Community Arts Project

Progress report:
Wednesdays meeting saw 18 people from various creative disciplines - a great turn out, thank you everybody for taking time to be part of whats happening.
Lots of new faces too, for or those who had not been before we had a quick introduction session followed by a brief overview of our aims following this ground swell of support.

We discussed

• Buildings, spaces and places to form a creative arts centre.

• Ideas for arts events for visitors and locals both young and old to bolt onto existing events in the short term, in the longer term building up to our own Arts festival.

• Creating an identity/brand for the collective Arts in Whangamata. These favourites came from a brain storming workshop
  • Arts Link (or Ink/inc)
  • Arts Hub (there is a Youth Hub already)
  • Arts + (Plus)

• Formalising a group structure, identifying the volunteers who will make things happen.

• Enterprise Whangamata Inc who are the business networking society and run Info Plus visitor centre has offered support by way of creating an Arts+ sub Committee as a short term umbrella organisation.  Comprised of a team co opted on to the committee.  Which does solve a lot of the immediate problems, it gives a support network, exposure through Info Plus and the legitimacy of an Inc Society meaning we have a voice and can start applying for funding sooner rather than later.  
• Support from Community board.

• Chances of TCDC funding other sources such as Lotteries, Trust Waikato, Lion foundation, etc.

• Wintec offer of support - for a Matariki Arts Festival, they could help with an internship later on.
• Community Gardens - Kay Baker has offered support and a site where events can be held. Next big event is Scarecrows on Nov 7th

• Events are planned to pad out the Run Walk Festival - Sunday 13th a street market, buskers and a Chalk Bomb at the gallery. 

• Fund raising ideas - making DIY kits, chalk, slime and play dough for example to raise some funds. have a group workshop to make, pack & distribute.

No objection were raised to using EW as the umbrella organisation, so, I would like to invite anybody interested in being part of group structure to get in touch with me - Christina, with a view to being Co opted onto the Arts sub committee of Enterprise Whanagamata as the Arts Plus or + or Arts Link whatever we choose. Now we have almost have an identity I think we will now be ready to take things further.

Personally I like Arts+ or (plus)


Next meeting:  Wednesday 19th August
Venue: Whangamata Club upstairs meeting room  - 1pm

FORMAT:

• Introductions (Do we need name badges?)
• A review of short term structure and goals
• Start planning the first of a series of events
• Volunteers to help with these
• Fund raising ideas to give us a working fund.


• For those not at the first meetings  - here is a catch up list of ideas:
  Keep tabs on this pinterest page - adding ideas all the time:-
  https://www.pinterest.com/christinascurr/community-arts-project
  • Matariki Arts Festival in 2017
  • Arts Centre - perhaps persuade a landlord to allow use of an empty shop for use as a base for workshops/displays & studio space. Talk to Community board, find spaces & places.
  • Yarn Bombing - giving an ordinary thing a make over, perhaps street furniture such as power boxes.
  • Pianos - donated then decorated by artists to be wheeled out in the street to be played
  • Shop Windows - pop up displays in high street shop windows “ An Artist in your window”
  • Sit & Knit - get people to stop, sit down and discuss the arts, get feed back from the community
  • Beach Access Marker Poles or street furniture - create an arts trail. Imagine them painted, papered, wrapped, knitted, woven?
  • Flags on street lights along the High Street - each decorated by different artists, groups, school, in different mediums.
  • Art Competition - High profile, big prizes, sponsored.
  • Art & Craft Exhibitions/Displays - Popup, shop window art installations
  • Performances - Street theatre, Flash mobs
  • Flash Mob - Art Attack, mob turns up and decorates/changes something random.
  • Literature  - Writing & Poetry Workshops, readings.
  • Wearable Arts - perhaps masked parade, masked ball?
  • Shoe box competition - sculpture any medium to fit inside a shoe box or indeed a painted show box itself.
  • Art Tours, Special Evenings - How to look at Art
  • Weaving, spinning - traditional crafts with a contemporary twist
  • Film - Cult Movie shown in local theatre - dress up for the event i.e. Rocky Horror show, Star Wars, etc.
  • Music - Buskers . . . . . list is endless . . . . . 
  
  FYI:
  These two documents were compiled after our very own local Arts Strategy meeting in July.
   
  Cheers
  Christina