Extended Cloister on Torre Abbey Green

All this week... workshops with young people from Hele Village and Torquay. Where are the news stories about this?

How can a paper print two weeks worth of negative press, and put out a call for local artists to be utilised and then disrespectfully ignore those same hard-working local artists when they are out doing good work? It's always easier to whinge than it is to walk your talk...

Or praise good work.

I say - well done. Well done to the youth centres, to the mural artists, to all who have been involved from the council, to all who's creative and open minds make public art like this possible. That's the article that should have been written.

What's that Toni Morrison quote?

"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
— Toni Morrison

BBC Blast

Mark and Sarah Bell ran a workshop for BBC Blast in Paignton on Saturday. The young people's artwork is already up on the mural! It's not just the speed at which they're working, but also the goodwill and cheerful can-do attitude that they've brought to the work. Many thanks to some talented artists, committed citizens and 'yes' people.

Update: Workshop development continues

We've been in the studio!

Workshop material for the Vital Spaces project is being developed with the help of undergraduates at the University of Exeter. Using an intensive devising-based methodology, participants are engaging in performance workshops around 'territory', 'belonging', 'space' and identity.

The two-week workshop schedule is indicated below:



















October 26-30:
*Material generation, using Boalian methods and an amalgamation of tactics from 'interruptive monologues' to 'sculpting'.

November 2-6:
*Material selection and sequencing. Workshop participants are handed ownership of performance content and asked to select resonant themes and string material into a sequenced devised piece. Emergent theme: 'There's only room for one voice'.



















The final performance of this first session will culminate on Friday, November 6.

Two subsequent workshop development sessions will occur with different participant groups