more arts.

WOKINGHAM LIVING ADVENT CALENDAR 2020

Wokingham's Living Advent Calendar usually runs from 1st to 24th December each year.

This year, we were unfortunately not able to gather in person due to the Ongoing COVID situation. Instead you can find extracts of us at previous years' events gathering on Facebook or on the Wokingham Advent Calendar website to enjoy 7 years worth of past advent performances.

Each day during December a new video was released showing past performances. If you've ever been to a live event you might see yourself in our compilations.

Welcome to our fantastic interactive Advent Calendar review.

NEW: In collaboration with local company Only Card we used an exciting new way to interact with the event. We attached NFC tags to Living Advent Calendar posters in various locations around Wokingham. Hold your phone next to a poster for a moment and you will be connected directly to the site to view the day's advent video.

Take a look at this message from our Chairman Jim Stockley.

WOKINGHAM CHRISTMAS MARKET

Sunday 6th December, 10am-3pm

There was no Wokingham Winter Carnival this year.

Instead, we took part in a CHRISTMAS MARKET in Wokingham. Thank you everyone who found us in Peach Place with several of our artist partners showing items for Christmas:

• Mick McNicholas
• Sarah Abell
• Sue Smith
• Liz Baldin
• Liz Chaderton

'MORE ARTS.' AT THURSDAY WOKINGHAM MARKETS

Thursday 3rd, 10th, and 17th December, 9am-4pm

Thank you all who came to our Thursday markets in December, 'more arts.' Art House in the Market Place where several of our artist partners showed items for Christmas.

And a very special thanks to all our artists, who included:

• Nick Hithersay
• Paul Woolley
• Dana Kidson
• Christine Morgan
• Jenny Brett-Phare
• Nerissa Deeks
• Lisa Roissetter

CIVIC AWARDS 2021

Can you can think of a special person who really makes a difference to community life in Wokingham?

A Town Council's Civic Award Scheme was initiated in 1997 for the purpose of recognising exceptional contributions to community life by people in our town.

Each year since then, the Council looks for shining examples of civic mindedness, personal courage, or service to family or community that is above and beyond the ordinary. We want the recipients of these awards to know that the difference they have made to the lives of others, or indeed to the life of the town is recognised.

If there is an individual that you would like to nominate, the nomination form needs to be downloaded from the website and saved to a computer before it can be completed.

An official ceremony will take place on Friday 22 January 2021 when the Mayor will present awards to successful nominees.

To submit your nomination go to www.wokingham-tc.gov.uk/civic and select 'Civic Awards'.

Closing date for nominations: Thursday 27 November 2020

... find out more.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Most live, local arts events have been cancelled.

As a small, but very active arts charity, ‘more arts.’ has seen a lot of activities curtailed. This has prevented us involving our Wokingham community in a variety of arts activities at various outdoor community events.

We had planned 15 Hands-on-Arts events this summer ranging across all of Wokingham Borough, involving the local community trying activities from mosaic making, through spinning , painting and basically anything to get creative. Sadly of course, these events are being cancelled as we progress. But we do hope that some will survive this year and of course we will be there in whatever shape or form to entertain.

We will continue to look for projects that utilise all forms of art to support the less advantaged in our community as well as putting a smile on faces.

With Wokingham Town Council, we organise the annual Wokingham Living Advent Calendar. And this work will continue in a planning phase until we know what we can do over the advent calendar period in December.

One of the things we are now putting effort into is working with local artists to create a series of posts to give insight into how they are dealing with restrictions and use their work to bring inspiration to others and we are looking to develop a virtual gallery to highlight this and any other aspect of our local arts. From 2-D through sculpture, mosaics, music, poetry the written word and so on.

For a peek at the first pieces in the 'more arts.' Lock Down Gallery see the Creative Arts page.

At a time when nearly all of us are obliged to stay home, it is doubly sad that we cannot take part in events to lift our spirits. But there are some exceptions:

• Wokingham's libraries have set up several 'virtual' events for the May.
• And for the musicians among us, YouTooMusic is running virtual group sessions online, enabling players to join online sessions together.

NEW 'Local Arts Loan' PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

'more arts.' has released a 12-minute video to show our Local Arts Loan programme

Our 'Local Arts Loan' programme selects high quality A-Level student artwork from local schools and provides it to local businesses and other organisations to enhance their office space.

The businesses pay a small amount each week for each piece, which we share with the schools, enabling them to invest in much needed art material and equipment.

Businesses can opt to pay a small amount extra, which we add to our Legacy Fund which we use to fund arts activities to help vulnerable young people.

We also loan pieces of art free of charge to local care homes, encouraging residents to discuss what the art work means to them and perhaps enabling them to reminisce about their younger lives.

Take a few moments to view our new Promotional Video.

If you would like to learn how your organisation can join the programme, and view some of the artwork in our online catalogue, go to the Local Arts Loan section of our website.