July 2010

02/08/10

Another month is over and it's all change at Hidden Cities HQ. In July, the team moved offices to the iconic Brunswick Centre in the heart of Bloomsbury. This striking 1960's design is one of London's most well known listed buildings and provides an inspiring setting for us to continue to develop wonderful projects in one of the most beautiful parts of London.

The Bloomsbury Festival website is now live, though content and programme is being added throughout August. www.bloomsburyfestival.org.uk

July began with a lovely afternoon spent in Montague St Gardens, the Duke of Bedford's private gardens tucked away near the British Museum. The Festival is delighted to have the support of The Bedford Estates who provided the space for this event, the Bloomsbury Festival Garden Party. The afternoon was fabulous as many of our partners, local businesses and funders got together to enjoy a glass of fizz, delicious canapes kindly supplied by Waitrose and enjoy the exclusive surroundings of this beautiful, hidden sculpture garden.

We were thrilled to receive Arts Council funding for the Bloomsbury Festival this month. These funds will enable the Festival to commission a fantastic range of artistic activity, from music and dance to site specific theatre and secret performances.

The programme for the Festival is almost ready to be released - and we can't wait. There are already over 100 events, with everything from a World Stage curated by SOAS and sculptural installations in Bloomsbury's parks, to eerie secret performances by The Horse Hospital, witty and fabulous poetry events by Bloomsbury Voices and a huge programme of walks and talks - to name but a few!

The Festival will be recruiting volunteers in September so please do watch this space.

And just down the road from all the Festival activities bubbling away, Hidden Cities were very happy to be moving Seasider into the Seasider Shop for the summer months. The Seasider Shop will be open from 9th - 27th August during which time it will be packed with all sorts of quirky and interesting installations, projects and events from around the UK coastline. The Seasider Shop is a pilot of how the public elements of the Seasider campaign could develop and will have contributions from towns including; Torquay, Southend, Margate, Scarborough, Mablethorpe and Brighton.

Just 24hrs after we transformed the old, dusty bar into a fresh and vibrant Seasider shop, we held our first Seasider Network event there. The team developed this event with the support of Local Space to bring together experts from across the UK to discuss the future of the British Seaside, focussing on the three strands of Seasider activity; Image, Culture, Place / Enterprise & Assets / Homes & Communities. The discussions provoked fascinating debate - the outcome of which is currently being written up and will be disseminated in August. Thanks to everyone who came along.

For more information about Seasider, please visit: www.seasider.co.uk

After a very early start, rather a long train journey and a taxi ride with a charming local who referred to everyone as 'duck', Maddy was pleased to go along to the Coastal Communities Alliance conference in Skegness this month. The day involved several presentations followed by debates surrounding practical and feasible solutions for transforming the fortunes of fading seaside towns.

For more info about any of our work, do get in touch.