HARVEST YOUR INNER ARTIST!

RIPE AND READY is a free drama, music and dance opportunity for 15 lucky people who are over 50.
Intensive workshops over a two-week period in March will immerse you in the three art forms.

Click HERE for more information.

There’s an exciting opportunity for people with a disability to work with an internationally renowned sculptor to create a 3 dimensional piece which will emphasise the fun side of disability – think stair-lifts and fairground rides! The finished sculpture will stand in the entrance to the Ulster Museum, viewed by 8,000 people a week, so it’s your chance to make a statement. Workshops will take place in March but book your place now to enhance your experience and increase your skills in 3D visual arts. Contact Kate openarts@aol.com or ring 02890240765

The OACC has been selected to compete in the International Eisteddfod in Wales this July, and urgently need more Basses!
Auditions will be held in January / February 2013 from 6.30pm-9.30pm in Divis Community Centre, Ardmoulin Place, Belfast. Auditions are very informal, in front of two of the choir’s Musical Directors. Singers should prepare a verse and chorus of a song of their own choice, after which they will be asked to sing some simple pitch-related exercises.
Successful Basses will be expected to attend Monday night rehearsals in Belfast, and learn a number of songs in a variety of styles and languages. Singers are not expected to be able to read music as Practice CDs and lyrics sheets are provided*
* Please let Open Arts know if you have any particular needs prior to the audition, e.g lyrics in Braille or large print.
The OACC is an award winning, dynamic, inclusive choir based in Belfast. They demonstrate how people from different cultural backgrounds, with and without disabilities, come together through the medium of song to be positive ambassadors for Northern Ireland. Having reached the final stages of the BBC’s “Last Choir Standing” in 2008 and RTÉ’s “An Cór” in 2010, they are dedicated to providing high quality, multi-genre performances throughout the UK and Ireland, and have just returned from the Milwaukee Irish Fest!
Please email bevopenarts@aol.com to register your interest, or phone Beverley Whyte, Musical Director, on 07867 808485.

Open Arts workshops at the Crescent Arts Centre resume on the week beginning 14th January. If you are lucky enough to attend the Morton Art Group then you start on Monday 7th, but go home afterwards, as the drama doesn’t start until 14th. Big Choir also runs on 7th January at Divis Community Centre. All welcome to go along and sing from 7.15 to 9.15

Open Arts, Northern Ireland’s participative arts organisation for disabled people, seeks a dynamic Chief Executive Officer with artistic background, to support Open Arts Board in enabling people with disabilities to take a full part in creative arts activities. The successful candidate will have managerial experience, including fund-raising and budgeting, and a wide-ranging knowledge of the arts and of disability. Further details and an application form are available electronically from openarts@aol.com or by post, Open Arts, Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Rd. Belfast BT7 1NH and must be returned by 4p.m. on Friday 25th January. Interviews will take place on Tuesday 12th February. Applications are welcome from all sections of the community regardless of gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious affiliation.

Open Arts is about to start a new project funded by Belfast City Council under the Creative Legacies Programme. This is a city-wide project which will involve people in reminiscing about the street they once lived in and the street they live in now. These memories will be used by a composer to create a piece of music specific to Belfast, incorporating Open Arts’ Community Choir and Open Arts’ very own gamelan. The recorded reminiscences will not be lost; they will be added to the appopritate streets on the sound map of Belfast which has been established by Sarc (Sonic Arts Research Centre.) if you are a member of a group who would like to record your memories why not ring Una on 02890240765.

This exciting creative writing project is funded by Belfast City Council’s Development and Outreach Porgramme. 2 groups, from Beacon, our partner organisation, are using the Ulster Museum as inspiration for their writing. Museum staff present the participants with artefacts and talk them through their history and provenance. Then the writers set to and produce written work on associated themes. Peter the Polar Bear is a favourite. 2 new groups will start writing next term and the project will end with a celebration, exhibition and printed booklet in June 2013.

Threads …

What is normal? … We are here … This-abled.”
On 3 December 2011, the Ulster Museum and Open Arts will celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities through a showcase of new artwork, creative writing, and performance! Over the past few months, different groups of people with disabilities have been busy creating new work to share with Belfast. The Threads Project inspired each member of 2 visual arts groups to explore and reflect in order to identify events and experiences which had a lasting effect, changed their direction or shaped their daily lives. The Creative Writing Group similarly searched out threads, which are woven into the fabric of their life stories. The devised performance, This-Abled, will take you on a journey as it challenges stereotypes and asks the audience to consider again how “together we can make a better world for all,” the international theme for 2011. The writing and visual work will be on display in the museum as well. This-Abled is wheelchair accessible and suitable for the whole family. Show times are 2:15, 3:15, and 4:15. Art and written work is on display for the whole of the following week.

The Open Arts summer scheme took place at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, as requested by the young people.  We worked in a lovely courtyard which had 3 separate rooms and this was our base from Tuesday to Friday.

From there we made excursions to the draper’s and weaver’s, the doctor’s surgery and the school, where drama, music and art were created, inspired by the atmospheric surroundings.

art at the museum

On Friday the courtyard became the site of our exhibition and music performance, and from there the audience was encouraged to join the actors at the different performance sites for three devised pieces of drama.

A great time was had by all and everyone agreed they wanted to come back next year. The only change they wish to make is to ensure the scheme lasts longer.

Open Arts Crescent-based classes resume in the week beginning 12th September.  Please note, this is a week later than the Crescent classes start, to suit some of our participants.   If you attend the Friday art class, this is the only class to begin earlier.  It starts on Friday 9th September. We are looking forward to seeing all our regulars again and meeting new participants.