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...