Village Green 2012
Metal presents Village Green. Back for 2012, Metal's popular, FREE arts and music festival in Chalkwell park takes place on Saturday 30 June, 11am until 8pm.
This year’s event boasts a host of talent in a wide range of artistic disciplines, that includes: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly; Wilko Johnson; The Correspondents; Passenger; Snowboy; The Shirt Tail Stompers; The Boy With Tape On His Face; Lili La Scala; Jugnu Bhangra; BrazilArte; and a wide range of visual artists; street theatre and comedy. Our marketplace of over 100 artists and craftspeople also returns with a host of talent from Southend and beyond.
We are also introducing a variety of new attractions: a ‘cycle in’ cinema presented in partnership with Cycle Southend & The White Bus; learn to dance Lindy Hop and the Waltz at our tea dance party; side show tents featuring cabaret artists; and for a quieter moment enjoy spoken word and storytelling in the grounds of Chalkwell Hall, whilst enjoying a cup of tea from Metal's Pop-Up Cafe in the Hall.
Village Green for 2012 is being curated as one of the many events associated with Southend in Sea’s season of activity supporting the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Metal is commissioning a number of visual artists to respond to an Olympic theme across the festival site – so look out for a range of humorous, playful and more literal interpretations – and come prepared to join in.
In previous years the event has attracted an audience of around 28,000 from across the South East region and London, as the event has become a cultural highlight of Southend's thriving arts scene.
Village Green is made possible through the support of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Arts Council England.
OPPORTUNITIES:
Volunteering:
We need your help to make Village Green run successfully – roles include marketing (selling programmes, giving out information), working back stage, capturing the event on film and site staff. Click here to apply online, or email Jo Dickinson at
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for more details.
Marketplace:
Are you a local creative with something to sell and/or show? - Apply for a market stall to showcase your work amongst the finest creative talent in the area. Download: Application. Deadline: Friday 27 April 2012
Food concessions:
Are you a local food retailer/restaurateur? - Apply to run a food outlet at this year’s Village Green. Download: Application + Checklist + Guidelines. Deadline: Friday 27 April 2012
Sponsorship:
Take out a banner or advert at this year’s Village Green. Different sponsorship packages are available. Download the sponsorship info here.
PROGRAMME:
ARCHIVE FROM PREVIOUS YEARS
VILLAGE GREEN HIGHLIGHTS:
2010
VILLAGE GREEN 2010 - SATURDAY 25 SEPTEMBER. 11AM - 10PM. CHALKWELL PARK, SOUTHEND ON SEA, SS0 8NB.
VILLAGE GREEN STAGE
CARLEEN ANDERSON - Former lead singer of the Brand New Heavies; Young Disciples; Soloist; multi award winning; currently working with Ben Castle.
ANTHONY JOSEPH AND THE SPASM BAND - Regarded as the voice of black avant garde Britaina and one of the UK's most exciting and innovative voices. A poet, novelist, musician and lecturer Anthony will be performing at Village Green with his ‘voodoo punk’ Spasm Band.
STEVE MASON - Having hidden behind monikers for nearly 15 years, Steve Mason has finally emerged producing music under his own name. He was the lead singer of The Beta Band, released solo recordings as King Biscuit Time and also released an album under the V2 record label. Steve produces music from a variety of genres including electro, dance and more recently acoustic.
SNOWBOY AND THE LATIN SECTION - Without doubt the UK’s leading exponent of Afro Cuban Jazz, Snowboy and the Latin Section are a ‘dream team’ band of the finest Latin and jazz musicians based in the UK.
LAURA B AND THE MOONLIGHTERS - Laura B and the Moonlighters is an exciting seven-piece rockin’ and honkin’ rhythm and blues combo in the upbeat style of Ruth Brown, Big Maybelle and Lavern Baker. They released their debut album late last year, ‘Jump and Shout’, and have recently played the Vintage at Goodward Festival. Laura B and the Moonlighters, for rhythm and blues lovers.
