Creative Space
We have come to the closing chapter of our 'Creative Space' project in Worcestershire's Probation service, funded by HM Prison and Probation Service.
We held two showcase events for the women who participated to celebrate what they had achieved through the arts courses.
In Redditch, the group shared the film they had collaboratively made. In Worcester they displayed their artistic creations and read out poems and prose from their published anthology, 'Bring Colour To Your Soul' (Thanks to Bite Poetry Press for design and print).
Read the ebook of 'Bring Colour To Your Soul'.
At the showcase sessions, participants said:
'I look forward to coming each week. It's isolating being on my own but Fridays are my day for me'
'It's been welcoming. I'm treated like a person, a human being, here'.
'I've found the creative side in me again'.
Probation Officers said:
'We got so much from the conversations held whilst the women were busy doing creative work. It's broken down barriers that now we can build on'.
'We seek to broaden women's horizons and develop their skills. These workshops have naturally supported that'.
Thanks go to
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the funder, HMPPS
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the fantastic Probation team who supported the women through these workshops and
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the women who so brilliantly shared their creative talents.
The 'Creative Space' impact report can be read here.
Thanks too to the artistic team - Nicola Prestage Tiger Features, Spare Room Arts, Steve and Debbie! We hope we will be back soon!
We were delighted to be back in Malvern as part of the 2023 Feast Festival. To find out more about the workshop we delivered at The Malvern Priory, click here:
FEAST 2023
Creative Space
We are delighted that HM Prison and Probation Service have funded us to deliver an arts programme in the Probation Service in Worcester and Redditch.
Our programme, ‘Creative Space’, will bring creative writing, visual arts and film-making to women on Probation, with the aim of developing confidence, motivation, artistic and transferable skills for employment.
With our artists lined up, we start sessions in October 2023 and will continue into 2024.
Debut
'Debut' was our latest writing-for-the-stage project involving participants creating new work under our mentorship.
Taking place in the summer of 2023 at Worcester Theatres, it culminated in a performance evening of five new plays on Thursday 27th July 2023 at The Studio Theatre, as part of Worcester Fringe.
To find out more about the project please see our report: Evaluation of Debut
ART of Leadership
Crave Arts are excited to announce a new training course available for management teams in any organisation!
'Doing the Right Thing' is the first half day course we have developed in our ART of Leadership training programme, all about the key ingredients for good decision making at work.
We were thrilled to deliver our very first session to Sanctuary in July and to receive great feedback:
'The acting/story drew you in and made you reflect about yourself'
'Really powerful'
To find out more about Crave Arts Training, visit our Training page.
NT Connections
We had a really lovely three days at the beginning of April as part of the NT Connections Theatre Project for young people. Held at Worcester Theatres for the first time, we ran a 90 minute workshop which we repeated to the nine participating theatre companies. The workshop was based on how you create great characters and how you then provide conflict for them. The workshop was very well received. Beth Walsh and Bev Bevan from Worcester Theatre Makers loved their workshop as you can see in this image.
KGV Living Room
Crave Arts and Mark Riley Creative-States
had a great morning at Worcester Community Trust's KGV Community Hub in Brickfields in February. Local people enjoyed making artwork with clay, craft, paint and creative writing exercises, all on the theme of what makes a warm and inviting place
Behind the scenes
Not all of our work is about us delivering public-facing projects. We often support others to deliver their work using arts and heritage.
We're currently providing consultancy to Worcester Theatres and Ledbury Poetry Festival, we're mentoring creative freelancers on the Connect Freelancer Development programme through Culture Central, and we're evaluating The Severn Rising 2222, an environmental game about climate change by Sarah Millin and Andrew Round of Paradise Multimedia, funded by Arts Council England. You can find out more about this exciting initiative using illustration and digital media here
