​Many CA members will remember the fascinating and entertaining lecture, 'The Sound of Paint', presented by music historian, Peter Medhurst. Peter has been in touch to tell us he has put some of his lectures online via Zoom. He kicks off today, 18th May, at 3 pm with 'The Genius of Beethoven' (to be repeated on 22nd May), and on 21st May, 'Music at the Court of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I'. Click here to go to his website where you can find more details of these and future lectures.

There's lots of new stuff on our homepage, including a brand new layout designed to give more room for everyone's contributions. Have a look now - click here and find out what's going on, and to enter our fun competition!    

Happy Easter! We hope you enjoyed the sunshine if you had the opportunity to go outdoors.
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This is the first of our mini-newsletters which we’ll be using to keep in touch with everyone during the current difficulties. Firstly, if you haven’t already done so, please have a look at the new Home Page of our website (Crowborough-arts.org.uk). We’ve turned it into a sort of online exhibition featuring the creative output of our members! We’re updating it constantly to keep it refreshed, and are putting older items into an archive so we don’t lose anything. We’d really appreciate it if you could take a few moments to have a look and let us have your feedback - and please do send us anything you’d like to share. We want it to be a really lively and entertaining resource for everyone so the more contributions we get the better!

Steering Group member Christine Roberts has begun a series of workshops on poetry written in response to paintings. Her first session is fascinating, and we’d really recommend anyone with an interest in reading or writing poetry to sign up for this. Full details are on the website.

We’re also going to be featuring artists within our CA community, to find out a bit more about their background and what makes them “tick”! And where better than with our own Chair, Angela Vernon Bates?

We hope to have some exciting news about Open Studios very soon. It’ll come as no surprise that we can’t be certain about what’ll happen with our planned September weekend, but we’re looking at a way of having a virtual Open Studios ahead of that. More details to follow.

No, I didn't know what it meant either. But luckily, Steering Group member Christine Roberts does! She's going to lead a series of workshops on writing Ekphrastic Poetry, or, as she says, 'put more simply, poetry inspired by art'. See Christine's more detailed letter here, and get in touch to join in. 

Do visit our Home Page too, where you'll see lots of contributions from members and links to great music and other arty things. And please do get in touch if you have something you'd like to share.

As we can't implement our plans for our birthday year at the moment, we've given the website a new look. Have a look at our updated Home Page here. We're calling for contributions from CA members and hope you'll find it entertaining and informative. In particular, do log in to Alice Rose's concert on Monday night - see the link on our Home Page. Alice has performed for us in many of our shows over the years, and has received a CA bursary to further her career in bringing music to people with learning difficulties. She'll be performing some of her own songs, plus favourite covers, courtesy of Paul Dunton and Guests, the regular music evenings at the Grey Lady in Tunbridge Wells. 

As part of our ten-year birthday celebrations, we've just finished uploading just about every event we've produced over the decade onto our Event Archive. Go to Events > Events Archive to have a look and see how far we've come!

We're incredibly lucky to have folk/dance band Stepling playing for us in Crowborough as part of their spring tour. The band uniquely blurs the boundaries between music and dance, with an original blend of tunes, step & clog dance and song inspired by English traditions. The variety and energy of their performance makes it an exciting evening out for everyone, not just folk music fans!
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Many Crowborough Arts members will already be familiar with the work of percussionist Jo May, who has performed at several of our events, including ’Leading Ladies’ (with fiddler/vocalist Sarah Matthews) and ‘Face to Face’ (with Flamenco guitarist Matt Sullivan). Jo has mesmerised our audiences with her performances on the balafon and her virtuosity on the spoons, as well as more conventional percussion instruments.

Stepling features fiddle and vocals from Deb Chalmers (Folk Dance Remixed, Laurel Swift’s ‘Travelling with Thomas’), guitar from Adrian Lever (Alma, James Patrick Gavin), percussion from Jo May (Against the Grain, Token Women) and percussive dance from champion clog dancer Toby Bennett.

​The band’s richly varied performances combine traditional and new material – from high energy competition clog to carefully crafted arrangements, many with foot percussion. They have performed at UK folk festivals including Sidmouth, Whitby, Shepley, Broadstairs and Priddy.

​Their debut album ‘Leap’ was released in 2018 to great acclaim.

​This is an opportunity to witness a truly inspiring and vibrant evening of music and dance. Book now to avoid disappointment!
See Stepling in action at www.Stepling.org.uk
 

Join us on Wednesday, 15th January to hear Mark Meredith talk about "Great English Mansions of America". It's a subject Mark is passionate about, so passionate in fact that he's founded a website househistree.com that explores genealogy via buildings. As ever, space is limited, so reserve your seats now!

In 2020, Crowborough Arts will be celebrating its 10th birthday! It seems impossible that we've been around that long, until you look at the literally hundreds of events, concerts, exhibitions and workshops we've put on over the past decade. For our anniversary year, we have a new logo, and we're planning some really special events, including a return visit from the Monks of the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery from Tibet. Have a look at our newly updated website to find out more about what's happening, and watch this space for more exciting developments!