arts – Buckinghamshire Culture

Fireside by Nikki & JD and Lost Dog Dance

Buckinghamshire residents are invited to explore the power of stories and join walks, fireside performances, story-telling and village portraits this Summer/Autumn. There will be a range of community-focussed activities across the county as Buckinghamshire Culture pilots STORIES, a programme that aims to shine a light on the rich history and life of the county, thanks to public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

In this first year of STORIES activity, we and our partners, will work with artists, communities and other organisations to develop our ideas. Taking inspiration from our beautiful natural landscapes, our pilot season will include performances of Fireside by Nikki & JD in several Buckinghamshire locations. Inspired by the Paralympic story we will recruit d/Deaf and disabled artists to form an artist collective working with Ellen Renton, spoken-word artist and poet, to create new work. And inspired by the nature of our county as a place of small towns and villages, we will celebrate the nature of community through village portraits created by Theo Clinkard Dance, captured in photographs by Camilla Greenwell and new writing from a range of writers.

Stories Creative Associate, Eckhard Thiemann, says: “STORIES is an invitation for residents and visitors to discover and participate in new cultural experiences in places that make the county unique. We take panoramic shots of modern village life, animate natural beauty spots through performance, and delve into the important history of paralympic heritage. The outcome will be new stories to remember, to share and to inspire us.”

Clive Harriss, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Leisure & Culture said: “Buckinghamshire Council is pleased to support this new initiative being run by Buckinghamshire Culture. Projects like this do so much to bring the arts to life in our local communities, allowing people to watch and participate in new cultural experiences which entertain and inspire all ages. The funding we are providing helps to ensure that everyone is able to access and enjoy something exciting in their local area.”

During this pilot Season we will work with a number of communities in local villages. We will partner with a range of organisations, including BuDs, National Disability Arts Collection and Archive, National Paralympic Heritage Trust among others.
We will be sharing opportunities for commissions and volunteering as the year progresses, please keep an eye out on social media if you are interested in collaborating with us.

Following this period of exploration, we will continue to work with artists and communities to weave together stories of people, places, histories and future dreams to celebrate unique places and moments across the county. We aim to share further STORIES work with residents across 2025 and 2026.

STORIES Season 1 is made possible thanks to public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and support from Buckinghamshire Council, National Paralympic Heritage Trust, Rothschild Foundation and a number of other partners.

Culture

Open Weekend Returns!

11th March 202211th March 2022 buckinghamshireculture

For four days in 2022, Open Weekend will return! Open Weekend, Buckinghamshire’s celebration of creativity and culture, will take place 28^th-31^st July.

The first ever Open Weekend event for Buckinghamshire took place in July 2021. Over four days Buckinghamshire residents took part in over 70 creative and cultural activities across the county. Open Weekend was co-ordinated by Buckinghamshire Culture in partnership with Buckinghamshire Council.

In 2021, activities were themed to stories and storytelling and included literary and heritage walks, performances, open days, trails, concerts, film screenings, exhibitions and story-telling events. There were opportunities to undertake creative activities at home and online. Over 3,500 people took part in activities.

In light of the enjoyment and support that the Open Weekend event received in 2021, we are extremely pleased to announce that in 2022 Buckinghamshire Culture and Buckinghamshire Council will be teaming up to run Open Weekend again. The dates for 2022 include Buckinghamshire Day on 29^th July.

The theme for 2022 Open Weekend events will be ‘trees and green’ building on the celebrations for the Queen’s Jubilee in June. We’ve shared a few starting points for ideas below – you might be inspired by:

A local tree, wood, park or garden – telling stories, delivering creative workshops, outdoor performance, or transforming spaces
Stories about trees – encouraging people to think about our landscape heritage, exploring folk tales, sharing stories and memories linked to trees
The environment and green agenda – encouraging people to think about re-use, recycling and sustainability
The colour green itself – monochrome painting workshops, nature inspired creativity, green objects from collections to base activities around.

We encourage organisations and groups across the county to start thinking about creative and cultural events and activities they could run in Buckinghamshire over the Open Weekend. Submissions will open in April.

