January in Creative Space – Forum Library

In early January our regular creatives sprang back in action; Music Evermore who run our Rock Band sessions for young people on Mondays and Tuesdays from 16:00-18:00. These sessions are going really well with an average of 20 students attending weekly. They had an end of year performance just before Christmas which was a nice event to celebrate all the progress which was great for the parents in attendance to experience. To find out more about Music Evermore please click here. Similarly, our aspiring actors, dramateurs and playwrights  returned to Wythenshawe Youth Theatre which runs on Sundays. Ash and the WYTH team get up 50 young people which is brilliant for an initiative that only began in mid-October.

We are very excited to announce a new partnership with a locally driven artistic collective called Liveinshawe with the plan of having live music quarterly, inspired by the four seasons. Beating the January/Winter blues was the theme that Liveinshawe went with for the Creative Spaces first live music event on the 24^th of January. On the night we featured an array of talent, from spoken word to hip hop, poetry to guitar solos, Liveinshawe had all the bases covered. It’s important to note that tickets were free ensuring equitable access to creative performances. I was blown away by the talent and creativity of the performers all from Wythenshawe. This event highlights the ethos of the CS in that we want to platform and nurture local creative talent. We will be hosting Liveinshawe again in Springtime.

We launched a community led cinema called BLOCK Cinema on the 16^th of Jan, which went down a treat. This new initiative will add another dimension to the programming here in Wythenshawe adding hopefully another pull factor into the Creative Space. Screenings will be held every Thursday with prices for entry relatively cheap at £6 which includes refreshments. BLOCK historically has been a bastion of Art House and experimental cinema; we will be supporting this element but there will also be a focus on Blockbusters as BLOCK will be able to show movies that have just come off the cinema. Please see here for future listings; The Block Cinema and Film Club – Community Cinema and Film Club

In collaboration with the Wythenshawe Community Housing Group (WCHG) we hosted our very first Community Connector event on the 28^th of Jan, which is a Wythenshawe networking institution. The theme was based on culture and creativity where we invited local community groups as stall holders and mapped out the cultural landscape of Wythenshawe. It was an invaluable and worthwhile day especially bringing so many talented local people together in one room to celebrate.