Creative Conference Friday 30th March

The University of Creative Arts in association with The Work Foundation created a conference on Friday which was awe inspiring. (Note to other conference organizers, let the creatives organize it! They know what their doing!)

It was encouraging to be in a room with high end creatives who are trading commerce on a grand scale and to be soaking up the atmosphere. Admittedly I went along just to observe and to see what they were all going to be discussing, I didn't think for one minitue the day would prove so engaging, interesting and inspiring.

As soon as I arrived I was met by the beaming smile of Will Wong: Social Entrepenur of 3become1 and straight away the day was looking fantastic. I sat down at my table next to a lovely man named Chris Ragg who has a wealth of experience in creative business and has offered us some mentoring which I gladly accepted! We were led through a series of talks by various creatives all focusing on how to inspire commerce and leadership in the creative industries. Speakers included Dianne Taylor of UCA, Ben Reid of The Work Foundation, Dr Martin Bouette, Florence Harmlin (an amazing woman whose I really hope to work with soon) and Mandy Hare from The Hazlitt in Maidstone, (also making exciting new plans for the Hazlitt Centre!)We were also treated to a great talk by Nathan Shedroff from California who mentioned that Californian views about creative business were not all together friendly but it sounds like they are pioneering great change on that topic with their Masters in Design Strategy Program. (In another life i'd love to partake!) After a delicious lunch we listened to a talk by Martin Smith who is a special adviser for Ingenious Media (the people who invested in X-men, Avatar and many more) His talk was focused on Finance, Investment and the Creative Industries and I've got to say that even though we will always be small fish in a big pond (it is not our desire to become a mulit-billion pound company like his) his talk was encompassing of all industries and it really gave me a positive boost, not to mention the contacts that have arisen out of that and points of research to follow up. To hear him say the work that social interest companies such as ourselves is valuable and to hear that he invests in projects such as ours gives me massive hope for our industry and FAF's future.

The day ended with small breakout sessions and I sat in with Derek Wyatt who provided some key contacts for us that I am in the process of following up now, we shared a few glasses of wine after this which sent me on the train back to Kent with a warm fuzzy glow about my face and a sudden need to nap.

Many thanks to The Work Foundation and UCA for putting on a truly brilliant event which could have had us all sitting there drinking wine and talking business till the early hours.

Some links from Friday which may be of use to any other start up creative business's:

http://www.derekwyatt.co.uk/blogs/digital/blog.aspx?b=706

http://www.cockpitarts.com/

It's a BLAST! Kent Foundation. March 2012.

Last night, a local charity 'The Kent Foundation' asked us to speak at their 4th Annual Stakeholders Summit about the success of FAF Arts. As last year we were awarded with a week long enterprise experience residential which was a bit like a business boot camp where we had intense days of learning about all the aspects of running a business. The week proved very succsesfull for myself and I felt very empowered as a young person in business to keep going. Its so daunting on your own to face the world and get yourself out there but Kent Foundation really believe in all their young entrepenurs and last nights event proved it!

So it was at this event (http://www.kentfoundation.org/news/102/) that they invited me to reflect upon in front of an audience of 200business people, local MP's and the Lord Lieutenant of Kent, (whom was very nice but im not all together clear what his role is!) In fact I was sat a big round table up at the front next to him, he was clearly made up with my speech and gave me an good strong hand shake afterwards.

Before the doors opened we got to look at each others exhibition stands and do some networking

45 mins before the main presentation took place the young entrepenurs were asked to have an exhibition stand and take part in lots of networking, this was great and it felt so good to have so many succsesfull people sharing our passions, clearly seeing that what we are all doing is both important and profitable, and it was made all the more apt by today's new unemployment figures. Running your own business is sometimes an option which people don't consider but it is completely viable! (Although i'd love to stress that we don't need to keep fueling the fire! Don't become your own boss to become the boss of other people, we should be empowering each other!!)

Some of the other young exhibitors included I.T and homemade crafts.

