Derby Theatre is back with Derby Rises

Derby Theatre and partners in Derby CAN (Creative Arts Network) are back with a programme of newly commissioned artistic work, community-based workshops culminating in evening of celebration at the theatre on Sunday 27 September.

Derby Rises is a citywide version of The Bakery of Slow Ideas, which is a community art practice created by Leo Kay from London-based Unfinished Business. The roots of The Bakery of Slow Ideas is a desire to nurture healing communication, allow communities space to have a meaningful dialogue and allow ideas to arise from this interaction. 

Leo and Project Collaborator Anna Smith make interactive and intimate performance, working with both artists and non-artists in the UK and throughout Europe.

Since early July, Leo, Anna, Derby CAN Partners, and the commissioned artists have collaborated with various community groups, the LGBTQ+ community, the New Arrivals, Asylum Seekers and Refugee community and a newly formed group who identify as Working Class.   

The workshops have explored each community group’s response to the pandemic, their personal manifestos for the future, and their hopes for their city. The commissioned artists are attending each workshop to develop and create a short performance in response to each community’s contributions.  

The project finishes with a socially distanced cabaret-style performance and celebration at Derby Theatre, which will also be livestreamed.  

The artists who will perform on the evening, and those involved at the workshop stage, are: Jamie Thrasivoulou who is an award-winning writer, poet, lyricist, and educator from Derby,  artist Amy Pennington who makes work using humour to connect human experiences and socio-political issues, Symoné a hula hoop artiste, dancer, roller-skater and Vaudeville Dynamo and UK rapper Mr Supreme based in the East Midlands). 

Each artist will perform their short response piece and a performance poet will perform a new poem inspired by the words displayed and contributed via the Graffiti Wall. Sinfonia VIVA, a British, award-winning orchestra from Derby, will play a short set from a string quartet at the event and Derby Jazz, a long-established organisation who support and develop Jazz in the city, will also perform. 

To complement this artistic activity from Monday 21 until Saturday 26 September a graffiti wall will be erected on Cathedral Green in the city offering a creative space that will be accessible to the public to add their thoughts and dreams for their respective communities post-lockdown. 

Baby People, a music and arts development organisation based in the city, are the UK’s first dedicated Hip Hop school which uses art and culture to engage and support the needs of the most deprived in our communities. They will be working with various groups to decorate the wall throughout the wee, to enhance contributions from the public. As part of this, local graffiti artists will run drop-in workshops for the public as part of the Derby Festé art trail. https://www.derbytheatre.co.uk/