Made in Roath 2016, Spotlight on Digital arts

The Digital Arts is this years smallest category in Made in Roath 2016 but don't let that fool you into thinking it’s lacking anything in terms of ambition, entertainment and wonder. Each venue is packed full of ticks for ever visitors box. The Digital arts is coordinated by Tom Betts and includes different types of new media such as digital and moving images. This year see’s the return of some old favoured such as Roathbud (whispered softly in the opening scene) and the highly popular vintage screenings and workshops. But also brand new delights such as Sara Reeds “Fragments for a city in Ruin” will be on display in the basement of 28 the Parade (a fitting setting for the film). An assortments of fantastic puppet will parade at Global home and we’ll have some wonderful Muppet movies (fun for all) at YMCA Plas. For digital arts keep the weekend of the 15th and 16th free as most of the events take place over those two days. Below is a brief list of some of the events  

Fragments For a City in Ruins.
Sara Rees
9th - 16th October, basement of 28 The Parade

VINTAGE SCREENINGS & WORKSHOP

15th October - 11:00 am - 4:00 pm (16) 11: 32 Kelvin Rd

PUPPET PARADE: OPEN TO ALL - COME JOIN US!

15th October - 4:00 pm 31: Global Home street party

THE MUPPET MOVIE

15th October - 4:45 pm - 6:25 pm 53: YMCA Plas (Plasnewydd Community Centre)

ROATHBUD

15th October - 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm 53: YMCA Plas (Plasnewydd Community Centre)

REAR WINDOW - ALFRED HITCHCOCK

15th October - 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm 53: YMCA Plas  (Plasnewydd Community Centre)

More information can be found on the Made in Roath website under digital arts and of course keep an eye on our social media outlets. 

Made in Roath 2016, Spotlight on Spoken Word

Spoken word, what is it? The simple answer is that its words that are spoken out loud to people. The better answer is “Spoken Word” is a fantastic, insightful and thought provoking artistic discipline that stretches the mind, the imagination and the soul of an audience.
The spoken word aspect of Made in Roath has always been a beloved and important part of the festival for many years now.
Coordinated by Christina Thatcher this year promises to be another fantastic addition to our fine spoken word tradition. This year it offers exciting opportunities for writers and writing lovers. Throughout the week you can listen to travel writing, accounts of refugees and asylum seekers as well as traditional storytellers.  Starting with bringing your own words to the Rhyme and Real Ale open mic on the theme of Masculinity, Femininity or Other. Then to close the spoken word aspect of this years festival we have“Octopoet” hosted by Mark Blayney along with these fantastic events.

TRAVEL POETRY READING - CLAIRE SYDER

LOCATION NO. 23

13th October - 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm 23: Penylan Pantry

WELLFIELD BOOK EVENTS

LOCATION NO. 62

15th October - (All Day: Saturday) 62: Wellfield Bookshop

FORCED TO LEAVE... TO THE UNKNOWN - JANE TOOBY

LOCATION NO. 31

15th October - 11:00 am - 4:00 pm 31: Global Home street party

POETRY TAKEAWAY - VARIOUS POETS

LOCATION NO. 31

15th October -12:00 pm - 4:00 pm 31: Global Home street party

CREATIVE WRITING SESSION

LOCATION NO. 7

15th October - 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm 07: Cathays Library

SQUARE WRITERS' NIGHT PLUS OPEN MIC

LOCATION NO. 45

15th October - 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm 45: The Roath Park Pub

OCTOPOET - MARK BLAYNEY

LOCATION NO. 60

16th October - 7:30 pm - 11:00 pm 60: The Coffii House

 For more information keep an eye on our website and our other social media outlets, tomorrow we’ll be looking at the exciting line up for digital arts. 

Made in Roath 2016, Spotlight on Stage

For the run up for Made in Roath 2016 each day we’ll be featuring one of the eight aspects of the 2016 festival. To start us off we’ll be looking at the Stage events and workshops that will be taking place through out the week coordinated by Rachel Helena Walsh. The Stage events feature wide and fantastic performances ranging from music, dance, participation and spoken thought to name but a few.  This great range of events will take place in a number of venues all over Roath. A brief line up of the week, starts us off on October the 9th with

• GARETH ZIGGY PRESENTS… JOIN THE PARADE at 28 The Parade running from 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm
• DUST & DANDRUFF at No Fit State circus running at 7pm 

The next day of October the 10th we have

• CLICKBAIT also at No fit state circus at 7:30pm  
• DAVE: A LIFE NOT IN MUSICALS also at No fit state circus at 8:10pm

