Category Archives: What’s On

Festival Fortnight comes to Newark and Sherwood

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Open Studios Notts is back and, in just a couple of weeks’ time, Festival Fortnight will be taking place across the county.

From Saturday 11 to Sunday 26 June, over 100 local artists in around 50 different venues will be welcoming visitors into their studios, homes and gardens to share their work and their process. 

Here in Newark and Sherwood, you can visit artists in Newark, Southwell, Upton, Lowdham, Collingham and North Clifton…

And a little further afield at Thoresby Park, five resident makers are joined by an additional eight artists and craftspeople to create the Shine Festival of Fine Art and Craft which features ceramics, fine art, jewellery making, land art, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textile crafts and more.

Open from Wednesday to Sunday during the two weeks of Festival Fortnight, there will be talks, demonstrations and workshops to enjoy over at Thoresby Park.

Copies of the OS Notts brochure are currently available in libraries across the county and you’ll find full details of all the artists and events taking place in and around Newark here, with a full list for Nottinghamshire here…

And for all the latest news, make sure you follow OS Nottts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

A fun-filled festival that’s packed with positivity

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It’s getting on for almost three years since Claire Clements popped into the Radio Newark studio to announce the launch of her brand new Positively Empowered Kids Festival.

And now she’s back on Girls Around Town next weekend to share some of the details of the next one!

Of course, she’s been behind the mic or on the phone to June several times since that initial on air chat, with news of all the other events and activities she’s been running to help kids build their confidence and understand the importance of gratitude and positivity…

And most recently to talk to about her best-selling book, Put On Your Positive Pants, an uplifting and empowering story that introduces you and your children to a variety of ways to boost their mood when they’re feeling sad.

But putting together the 2022 festival is top of her list right now and if the one back in 2019 – packed with everything from yoga, circus skills and wellbeing crafts to making healthy food, family massage and tai chi – is anything to go by, those kids are in for a day full of fun in September!

Make sure you Put On Your Sunday Best – and your Positive Pants too – to join June and Claire in the second hour of next week’s show on 107.8FM, on the apps or online to find out what’s already on the cards for the festival, how you can keep up to date with other activities being added over the coming weeks and months…

And of course how to book tickets for the big day when they’re up for grabs!

Bringing artists into view

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Their studios may be closed to the public right now but artists across Nottinghamshire will still be welcoming ‘visitors’ throughout May and June, thanks to a special initiative designed to bring Open Studios 2020 to the county ‘virtually’.

“Of course it is no longer possible to run Open Studios in its usual format this year,” said Michael Trueman, co-ordinator of the initiative. “However, the creative community is the best at keeping morale high when times are rough, not only for the wider public but for ourselves too.

“Hence we have decided to use the online and digital opportunities available to continue to fulfil our mission of ‘bringing artists into view’.”

OS Notts will be sharing virtual studio tours and videos of artists’ work in progress on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and on a dedicated YouTube channel. There will also be opportunities to meet participating artists on social media and a new Meet the Artist section on the OS website.

Linked photographic exhibitions showing artists and makers at work that would normally be held in libraries across the county courtesy of  Inspire: Culture, Learning and Libraries will also take place online.

Links to the exhibition, which launches on Friday 24 April, will be posted on social media and on the OS website. For the third year running, the photographs have been taken by Neil Pledger and curated by Lucianna Gallucci.

And don’t forget to keep an eye on the Girls Around Town social media feeds for regular updates about this year’s Open Studios…

Photographs by Neil Pledger