create07

is the Yorkshire and Humber Region’s first creative arts festival and is intended to celebrate the range of creative activities WEA students are involved in across the Region as well as raise the profile of the WEA as the leading provider of community based adult education.

The festival will take place throughout June 2007 with a wide variety of events and activities, including exhibitions, readings, performances, workshops and collaborative projects. Over 80 courses in the Yorkshire and Humber WEA programme intend to have some involvement in the festival. In addition, the Region is applying to the Arts Council for funding to support a number of festival activities. Proposals include art work for a Sure Start centre; the production and performance of a play about the history of a local Miners’ Welfare Hall, currently the venue for a WEA group of students with learning difficulties; a practical writing session in a 19th century cemetery in inner-city Sheffield; and a family learning digital media day at a local school. In addition, there are plans to commission two residencies – one for visual art, the other for writing – giving an opportunity for two practising artists to work with WEA students. The artists will also produce work in their own media in response to their engagement with the festival.

Competitions, open to all WEA students in the Region, will widen participation in the festival. There will be four categories: poetry, photography and short story, and a ‘festival-image’ competition. The WEA is seeking support from regional arts organisations to offer prizes which would provide the winners with further opportunities to develop their interests and skills. Winning entries will also be published and celebrated, along with images and reviews and the work of the artists in residence.

The WEA is meeting with local arts officers across the Region to discuss ways in which the festival might be supported. Other partners and possible sources of support have been identified. Ian McMillan has kindly agreed to act as Patron of create07. With over 100 events, widespread support and publicity, the WEA expects to attract a large number of people to the festival from across the community. The festival programme will be produced and distributed in April 2007; in the meantime, anyone interested in create07 can call David Pittaway on 0114 242 3609 or go to the festival website, create07.org.uk