October the 11th we have

• AND NOW, THE WEATHER around the corner in Inkspot at 7:30pm
• YOU'VE NEVER BEEN SO HOT also at Inkspot at 8:00 pm  

There’s a break for a day and we are back on Thursday the 13th of October at Cardiff M.A.D.E with

• DOM 2.0 at 8pm 
• THE MARVELLOUS VOYAGE OF NILS HOLGERSSON at the Gate Arts & Community centre running from 8-10:30pm  
• WEEPING TUDOR PRODUCTIONS at Saint Edwards Church at 9pm

Then October the 14th

• GET YOURSELF INSIDE (AN EVE OF PERFORMANCE) 6:15 pm - 11:55 pm  
• A DARK BLUE DAFFODIL 7:45p
• CLEFT 8:15 pm
• THE FABULOUS UNICORN INQUIRY 9:45 pm

all taking place at Welcome House

October the 15th see’s

• COFFEE CONCERT: SCOTT BAKER – CLASSICAL GUITAR RECITAL 11am at Saint Edwards Church  
• VINYL CRUISE - ORGANIC SOUND LOUNGE
• HOWARDIAN STUDIO 22 STAGE
•  CATHAYS BRASS
• TAVS CHOIR
• BARRACWDA
• PUPPET PARADE

all taking place at  the fantastic Global Home street party through out the day, later on we also have

•  OPERA SCENES - OPERA IN SITU at Saint Edwards Church, 7:30 pm
• VEXATIONS BY ERIK SATIE - FUNDRAISER FOR OCD UK at the Trinity Centre, 7:30-9:30 pm
• State Vexation/Stories of Obsession, 7:30-9-30 Trinity Methodist church

Finishing the week off on the 16th of October we have

• LUTE MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE - LUKE STARKEY at the Bowling Pavilion, 2-3:30pm
• OXJAM; DJ VINYL NIGHT - DAVE GROOVESLAVE MORRIS at the The Andrew Buchan Bar, 8-11pm. 

For all the information relating to Stage do consult your festival brochures or consult the Made in Roath Stage page on the website, thanks for reading hope you enjoy the festival, tomorrow we'll be looking at the Spoken word.  

Festival brochures 2016

I arrived at the Made in Roath HQ today, which sadly isn’t, as popular rumour would have you believe, a top secret former cold war command and control nuclear bunker buried deep beneath Roath. Nor is it a highly sophisticated, gleaming space station constantly orbiting 12 miles up above City Road. The actual Made in Roath HQ is in fact a very charming terraced house located somewhere in Roath.

 I went to help distribute festival brochures for Made in Roath 2016 (which is just 14 days away). You can pick up a festival brochures from a range of locations in Roath and Cardiff. I would highly recommend you getting your hands on one to see the full line up of events and activities. There are over 60 different happenings taking place ranging from spoken word performances and open houses to installations and film screenings. There will also be, amongst many other things, stage shows, workshops and a closed road event. For a week Roath will be packed with art and creativity so now is the time to grab a brochure and plan your week of excitement. 

You can also check out whats going on via the MiR website or keep an eye on the MiR social media outlets for more information.

If you would like to get more involved in Made in Roath and help us put on this years festival then you can join us by becoming a Made in Roath volunteer, just email our Volunteer Coordinator at volunteer@madeinroath.com we’d love to hear from you.
 Thanks for reading, see you in 14 days. 

GAZEBOS ASSEMBLE

Its just 32 days until Made in Roath 2016 kicks off and if there is one thing we have learnt from hosting the last 8 Made in Roath’s community art festivals is we are going to need a few things.

 Such as we are going to need some artists and creative types to put on workshops and hold events and general happenings for people to experience, we are also going to need people to come and experience and enjoy themselves during the week long festival at these occurrences. We are also going to need venues to host all the things that the artists and creative types are planning. We’d also like some fine weather but that one is up to fate. We’ll all probably also need lots of cups of tea to fuel the creative and enjoyment processes during the week long festival and of course some awesome volunteers to help us put on all these workshops and events. Oh yeah and we are going to be needing one more thing, not the most important thing, or the most well regarded or even the most appreciated or even the most valued thing, but without these items, it would undoubtedly mean the difference between a good event and a terrible washed out event. They are the difference between a well ordered and defined closed road of delightful artistic and creative treats and a random, anarchy, mobocracy gathering of stuff. They are the ultimate unnoticed symbol of British summer enjoyment. We are going to need some Gazebos……….

