Can you hear us, pumping on your radio?

We've just been over to see the lovely folks at Newbury Sound to record an interview with them which should be going out next week. Jamie and Sam were excellent, talking about the Take Over like old hands - thank you to you both! We'll post a listen again link here when we've got one.

In addition to this Jamie's recorded an advert for the radio that will be blaring out over the next week - listen out for it! There are still tickets left for all of the Take Over events at the moment, too.

One point that Sam made was that the Take Over is an opportunity to showcase the positive contribution young people can make to society at a time when there's a lot of noise in the media about youth violence, crime and anti-social behaviour. Food for thought - especially with the election bearing down upon us!

A new look

As you might see, we've been doing some Spring cleaning round here, including putting up this spiffy new design! After a couple of weeks of printing workshops we had some lovely images for the Take Over, and it would have been criminal not to put them up on the web as well. So... ta-daaa!

As well as the new look there are some new pages for you to browse, thanks to updates to Blogger.

Last night we had our last meeting before Easter and worked out a technical schedule for the festival. All of the ticketed events are now on sale, posters, t-shirts and bags are circulating all around town and we're working on the last details of the festival.

There's going to be a brief hiatus over Easter, but from Tuesday 6 April the final approach to the weekend begins... be ready for it!

It's here! The schedule emerges

It's here! The take over schedule is ready and rocking and is looking great for the two day festival. Within the two days the activites are amazing and are suitable for people of any age to come and have a go.

This blog is soon going to undergo a transformation and become a dedicated Take Over website, so this schedule is a bit of a stop gap. Have a look and see what you like!

To book tickets use the Corn Exchange website (listings for Saturday and Sunday are going up there as I write).

Saturday in the Auditorium!

Giant Rock Band - Come and play Rock Band on our cinema sized screen, with theatre-quality sound! Video games on the scale of a MOVIE!

The Big Gig - A music night to blow your mind. Music being played by The Monday Night Band, Ascent and Secret Fridge Party, with DissolvedIN headlining the night.

Saturday in the Bar!

Pub Quiz - If you're a know it all and wanna show off, our pub quiz is for you. Each different round is inspired by a different TV panel show.

Saturday in the Market Place!

Opening Ceremony - An event to get the weekend really started! Details are currently under wraps, but enormous scissors and ribbons have been mentioned...

The Cinema!

Even in the upstairs cinema there is a film festival going on over the weekend with some great movies showing.

Saturday:

The Iron Giant
Sky High
Galaxy Quest
Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie
The Thing

Sunday:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
The Princess Bride
Three Amigos
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Army of Darkness

Carrying on into sunday the events will be still happening and still rocking!

Sunday in the Auditorium!

Variety show - This will be a entertaining event for the whole family with acts from local companies, hosted by members of the Take Over team.

The Big Laugh - If side splitting comedy's your thing then this will be for you. The Big Laugh will include acts from Grag Davies (We are Klang, The Inbetweeners), Isy Suttie (peep show), Colin Hoult and Jimmy McGhie. Full details here.

Sunday in the Bar!

Morning Bingo - Yes, it's bingo!

Workshops - If you fancy trying your hand at a new skill come along and learn something.

Sunday in the Market Place!

The Big Flat Splat - An art project for everyone in which memebers of the public can cover a canvas using paint-filled balloons to make a spectacular peice of art work.

Also!

In the Cafe area concoct your own milkshakes from a varitey of different ingredients and decorate your own cookies to go with them.


Phew! So, we hope there's something for everyone in there. Over the whole weekend the venue's going to be in festive mode, so we really hope to see you there!

Thanks, Take Over the Corn Exchange team!

Hear By Right cancelled

Everyone seems to be away on holiday!

Due to lack of uptake we've decided to postpone the Hear By Right event scheduled for this Thursday (18 Feb), and will aim to reschedule it in March. Details will go up here as soon as we have them.

In the meantime, Take Over meetings will continue as normal this Wednesday and Saturday. The brochure is off to print today so the clock is ticking on everything becoming very public...

Time to take action

Today's meeting was focused on action: what everyone's doing and when they will do it. We had some great ideas from resident mad scientists Alfie and Zack, who have gone away to develop a plan for exactly how we can achieve what they want to do. When fancy dress meets pyrotechnics, strawberry shoelaces and spray candy it's a safe bet that Alfie and Zack are not far away!

Meanwhile other groups were looking at our film programme, developing the details of the quiz and how to structure an open mic improv night. I still can't release too many details of these publicly but suffice to say that progress is being made. And best of all, at the end of the meeting everyone went away with something specific to do - we look forward to hearing how they've got on!

The next meeting is this Saturday - please come along if you're able to and we'll hope to see you there!

Hear By Right (Thursday 18 Feb, 2-5pm, New Greenham Arts)

Are you under 25? Do you know the Corn Exchange? Come and tell us what you think about the work we're doing with young people, and let us know what we can do better! On Thursday 18 February we're inviting young people to come to New Greenham Arts so that you can tell us your opinions and suggest plans for the future.

