Latest News
Connecting Conversations receives 5 star review
This months Connecting Coversations featured writer and theatre critic John Lahr in conversation with Psychoanalyst Don Campbell. A very pleasurable evening was had and we are delighted to have received 5 stars from Alison Goldie at remotegoat.co.uk.
"Islington Museum is to be applauded for hosting evenings of this calibre. It has many free talks on offer too, and is clearly a flourishing cultural centre. Keep your eyes peeled and your ears pricked for the museum's programme: this is the sort of event that makes living in London a brighter experience."
The rest of the review can be read here: http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/review_view.php?uid=8092
Holloway Arts Festival Dance Project NEEDS YOU
'Instantly Theatrical' are looking for up to 15 people for an inter-generational community dance project, to create and perform 'Got The Skiffles' for Holloway Arts Festival in June 2012, as part of Big Dance Islington 2012.
Anyone between the age of 5-100 can apply, no dance experience needed, just lots of enthusiasm! Families and groups of friends welcome.
Click here to Find Out More
Peter Bedford Winter Exhibition
An art exhibition by Peter Bedford housing association and City and Islington College.
Until the end of January 2012 at
The Old Fire Station, 84 Mayton Street, N7 6QT
Monday-Friday, 3-5pm
(Please phone 02076029794 to confirm)
Private View (everyone welcome) on 26 January at The Old Fire Station, 5-8pm.
Call for Entries - Reel Islington Short Film Award
Deadline for submissions: midnight on 31 January 2012
Films should be connected to the theme ‘We the People’ and be no more than 10 minutes in length. Submissions are invited from filmmakers of all ages who live, work or study in Islington.
The winning filmmaker will receive an award of £200 and their film will be screened at the Reel Islington Film Festival on Saturday 25 February
Visit www.reelislington.com for more information.
Rowan Arts Receives Award
Islington Volunteer Involving Organisation of the Year 2011
On Wednesday 9 November, at the Voluntary Action Islington AGM, we were delighted to receive an award recognising our work with volunteers.
A big thank you to all the volunteers who have helped with our work over the last year!
Artist Completes Islington Exhibits Residency
Marilyn Collins is an Islington Exhibits artist-in-residence. She will finish her residency this October. She has worked in the Wild Places project with the Octopus Community Network.
Click here to read more about the projects she has worked on.
Get involved in the new website we are developing for Holloway
Rowan Arts have received funding from Team London for a project part of which involves us setting up a website for the Holloway area (not the ward). This is being done in partnership with Holloway Neighbourhood Group and they have been selected by the Young Foundation to be one of six organisations taking part in their digital activism project see http://www.youngfoundation.org/news/digital-activism-may-2011
We are looking for striking or distinctive images of Holloway. Any photos we use will be credited on the website. Please send your photos to niamhl@therowanartsproject.com
Do you have suggestions for the website? Come in and tell us about your ideas. Email niamhl@therowanartsproject.com for more information.
Poetry raising money? Surely not….
Last May, Rowan Arts was busy fundraising for Holloway Arts Festival and used crowdfunding as a source for some of the necessary capital. This involved using a great new crowdfunding organisation called WeDidThis'. Click here to link to WeDidThis website. A £1000 target was set in order to fund ‘The Big Day Out’ and some of this was raised by a couple of little poems…
Click here to read on!
Holloway Reels
In September we secured funding from First Light for our new project Holloway Reels.
Holloway Reels will create films with young non professional film makers. We will be working with two schools, a youth project and we will run an open access project.
Click here for More Information
Born and Bred - Stories of Holloway Road
We've secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for new project Born and Bred. We have just started working in this project with a group of volunteers.
Click here for More Information on the project.
Click here to catch up with Born and Bred latest news
Hip Hop Heritage and The Panthers to be screened at Platform Festival
Thursday 21 July, 7.30pm at Platform, Hornsey Road Baths, 260 Hornsey Road, N7 7QT FREE - but you must book in advance
Two films, Hip Hop Heritage and The Panthers, made by Rowan Arts with young people at Cornwallis Youth Project are being screened as part of Platform Festival.
Click here for More Information and to Book
Rowan Arts Receive Quality Mark
We're delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Level 2 PQASSO Quality Mark - the most widely used quality assurance system within the voluntary and community sector.
