By Noelle Williamson
The first two Bramley Community Arts Festivals celebrated many of the fantastic groups in Bramley and Stanningley, showcasing live dance, musical theatre, synchronised swimming, bands, choirs, arts and crafts.
In the third festival, more groups are bringing more stalls and entertainment to the weekend of May 16-17. Poetry, gardening, singing and photography groups, Bramley’s Ukulele Shapeshifters, and majorette troupe Yorkshire Rosettes will all be appearing for the first time.
In this third Bramley Community Arts Festival, there also three showcases for individual creative talent and skill.
On Saturday, April 25, we’ll be announcing Fanfare for the Makers – a portrait project for those who enjoy making pictures with words, pencils, paint, collage, stitch or multimedia
Next Monday, April 27, look out for In My Backyard – a competition for local amateur photographers, sponsored by West Leeds Dispatch.
Today, we extend an invitation to the Wordsmiths among us.
Do you write songs, poetry, sketches or short stories, and want to try them out on an audience? Perhaps you dream of playing folk clubs or the Edinburgh Fringe, or seeing one of your plays staged at The Playhouse, or having a comedy sketch show.
You’re not alone. So many writers – journalists, poets, singer-songwriters, screenwriters, filmmakers and comedians – have come out of Leeds. Alan Bennett, Nick Mohammed, Helen Fielding, Jim Moir, Corinne Bailey Ray, to name only a few. Ernie Wise (from Morecambe and Wise!) was born in Bramley.
Comic singer-songwriter Jake Thackray (The Cactus, The Castleford Ladies’ Magical Circle) taught English and wrote school plays at Intake High School until his TV and touring career took off.
At Bramley Community Arts Festival, we’re offering Open Mic slots for local creative writers and storytellers, be they poets, songwriters, dramatists, comics, or whatever! We want to celebrate the people who fit their writing around work and families, or for whom a life of one-night bookings and touring wasn’t an option.
We want to encourage the next generation of Wordsmiths.
So, if
- The cat loves your songs,
- The grandkids love your stories,
- Your friends quote your jokes,
- You’re working on a sketch,
- You’ve written a monologue,
- If you are a Wordsmith, aged 14 or over, and want to try out your material and test your stage legs in front of an audience, this could be your moment.
To secure your Wordsmiths Open Mic slot of roughly three to five minutes-ish at the Open Afternoon at Trinity Church on Saturday, May 16, between 2pm and 4pm, all you have to do is submit the online form by midnight on Friday, May 1.
If you’re not sure – because you’ve never done this before – please get in touch anyway. We will get back to you after the deadline, so you can talk about your writing, and what you would like to do at the Open Afternoon. We will do our best to support you and make the experience fun, even if it’s slightly scary fun. Also, there’s always next year!
The Open Afternoons are always enjoyable for performers and audience alike. The atmosphere is relaxed, with interesting stalls ranged around the church hall, and a space in the middle where people wander and chat, in between live performances.
The programme will be a mix of group performances and Open Mic Wordsmiths, with gaps in between. There’s a microphone for voices and guitars, a sound system for backing tracks, and space and basic furniture for sketches.
Whether you do one song, or five minutes, for your first outing as a performer or writer/director, it’s low pressure and encouraging.
Sponsored content
