Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 September 2008

Make culture part of your life this weekend with free entry to many cultural activities.

Between 11am and 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, there is free admission to Lydiard House and the 18th Century Walled Garden as part of the National Celebration of our Heritage. St Mary's Church and the famous St John triptych will also be open. Swindon Youth Festival starts at 1pm on Saturday at the Town Gardens in Swindon’s Old Town and the Swindon Open Studios 2008 will be taking place on both days from 11am to 6pm.

Lydiard House

As one of Wiltshire’s smaller stately homes, Lydiard House benefits from a highly intimate atmosphere. This weekend, admission to Lydiard House and the walled garden is free and visitors can wander at leisure throughout the elegant ground floor apartments, where ornate plasterwork and original family furnishings are preserved alongside portraits and photographs of the St. John family who lived in Lydiard House from as far back as Elizabethan times.

The 18^th Century Ornamental Walled Garden

The ornamental fruit and flower walled garden has, for the first time in centuries, been restored to its former glory, complete with well. The flowers are elegantly displayed with colour, texture and smell from beautiful tulips, lilies and bedding plants. The planting plans for the garden are based on archaeological excavations and expert historical research.

St John Triptych

In 1615 Sir John began by commemorating his parents, Sir John and Lucy Hungerford, with a painted triptych, the most splendid monument of the kind surviving in England. In the middle Sir John St. John and Lucy Hungerford kneel upon a sarcophagus, flanked on the left, by their son Sir John, the erector of the monument, and his wife Anne Leighton, and on the right by the six sisters of the younger Sir John. An oval portrait of Margaret Beauchamp wearing the coronet and robes of a duchess is given pride of place in the pediment above.

Lydiard Park

Lydiard Park is the remains of a once great country estate, which belonged to the St. John family for over 500 years. In 1943 the then empty house and surrounding parkland were rescued from ruin, restored to the fine Palladian House, its original contents traced and opened to the public in 1955.
www.lydiardpark.org.uk

Swindon Open Studios 2008

This weekend you are invited to experience Swindon Art. Swindon Open Studios  provides you with a unique opportunity to not only view a whole section of artwork by a variety of local artists, but to view it at the artist’s place of work between the hours of 11am and 6pm on both Saturday and Sunday. A fantastic pool of local artists are involved in this weekend, so pick up a leaflet from Swindon Arts Centre, The Visitors Information Centre or many other outlets and plan your route using the numbers allocated to the artists. Much of the work  on display is for sale so please ask for prices and take advantage to purchase some original artwork for yourself or some early Christmas presents. The Open Studios Launch is on Friday 12 September at Taste Café, Victoria Road, Swindon between 6pm and 8pm. Visit the Open Studios Website for more artists’ images. www.swindonopenstudios.org.uk

Swindon Youth Festival

Held at the Town Gardens on Swindon’s Old Town, the Swindon Youth Festival is an exciting and fun event to promote and explore the finer side of youth culture! Enjoy a day of activities including Live Music, DJ’s Circus Skills, poets Corner, Interactive Arts, Sporting Events and much, much more. There is also a chance to win an ipod if you visit each of the different zones at this years festival. The Swindon Youth Festival is on from 1pm to 10pm.
Best of all the event is completely free and open to young people of all ages!
For any further information please visit the Swindon Youth Festival website:
www.visitwiltshire.co.uk/swindon/whats-on/swindon-youth-festival-2008

If you would like any further information please contact Nicki Western on 07786 020958 or email nwestern@swindon.gov.uk

New Head Of Culture Appointed At Swindon Borough Council 2008

Swindon Borough Council has announced the appointment of a new Head of Culture.

Helen Miah, who was previously Head of Arts Services, will drive forward a wider vision for culture in the borough in the new role, which incorporates Arts Services and Heritage.

Helen said: "I'm very excited by the opportunities this new role presents to raise the profile of all things cultural in Swindon.  For me culture is the lifeblood of society and I am determined to make sure that everyone in Swindon, knows about, takes part in, and most importantly enjoys all our cultural facilities and services."

