CBC News - making an impact with Landmarks
With phase 2 of our Creative People and Places project well underway we’ve been busy with some great projects over the last 18 months. Here’s a few headline highlights from our work…
Year One of phase 2 has seen the delivery of four Landmarks projects, 15 Open Access awards and the engagement of six Creative Communities. Collectively, these projects have provided 1,217,700 engagement opportunities.
Laura Howell - 100 Masters Instagram portrait by Rosalind Argo
OUR 100 MASTERS VIDEO WENT VIRAL AND THE PROJECT EXPANDED
Following the launch of our ‘100 Masters’ in Phase 1, the project has expanded significantly this year. Our Instagram campaign has started to profile each of the Masters using portraits and our videos on Facebook are reaching an international audience, attracting views from people in Spain, Greece and Australia.
Over 1 million people engaged with the 100 Masters Caroline Jariwala ‘Mango Mosaics’ video post which, to date, has had 9.7m views.
Leading on from this work, 100 Masters won the European Youth Award for Open Innovation 2018 and was shortlisted for a Creative Learning Guild award for Digital and Film award as well as being shortlisted for a European Centre for Creative Economy award.
In January 2018, author Miranda Dickinson and Associate Dean & Director of the Wolverhampton Institute of Community and Society at Wolverhampton University, Dr. Ranjit Khutan, talked about their work at the CBC #MeetTheMasters event at Wolverhampton Literature Festival.
People enjoying the Arts Village at Mela - image by Shine Duggal
WE HOSTED THE NEW ‘ART VILLAGE’ AT EUROPE’S LARGEST MELA
Billed as Europe’s biggest Asian music festival, Sandwell & Birmingham Mela included music, dance, food and traditional arts and crafts produced by Creative Black Country in July last year.
Our ‘Art Village’ marquee offered the opportunity to get involved in creative activities over the weekend. Activities, which provided over 10,300 experiences, included: tuk tuk photographs, caricatures, interactive audiovisual projections and crafts. Additionally, the ‘Chappal Walkabout’ – a large, mobile, sandal-clad foot which travelled around the Mela, provided of around 2,000 experiences. In total the Mela welcomed 45,000 visitors.
See our video of Mela 2018 here.
The Singh Twins stunning light panels
WE PARTNERED WITH WOLVERHAMPTON ART GALLERY TO BRING INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED ARTISTS, THE SINGH TWINS, TO THE CITY
From 21 July – 16 September 2018, Wolverhampton Art Gallery hosted the ‘Slaves of Fashion’ exhibition from the Singh Twins, with support from Creative Black Country. The exhibition attracted an estimated 14,100 visitors in total. To complement the exhibition we also helped to produce a ‘Symposium’ on 18th August 2018, featuring several talks by academics, artists and historians, organised in partnership with University of Wolverhampton.
Feedback for the exhibition included:
We thought this was a vibrant and thought-provoking exhibition. None of us had heard of the Singh Twins and we want to know more.
Amazing artwork - so detailed. Really impressed with the whole exhibition. More like this please!
I found the Slaves of Fashion exhibition hugely informative, moving and beautiful. The digital prints almost look like stained glass from the way that they're lit. Who knew that the making of cloth could engender so much conflict. A thought-provoking exhibition.
Watch our video of the launch and audience feedback on the night.
Girl Gaze artists Uzma, Jennifer, Andrea and Jocelyn with curator Iona Fergusson being introduced onstage in Chandigarh.
WE PARTNERED WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS TO PRODUCE A NEW EXHIBITION BY 4 FEMALE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Alongside Multistory and the Nazar Foundation, we launched Girl Gaze: Journeys Through the Punjab & The Black Country, UK, a photographic exploration of the Punjab and diaspora communities in the West Midlands through the voices of young girls and women. Bringing together newly-commissioned work by four women artists: Jocelyn Allen (UK), Jennifer Pattison (UK), Andrea Fernandes (India) and Uzma Mohsin (India), the exhibition explores diverse themes regarding gender, identity, patriarchy, tradition, culture, memory, place, belonging and difference, that shape the lives of women in both countries.
The project, part of Arts Council England and British Council’s ‘Re-Imagine India’ cultural exchange programme, was awarded funds to engage with local Indian diaspora communities in Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell, and in cities and villages in the Punjab.
The exhibition first launched in Chandigarh and Jalandhar in Spring 2018 and was the largest international contemporary photography exhibition hosted by the Punjab region to date.
The exhibition made its UK debut in West Bromwich in May (running throughout June) as part of Multistory’s BLAST! Photo Festival.