Sunday 10 April 2011

Confident Future


I reckon that of you don't believe something is going to work, then it most likely won't. Self-fulfilling prophesies can be the bane of one's life.

As such, I'm certain that the inaugural Bournemouth Creative Break in October is going to be a success.

I'm so confident of this, in fact, that I am already beginning to think about more activities and workshops to lay on here in Bournemouth over the winter.

How do any of these strike you?

A Bodhran workshop - this wonderful Irish/Celtic drum is nowadays considered a staple in Irish music but increasingly elsewhere in Europe and North America. It's not as hard to play as it looks. No, really. That's what they tell me. How about a half-day workshop to get you started on the basics? With the accompaniment of live musicians to make the experience even more memorable?

Finding Your Way - an art workshop based on working with maps of all shapes and sizes, old and new. Maps are going out of style fast, but everyone has fond memories of somewhere in their life. Here's a chance to make art with a map you love, preserving the map and the memory for ever.

The Basics Of Jewelry-Making - oh good grief; where do you start with something like this? Perhaps beading, or ear-ring or pendant making. This is a truly enormous subject for a workshop!

Likewise:

Art with Fabric - I can hardly think of a short enough description. The world of textile art (as I am now beginning to discover, after conversations with wonderful people like Judith Cutler here in Bournemouth) is simply ENORMOUS.

Junk Music - how about a half-a-day learning how to make, decorate and play musical instruments out of what would otherwise be considered material for land-fill? I'd think about asking a man like Nick Crump who lives here in Dorset, with a little help from the local organisation, the Dorset Scrapstore If you think this sounds like a childish activity; well, you may be right. But Bournemouth Creative Breaks is all about playing.

Or how about a BourneMoth-style storytelling workshop? True stories, told live without notes. A great way to increase your confidence in a supportive, friendly environment.


I could easily contemplate having an entire weekend of Rod Paton's LifeMusic sessions, or a Writer's Retreat inspired by the one I saw advertised by my friends at the Chichester Creative Network

I have always wanted to make my own Shaman's drum. It's just an ambition of mine. I have a friend who runs Shamanic drum-making workshops, and I am already talking to her about a future Creative Break. I do hope I wouldn't be the only one there though, would I?

Look at this beautiful Celtic Shamanic drum made, decorated and sold by my friend Taryn Shrigley

© Taryn Shrigley 2010
Now obviously, this is not an exhaustive list. Can you think of other workshops that I should be considering, or that you might want to come on? Let me know in the comments section!

3 comments:

  1. I'm trying to find a place for my "cafe conversations" project in which aspiring playwrights listen to conversations in real cafes and then try to reproduce them as scripts. These short (three minute) pieces are then replayed by the writers in the place they they were originally overheard. It's a kind of writing-coffee-drinking workshop.
    Peter

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  2. Peter, I'm intrigued by that. Would the conversations - the original one - be staged in any way? Set up? Improvised? Could you do this kind of thing without people knowing that they were being listened to? Is it something that could happen in the hotel bar, or restaurant? So many questions! You need to come over for some of my world-famous sausages and mashed potato (ask Johanna Lawrence ...)

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  3. Nearly missed your reply here. The idea would be that we overhere and recreate real conversations and we replay them unannounced so that any listeners will have no idea that they are not happening at that moment. The process could be varied in any number of ways and at one point I was talking to a film amker about using hidden cameras but there are issues with releases and so on. It can work any where that people are talking together. Delighted to talk further. Sausage(veg of course) and mash sounds fantastic. I published one of these as a tryout on my blog spyway.blogspot.com somewhere.

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