Kent Baton News

UK Inspire Day, on Wednesday 16 May, is a celebration of over 2,700 projects across the country, inspired by the Games, which are doing something special in local communities.

The Kent Cultural Baton is one of the exceptional projects to have been awarded the coveted Inspire mark and become part of the London 2012 Inspire programme that has already given 10 million people across the UK the opportunity to join in with a Games-inspired activity and try something new.

The Kent Cultural Baton is a silver Airstream caravan, which has been travelling the county asking people to share local stories and giving them the chance to learn about their area’s past. The aim is to present the curious tales as a snapshot of Kent’s fascinating history as part of the cultural celebrations for the London 2012 Games. The resulting ‘map’ will chart the many stories, photographs, drawings and creative writing captured by artists from local people to build a permanent record for future generations and give residents a different perspective on the place where they live. The Kent County Council project is lead by artist Nicole Mollett.

Share a Secret about Kent

The Kent Cultural Baton is now launching its summer project – ‘Share a Secret about Kent’.

During the Olympic Torch Relay, the Baton will be encouraging people to anonymously donate their ‘secrets’ about a place in Kent. These ‘secrets’ could be facts, fables or personal stories, moments or memories that help to uncover the hidden wonders of the county and its communities. Secrets can be big or small, heroic or ordinary, no subject is too strange, or village too remote. So, do you have a secret to share about Kent?

Nicole Mollett, lead artist of the Baton, will add live updates of the secrets on the Kent Cultural Baton website so they will be displayed online throughout the 2012 Games.

A selection of the secrets will also be transformed into hand-painted signs and given to communities within Kent, unlocking and displaying the diverse secrets of the entire county.

If you would like to ‘Share a Secret’, they can be donated by emailing Nicole Mollett at nicole@kentculturalbaton.com, or visiting the Baton itself and taking part in a ‘Share a Secret’ activity.

Seb Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games said: ‘UK Inspire Day is a celebration of the Inspire programme and more than 2700 exceptional projects that have been inspired by the Games to do something special in their local communities. Inspire projects like the Kent Cultural Baton have already helped over 10 million people in the UK to get involved in the Games and their events are set to play a starring role in the celebrations this summer. We encourage you to go along and experience the inspiration for yourself.

Chris Hespe, Head of Culture and Sport Group at Kent County Council said: “The Kent Cultural Baton is a really innovative and creative way to document Kent’s history. It is fascinating to be able to research our ancestors and this project will leave a lasting legacy for future generations to see how thousands of people got involved as part of celebrating culture and the London 2012 Games. I would urge as many people as possible to find how how they can join in and leave their mark as the Baton travels around Kent.”

Summer Programme

The Baton has been showcasing the amazing talents of the Canterbury Christ Curch Students over the past three days..see the Sounds New Festival website for more details.

The Kent History and Library Centre, James Whatman Way, will open Monday 23 April at 9.00am. The centre will be home for Kent’s unique and rich archive collection and include a brand new library.

The event coincides with Shakespeare’s birthday, St George’s Day and World Book Night.

The Baton has been working closely with the Kent Libraries and Archives team in creating the final publication which will include archival maps of Kent. For this special one day launch event, lead artist nicole Mollett will be running mapping workshops inside the Baton from 11am -4pm.

The centre will open at 9am. The first 50 people through the doors get a free goody bag for children and there will be gifts for the first babies to be registered at the centre.

There will be exhibitions, events and activities at the centre throughout the day, including:

• Exhibition of Kent’s archive treasures
• Kent History Timeline and Kent on Film displays
• University of the Creative Arts student project on the move to the new centre – on screen
• Dreamland, Margate – on screen
• History Tree art work
• Short ‘pop-up’ readings from Shakespeare by staff in Elizabethan costume
• Face painting and children’s activities with West Kent Housing Association
• Book-giving to celebrate World Book Night
• The Cultural Baton will be parked on James Whatman Way holding a mapping workshop.
• At 7pm, local crime writer Elizabeth Haynes will give a talk about her work and sign copies of her books.

For more info on the centre go to;

http://www.kent.gov.uk/news_and_events/news_archive/2012/april/history_and_library_centre.aspx

http://www.kent.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/kent_history/kent_history__library_centre.aspx

The Baton is going to the Sounds New Festival in Canterbury May 4th-6th 2012.

Sounds New has become the Contemporary Classical Music Festival in the South East of England, based in the famous Cathedral City of Canterbury, promoting music in various genres, providing platforms for outstanding musicians and presenting music by the best composers of our time as well as up-and-coming composers of the next generations.

http://www.soundsnew.org.uk/

Download the Sounds New festival borchure by clicking on the link below;

SN_ThemeGBA5Download

Friday May 4th, 11-4pm

New sound works will be presented within the Baton by Nicole Mollett.

