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Come to Chalkwell Hall this Sunday for the first in the series of three Summer Sundays events.

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An invitation to Cultural House Party on 5th December at Chalkwell Hall from 11am until 4pm.

As we wrote earlier this month, Southend Borough Council (SBC) are making a bid for Southend to become the UK’s City of Culture for 2013.

The bid will be put together by Southend on Sea Borough Council (Culture Dept) – part of the bid document is to outline an ambitious and exciting cultural programme for the year of 2013 that will demonstrate that culture is a key part of the Borough’s future.

Everyone keen to contribute their ideas to this bid, is invited to a special Cultural House Party at Chalkwell Hall in Chalkwell Park on Saturday 5th December. Drop in at any time between 11am and 4pm!

This collective brainstorming day is being organised by Arts organisation METAL, in partnership with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. There will be plenty of tea and biscuits, some activities to participate in, and lots of opportunity for conversation and ideas.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Executive Councillor for Culture, Councillor Derek Jarvis, says:

“Southend has a huge wealth of creative and dynamic talent so we really want to involve as many people as possible in preparing this bid.

“The Council together with METAL is very keen indeed to create a vivid picture of the current cultural climate, as well as a shared ambition for what can be achieved in 2013 and beyond.

“The winning city/town will become a focus for national attention in 2013 and could host high-profile media events including the Turner Prize, BBC Sports Personality of the Year, The Brits and the RIBA Stirling Prize as part of their year in the spotlight.”

The newly Chalkwell Hall in Chalkwell Park is open to public this week until Saturday to celebrate the attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous line of bunting. The 2158metres of bunting was created by Southend’s individuals and groups and its length corresponds with the length of Southend’s pier.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE & MORE IMAGES CLICK HERE…

The Chalkwell Hall has been officially opened last Thursday by the Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker.

This four storey, Grade II listed Georgian building has been refurbished by Metal, an art organisation based in Southend and Liverpool, and will function as a space for art, events and conversation. With two bedrooms on the first floor, it will also offer live-in residencies to international artists.

At the moment there are four artists in residence – Harwood, Wright and Yokokoji and Tris Vonna Michell – and several art installations on show – Amy McKenny’s installation using found objects from the Chalkwell Hall, Keith Watts’ 360 degree panorama drawing of the crowds at the last Village Green, Simon Poulter’s geography of the Thames gateway and a 10-minute long video of the history of the Chalkwell Hall by author Rachel Lichtenstein.

Metal believes that the art discussion and the artist practices can influence political and social issues of the day and that the Chalkwell Hall will provide the catalyst for the number of activities locally, regionally and nationally.

The aim was to create a low carbon space, so Chalkwell Hall has a number of eco features, including two wind turbines and glass solar panels on the roof. It is entirely heated by renewable energy sources.

Images (c) Benedict Johnson

Metal’s website

Emma Bell and Joseph Avery moved their work straight from the MA show at University of East London to put on a great show at Chalkwell Hall. This was the first of the Project Lulu Exhibitions.

The Private View for one of the CoExist Group Shows.
We will post more photos over the next few days…