The new Head of Culture post, which took effect from Monday 28 April, follows a review of the way Arts and Heritage are managed. The change, combining the roles of Arts Services Manager and Heritage Manager, will bring greater efficiency and allow the Borough to provide a comprehensive and integrated Cultural service, which can be promoted more effectively, whilst looking for improved income generating opportunities.

Bill Cotton, Director of Economic and Cultural Development said: "I am delighted with Helen's appointment. Helen will drive forward these services as Swindon enters an exciting phase of development and culture will play a crucial part in this.

"The Council is committed to excellence in the delivery of Arts and Heritage to the people of Swindon. Our customers are the most important people we serve and I have every confidence Helen will take culture in the borough to new heights for everyone to enjoy."

Helen joined the Borough in 2003 as Strategic Arts and Community Officer, becoming Head of Arts in 2005.  She has also held a number of positions in schools, colleges and the Education Department since relocating to Swindon in 1998.

See Helen's blog.

NEW ARTS ALLIANCE HELPS STRENGTHEN THE FUTURE OF ARTS IN THE REGION

Wiltshire and Swindon Arts Alliance (W&SAA) is a new strategic umbrella for the arts in the Wiltshire and Swindon area. It encompasses local authorities, the Arts Council, artists, regularly funded and key strategic arts organisations and includes representation from a wide variety of art forms and sectors.

W&SAA aims to provide a platform and method to improve co-ordination across Wiltshire and Swindon, to allow more synergy, skill and idea sharing and to meet identified arts priorities such as, improving strategic developments, supporting infrastructures and raising the profile of the arts.

Helen Miah, Chair of W&SAA commented, “The Alliance is a great way for the arts sector to come together with key stakeholders, the Arts Council England and Local Authorities to ensure that together we are able to maximise our impact and raise our profile.

"The Alliance has been in development during 2006/07, funded by contributions from the Wiltshire and Swindon Local Authority Partnership Agreements with Arts Council England South West.

“The arts ‘map’ is very complex in our region, organisations have evolved mostly in isolation and as funding becomes ever more challenging it seems to make sense to share our collective knowledge.”

Helen continued, “This Alliance is the first time that local authorities, the Arts Council and arts organisations have come together to try to tackle the really big issues in a structured and co-ordinated way and in itself is being seen as an example of good practice in developing new ways of working in partnership.”

W&SAA has a number of objectives it is seeking to deliver.

The first is to understand the importance of the arts and develop clear statistics and arguments to lobby for arts funding and activity.

The Alliance has commissioned a study to assess the social and economic impact of the arts and creative industries in this region. How many people are working in the arts? What does arts activity contribute to our quality of life? Who is actively engaged? What’s the impact? This will be followed by research on marketing and audience development opportunities – what else can be done to encourage new audiences, new participants, what are the barriers that stop people taking part in the arts and what can be done to make it better?

The group wants to develop and raise the profile of the Wiltshire & Swindon Arts Alliance, with the aim that that W&SAA becomes the key strategic body for the arts in the sub-region. The W&SAA Business Plan has been published and can be downloaded from the W&SAA website www.wsaa.org.uk

Editor Notes

The Wiltshire and Swindon Arts Alliance believes that the collective voice of Wiltshire and Swindon can assert the following values more effectively:

• The arts and creativity are central to quality of life.
• Everyone has creative potential; access to quality arts experiences is a universal right and must reflect identified community need.
• Artistic and creative activity and its infrastructure, contribute to the lives of our community and should be championed and celebrated.
• Dialogue with the region’s key decision makers is vital in order to inform strategic planning and ensure effective, sustainable delivery of the arts, maximising personal, social and economic benefits.
• Arts and creativity play a distinctive and important part in the nation’s cultural life.

The W&SAA Vision

Wiltshire and Swindon Arts Alliance is a united voice for the arts. It provides a strategic overview and co-ordinating mechanism, adding value to artistic organisations and infrastructures.

For further information and media enquiries please contact:

Helen Miah
Head of Arts/Chair W&SAA
Swindon Borough Council
Wyvern Theatre
Theatre Square
SWINDON
SN1 1QN
Tel: 01793 465353
Mobile: 07766368261

Email: hmiah@swindon.gov.uk

Web: www.swindon.gov.uk/artsandculture