Saturday May 5th , 10am till 4pm

In Flight Entertainment

The Baton will be situated in Canterbury City Centre. ‘Flight attendants’  will gather a crowd for each performance within the Baton.  Each performance will reveal a new piece of sonic art.

This artwork is preented by Wide Eyed theatre working with Canterbury College Students and Christchurch Uni musicians.

Sunday May 6 ,  11am till 4pm

Private View

The Baton will be situated in Canterbury City Centre. A simple Billboard announces the time of the next Private View

Ushers allow in only a few audients who look around the gallery and then listen to a live or recorded piece of music.

This work is presented byCanterbury College Students and Christchurch Uni musicians.

This photo was taken by Jessica Ackermann, who went to Southend and got a different perspective on the Hoo pennisula.

The Kent Baton spent part of the week before easter 2012 decorating the grass infront of Upnor Castle, Medway. As part of a retreat project working in partnership with English Heritage who own the castle,  six artists meet up at the Castle and went out exploring the peninsula, with the aim of trying to creatively map the area.

Jessica Ackermann,Bridgette Ashton, Cara Flynn, Dolores De Sade, Filipe Gomes and Nicole Mollett spent four days researching, walking, talking, eating and sleeping on Hoo. The overwhelming concensus was a complete fascination and wonder at how many interesting a beautiful places there were on this ‘tongue-shaped’ piece of land. We started of at Cliffe,  exploring the shore front were you can see the remains of the explosives factory. We realised our girl guide map reading skills were a little rusty, but gladly no peril was met. Unlike the postman, who we came across in his broken down van, who had just delivered his last letter of the day to a remote house in the small lane.

Day two was a trip to Grain, to see the views over to Sheerness. The tide was in, so fort that stands almost half way into the Medway estuary was surrounded by water.

In the morning of day three we went back at the Cliffe Pools and fortress, and walked back through the Cement factory. Then in the afternoon some of the team got a tour of the Shipping Container port. I went to see the St James church at Cooling, which is were Charles Dickens based some of the story of Great Expectations.

There were many more places which we had been recommended, but did not have the time to see, but we all left feeling like we had so much to work with already. The artists will be presenting their repsonses as part of the final Baton publication.

Jane Pitt’s Ri-zound’ takes the festival to the river with 100 floating Medway voices resounding aboard the Kingswear Castle Paddle Steamer.  Experiencing their hometowns with fresh eyes and ears directly from the river this buoyant choir will celebrate and vocalise the sounds and rhythms of the River Medway that underscore our everyday lives.  Recorded & photographed live; edited sounds and images of this festive voyage (photographed by Sarah Norling & Mike Snarr) will be installed inside the Kent Cultural Baton  for everyone to enjoy over the Fuse weekend at Chatham (High Street/Riverside) & Rochester Castle Gardens over the Fuse weekend 16^th & 17^th June 2012.

For more details contact rizound@gmail.com

Ri-zound is a FUSE Medway Festival SPARK commission

Date:           Sunday 19 February
Time:           1 – 4.30pm
Location:       Samphire Hoe, Dover

There will be a unique free event held at Samphire Hoe on Sunday 19th February in celebration of the London 2012 Games.

Following on from the ?Sensory Banquet? held during Samphire Hoe?s Bank Holiday weekend celebrations in August 2011, artist Gayle Chong Kwan will be at the Hoe again on Sunday 19th February. Visitors will have the chance to discover her legacy of work in a beautiful 1950s Airstream caravan – the Kent Cultural Baton which will be on site from 13.00. At 14.00 there will be the launch of the limited edition ?Samphire Hoe Sensory Postcard? and these will be given free to everyone attending the event.

Shortly after 14.00, Steve Walker from the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership will be leading a guided walk, ?Making Sense of Samphire Hoe? that has been inspired by the Sensory Banquet.

Artist Gayle Chong Kwan has been commissioned as Artist in Residence at Samphire Hoe by the Kent Cultural Baton project. The baton is a converted silver Airstream caravan which travels around the county to gather stories and insights about Kent people and places ahead of London 2012. The aim is to record these tales as a celebration of Kent?s culture. The project was created by Kent County Council and artist Nicole Mollett designed the baton and leads the project.

Chong Kwan has been working with Eurotunnel and White Cliffs Countryside Partnership to explore different perspectives on Samphire Hoe, officially the ‘newest’ land in Kent, having been created out of the 4.9 million cubic metres of chalk marl dug to create the Channel Tunnel.
 
Samphire Hoe is a 30 hectare site that nestles at the foot of the white cliffs of Dover and provides a haven for people and wildlife. There is something for everyone: a stunning location, wild flowers, birds, sea angling, peace and quiet, picnics or painting.

The site is accessible for all people, providing gentle and interesting walks.
Access is via a tunnel through the cliffs. To reach the tunnel, travel along the A20 driving from Dover to Folkestone, Samphire Hoe is signposted.

Samphire Hoe is owned by Eurotunnel and managed together with the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership.