New creative arts projects launched in Warwickshire

New creative arts projects have been launched in Warwickshire.

‘Live and Local: LivingRoom’ is a new creative and performing arts project being run in conjunction with communities across Warwickshire.

Created as a response to the Covid-19 crisis and with funding from Warwickshire County Council’s creative health alliance, the project will pair ten local communities with ten professional artists from a range of backgrounds (theatre, music, literature, spoken word and visual arts).

These pairings will undertake a collaborative/participatory project with a creative outcome.

Under normal circumstances, Live and Local artists are welcomed into village halls - the ‘Living room’ of a rural community - to perform for and to be treated as a member of that community while they are visiting.

When social distancing restrictions were put into place in the UK, this regular activity was placed on hold leaving many communities without access to live arts and many artists without vital work.

‘Live and Local - LivingRoom’ aims to address both issues by using digital streaming, telephone calls, CD/DVDs or printed items.

Details of the pairings and projects in the Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth areas are as follows:

• Wren Hall (Wroxall) paired with musical duo TIWKILIN to learn to sing a song in Berber/Tamazight - the indigenous language of a two-millennia-old culture in North Africa. Learn more

about the artist: iness-mezel.com• Harbury Village Library paired with the Word Association CIC to produce a bespoke book of prose and poetry written by the community alongside workshops with writer/poet Holly Daffurn. Learn more about the artist: the-word-association.com• Moreton Morrell Community Trust paired with literary infused folk/blues band Wes Finch The Mechanicals for a collaborative music project where the community will inspire as well

as perform new music. Learn more about the artist: mechanicalsband.com• Kenilworth Festival paired with poet and award-winning theatre maker Maria Ferguson as a remote writer/artist in residence to write and share poetry with residents throughout the town. Learn more about the artist: mariaferg.com• Friends of Foundry Wood paired with Ensonglopedia Theatre Company to create a Modern Folk Legends project involving songs and storytelling about this community managed woodland and those who use it. Learn more about the artist: whoisjohnhinton.com• Newbold Pacey and Ashorne WI paired with former Teletubby and storyteller/theatre-maker Nikky Smedley to create the ‘Livingroom Virtual Museum’ where all the artefacts are things found within the living rooms of the community, each with a story to tell. Learn more about the artist: nikipedia.online