Here's what our assessor said about Rowan Arts:
"I am delighted to recommend that Rowan Arts be awarded Level 2 of the PQASSO Quality Mark. The organisation was strong in all 12 [assessment] areas... I was particularly impressed by the enthusiasm, drive and energy shown by staff, trustees and volunteers across all tiers of the organisation."
Sweltering since 1838
The Victorian Turkish Baths was the topic of the presentation when Malcolm Shifrin came to the Old Fire Station armed with a slideshow of pictures and facts for Holloway Arts Festival on Friday 17 June.
Malcolm’s interest in the Turkish Baths started with a stained glass window in a building in Bath, where he observed a decorative B that stood for Charles Bartholomew who has been erroneously thought of as the introductory of the Turkish Baths to Britain. Evidence has been shown that it has been around for longer than that and Malcolm researched as much as he could about the Victorian times where it all started.
The Turkish Baths have an interesting history in Britain, commonly being mistaken for Russian Baths for example and then the subject of debate on whether they should be made available for everyone. With the introduction of the lower classes to the communal baths, many were opened all over Britain. They then became popular for medical purposes at the time such as the cold water remedy and even baths for animals. Statistics suggest that the general public would like to see a return of the baths which is a surprising conclusion for modern society who prefer to use spas.
All in all it was an interesting showcase of the evolving uses and architecture of the Turkish Bathhouses as well as considering their role within society, both old and new.
Singer-Songwriter Winner Announced
The Floirin pub hosted Holloway Arts Festival's Singer Songwriter Final on Sunday 12 June 2011.
Grace Fleary Hollowell performed soulful RNB influenced tunes, Mariama Samba performed a range of rap to a club beat and Short Circuit Device performed dynamic duets with guitars.
After much debate, the winner was Mariama! Congratulations to Mariama.
Katy Carr: The Escapologist Tour
On Sunday 12 June 2011, Katy Carr showed her short documentary about her inspiration for a recent song 'Kommander's car' from the story of a man who escaped from Auschwitz. She then performed a selection of her songs live.
Several members of the audience thought that 'It was a great atmosphere' and that it was 'A truly sublime performance spanning continents and generations.'
Mayton Street Festival
Mayton Street Festival took place on Saturday 11 June as part of Holloway Arts Festival and was a huge success.
More than 700 people came out to enjoy live bands, dancing, theatre and poetry performances, arts, crafts and gardening workshops, a fire engine and the Arsenal penalty shoot out.
One person who came said that 'It was most enjoyable' and told us that the dancing was a particular highlight.
Holloway Arts Festival runs until Friday 17 June - visit the website for the full programme - www.hollowayartsfestival.co.uk
Jazzberries Kick Start Holloway Arts Festival
By Selina Moses
Arriving at the the Old Fire Station for the Jazzberries evening, I was met with a tuneful cacophony of the toe tapping variety as the band warmed up before the audience arrived. They were a friendly bunch of chaps who accordingly arranged themselves and their instruments to pose for the camera several times. The Jazzberries, as the name suggests, play jazz but the band tends to play more in the Latin and swing style. For the newcomers to the genre like myself, when I think of jazz, I think of something like a saxophone and the thought of having a jazz band without it is quite strange. But the quartet comprising of a double bass, clarinet, keyboard and guitar blended harmoniously to create gypsy influenced jazz, of which I’ve not heard before.
Due to latecomers the evening didn’t start until a bit later but no matter, they started straight away into a Gershwin number, Lady be good and continued with a few Jean Reinhardt songs, one that he wrote and another that he made famous. Using light hearted banter in between songs, the history of the music and its originating players were explained for us succinctly, letting the music dominate our ears as intended. After the second song the lights were turned down low to give the atmosphere that encouraged the music to glow as much as the fairy lights adorning the walls.
I was interested to hear how each instrument was used for different purposes. The double bass and keyboard provided the steady underlying beat on the whole (although the keyboard had its standout sparkling solo moments) and the trilling guitar gave it an enticing gypsy ambience. The clarinet was used sparingly but effectively, playing the evocative mournful role of the otherwise mentioned saxophone I normally associate with jazz.
The evening ended with a couple of original songs and all in all, the applause for the Jazzberries was well deserved for each and every member.