Bill Morris, Buckinghamshire Culture Co-Chair said: “It is brilliant to be bringing Open Weekend back for 2022 – the first event in 2021 was a bit of an experiment, but we feel it was a real success and we have heard how much enjoyment people got from it. It is also great to hear how many event contributors enjoyed taking part and being involved in something bigger than themselves.”

We will be publishing the Open Weekend timeline on our website soon and we are excited to see how many people will take part this year!

This programme is supported through funding from Buckinghamshire Council and Rothschild Foundation.

Look out for Open Weekend updates on our website: www.buckinghamshireculture.org / Twitter: @BucksCulture / Instagram: @Bucks_Culture. We’ll be using the #BucksOpenWeekend for Open Weekend content.

Culture

Summer of Stories

23rd August 2021 buckinghamshireculture

Buckinghamshire’s ‘Summer of Stories’ is well and truly underway – but there’s still time for you to get involved!

This summer, Buckinghamshire Culture and Buckinghamshire Council have been working together to create a Summer of Stories, focusing on a theme of ‘stories of happiness’. The ‘Story Stall’ is part of this multi-stranded project aiming to engage people across Buckinghamshire with stories and creativity. Inspired by our strong literary heritage this project will result in animation of town centres, activity supporting wellbeing, enhancing quality of life and maintaining connection as part of wider Covid recovery. Residents of Buckinghamshire have been invited to share and celebrate their personal stories, and those of the county itself, through conversations with artists, or via ‘Story Postcards’ at artist-led pop-up stalls across the county in markets and local high streets and at various cultural and library locations.

These stalls have been present at various events throughout the summer, starting with Whizzfizzfest on the 26^th June and moving around the county since then, engaging with lots of different people from the local community – and the stories told have been just as diverse as the people telling them!

One resident recounted a tale of a man who had turned an old mattress into a paddle board and was happily rowing himself down the canal, whilst another resident reflected on the fact that the pandemic had meant he was able to get out every morning to take his dog for a walk, enjoying the local parks around the county, and being able to make it home for dinner with his 12 year old son every evening – something he had never been able to do before then.

Other recurring themes within people’s stories of happiness and tales of Buckinghamshire included a love for the red kites that circle our skies, for woodlands and parks and the canal in Aylesbury.

When summer fades, these local stories will not be forgotten; the artists who collected them will create a pop-up storytelling structure that will visit town centres around Buckinghamshire in the early Autumn – sharing a collective story of the county.

It’s not too late to get involved with the Summer of Stories! If you would like to get involved and share a story of happiness, or a story of Buckinghamshire, you can find the final few pop-up stalls in the following locations:

Winslow Market on 25^th August, 8:30am-2pm
Live in the Park, Aqua Vale Park, Aylesbury on 28^th August, 9am-5:30pm
Black Park, Wexham on 29^th August, 10am-4pm
Beaconsfield Country Fair, Beaconsfield on 30^th August, 9:30am-5pm

Or pick up a postcard from one of our participating libraries or cultural organisations. There is the option to submit a story on our website, or find out more on social media using #SummerofStories.

Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Clive Harriss, said:

“The Summer of Stories has been a great way of engaging with the wider community and encouraging people to come together and share good news during what has been a difficult 18 months. I’m sure the artists have heard plenty of heart-warming stories about Buckinghamshire and it’s residents, and I look forward to seeing the final structure created by the artists in the Autumn!”

For more information about the Summer of Stories, visit: www.buckinghamshireculture.org/Summer-of-Stories

This programme is supported using public funding by Arts Council England, and funding from Buckinghamshire Council, Heart of Bucks and Rothschild Foundation.

Culture

Summer of Stories Filmmaker

26th May 2021 buckinghamshireculture

Buckinghamshire Culture is seeking expressions of interest from filmmakers able to record, edit and produce a short film to showcase activity delivered as part of our Summer of Stories programme in 2021. Consisting of two major strands, this programme will see activity taking place across Buckinghamshire this summer – through a touring Story Stall and resulting collective showcase, and the Open Weekend over 22-25 July. The Story Stall will be toured by artists who will engage the public in conversations about their stories of happiness in Bucks. The film created will share both the delivery of the programme, as well as the experiences and impact from the point of view of the participants and artists.

Summer of Stories Filmmaker Brief Download

Deadline for expressions of interest: 5pm, 10 June 2021