Creative Opportunities: June 2023
Your monthly round up of news, events, opportunities, call-outs and funding
As May draws to a close we mark another milestone for York Creatives in taking on our first board members to help ensure the community can continue to grow.
York Creatives started in 2016 as a Facebook group with a single aim - to help York based creatives connect with one another to share ideas, opportunities and resources.
Since then we’ve hosted talks, workshops, socials, podcasts, markets, produced books and zines, and developed partnerships with many of the local creative and cultural organisations. But York Creatives itself is not an organisation (and never has been). We started as a network of individuals, coming together to form a community.
What this means in practice is that everything we do is facilitated by passionate volunteers who want to see York flourish as a city of art and culture. We haven’t had funding, and we all work around other jobs that sustain us.
We’re incredibly grateful to have added 5 board members to the team this month, each representing an area of speciality in the creative industries:
Alice Baxter - Representing Writing, Publishing and Poetry
Alina Longmore - Representing Performing Arts
Eloise Livsey - Representing Design
John Rose-Adams - Representing Media Arts
Vanshika Sonigra - Representing Visual Arts
Ben Porter will now take the position of chair, with the wider team made up of dedicated volunteers who help gather and distribute the content you see across our social channels, on this newsletter, and in our zines.
We must also say a huge thank you to Lucy Glombek, our outgoing Events Director, who leaves us to take on a new position abroad. Her hard work and passion for developing our events offering will be greatly missed, and we wish her the best of luck in her new role.
See you at Creative Drinks, which will be DOWNSTAIRS in Spark’s co-working room this month.
Stay curious, keep creating.
Team YC
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York St John University Degree Show: Fine Art, Illustration, Photography & MFA
Friday 2nd to Friday 9th June 12:00 - 18:00pm
York St John Creative Centre Atrium
Free admission
In their 2023 Degree Show, York St John University undergraduate and postgraduate art students will present their work and the community of practises that exist across their distinct but inter-connected courses: Fine Art, Illustration, and Photography.
The exhibition is a momentous marker of their achievement as a cohort of students and will bring together insightful research, methods, techniques and approaches in what is sure to be an impressive display of York’s creative talent.
Admission is free and open to all. You can also reserve a spot at the preliminary private viewing below.
Creative Drinks: York Creatives Monthly Social
Friday 2nd June 18:00 - 22:00pm
SPARK:York
£4.00 admission
Creative Drinks is a monthly social for York's creative community.
This month's event will be held DOWNSTAIRS in Spark’s co-working space, rather than our usual upstairs location.
Festival: York Festival of Ideas 2023
Friday 2nd to Friday 15th June
Events taking place online and across various venues in York
Free admission to almost all events
York Festival of Ideas returns in June, bringing together a programme of over 150 free in-person and online events designed to invite audiences to rediscover, reimagine, and rebuild.
The festival includes a diverse range of performances, webinars, panel discussions, lectures, and activities, many of which will look at topics pertinent to the current Arts and Cultural sector.
Funding Programme: Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants
Open now to individual artists, community and cultural organisations based in England
No application fee
Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants (NLPG) is an open access funding programme for individuals and community and cultural organisations.
NLPG is designed to support projects related to music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, libraries, combined arts and museums practice.
If, rather than project specific funding, you’re looking for support with your own creative development, it may be worth waiting for round 18 of ACE’s Developing Your Creative Practice to open for applications in July.
Full Project Grants eligibility criteria and applicant guidance can be found at the link below.
Radix Big Tent Ideas Festival: Regenerate
Saturday 17th June 10:00am - 19:00pm
Dean’s Park, Minster Yard
Free admission
The Big Tent Ideas Festival brings together a diverse range of speakers, leading open discussions and debates on topics surrounding health, housing, culture, environmental sustainability, and regeneration in York.
You’ll also have the opportunity to observe and take part in drama workshops, walking tours, and Dragon’s Den-style pitches while perusing arts, crafts, food and drink stalls from local vendors.
Entry to the festival is free. You can find the full line-up and more details at the link below.
Artist Call Out: Snooks Trail 2024
Submissions close 5pm Friday 23rd June
Open to Artists and Illustrators across the country
No submission fee
Set to take place in 2024, the Snooks Trail will guide audiences through the streets of York on a trail of up to 30 ‘snooks with books’ sculptures.
Artists and Illustrators are invited to submit designs based on the theme ‘Yorkshire Bookish’. Each selected sculpture will be sponsored by a local business and will remain on display as part of the trail for an eight week period in early 2024.
Exhibition & Social: The Gallery Café
Every Saturday 10:00am - 12:00pm
Southlands Methodist Church
Free admission
Every Saturday, 20 Artists showcase their work at the Southlands Methodist Church’s Gallery Café, delivered in partnership with South Bank Studios Artists.
The sessions offer great opportunities to engage with local artists, see new work, browse the range of arts and crafts available to purchase, and grab a coffee.
The café is open to all with no admission fee, simply drop in.
Artist Peer Groups: Arts and Health Hub
June dates to be confirmed
Online sessions for UK-based and International Artists
Sessions are free to attend
Established in 2015, Arts and Health Hub’s Artist Peer Groups provide space for artists to gain feedback and support on their current projects, ideas, or challenges that they are facing. The sessions are designed for artists that explore health and wellbeing in their practice.
Each session is facilitated by an Arts and Health Hub volunteer and has space for two artists to present their work for around 10-15 minutes.
The next session is set to take place in June. The final date is yet to be confirmed but applications to attend are open now.
Creative Support Sessions: Artsadmin
Artists can book one session per year
Open to Artists based in the UK
Sessions are free
Artsadmin offers free one-to-one support sessions to UK-based Artists working in contemporary performance. The sessions are informal and give artists an opportunity to discuss any aspect of their practice, from new project ideas, development, funding, or context within the wider sector.
The sessions are open to artists and creatives at any stage of their career and are run by the Artsadmin team, each with different specialist knowledge and experience. Artists can read about each member of the Artsadmin team and book a session with the person they feel is best equipped to support and advise them.
Sessions are available year-round but are limited to one per year, per artist.
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