Some of the other young entrepenurs there included l8 year old Ami Holt, with her succsesfull baby shower company. She was so lovely and friendly and will go a long way i'm sure! She also won an award for displaying the most potential, she looked so shell shocked when she went on stage to pick it up! Well done Ami! Here's a link to her website:http://www.wix.com/brassm/beebiesbabystore

Our DIU! Inspecting more cake hazards under the table!

FAF Arts supplied the event with the comedy DIU, the Danger Inspection Unit, I had great fun (between the networking) catching glimpses of them performing routine danger checks on all the buisness people and councilors!! Some people didn't get it, which is always the way, but a lot of guests really enjoyed the joke, especially when Peter dived under the table after cordoning off a few cake crumbs! (http://www.fafarts.com/)

So, all in all it was a very succesful evening, we made lots of new friends and have three more dates in the diary already :)

Thanks to everyone's energy, faith and passion they shared with me, it was so great standing next to a FAF banner and talking about what we do best...FAFFING!

Posing for a photo next to said banner!

Feb 2012.

Dearest bloggers.

We haven't written anything since last June, can you believe it? We've been working so hard on all our projects that blogging about our work has sadly fallen to the bottom of the list :(.

2011 was a good year though wasn't it? It saw FAF go through the mill a little, deciding on its future wasn't an easy decision, with arts funding so bleak and the economy the way it is (yawn) it made me nearly want to down tools for good, but then I went to an incredible festival in Amsterdam. The ADM Festival. Renowned for its industrial art and home-grown performances, (intelligent art for soul foods sake) and of course a raucous party. It was within this world of Mad Max's harbour, whilst experiencing some of the most amazing art I had ever seen, that I was emancipated for a moment from the confines of the depressive nature of (yawn) the economy. I received the spark of passion that I needed to carry on. But still, as any founder of any company will tell you, it is a lot of f*ffin hard work and last year I had so many moments of turning back it was un-real. It really has been a long old road getting to where we are now, but I am pleased to say that all the favours pulled in from friends, all the coffee's, question and answer sessions with the pro's, all the 18 hour long days, all the blood, sweat, toil and tears weren't in vain. Our hard work has begun to pay off. The end of the year saw us launch our first online home (http://www.fafarts.com/), with many thanks to my friend and web designer Bridget Tan (http://www.bridgetdesigns.co.uk/).

Things could go tits up tomorrow, the economy (yawn) could squeeze us all until we burst, but it gives me a warm glow to think we run a business that is all about making people genuinely smile. (Plus we get the tax man to say FAFARTS which sounds childishly like 'farts' on the telephone).

Over and out for now, if you haven't yet, then please check out our website on http://www.fafarts.com/ and please let us know what you think!

Kerri X

The Bee's Knee's

Im pretty excited to announce a NEW show that we are creating for this summer, it was originally commissioned by Secret Garden Party after I wrote in with a bizarre idea for their theme : Origins and Frontiers, but is now becoming an act we are developing for future festivals and events, and dare I say it maybe even a little corporate sponsorship. (but only from an eco worthy company or issue based charity!).

The ecological importance of the bee, and its threat of extinction is something which has played on my mind for a while now, and I am really happy that my creative self has started to make a piece about it, I also, like most of us out there feel pretty outraged at the ever blatant cheek of bankers raises and the lack of corporate tax, feeling pretty small in a world overrun by bureaucratic rules and regulations this is my one of my protests.

This is my inner punk smashing all the bank windows and scrawling 'bankers are wankers' all over the walls. Which really never achieves anything does it? except bad press and a feeling of tempoary elation.

True to our manifesto this piece overthrows the status quo, mocking capitalist ideals and shines a light on a very real issue affecting all of us in todays society, (the death of the bee would be a very big one indeed).

So let me introduce you to The Bee's Knees (which is a shit name so if anyone has any better ideas please send them over, i'd be glad to hear them! )

Drum roll purleease.........

The Bee’s Knees.

