Borderlands is a Creative People and Places project focused in Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland and are looking for the Hidden Sheroes there. A SHERO is a woman of any age, colour, or nationality. SHE is an active giver, an example of what is possible, a brilliant light and hope, and an inspiration to people of all ages. They’d love to hear about any Shero who has made an impact, no matter how small, over this tough time. They want to commemorate and celebrate these women by sharing their stories. A selection of women nominated will also have the opportunity to be photographed. To nominate your community Sheroes, please complete the form here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5Vu0f2EGd-v-K110o_Z7Z-JAN Q6kWN5UGoFLJa4oT1pRXRg/viewform?usp=sf_link giving as much information as possible about why your nominee deserves to be recognized.

At Creative Darlington we’re delighted to see Tracks continuing to share the joy of music, literature and poetry online care of their fantastic HARK! The Sound Of Stories . Tracks presented another fantastic evening of online performances from international and award-winning musicians, bringing to life the literary works of Emily Dickinson, Angela Carter, and more. premiered online on Friday 23 April 2021 at 7.30pm, runs for 87 minutes and has already attracted 7.2K views on Facebook and features:

Josephine Foster – All the way from Colorado, USA!
Revisiting songs from her Emily Dickinson-inspired album Graphic As A Star.

Polly Paulusma – Performances introducing her new album Invisible Music: Folk Songs That Influenced Angela Carter.

SCHWA – Northern multi-instrumentalists playing music inspired by the writings of Kathleen Jamie, Christina Rosetti and Edna St Vincent Millay.

With additional readings of work by the inspiring writers from Stockton-based poet Dianne Casey and musician and member of Schwa Jacqui Wicks.

All of this was hosted by local musician and author Francoise Harvey, from Darlington Crown Street Library.

Not only have Tracks fully subtitled this video, which you can enable in the player if you would like, they’ve also gone one step further thanks to funding from Musinc to help tread the way forward into online accessibility, having the whole event interpreted through British Sign Language. Tracks want to offer a huge thanks to Sue Lee of Becoming Visible, whose performance they describe as ‘absolutely stellar, adding an extra layer of meaning all on its own even for those with hearing’.

Free online Arts Award support sessions are fast approaching, brought to you by Culture Bridge North East and The Customs House.

Discover and Explore, Wednesday 19 May 2021, 11.30 – 13.00

Trainers Jane Gray and Fiona Martin will take you through a Discover and Explore Arts Award Refresher, which is suitable for any existing advisers; whether you’ve had a break in your delivery or if you’ve never worked in these Awards. 

There will be time spent on both levels, as well as opportunities to ask questions and to gain confidence to re-start your Discover and Explore programmes.

Bronze and Silver, Wednesday 16 June 2021, 11.30 – 13.00

This session is suitable for existing Bronze and Silver advisers and will be delivered by trainers, Jane Gray and Fiona Martin. 

Participants will be taken through the specifics of Bronze and Silver Arts Award, and to have an opportunity to ask questions, and clarify understanding to help advisers to increase their confidence around delivering Bronze and Silver Arts Awards.

Gold, Wednesday 14 July 2021, 11.30 – 13.00

This session is an introduction to Gold Arts Award, and is delivered by Gold Trainer, Jane Gray and supported by Fiona Martin, from The Customs House. It will be an opportunity to find out how Gold Arts Award might be the right next step in your work with young people to support them to develop their artistic talents and leadership expertise.

Pink Collar Gallery & Las Lluministas have presented the RE-IMAGINE open call which opens on Friday 30th April (today) and closes on Friday 11th June 2021 with application details at www.pink-collargallery.com

The call out invites artists who identify as women and as feminists to create activist artwork around the theme of how femicide is portrayed in mass media. The work will be displayed online in parallel at Pink-Collar Gallery and Las Iluministas Gallery. Within this open call, they will select 5 Mexico-based artists and 5 UK-based artists to develop their online work into pieces of public art, which will be displayed in Mexico and the UK respectively. The process of creating and displaying these ten pieces of public art will be filmed by the artists themselves, creating ten short videos to exhibit.

The fantastic Cabinet of Curiosity have secured support from Arts Council England and Creative Darlington to develop a Grand Constructions project in Darlington. Watch their short video and download and print one of their designs onto card, and with a pair of scissors, and some sticky stuff, you’ll have all you need to create your own model of Darlington’s fabulous Town Clock.

The D Project Dance Company is looking to appoint new Board Trustees. After many successful years the company is in the process of transitioning to a Company Limited by Guarantee and is looking for new board trustees to provide advice, support and share their experience to help take the organisation into its next stage of development.

