeneration of Sunniside in Sunderland city centre.
29/09/2009
North East artist Dawn Lehrer has already been working with pupils at Hudson Road, whose landscape will change when a disused shop fitters surrounding the school is knocked down in the next few weeks. The site will form part of future regeneration plans for Sunniside and the children have been learning about the subject through art. They have made a collage out of photographs, paint and recycled old materials found in the building, creating their very own Sunniside street.
Now the general public is invited to contribute to the project, ‘Site Verify’, by coming along to workshops held at Sunniside’s newest award-winning development thePlace.
Every Saturday from October 3 at 11.30am to 2.30pm people will be able to go along to the gallery and create art work in response to the pieces already on exhibition as well as the regeneration happening in the area. Each week will focus on different art forms with the first one being about sculpture and photography. The exhibition officially opens on October 1.
The project is funded by Arts Council England, Sunniside Partnership, Sunderland arc, One North East, Sunderland City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.
Dawn, who is working on her own contribution to the exhibition at Sunderland Art Studio, said: “My work is about what is currently present in the area, about what is soon to disappear. I am asking people of all ages and ability levels to come in and make what they would like to see built in its place. The exhibition will be changed weekly to include their work and allow an evolving exhibition that mirrors what is happening in the community through the regeneration.”
Dawn’s own work centres around the former shop fitters, which opened in 1918 and closed in 2008. She has used photographs of the building and salvaged materials such as blueprints and abandoned tools found inside. Her work includes painting, collage, photographs and installation.
“Currently I am using the blue prints in my work printing photographs directly on to them, using them in collaged painting and recreating them as paintings,” Dawn said.
“The work I am creating will reflect one of the workman’s trades that once thrived in Sunniside as well as expressing the current environment of changing industry and regeneration.”
Since Sunniside Partnership was set up in 2003 by Sunderland arc, Sunderland City Council, One North East and the Homes and Communities Agency, the area has attracted more than £100 million of private investment and boasts award-winning developments including Sunniside Gardens, thePlace and the Gentoo led Mowbray Apartments.
Listed buildings have been brought back into commercial use and the area is becoming renowned for its high quality bars, restaurants, cafes and niche shops. Further improvements to the main streets linking Sunniside into the rest of the city centre began earlier this summer.
For more information on the community workshops please contact dawn@dawnfelicia.com Children must be accompanied by adults.
Prima Facie: At First Sight
09/09/2009
The changing face of Sunniside in Sunderland city centre has been documented in a photographic exhibition at the area’s newest venue.
Prima Facie: At First Sight goes on display at thePlace gallery in Athenaeum Street tomorrow (THURS). Produced by Sunderland-born artist Paul Knox and commissioned by Sunniside Partnership, the exhibition is an archive of Sunniside in 2009.
Since Sunniside Partnership was established in 2003 to lead on the regeneration of the area, more than £100 million has been invested in restoring the historic city quarter to its former glory.
Paul, who began the project fresh out of University, has been photographing people and places in Sunniside for the past 18 months, concentrating mainly on the eastern area where further development is planned.
He said: “My aim was to create a historical document of Sunniside and its people, as the area is undergoing major changes and will be unrecognisable in the future. The images created for this project will almost certainly have much more significance in the years to come.
“I have photographed this area as I found it upon first glance as a way of articulating this exact time in this place. Although generations of stories wait to be told behind each face and facade I have chosen to present this work, at first sight, an archive of Sunniside in 2009.”
Paul recently picked up second place and an honourable mention at the 2009 International Photography Awards in the category of architecture. His love of photography was born through his love of travel. While spending a year in India he recorded scenes of splendor as well as poverty and disease. By showing people the world as he saw it he hoped that the images could encourage a shift in awareness in order to create change.
Through the following years his objective has remained the same but his focus has shifted to issues closer to home, aiming to document the changing social structure of the North East of England.
Prima Facie: At First Sight is on display at thePlace until September 27.
For more information visit www.sunnisidepartnership.co.uk or www.om-shantiphotography.co.uk
School Children show that this is thePlace to be
28/04/2009
School children in Sunderland got to see their artwork on public display in the city’s latest award-winning development – thePlace in Sunniside.
The exhibition previewed pictures of Sunderland landmarks by children at Hudson Road Primary School before they go on to be reproduced for large scale hoardings around one of the city’s key regeneration sites.
The art project, led by Sunderland arc in conjunction with arts in education agency Infinite Arts, saw pupils working with local artists as well as nationally renowned comic poet John Hegley. The children were introduced to the work of Sunderland arc and encouraged to think about their city, the importance of communities and where they like to go with their friends.
Their work was showcased at the heart of one of the city’s key regeneration areas - Sunniside, at thePlace – a £6 million, award-winning building which is home to a gallery, artist studios, offices, meeting rooms and café. The exhibition ‘Sunderland Landmarks – a Child’s View’ ran throughout April.
David Walker, chief executive at Sunderland arc, said: “Our ambitious developments are about putting the city on a new economic footing that will satisfy generations to come.
“We want to encourage youngsters to stay in Sunderland and be part of its success. This project has given schoolchildren the opportunity to find out more about the regeneration process and its effects, the importance of communities and pride in their city.
“The work they have produced has been outstanding and we felt it was important for them to be able to see their work in a public setting.”
Pauline Taylor, director of Infinite Arts, said: “The project has been a huge success so far. The children have had great fun working with John Hegley and with artist Emma Norris, and we’ve discovered some real talent.”
The project has been supported by Sunderland City Council and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.
For more information on Sunderland arc visit www.sunderlandarc.co.uk or phone 0191 5689880.