The Edge Arts Centre

Review of 2011

T

he Edge Arts Centre in Much Wenlock has had another exciting year of events and activities. The Edge, part of William Brookes School, offers a wide range of performing arts events, and works in partnership with the school and community to promote and develop opportunities for participation in the arts for everyone.

Our relationship with William Brookes School works on many levels. Not only does The Edge support all student performances and examinations with a performance element, but we also offer employment, training and volunteering opportunities for students. Working with young people is one of our most important activities, and we see a major part of our role as inspiring and supporting young people and their interest in the arts. Student performances this year have included music concerts; the musical production, Bugsy Malone; the school talent contest, The W Factor! and the end of year celebration of dance in school, SummerDance 2012.

The Edge also provides valuable link opportunities for younger children who attend William Brookes School’s partner primary schools. Our Encore! (above) programme provides after-school clubs in dance and drama, and participating children get to perform at The Edge to parents and to the general public. In addition, the annual celebration of dance in primary schools, Stepping Up, is a two day festival of dance at The Edge with money earned from ticket sales going back into dance development. At these performances, young children get to experience performing on stage, with full lighting and effects, in front of two hundred people. This has proved to be one of the highlights of the year. We also invite primary school pupils to special matinee performances of the William Brookes School Sixth Form Panto (left) each year.

The Edge doesn’t only work with Performing Arts students. This year, we have worked with Design and Technology students, in creating textile banners with members of Much Wenlock Craft Guild for a national Olympic project. We have engaged young students in a theatre and poetry project, and taken part in National Schools Film Week, inviting Film Studies and French students to a screening a classic French New Wave film. A group of artists exhibiting in The Edge Gallery have also been in school offering print workshops to GCSE Art students. Young people with an interest in the technical side of performance work with The Edge’s Technician and visiting companies, to learn the fundamentals of sound, lighting and stage management.

This year, we were able to offer exclusive performances to students of a new play by Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company, Notes to Future Self, and a preview of Vamos Theatre’s comedy about the town’s Olympic heritage, Much Ado About Wenlock.


Partnerships
The Edge works regularly with partner organisations in the area, and engages in special projects with partners. We work with rural touring agency, Arts Alive, on various projects and promotions throughout the year, and work with Flicks in the Sticks on our Monday Cinema programme.

Twenty Twenty Gallery in Much Wenlock works with us each year in presenting the Much Wenlock Open Art Exhibition . Proprietor Mary Elliott offers exhibition and mentoring opportunities to winners of the exhibition, as well as co-ordinating the judging of entries.
This year saw the second Wenlock Poetry Festival taking place in the town, with many of the larger events staged at The Edge. This year, we had performances by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, as well as performances and readings by Sir Andrew Motion, Ian McMillan, John Hegley and Jackie Kay, amongst others.

The Edge took part in Dance Alive, a project funded by People Dancing, part of the West Midlands Culture Programme for London 2012. The aim of Dance Alive was to bring dance to as many people in the area as possible, with a series of workshops, professional performances and film-and-dance events, all culminating in a day-long event, Dance Xplosion, with professional companies and local dance students performing together in Craven Arms.

Dance Alive paved the way for Encompass, an international dance and digital media project, part of the Dancing for the Games programme. This is already under way, and will culminate in a series of dance events in a 360-degree performance igloo which will be sited at The Edge in the summer of 2012.


Professional Programme
Hand-in-hand with our work with students and young people, and local community initiatives is our professional programme of cinema, theatre, dance and live music. Our film programme offers an international array of drama, documentary and animated features, and we strive to highlight contemporary British cinema and the best of world cinema. Our theatre programme this year has included Pentabus Theatre’s popular play, Tales of the Country, and youth theatre company Half Moon with Look to the Sky. Dance companies performing at The Edge this year have included Ludus Dance Company, and Chitraleka Dance Company, both offering workshops to students as part of their engagement with The Edge.

The Edge has developed a national, and international, reputation for its jazz programme, hosting performances in 2011 by international jazz legend Ralph Towner (right); UK/US supergroup, The Impossible Gentlemen; as well as the best of contemporary jazz, from Phronesis, Dennis Rollins, Gilad Atzmon, and young rising star Marius Neset, amongst many others. The Edge is now diversifying its live music programme to include more folk and world music, with performances this year by seven-piece Edinburgh band, Southern Tenant Folk Union, and a solo performance by Cameroonian singer/guitarist Muntu Valdo.

The Edge Gallery offers exhibition opportunities for professional and non-professional artists, and we particularly strive to work with community groups and non-professional practitioners for whom exhibition opportunities in the area are limited. We are planning to introduce a curators’ programme for students in 2012 as part of our development work with young people.

Looking Ahead
Looking ahead to 2012, The Edge will be joining the National Theatre Live network, bringing productions live from the National Theatre’s stage to Much Wenlock, via satellite. In time, we hope to also be able to show performances from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and other similar performances. Our live music performances will continue to feature the popular jazz events, with Tord Gustavsen returning to The Edge with his four-piece ensemble in March, and our folk programme featuring an intimate performance by UK folk stars, The Unthanks. Our comedy programme gets off to a great start with Radio 4 favourite Jeremy Hardy, here in January.

The William Brookes School Musical Theatre Company production in 2012 is Lionel Bart’s ever-popular Oliver!, and we will be again presenting our end of year spectacular shows, SummerDance 2012 and The W Factor!

2012 will see the Wenlock Poetry Festival and the Much Wenlock Festival staging events at The Edge, and we continue to offer performance facilities for a variety of community events and performances. Much Wenlock’s unique role in the history of the Olympic Games, will be recognised by a series of special events and celebrations in the run-up to July 2012.

We are ending 2011 with our appeal to raise funds to purchase a new grand piano for use by The Edge, school and community. This will continue in 2012 until we reach our target.