October 2009

30/10/09

Well we're almost at the end of a somewhat frantic, but fantastic October!

The major news from Hidden Cities HQ this month, is that we had our first grant towards the Bloomsbury Festival approved by the Arts Council. We're absolutely thrilled that the project has been endorsed by ACE and hope this will be the start of a fruitful relationship.

Elsewhere, it has been full steam ahead, with the continuation of some brilliant relationships being developed in preparation for the Seasider project. The Seasider website is currently under construction, but for a sneak preview, click here:

Seasider

The steering committee for the Bloomsbury Festival has been established, and some of the major programming elements for the event are starting to take shape. With the increase in geographical area that the festival is covering and the challenges that brings, we have been working with the Camden Highways team to have lots of creative thoughts about ways of shaping the area for the event, how to interact with public space, how the audience can travel around the festival, how to access secret festival spaces whilst ensuring that they remain hidden... We're really looking forward to continuing to explore these ideas, and delivering next year.

The Hidden Cities Charitable Trust is almost up and running. We have an absolutely fantastic board of trustees, who we're incredibly excited about working with over the coming years. The trustees are bringing a broad range of expertise, interests and personalities to the charity, and we can't wait to get started.

There have been some cracking events in London this month too. We went to see the Bodies in Urban Spaces show in London Bridge (part of Dance Umbrella) - really enjoyable, and fun to look at the intricate contours of urban spaces that we usually ignore in day to day life.

On for another week or so, is the Conrad Shawcross exhibition in the Kingsway Tram Subway near Holborn - wow - What a fantastic space, and a real treat to get access to such fascinating piece of London's history that hasn't been open to the public since 1950's. And the actual exhibition is very cool too!

The team are now looking forward to a weekend off, filled with pumpkin pies and fireworks, before we get catapulted into the inevitable madness that will be November...