South West Spotlight: Southampton
The port city is buzzing with creative and cultural energy as organisations up and down the city – from theatres to dance organisations, art galleries to music halls – welcome audiences and look to the future. Here’s our snapshot of just some of the exciting cultural activity taking place in this multifaceted city:
The National Gallery and Southampton City Art Gallery
Southampton City Art Gallery is exploring its unique and historic 92-year partnership with the National Gallery through a new exhibition, Creating a National Collection (until 4 September), featuring works from Southampton’s own collection, twinned with sister paintings on loan from the National Gallery, by artists including Claude Monet, Thomas Gainsborough, Maggi Hambling and Paula Rego. The National Gallery played a key role in the evolution of Southampton’s collection until the mid-1970s, and the collaboration has continued since then.
MAST’s opening season kicks off
The long-awaited MAST Mayflower Studios, a multi-artform cultural hub in the heart of the city, has at last begun to welcome people through its doors. Its inaugural programme boasts an array of delights including HALO (21 – 30 June), an immersive installation by renowned UK-based artist duo Semiconductor, presented in partnership with John Hansard Gallery, and Four Quartets (12-17 July) starring Ralph Feines, a world premiere adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s renowned poem.
MAST is also home to a number of local creative organisations who are now resident or associate companies of the Studios and contribute to a multi-genre programme of events - including ZoieLogic, Artful Scribe, Southampton Music Hub, Frantic Assembly and Tangle Theatre, to name a few. Full details can be found here. MAST is funded by Arts Council England with an investment of more than £2 million to contribute to the development of the venue for the next two years.
It’s all go for ZoieLogic
Last month, ZoieLogic completed production and premiered We Are Holyrood - a dance film they made with a group of young people from Southampton’s Holyrood Estate, and part of Southampton’s Mayflower 400 cultural programme. ZoieLogic held an exclusive premier on the estate by driving a large screen around the area, which reached over 300 residents!
The much-celebrated Grid Experience landed in Southampton’s Weston Shore estate in April, with 40 people taking to the Grid to dance. You can watch the highlights here. After a successful and joyous indoor Grid Experience at Mayflower Theatre last month, the Grid is now making its way across the south coast. Pavilion Dance South West is hosting it in Poole on 26 June, with more locations to be announced later in the year. If you are interested in working with ZoieLogic on a Grid Experience in 2022, please email Vicky Thornton.
Southampton’s biggest free family festival is back!
Art Asia’s fabulous outdoor festival – the annual Southampton Mela - will brighten Hoglands Park once again this August. Now in its 40th year, the festival offers a fusion of music, dance and family activities, all of an international flavour. Get Saturday 21 August in your diaries!
‘a space’ arts returns afresh!
‘a space’ arts has recently launched its RIPE 2021 Summer Season - a series of exhibitions and events that will showcase exciting work from recent graduates as they look to take the next step in their artistic careers. ‘a space’ arts hopes the RIPE project will help local artists sustain a fruitful visual arts practice in Southampton and, in turn, enrich the already vibrant cultural landscape of the city.
And we’re thrilled that ‘a space’ arts’ God’s House Tower in Southampton’s Old Town will be reopening on 9 July with an exciting line-up of new exhibitions and activities for you to enjoy, along with a refreshed café.
Rap and hip hop lessons for Southampton pupils
Southampton’s Music Education Hub was recently awarded a £65,000 grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to run a programme which will see rap and hip hop lessons being taught at three Southampton primary schools. The pupils and teachers will work with inspirational spoken word and rap artist Rob Bradley. The project goes deeper than performances and workshops, and will see class teachers bring rap music into weekly music and English lessons too. Each school will co-design a creative curriculum that draws on pupils interests in music to help them develop success in reading and writing, which will be particularly impactful for those pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds or those who face barriers to learning.
John Hansard Gallery animating Southampton’s streets
If you’ve been walking round Southampton’s Guildhall Square or Northam Road at night, you may have spotted ARTICLE 16 – three new films projected onto buildings, supported through National Lottery Project Grants. The films were created when artist Asten Holmes-Elliott invited three queer and non-traditional households to capture their family moments on 8mm film. You’ve got until 19 June to catch ARTICLE 16, which is also being screened at Solent University’s The Spark on East Park Terrace.
ZoieLogic Dance Theatre, The Grid Experience. Image courtesy ZoieLogic Dance Theatre