RICHIE PHOE - The Lee Scratch Perry of Brighton, Richie Phoe, will again be spinning his dub tunes in between sets at stages one and two at this year’s Village Green. Feted by radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank, Richie began mixing on his Amiga 500 in the 1990’s. His career really took off in 2006 when became involved with Sunday Best Recording’s, which included a totally awesome remix of Max Sedgley’s ‘Celebrity’.
MEADOW STAGE
LEMN SISSAY AND CAROLINE BIRD - two fantastic performance poets go head to head in the Meadow Stage.
SUNDOWN ARTS - Southends very own Spoken Word specialists have curated a 3 hour slot for the Meadow Stage with a mix of comedy, live music and poetry. Includes JIM BOB / RUCKUS JUICE AN CHITLINS / CAR WRECK CHICKEN / BRIDGETTE APHRODITE / SIMON BLACKMANHIP HOP SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
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KINO VILLAGE
THE WHITE BUS - a wide variety of fantastic short films throughout the day from the organisers of the Southend Film Festival - animation, children's classics and art house.
HOOK AND THE TWIN - this dynamic duo from Bristol (Marcus Efstratiou and Tom Havelock) bring drum beats and digital tunes to create a truly exciting and innovative sound that has attracted national attention specifically from revered radio DJ’s Zane Lowe, Marc Riley, and Steve Lamacq. With live improvised visuals from Mike Lowther.
SOCIETY OF IMAGINARY FRIENDS - cinematic folk - a unique sound described by Tim Cunniingham as an 'operatic sensation'. Their stunning soundscapes have led to work with numerous film directors, including Luke Scott, Martin Jones, Chris Newby and Julien Temple.
JOHNSON E KANE: presents TUPPENYBUNTERS - A wacky musical performance with accompanying indulgent, visual projections reminiscent of Velvet Underground performances of the 60s and the spirit of Warhol's Factory. An eclectic mixture of garage-punk originals, classic TV & radio theme tunes, performance art and minimal electronic & ambient pieces. Johnson E Kane has created standalone and collaborative video works for over 15 years with many musicians, artists, organisations and festivals including Arctic Circle, Sadler's Wells Theatre, Tate Britain, Union Chapel and Big Chill.
NICO BENTLEY - young, vibrant composer, producer, and performer. His ablity to engage with various musical styles, including Jazz, Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Indian, African, Latin, Pop and Electronica, has led to musical pieces for the Silversmith Dance Theatre and the Bhangra Latina project.
HYBERNATION - Southend artist, Stuart Bowditch likes to capture the sounds of everyday life and turn them into music. He is as at home playing sets in Southend Library as he is in Tate Britain.
COMEDY AT KINO VILLAGE
At 8pm our film and experimental audio visual space at Kino Village will be transformed into a comedy venue with three fantastic comedians curated and MC'd by Markus Birdman.
MARKUS BIRDMAN - A connoisseur of political and religious humour, Markus enjoys bucking the system and rebelling against his parent’s generation who told him to ‘get a proper job’. Instead Markus likes watching CSI, playing table-tennis and listening to Bob Marley, oh and making people laugh! The BBC says Birdman is ‘the all-round package’, and who are we to argue with the BBC.
FRANCESCA MARTINEZ - award-winning comedian who you might recognise from Ricky Gervais’, ‘Extras’. She has toured internationally including sell-out performances at the Edinburgh Fringe and Just for Laughs in Montreal, as well as playing in Hollywood and on Broadway. The Guardian gave her 5 stars and Time Out calls her, ‘Highly accomplished...very funny’. Francesca is currently working on her BBC sitcom pilot, but is taking the day off to make us laugh at Village Green.
