A history of Active Arts
| Active Arts was created around 1977 when a group of people from Countesthorpe and Blaby together with staff at Countesthorpe College got together to form an arts group with the simple aim of bringing the arts to the villages around Countesthorpe and Blaby. The Chairman of the group was the much-respected Doctor Jim Hoffler, local GP, Parish and District Councillor and great lover of the arts. Jim tried to encourage Blaby District Council to also get involved, and in some small way succeeded. Funding was then ( and pretty much remains ) provided by a very successful Annual Craft Market plus a huge subsidy from the College, in as much as Active Arts were considered a part of the College's arts contribution to the community and paid no rent for any space used. The Craft Market was probably the first in the region and is now an established calendar event in the social life of Countesthorpe and Blaby and still attracts the biggest audience we get to any event. |
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In the early days the group managed to seek out up and coming artists such as Emma Kirkby, Roger McGough, Gabriel Wolf, and Fay Weldon to name a few. From the outset the aim was to provide a broad range to suit all tastes, and again, that philosophy still applies.
The programme continued more or less in that vein for a long time, until in fact time caught up with them! Jim was in poor health, the two Barbara's who had pretty much run the organisation for a number of years were losing heart. Barbara Clay wanted to retire and Barbara Dodsworth was moving to Norfolk and so after many years of warning they finally threw in the towel.
We didn't like the thought of the community losing the Craft Market so I said I would run the market for that year, which would at least give any new organisers some funds to produce a programme with and the rest, as they say is history. I found a team of volunteers and we found ourselves in the arts production business.
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Looking back over the last few years the highlights include:
- Artist-in-Residence scheme which we co-hosted with Blaby and Hinckley & Bosworth District Councils. The scheme thanks to a successful lottery bid got artists into local schools working with children to create permanent works of art.
- Millennium Banners. Three large scale collages now hang in Countesthorpe Village Hall. The work was produced by a variety of local crafts folk under the guidance of artists Andrew Wynne and Jenni Steele. The pieces were planned to "tour" the village but when put on display in the village hall the Parish Council asked if they could remain there as part of the decor and a permanent reminder of the Millennium. We had to agree!
- Carmina Burana. As part of the Parish Council's Millennium week Active Arts together with the College Music department put on a production of Carmina with a cast of hundreds and an audience of slightly more. The combined choir came from the city; the county, the WI, the College, the High school, the Junior school and I dare say many I've forgotten. As there is no space large enough in the district for that sort of number the College sports hall was converted into a theatre for the day. People still talk of it!
- Folk music in the village hall. Artists such as Isla St Clair, Vin Garbutt, Sid Kipper, John Redbourn and John Kirkpatrick attract good audiences.
- Leicestershire Arts and the Big Band have become a regular, playing to full houses
- The Annual Art Exhibition supplied a need for local artists and their customers as well as a good fund raiser.
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The new programme is in process, so the good work goes on. |