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Nine women from a charity that supports parents, carers and children have produced a play exploring stories from their pasts, memories of childhood, time, and future possibilities.
Every Friday, Express presents a selection of online and offline exhibitions, performances, workshops, events and other historic, creative and delicious content to help islanders get their weekly dose of culture.
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Pictured: 'There's something happening' is the fifth play from Brighter Futures' drama group.
Founded in 2008 by Wendy Hurford MBE, Brighter Futures works with families and puts the wellbeing and self-confidence of the parent or main carer at its heart.
Six years after the charity was established, Dr Patricia Tumelty, who, at the time, ran The Bridge Family Centre where Brighter Future is still based, encouraged the creation of a drama group. The project aimed to ensure that parents voices would be heard in an original and creative setting, and separately from their everyday lives and roles.
The Group is open to current and previous Brighter Futures clients and staff, all of whom are considered part of the wider ‘Brighter Futures Family’ with valuable experiences and insight to contribute to the acting and creative theatre process.
Next week, on Saturday 5 February, the Drama Group will be performing its fifth piece of live theatre. ‘There’s something happening’ follows the success of ‘What Are We Going To Do With All Our Children?’ (2015), ‘I’d Rather Not Know!’ (2016), ‘Conference of the Mermaids’ (2018), and ‘No place like’ (2019).
Pictured: The Group is open to current and previous Brighter Futures clients and staff, all of whom are considered part of the wider ‘Brighter Futures Family’.
Like all the previous plays, ‘There’s something happening’ has been created, devised, and written by “nine extraordinary women” with the help of Daniel Austin, the Director of Jersey Arts Centre.
“Theatre pieces are inspired and come into fruition through performance via a process of warm-up exercises, followed by conscious streams of writing that are followed up when the group meets,” the team explained. “Certain topics will come to the fore, providing themes for further exploration, such as the concept of “home”, childhood and the journey of pregnancy and birth.
“Arising themes are discussed further, and a script is developed by Daniel based on excerpts of the collective writing process. Effort is made to ensure that all members of the group have their words used on the day of the performance, and whilst members may narrate their own writings, performances may include interpreting and acting upon another member of the group’s writing as well.
“Each member of the drama group is instrumental in choosing any accompanying music and deciding stage placement. The title is usually agreed at the final stages of the process before the performance itself.”
“There’s Something Happening” explores the stories from the past, memories of childhood, time, and future possibilities.
Keyworker Michelle Filipe, a long-standing member of the drama group who has supported this year’s production, said that this year’s play had been inspired by the experiences of the group’s members during the pandemic.
“Lockdown has given us lots to think about and reflect on and has influenced this production,” she explained. “The concept of time will be a central theme to the piece, which has stemmed from the impact that covid-19 has had on us all.”
To explore the island’s heritage of Jèrriais, Jersey Heritage has been highlighting some special parts of island life through a new series featuring images by local photographer Lucy Le Lievre.
Titled Landscape Language, the series can be found on Jersey Heritage’s Instagram page.
From field boundaries (muthâle à pièrre secque) to Portelet Bay, ‘Lé Portélet’ which means ‘small harbour’, islanders will get to discover the history of common words around the island.
Pictured: CCA Galleries International's Summer Exhibition is open to various mediums.
Submissions for the Summer Exhibition at CCA Galleries International are opening soon - and photographer Will Lakeman, who won last year’s Summer Prize, is encouraging fellow artists to get involved.
Will previously entered the Summer Exhibition regularly, but then went through a quiet patch where he didn’t feel inspired with printing and framing his images. Ironically, he says the sense of isolation from the pandemic refreshed his artistic ideas.
“I feel I’ve made some of my best work over the last two years,” he said. “It helps that my art relies on places being empty of people and has a weird, dreamy undercurrent. Looking at the quality of the entries this year, I don’t think I was alone in being creatively busy during the lockdown.”
Taking part in the exhibition, and winning a prize, led Will to sell his piece in addition to helping gain exposure which in turn helped him sell affordable photozines through his website.
Will invested the money in producing and framing more work and is now planning a solo show of atmospheric night scenes.
“I wasn’t at all expecting to win, the standard this year was really high,” Will said. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to attend a ceremony hosted by the best couple from the celebrity edition of Come Dine With Me (Vic Reeves and his wife Nancy Sorrell). It’s lucky I suffer from terrible social anxiety or I probably would have done one of his TV catchphrases.”
Pictured: Will Lakeman won last year’s Summer Prize.
“It’s a great experience,” he added about his participation in the Summer Exhibition. “It’s easy to submit your work, as you can do it digitally for the first stage.
“It’s also reassuring to see that the exhibition has room for so many types of art. Pottery, sculpture, painting, textiles and photography are all well-represented. There’s a lot of artistic talent on the Island.
“Being part of the show is fantastic - the gallery is a beautiful space in a central location and it's always surprising how many people drop in there and tell you they’ve seen your work.
“I love to see the way they manage to arrange such a wide range of artistic styles. It’s a feast for the eyes and the central locations means it is accessible to people who wouldn’t necessarily attend an art exhibition.”
To any other artists that might be considering taking part, Will said “you should do it”.
“For established artists it offers the chance to get your work in front of art collectors, visitors to the Island, and the occasional mystery celeb.
“For amateurs like myself the experience will give you a push to think hard about how you’d show off your best material in a proper gallery with fancy lighting. The gallery staff will also give you advice on pricing your work, which is hard to come by otherwise.”
The properties team at the National Trust for Jersey has been maintaining the various properties over the last few weeks.
At the Georgian House, which along Le Moulin de Quetivel is closed until May, Paul, the painter, has been redecorating the panelling and ceiling in the principal bedroom and repainting some of the windows, as well as touching up some scuffs on the stairs, which were climbed by more than 4,000 visitors last year.
“Good maintenance is important to buildings of all ages and types,” the team said. “Some deterioration is inevitable over time, but regular maintenance helps slow the pace and lessens the need for large-scale repairs further down the line.
Meanwhile, at the Elms, the properties team has been replacing the rotten timber lintel over the side door to the Pressoir, which is the site of many of the charity’s events including Black Butter making.
Finally, work is underway on the refurbishment of Morel Farm. The Trust is working with Ash Interiors who have created mood boards for some of the rooms.
For the second podcast in their new series, Jersey Heritage explored the story of Seymour Tower and the magnificent wetlands site in which it stands.
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