 So the call has gone out far and wide all over Cardiff for the Gazebos of Made in Roath to assemble (its kinda like when the avengers assemble but in this case the avengers are plain household gazebos not super heroes and generally there is no super cool accompanying soundtrack to this as-semblance, unless you count me quietly humming “putting on the Ritz” as I load the van). 

Homes, attics, garden sheds, out houses and garages are scoured for the tatty cardboard boxes from DIY and home improvement retailing companies that houses the flower like heroic rain defenders that we call Gazebos. The Gazebos are gathered together and sent out across Roath for a variety of events and happenings for artists and creative types to conduct their passions for creativity underneath them and on the epic day of the closed road event, the pinnacle of the Made in Roath festival. The Gazebos are gathered together to form a street long umbrella of protection against the elements for us to appreciate and experience all the things the arts have to offer under their canvas covers. Before at the end of the day, they are packed away and sent back to their resting places. Ever ready, ever vigilant, ever waiting the next call for rain protection at the next Made in Roath event. 

 For this, we thank you Gazebos (and more importantly the people who lend us the Gazebos, thank you too).

 If you would like to find out more about Made in Roath 2016 please check out the website or keep an eye on our social media outlets for details of the festival. 

The time of the wonderful call out

 “Its the most wonderful time of the year…..”

No, not that one, it’s not yet the time of year with the jolly red wearing suit man, pies of mince, and generally being jolly with mistletoe and holly ….. and other things ending in olly.

Nor is it the wonderful time of year when the sun comes out in Wales, that has been and gone.

 Nor is it the wonderfully amusing one day of the year when the DFS sale is not on, when they transcend from the Winter to the Summer sales. That special day has not yet been.

It’s also sadly not the wonderful time of year when the leaves and colour turn into Autumn and the weather gets just a little bit chilly and we are once again justified into wearing our very fetching scarfs which we team with even more fetching and stylish jumpers. Fashionable dapper scarf wearing time of year has not yet arrived.

 So what Im saying is there are many different wonderful times of the year, but the wonderful time of year to which Im referring to, is of course the Made in Roath deadline for submission to the Visual Art programme for Made in Roath 2016. Which ends on August the 8th.

Its that wonderful time of the year when we get to see all the fantastic submissions and proposals which you, the brilliantly inventive and creative folks come up with. 

All the information can be found by following this link  

  

Gazebos of summer

There’s moments, points in time that you recognise as defining points. Those iconic moments when you recognise what came before has now gone and what will come will soon be beginning. Photography does a fantastic job of illustrating these moments, conveying a sense of those moments passing and becoming defined. That iconic photograph of a flag standing proudly on the surface of the moon, indicating that mankind was no longer bound to one terrestrial home but was now reaching out into space. Or that iconic image of Marilyn Monroe with her white dress flying. Or Berliners standing on a wall which had until quite recently separated their city. These are all iconic snap shots showing the changing of worlds from one stage to another.

I recently witnessed one of these iconic moments when looking at the 38 Gazebos lined up in four neat rows at the end of Made in Spring (not quite as photogenic as the flag flying on the moon granted but still it has a certain Je Ne Sais Quoi).

To explain: I was witnessing this sight of the Gazebos at the end of Made in Spring 2016. Nearly everything had been packed away. The last remaining thing were the gazebos. The weekend was drawing to a close and with it the excitement and all the events of Made in Spring. Another jam packed year of events and happenings. The Red Route marchers had trekked and celebrated culture (and a duck race) along the road from Merthyr to Roath. The street festival of Made in Spring had seen everything from a May Queen to a potters class happening along the street. Now the ticking of time was dictating the closing of the day and everything had departed apart from these no longer billowing white Gazebos, which were awaiting transportation back to their homes.

 The Gazebos stood there waiting, task performed and duty done. Their purpose being the shelter of art and culture. They had performed their duty admirably and had kept the weather at bay as the action happened underneath. All the moments, experiences, creativity and knowledge had passed beneath them. Memories made and experiences had all under their protective embrace. A few moments before, during the height of the busy day, two long lines of urban umbrellas had stretched down the street with artists, creators, musicians and eaters underneath them. And now, their job done, they were being packed away ready for the next time.

The stacked gazebos stood as a symbol in some way to the end of Made in Spring but also marking the start of the summers outdoor art season. Soon these gazebos would return home and be out again in numerous events and happenings across Cardiff and South Wales. In cultural and sporting events where people will have fun and make more memories. Then in October they will return for the week long Made in Roath festival, for Road Block, marking the end of the outdoor cultural season. The soon to be, the present and the then in Gazebos.