If there's something you've enjoyed, or not enjoyed, or wanted to do - come along! All you have to do is get in touch with Sam Sampson, our Learning Manager:
sams@cornexchangenew.co.uk
01635 582666 ext 206

If you need transport to and from New Greenham Arts we can help arrange it if you contact us in advance.

Doing it (y)ourselves

With things stepping up a gear, Take Over meetings have become a bit more regular - every Wednesday in February, plus every other Saturday to provide some opportunities to attend for people who hate Wednesdays. These are listed on the right-hand sidebar of this blog and, of course, on the Ning for members.

On Wednesday we were talking marketing: what do we have to do next, and when do we have to do it? With one of the Take Over events due to go on sale very soon indeed (details tantalisingly close to being published!) we decided that we need to get word out pronto. To this end we're looking at launching a publicity campaign in half term, so work on print materials, stunt ideas and more video trailers is going to be crucial.

We also got enthusiastic about DIY. And we're talking this rather than this, with a generous helping of these. Expect to see some fine examples of bespoke fashion on the streets of Newbury before too long, and hopefully we will be able to incorporate some opportunities to make your own into the weekend itself.

As well as stunts and merch we talked about the Take Over online. This blog is going to be transformed in the coming weeks, and when we're ready to announce the festival programme it will be public here first, so bookmark us now! Info will also be available from the shiny new Corn Exchange website with a minimal delay.

Michael's view of today's meeting

After a speedy turnaround, Michael's just e-mailed this summary of today's programming meeting:

The meetings for the takeover are never boring, a simple task of timetabling the weekend had near armed combat that was narrowly avoided by fraught diplomacy and the lack of fire arms. There was how ever important breakthroughs as there was progress on decisions of possible extra events and a brochure entry was made.

Well, that pretty much sums it up! Obviously we need to continue to ensure that no guns come to Take Over meetings to avoid it actually turning into bloody insurrection... Especially as I think I might be first against the wall.

The mood of playful anarchy and unfettered debate does still allow us to work, though, and as Michael points out we're edging ever closer to having this Take Over thing properly sorted out, especially now that we're ready for the next Corn Exchange brochure and have a clearer overall view of how the festival is going to pan out:


That's the closest view I can give you for the moment but rest assured, a more legible version with fewer scribbles will be available soon!

[insert snow pun here]

Well, although 2010 has started rather coldly the Take Over is definitely firing on all cylinders. Despite having to reschedule last week's meeting we had a really good showing on Friday and some fantastic creative ideas flying around. At the moment we're zeroing in on headline acts in preparation for pulling together brochure information, and firming up ideas for other events. Some of the 'other events' are a bit frightening at the moment (it makes me nervous to hear the term 'battleground' thrown around) but could be tremendous fun.

In preparation for the brochure Susan has come up with a cracking idea for our publicity campaign that I can't reveal here yet, but will hopefully become visible very soon. Just keep an eye out...

During the week the comedy team (not a crack squad of comedians, but Jamie, Jake and Luke) came and talked to Nick, the Corn Exchange Director, about programming comedy before making some calls to agents. They did a damn good job of it, and are sifting through the offers of acts we've had at the moment - watch this space!

Also on the cards at the moment is handing out some more jobs to smaller groups of people, especially technical work and design work. So far working in smaller groups is proving successful, and it's been great to see older members working well with younger ones.

We're looking at using February half term as a chance to do some training/workshops/work experience in order to skill up for the Take Over. Any requests/suggestions for what you'd be interested in learning would be very welcome!

Meeting going ahead today

The snow's not showing any sign of shifting so we've decided to go ahead with the meeting today (5-6.30pm). HOWEVER - if travelling to Newbury looks risky, please stay at home! We will be online during the meeting so you can contribute that way, and the next real-world meeting is Saturday 16th.

If you can get in and you're fed up of school being cancelled (which I'm sure you all are), do come along so that we can get moving again.

Meeting cancelled due to snow

Happy New Year to you all! This is a news post more than anything else, to let you know that we've had to cancel today's meeting due to snow. As a sort of consolation, here's a picture of the view from the Corn Exchange offices.

At the moment we're hoping to reschedule for this Friday, but please check here or on the Ning for confirmation. We don't want to be caught out by snow a third time!

In the meantime, it's well worth catching up on some of the discussions that are going on over at the Ning. We're moving ever closer to confirming our headliners, and continuing to set up sub-groups to take responsibility for different elements of the Take Over. There's still plenty to do (and plenty of scope for new people to get involved), so as soon as this weather clears up a bit hopefully we can press on!

A quick bit of linkage: you might be interested to have a look at what's happening down the road in Reading. Let It be Heard is another example of a local project where young people are making a really positive contribution and getting some great experience into the bargain. Worth keeping an eye on for future issues...