PAC and Everybody’s Reading festival 8 October 2016:‘Seeking Sanctuary _ Walls’

Sonja Grossner’s book about her mother, Margarete Klopfleisch

Saturday 8 October 2016, 10am-12.30pm and 1-4pm at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, 53 New Walk, Leicester, LE1 7EA

http://www.leicester.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-and-galleries/our-venues/new-walk-museum-and-art-gallery

Spoken word, Stories, Sounds, Readings, Images, Workshops, Activities for Children, Beat the Rap and Digitals, Dancing, Theatre on the theme:

Walls and Seeking Sanctuary

‘Gretel’: People’s Arts Collective has commissioned a play based on a piece of Margarete Klopfleisch’s story using theatre, poems, art, music and visual display. The play was written by Alison Dunne, actress: Hayley Thornton, music: Sonja Grossner.

See Margarete Klopfleisch – Leicester’s German Expressionist Collection

Margarete’s daughter and granddaughter are PAC members and artists in their own right.

We brought Talking Tablecloths again – and this year we had Talking Walls; story-telling and reading of stories on our theme of walls and seeking asylum inspired by the following poem:

WALLS by Mike Brewer

Walls just stand there,

doing nothing in particular.

For them, just being there is enough.

As long as they are there,

they fulfill their function

just by existing.

They keep people in or out,

define possessions, house, protect,

and maintain the status quo.

If I were lucky enough to be a wall,

I wouldn’t just stand there,

doing nothing in particular.

I’d be a moving wall,

with lots of opportunities

to take a vast variety of actions.

I would let people in and out,

re-allocate possessions

and rehouse and rescue.

And I’d adjust the status quo:

I have many moving reasons

for being a moving wall!

We had readings from this book:

‘Over Land, Over Sea – Poems for those seeking refuge‘

Make your own dinosaur from computer bits with Lorna Grossner

Everybody’s Reading programme is here: http://www.everybodysreading.co.uk/festival-programme/

See our programme here:

As you arrive
We will be in the forecourt, weather permitting [otherwise look for us inside the museum at last minute notice!]. The activity will invite people to enclose in cardboard boxes, each like a brick, something of their own life, personal, that will go into building the wall / a wall, public. Some participants may want to keep their box / brick.Inside the foyer: Westcotes Words/ Talking Tablecloths all day Around 11.30am: Red Leicester Choir will be dropping by Stalls with information about associated issues will also be inside in the foyer
	10.00am – 12.30pm	1pm – 4pm
Victorian Gallery
Performances of: Theatre Poetry Music/song Story-telling Pop-up politics Dance display Add your thoughts to Talking WALLS	10am *Songs: Sheila Mosley	1pm Poems *Veterans for Peace
	10.15am *Poems Mike Brewer Graham Connolly Malka	1.30pm: Dance – Roxanne Dinsdale – see 11.15am information 2pm *Singing
	10.30am *Story circle	2.15pm *Story-telling
	10.40 – 11am *Songs: Harvey Nightingale with pianist Tov Bridge	2.30pm **The play ‘Gretel’ by Alison Dunne
	11.15am Dance – Roxanne Dinsdale – Saiidi stick (northern Egypt ) originally a martial art, where men used the sticks to fight each other, then it became a mans dance and finally a dance for women. Shaabi (Cairo street dance) A joyous freestyle dance performed to popular music this particular piece made famous, as it called people from all parts of Egypt to come together as brothers and sisters and vote. Ghawazee ( improvised gypsy dance ) brought from India during the 11th century, the birthplace of what we now consider to be Middle Eastern dance , it incorporates steps from the many different styles which it influenced on its journey through the Middle East to Europe and beyond.	2.45pm *Poems
	11.30am *Story circle with Ruth Fraser	3pm *Songs: Karen Harris
	11.45am – 12pm *Poems Cynthia Ambrose Musiyiwa Richard Byrt	3.15 pm *Westcotes Words
		3.30pm *Final performance of the play ‘Gretel’ by Alison Dunne
	12.15pm – 12.30pm *Singing	3.45pm – 4pm *Poems Bobba Sonja Grossner Richard Byrt: poems based on Sonja Grossner’s biography.
Foyer on the way to the Lord Mayor’s Room (top left off Victoria Gallery)
Stories, poetry and music circle around the mosaic: during the day this will be a space for you to tell stories, recite poetry, sing or just listen
Lord Mayor’s Room
Watch a filmWrite a song Create a story	10.30am Iraqi documentary film – introduced by Malka (about 40 mins)11.30am: Harms of Hate film (15 mins) 12pm: Iraqi documentary film – introduced by Malka
		1 – 1.30pm: Write a song: workshop with Sonja Grossner: for aged 15+, ability to read music is an advantage – limited numbers
		2 – 2.30pm: For 7-11 year olds: Creating stories3 – 3.30pm: For 10 – 14 year olds: Creating stories – limited numbers
Dinosaur Gallery
Making things	10-12.30pm: Have fun with Lorna Grossnermaking dinosaurs from electrical bits and pieces – you can bring your old computer mice and cables for recyclingEnding with dinosaur poems by Lorna, and Richard Byrt	2-4pm: World of Writing by After18: Learn about reading and writing in different cultures in this unique bookmark-making workshop.Create your own bookmark using leather stamping, lino printing or calligraphy. Hosted by After18, a local charity that helps young refugees, our instructors developed their skills through the charity’s arts programme. They will help you put your name or a meaningful word onto a bookmark in one of their own languages, such as Arabic, Bengali, Sinhala or Tigrinya. Dual-language story books will be provided for inspiration.

UPSTAIRS in the Expressionist Gallery
Enjoy the play Think about photos on the event theme: · Walls · Grossner family artwork · PAC tablecloths from 2015 Hear Sonja Grossner’s music Write and record your own poetry and music	There will be photos of artwork and other subjects on our theme showing on a loop during the morning. 11.00am The play ‘Gretel’ by Alison Dunne	1-4pm: See, Hear, Read: Visuals and audio help to inspire and encourage people to read the words that they listen to, sharing poetry, spoken word and rap, with sounds and music, all of which has been recorded live for this event by local artists from Leicester.
	11.15am Sonja Grossner – music/poetry	1-2.30pm: [This will take place in the Council Chamber – meet near the stage in the Victorian Gallery … spaces available] Beat the Rap out of Poetry: This fun, interactive workshop will encourage young people to explore works of literature, such as Shakespeare, in the form of spoken word, poetry and rap to stimulate reading, self-expression and boost self-confidence. We will be using video projections, sounds, music and the support of two workshop facilitators. The outcome will be a piece of written and spoken poetry based on rhyme and rhythm and will be recorded as part of another interactive digital installation called “The Digital Vocal Booth”:Book your tickets via this link: www.anerki.eventbrite.co.uk
	12pm The play ‘Gretel’ by Alison Dunne	1-4pm: Digital Vocal Booth: Following on from the “Beat the Rap out of Poetry” workshop, this interactive installation will enable the participants to record their work on a fun and easy to use interactive music and vocal looping station. The recording will then be uploaded online, where it can be shared with the world or kept for download.It will also be available during the day for people to use and experiment with spoken words and mix these with music, by reading from the provided extracts of famous literature and poetry.