Once upon a time, when land was man’s and skyscrapers ruled the kingdom , a rare little bee buzzed his way into the office of an evil business man. On the desk of the evil business man sat an evil jar of plastic flowers, (his wife had bought them from the local Poundland store the day before). The little bee was buzzing himself on one of the plastic stems when the evil business man stamped his hand on the desk in a fit of rage! “Dam stock market” he bellowed. Little bee got so scared and tried to sting the man, but the man reached inside his top drawer and released his .... EVIL CAN OF FLY SPRAY.......

Will YOU defy evil and help the bee sting the can of fly spray in the ass?

Look out for a suit, a giant can of fly spray and a bumble bee, add us (Faf Arts) as a friend on facebook and follow the adventure all the way to the garden.

Comedy. Surreal. Spectacle. Walkabout.

Telegram from Greta!

Dear all,

The Gutter Glamour Girls have been very busy on their street in Margate this past two months with a project called "Margate's Memories", where by we have been sipping tea with the wise and exchanging faux pas with the daft. Everyone involved (aged between 75 and 100!) have been absolutely amazing and have shared some truly magical stories with us, we believe what we have now is a very raw (and funny) portrail of life in Margate circa 1955, where supplies were short but morale and standards were high!

Please do find attached a poster and a press pack for Fridays event and please forward on to your contacts, I bid you all a farewell and a very hot and merry May!

Hope to see some of you there on Friday.

Kind regards

Kerri Layton, Artistic Director.

Well now, here's a to do! Over at FAF HQ we have been inundated with calls from lots of lovely people wanting to see our latest production "This, That n' T'other" showing at the Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate, this Friday.With only 20 tickets left, the girls and I shall be quite rushed off our feet- lucky we'v been saving up our tea and sugar rations to provide all you lucky souls with a hearty brew and healthy dose of street gossip! However, I'm a bit worried that some of our FAF-friends might miss out, so if you do wish to join us for tea then get the telephone operator to put you through to: 07411301960 and we'll keep a seat warm for you. Along with our company we shall be joined by local storyteller Frankie Jordan and we'll round up with a smashing singsong from Betty Lloyd and her Frontline Follies! Oh what a corker it promises to be! So I do hope to see you all there, ears scrubbed and collars starched for this one night only evening of entertainment. And one last thing- Dont forget your teacups and saucers!
xxx
Greta Garbage

AKA Natalie Bowers, GGG tour manager/performer
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You are cordially invited to Betty's Parlour...

Well, it's all very exciting today up at FAF HQ where preparations for tommorow's latest spectacular are well underway! Yes, for those of you who don't know, I am pleased to announce that the Gutter Glamour Girls shall be holding court from their very own sitting room as such in Margate's Old Town Bazaar! So do pop along between 10-3 and see us having a pot of tea, a spot of cleaning advice and everything the neighbours didn't tell you!

If that weren't enough reason to visit, we'll also be selling tickets for FAF's upcoming one night performance, "This, That n T'other" showing at the Tom Thumb Theatre in Margate next Friday 13th May! Promising to an event you'll never forget, let us take you back to the 1950's when hoovers were cool and Mr.Muscle not yet a mere twinkle in his daddy's eye!

Ta Ta for now loves!

xxx

Greta Garbage

Aims of the show!

‘This, that n ’t’other’.

Margate.

Aims

· TTo enrich the dialogue of the Gutter Glamour Girls walkabout act and to experiment developing a site specific script that could hold a unique selling point for community arts festivals.

· To create a ‘pool’ of performers that is rehearsed for the summer season in order to perform at the festivals already booked.

· To develop new ways of rehearsing a piece of street theatre.

· To present the work in an immersive, intimate environment where the outcome of the research can be

· Raise the profile of the company.

Objectives

· Choose a site i.e. Margate and research community factors that would have affected our characters life’s at this time.

· By interviewing the elderly we aim to‘re-live’ their lives through the creation of a unique script built up directly from the findings of our research.

· Find new performers for the summer that have a vested interest in the project and a shared passion for street performance.

· Via online methods and alternative rehearsals, i.e. surveys and street marketing, (natural theatre rehearsal).

· Considering the venue (Tom Thumb Theatre) using the whole space and the street outside.

· Press relations are nurtured locally, regionally and nationally with a Radio 6 interview and local press features.