This is/these are a volunteer position/s without renumeration.

The Roles

In the first instance we are seeking people with experience at board or senior level in one or more of the following areas:

Finance | Accounting | Legal and Governance | Human Resources

Those with experience of charity and fundraising would also be particularly welcomed as well as those with dance/arts knowledge or experience being desirable.

A further specification and information about the roles can be obtained by visiting www.thedproject.co.uk/news

To apply for a role please send an expression of interest and current CV to info@thedproject.co.uk.

Deadline for submissions is 12pm Friday 26th March 2021.

Along with the University of Sunderland, Northern Film + Media/ Tees Valley Screen are delighted to be presenting a series of six online webinars “In Conversation with Lord Puttnam” supported by Pinewood Group.

The series begins with

Golden Rules – Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 30! with Lee Hall – Friday 12th March – 10am – 11.30am

Following this are:

The Production Business – How to finance and produce successful content with David Parfitt Monday 15th March – 2pm – 3.30pm

How Technology has Changed Storytelling with Sarah Gavron – Monday 12th April – 2pm – 3.30pm

The Great British Skills Shortage – Where the jobs are with Iain Smith – Friday 23rd April 10am – 11.30am

Producing Content in an Era of Fake News – The growing importance of factual and documentary makers John Battsek – Friday 30th April- 10am – 11.30am

And finally, date and time tbc    The Films of Ridley Scott – with Ridley Scott.

The first event is available to book here https://lordputtnamgoldenrules.eventbrite.co.uk, with further information about the events at https://northernmedia.org/in-conversation-with-lord-puttnam/.

Priority places will be given to those living in the north east and students and alumni from University of Sunderland.

Northern Film + Media/Tees Valley Screen have contacted Creative Darlington recently to advise of a *NEW* Video Journalism Trainee Placement Scheme they are launching in partnership with The Guardian. 

Applications are open to select a talented storyteller from the Tees Valley region who will take part in a paid, 12 week part time training programme and join a specialist video unit. The candidate will receiving training from a local mentor alongside video producers and journalists at the Guardian and will create a short documentary film for their collaborative community video project Made in Britain.

The scheme has arisen to tackle some of the key barriers to entry in the British media in which the production processes and routes to participation have become increasingly inaccessible. Made in Britain is an attempt to improve and deepen the representation of underrepresented communities, empowering those with a knack and a passion for storytelling to tell a story that matters to them and produce top quality video journalism.

All of the key info can be found here: https://northernmedia.org/project/made-in-britain/about-made-in-britain/ 

Interested candidates can watch a one hour webinar about Video Journalism at the Guardian here: https://northernmedia.org/intro-to-docs-video-journalism-with-the-guardian/

Applications for the Video Journalism Trainee Placement Scheme are OPEN NOW until 1 March 2021.

Northern Film & Media/Tees Valley Screen are also hiring a Documentary Filmmaking Mentor to work with them on this scheme. Applications for the role close on 22 February 2021.

Please do not hesitate to get in contact with Jen Corcoran, 07970 917 437, if you would like some more information on the scheme. Interested candidates can also contact MIB@northernmedia.org  for support with their application.

Applications can be made in writing or by video.

Eden Arts are advising creatives of their £12,000 commission fund (and other opportunities they are working on for the #66 region – from west coast Cumbria to east coast at Teesmouth via Carlisle and Durham, the districts connected loosely by the A66).  

The programme includes Darlington and Eden Arts are keen to work with artists, writers, makers, creatives, podcasters. filmmakers, animators, illustrators, graphic designers, gamers, painters, poets and many more. You can find out more about aims of The 66 programme here.

To find out more about the commission fund just register at https://edenarts.typeform.com/to/QRcXKzQA (and do a quick survey on how COVID has made an impact on your practice) to receive updates on new commissions and opportunities from them and others.

Hannabiell Saunders and Midnight Blue Collective delivered 5 performances on Tuesday 22nd December 2020 and 5 more on Wednesday 23 December 2020, outdoors in Lifeline service locations across the Borough. Performances were supported by Creative Darlington and sought to bring cheer to families with upbeat Christmas carols fused with African and Latin rhythm, to safely bring live music to the doorsteps of people who might otherwise have limited opportunities to enjoy live music, and to support musicians and freelancers during these difficult times.

This programme attracted many positive comments, two of which are shown below:

“Thank you so very very much you were fantastic.  Everyone really loved listening to your music in the sunshine, made us all feel a little more Christmassy.”

“What an excellent treat for the tenants today from Hannabiell and her band, there were absolutely swinging, and all tenants have enjoyed it so much great to see so many dancing and watching it was great certainly upped everyone’s spirits.”