Thursday 27 May 2010

BBC Wales Feature

Last week we promised that BBC Wales would be publishing a feature on their website about Empty Shops Project, and you can read an extract from the piece below:
Empty retail units in Newport are becoming creative exhibition spaces thanks to an innovative arts project.
The project located in five shops in Upper Dock Street, Newport city centre will run until 31 October 2010.
Artists, community groups and anyone interested in the arts have a chance to express themselves creatively and bring their work to a wider audience.

Fifty SuperDragons are currently being transformed in one of the empty shops to create an arts trail around Newport.

Nick Cadman, community arts development officer for Newport council said the arts development team had been thinking about the best way to utilise the empty city centre premises for a couple of years.

"We've got a lack of spaces to exhibit and do workshops in, so it's always been in the back of our minds," he said.
 The rest of the lovely feature can be seen here.

Tuesday 25 May 2010

TJs in The Square

We are pleased to be supporting TJs in The Square, which will features some of the brightest stars of the 1990s, who are to reform for a special open-air gig in John Frost Square this summer in tribute to Newport TJ’s owner John Sicolo, who died in March.

Local hit makers Goldie Lookin Chain will be joined by a stellar line-up including The Darling Buds, fronted by Andrea Lewis, who have not played together since racking up a string of hits in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Darling Buds, Novocaine, Doctor Bison, Flyscreen, Rollerco, Varispeed and Disco will all also reunite for the concert. As well as the music, there will be guest speakers including Paul Flynn MP and John Sicolo’s daughter, Leanne.

The Empty Shops Project will be providing the backstage area, in the old Co-Op Bank, which was cleaned up this weekend by an army of enthusiastic volunteers! There will also be an exhibition of photos and clothing in one of the Empty Shops.

Mr Sicolo was pivotal to the mid-1990s Newport music scene which led to the New York Times dubbing the town the ‘New Seattle’, after the US city that had earlier spawned Nirvana and the grunge movement. At that time, local MP Paul Flynn even raised a Parliamentary White Paper in praise of the town’s talented musicians. And now many of those bands that found their feet in TJ’s years ago will play one-off sets at a free, open-air show for up to 2,500 people in John Frost Square.

Newer bands will also be represented by the likes of Sick Livers, Bad Samaritans and Elephant Rescue Plan, and there will be ska bands earlier in the day to represent Mr Sicolo’s love of the genre. As well as the established acts, a band of local youngsters will be given the chance to play in front of thousands as part of a ‘Square Factor’ talent contest, which is supported by Newport City Homes.

The gig on Saturday July 10 will run from 11am until around 9.30pm and is supported by Newport Initiative as part of the Summer in Newport City events schedule. 

For further event details check www.wearevoice.co.uk, www.newportcitycentre.co.uk or check out the Facebook group.

Friday 21 May 2010

BBC Wales - Gallery

We were visited by the lovely people from BBC Wales (South East) this week, to discuss the Empty Shops Project.

They will be publishing a full article next week, but as it's Friday we thought that we'd share their pictures first.

Follow this link to see their gallery of Empty Shop Project photos.



Thursday 20 May 2010

Gallery

If you haven't had a chance to check out our group on Facebook, you can do so by heading this way.

In the meantime, check out some of the ace photos that people have been uploading to the group!


Friday 7 May 2010

Artists Lounge

Last week's first Artist Lounge went wonderfully well! Over 40 artists turned up and spent the evening talking about new projects and collaborations, so we are excited to announce that there will be an Artists Lounge every two weeks, on alternating Wednesdays and Thursdays (to allow people to attend if that cannot make one particular evening).

The next Artists Lounge takes place next Wednesday (12 May), in Empty Shops HQ, at 28 Upper Dock Street. Find the Facebook event here.

Please see the invite below for more information, and we look forward to seeing you next week!

Thursday 6 May 2010

Exhibition Profile: Communal Perspective

What: Communal Perspective
Who: Tom Morris
Where: The old Coral Bookmakers
When: Monday 10 & 11 May  

Communal Perspective is an exhibition situated somewhere between art, design and a local village fĂȘte stall. Diverse graphic messages in the form of posters, photographs and zines provoke thought on local community and create an atmosphere of collective thought. Interested in questions rather than answers, this exhibition asks you to see your community with fresh eyes, full of potential. Come along and be inspired, drink some tea and have a think with friends.

International Visitors

Yesterday, as a bit of fun, we tried to get visitors to this website from as many different countries as possible. Gunhild assured us Norwegians, Rach offered a Kiwi and Leah has promised us a German by the end of the day. So far we have had visitors from 14 different countries (see the map below for our progress), and we want more!

We would like Empty Shops Project to become truly global (if only to see the joy on Mike's face when he checks Google Analytics and sees yet more countries lit up!)

If you know anyone who lives abroad - please send them a link to this website, and let's take over the world!

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Empty Shops Project Online

Although this blog is the best way to keep up-to-date with the Empty Shops Project, you can also find out more about what we are getting up to by following us on Twitter, and joining our group on Facebook.

Please join us, and get involved. Upload your pictures of the Empty Shops Project, tell us what you think of the exhibitions, make suggestions for future ideas and just get involved in any way you can!