ANDREW BIRD - ‘superb…a rising star. Not to be missed ’,Time Out. He's fashioned a charming set of uncomplicated anecdotal stand-up where his everyman outlook comes in remarkably useful. The audience can share the embarrassment of his faux pas, knowing something similar could so easily happen to them – and probably has.
GREEN STAGE
THE SAMPHIRE BAND - Molly Nyman and Harry Escott are award winning, BIFA nominated (for their film score for Shifty), film composers who were awarded 'Best New Documentary Filmmaker' at the Tribeca Awards. They have been creating beautiful scores for the last seven years for films such as Michael Winterbottom's "A Mighty Heart", Nick Broomfield's "Ghosts", David Slade's "Hard Candy" and Michael Winterbottom's "Road to Guantanamo". With their 12 piece Samphire Band they will perform a live score alongside the UK premier screening of Olhos do Farol on Metal's huge outdoor cinema screen. The film has recently played to rave reviews at the Indie Lisboa film festival in Portugal; "Its a little masterpiece, this long awaited animation by Pedro Serrazina..." The Samphire band will also perform the Shifty Suite along with a beautiful piece of film created by the artist Nick Hornby and a clutch of songs especially arranged for Village Green featuring the husky, tremulous tones of Kristin McClement and live improvised visuals from Mike Lowther.
PHILLIOUS WILLIAMS - named after a chronic bigamist and storyteller from the seventeenth century. The reliably popular quintet play heavy blues tinged country and western which embraces the themes of immigration, relationships, and much more.
HIP HOP SHAKESPEARE COMPANY - Shakespeare like you’ve never heard it before. A music and theatre production company founded by MOBO award winning Kingslee ‘Akala’ Daley to share his love of Shakespeare and hip-hop in a more direct way. Since 2008 Akala and his team have been introducing young people to Shakespeare through performance and workshops that demonstrate how modern hip-hop relates to the themes, languages and rhythms used by Shakespeare himself to wide critical acclaim.
BALLET BLACK -‘Ballet Black is phenomenal’ (The Independent). The Company was founded in 2001 by Cassa Pancho. Her dream was for a company where students of Black and Asian descent could train in classical ballet and eventually restore the ethnic balance within ballet companies - realised both in this company of young professional dancers and through the Ballet Black School for young children in Shepherd’s Bush. Ballet Black have performed to national critical acclaim and if previous performances are anything to go by, this will be one of the many highlights of Village Green this year.
KAYZAR DANCE - Southend dance act Kayzar played at our first Village Green back in 2008. Since then they have enjoyed remarkable success performing at Saddler’s Wells; TV's in ‘Britain’s Got Personality’ and ‘Got to Dance’ as winning Brentwood Got Talent competition. They have also competed in the IDO World Hip-hop championships. Their performances have that ‘wow’ factor with explosive dance routines that include some quite breath-taking breakin.
JUNGNU BHANGRA - the UK's most established bhangra performers. Over four generations, the group has astonished audiences across the world with their spectacular and exciting performances.
JAZZ CO TECH - a UK dance group specialising in Old Skool Jazz Dance that have performed all over the world from St Lucia to Furano, Pheonix to Glastonbury and have supported artists such as James Brown, Maceo Parker and Jamiroquai. This act is full of funk, soul and jazz. They will be performing in their own right on the Green Stage, as well as jumping up with Snowboy and the Latin Section on the Village Green Stage.
BEN ESHMADE - Founder of the innovative internet radio station, Arctic Circle, Ben is a regular at the Union Chapel and other such venues from Dublin to Southend. Ben brings ambient folk to Village Green.
GLOBAL VILLAGE
The One World One Essex exhibition put together by Essex County Council is on show within the Global Village circus tent - a touring exhibition celebrating the richness of the different cultures of the families that live in Essex and just how we all came to be here. Throughout the day the Global Village Venue will also play host to a number of performances and workshops, including La Roma, Jugnu Bhangra, Ayigafrik Dance and more.
IMAGES FROM VILLAGE GREEN 2009
