February 2010

03/03/10

We have now emerged out of a rather snowy, chilly February, and what an eventful month it was...

Seasider is developing a rate of knots with ever increasing enthusiasm from Seaside Towns from around the UK. We are working on some very exciting projects to showcase these places in London for the 2010 installations, and working with some fantastic cultural organisations in London as partners. Details are still 'hush hush' at the moment, but all will be revealed soon!

Plans for the Bloomsbury Festival are coming along very well too - we had another 'locked in a room' programming session, and the events so far are looking really exciting. And as always, the ideas for Festival activities have all come about through conversations with local residents, organisations and businesses - a true community festival.

Fundraising for the Bloomsbury Festival is well underway, and with such a sterling range of partners involved, the sponsorship opportunities for businesses are absolutely top notch. If you are interested in finding out more about sponsorship opportunities for the festival, please email Festival Development Manager, Sarah Slocombe: sarah@hidden-cities.com

Maddy went along to this year's Funding the Future conference in Westminster for a day of stimulating discussion about plans for resourcing the third sector in the next decade and beyond. Really interesting speakers, including Barbara Follett MP, Linda Kelly, Angela Smith MP and Dawn Austwick talked about the importance of community empowerment, sharing resources and encouraging enterprise - absolutely key to the genuine social and economic development of communities.

As well as all this, the Hidden Cities team have been enjoying extra-curricular activities too. Earlier in the month, Maddy went to Blackpool to watch Walk the Plank's Heat the Streets, a fantastic series of outdoor fire and pyrotechnic shows, part of Blackpool's annual Showzam festival. The sun was shining and the shows were absolutely packed - such a lovely weekend.

In the meantime, Roma was feeling very lucky to take a work trip down to a sunny Folkestone, which is currently rolling out a fascinating regeneration programme via the Creative Foundation. And apparently the adventure playground on the seafront is also well worth a visit!