Maidstone International Art Festival 2017
Dear colleague
Maidstone Area Arts Partnership (MAAP) together with Baltic Art Form are launching the first ever Maidstone International Arts Festival this summer. Based around a theme of Mars (a crater on Mars is named after Maidstone) the Festival will bring together international, national and local artists and performers in a wide range of events. These will include an Art Exhibition to be held in the Museum and the Mall, performance events to be held in Brenchley Gardens and St Faith’s Church, lectures in the Museum library and a range of workshops open to the public that will be held in a variety of venues. The Festival brochure will be available during May.
The theme of Mars affords an opportunity to use space as a springboard for creative activity, and MAAP are really excited that we have been able to team up with The Ideas Foundation and Dr. Jancy Mc Phee from SciArt Exchange and a NASA associate to run five one-day workshops in secondary schools in Maidstone, on June 26, 27th and June 28th 2017. These workshops can be customised to match both school facilities and pupils’ aspirations and capabilities. This survey that aims to capture basic information which can start a dialogue to develop an event that makes sense for you and your pupils. We think it represents a once in a lifetime opportunity. The primary art form that we are proposing is visual art and creative writing. There will be a number of opportunities to showcase the most exciting outputs - through a gallery exhibition in Maidstone, a magazine to be published by the British Interplanetary Society and through the opportunity for students to submit work to international competitions. We are happy to engage with the performing arts and video/filmmaking if there are school-based facilities to support the additional effort required to produce a high-performance output and equipment to display the finished work.
Artistic outcomes are important and we would like high quality pieces of artwork that can be mounted and displayed in a variety of settings. Ideas for art could include:
Create a travel poster inviting future travel to Mars and Maidstone on Mars.
Maidstone Area Arts Partnership (MAAP) together with Baltic Art Form are launching the first ever Maidstone International Arts Festival this summer. Based around a theme of Mars (a crater on Mars is named after Maidstone) the Festival will bring together international, national and local artists and performers in a wide range of events. These will include an Art Exhibition to be held in the Museum and the Mall, performance events to be held in Brenchley Gardens and St Faith’s Church, lectures in the Museum library and a range of workshops open to the public that will be held in a variety of venues. The Festival brochure will be available during May.
The theme of Mars affords an opportunity to use space as a springboard for creative activity, and MAAP are really excited that we have been able to team up with The Ideas Foundation and Dr. Jancy Mc Phee from SciArt Exchange and a NASA associate to run five one-day workshops in secondary schools in Maidstone, on June 26, 27th and June 28th 2017. These workshops can be customised to match both school facilities and pupils’ aspirations and capabilities. This survey that aims to capture basic information which can start a dialogue to develop an event that makes sense for you and your pupils. We think it represents a once in a lifetime opportunity. The primary art form that we are proposing is visual art and creative writing. There will be a number of opportunities to showcase the most exciting outputs - through a gallery exhibition in Maidstone, a magazine to be published by the British Interplanetary Society and through the opportunity for students to submit work to international competitions. We are happy to engage with the performing arts and video/filmmaking if there are school-based facilities to support the additional effort required to produce a high-performance output and equipment to display the finished work.
Artistic outcomes are important and we would like high quality pieces of artwork that can be mounted and displayed in a variety of settings. Ideas for art could include:
Create a travel poster inviting future travel to Mars and Maidstone on Mars.
Design a front page for a Mars fashion or transport magazine to Mars (note - we will have a spacesuit available for inspiration)
Create a picture of a Martian habitat and what the Maidstone crater might look like to visitors?
Create a one-page short story or poetry inspired by future life on Mars?
Create a picture of a Martian habitat and what the Maidstone crater might look like to visitors?
Create a one-page short story or poetry inspired by future life on Mars?
About our partners
Dr. Jancy McPhee was a cellular and molecular neuroscience researcher before joining NASA’s Human Research Program to manage domestic and international space life sciences research programs. Since 2010, she has worked to find motivating and novel ways to enhance space education and science and technology innovation and to promote global collaboration. She created the international Humans in Space Art Program to encourage people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds to think about and creatively communicate their visions of the future of human space exploration and development through visual, literary, musical, and video art. Most recently, she established SciArt Exchange.
The Ideas Foundation is an award-winning charity that nurtures creativity in the classroom. They provide opportunities for young people to work on live briefs alongside artists. They have run the highly successful media space projects for the UK Space Agency. This project is partly funded by the Careers and Enterprise Company.