5 things to look forward to in 2015

It’s 2015 and we’re anticipating another fantastic year for City Arts. We are now in our new home in Nottingham’s Creative Quarter and have a lot of great ideas and exciting plans in the works. We thought we would share some of the projects and events you can look forward to in the next 12 months.

Young Producers Present

22nd January

Our Young Producers have been working with ex-participants of our Express Yourself programme and artist Nathan Bainbridge to create a fantastic body of work which draws inspiration from our new neighbourhood, the Creative Quarter. On the 22^nd of January we open our doors to the public and you can drop by to see the young people’s incredible installation, alongside an exhibition of the Young Producer’s solo work and music from up-and-coming Nottingham group the Ed James Band. RSVP on Facebook.

City Arts at Light Night

4th February

We’re pulling together a packed programme of events for this year’s Nottingham Light Night, illuminating your route through the Creative Quarter and down to Sneinton Market. Artist Graham Elstone is creating a series of silhouette animations which will be projected in Hockley shop fronts; our building will be open and hosting an exhibition of our Young Producers’ project, a stylised and imaginative model of a modern city-scape; in Sneinton Market Square artist Mik Godley beautiful portraits of local people and landmarks will be projected onto the surface of our incredible geodesic dome.

Following the success of last year’s Light Night project we will repeat the Unity Lantern Parade. The two communities of St Ann’s and Sneinton will process from their respective community centres in a wave of lanterns, colour, light and music, coming together at Sneinton Market Place.

Clay Transformations Exhibition

13th April – 4th May

City Arts have been working closely with the University of Nottingham on their Clay Transformations project, an investigation into the therapeutic benefits of working with clay. We ran workshops, supervised by artist Stephen Jon and potter Sandy Bywater, in which participants forged an intimate relationship with clay: tearing, squashing, moulding; working the material until recognizable forms appeared. Attendees, many of whom have mental health issues, were encouraged to reflect on the experience and its emotional impact. Their creations will be on display at the Institute of Mental Health from the 13^th April to the 4^th of May.

Dreams: Hurt, Hope & Happiness

12th May – 25th September

Our 7^th open exhibition at the Institute of Mental Health will run from May to September. It will be called Dreams: Hurt, Hope & Happiness and we are asking people to submit work on the themes of dreams and mental illness. The last exhibition was our most successful to date and we hope to build on that success this year. The deadline for submitting work is the 10^th of April.

Cerebral Palsy Games

6th – 16th August

We’ve teamed up with Dance4 and Creative Director Jamie Beddard to devise and run the opening, closing and medal ceremonies of the 2015 World Cerebral Palsy Games. The majority of events will take place at the new iconic Harvey Hadden Sports Complex in Bilborough. The games will bring athletes from 70 different countries to compete in Nottingham.