News from producers around Derbyshire

Organised by Chaddesden Partnership Group in association with Derby LIVE, The BIG 1 at Chaddesden Park returns on Sunday 4 June, with all the family favourites that guarantee a great day out for everyone.

The park will be filled with stalls selling books, sweets, crafts and jewellery and those handing out information about a number of different groups and charities, including Derbyshire Fire Service and Police. 

VENUE: Buxton Opera House                          
DATE: 31-Mar-17                      
TIME: 7:30pm                           
ADDRESS: Water Street, Buxton, SK17 6XN,              
Box Office: 01298 72190                     
WEBSITE: www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk      

With still five weeks to go before the final deadline for entries, the Fringe already has over 80 fantastic acts signed up and there is still time to take advantage of an early entry discount, which is available until the end of March.

New Mills Festival is delighted to invite submissions from artists to take part in a two-week long Art Trail. The Trail forms part of New Mills Festival which takes place across the town from the 8th to the 24th September 2017. Submissions open on 12th March 2017 and close on midnight 7th May 2017.

The Green Man Gallery presents the internationally-acclaimed American folk duo Hungrytown, who are currently on their 2017 Further West Tour of the UK. How is the UK west of the US? Their tour started in January in Florida, went through the American south to California, continued onto New Zealand and will be here through April before returning to the US, heading west the whole time.

Watch out! The cabbage-crunching, criminal master-mind, Gangsta Granny is coming to Buxton Opera House

Birmingham Stage Company, the acclaimed producers of Horrible Histories, George’s  Marvellous Medicine and Tom’s Midnight Garden, are bringing their world premiere of David Walliams’ Gangsta Granny to Buxton Opera House from Wednesday 12 to Sunday 16 April.

Doors open at 7.30pm to refreshments, when Ravenoak Recorders will be playing as guests arrive.  

The Earth Hour performance begins with the beautiful voice of Folk singer Sue MacFarlane. She is followed by Future Music's grand finalist Lucy Milford, a local singer/songwriter. The evening concludes with Belper contemporary composer James Oldrini, with his string quartet, plus special guest. The chapel seats only around 100 people, so early arrival is advised as the event is not ticketed.

The Mill's NEW EDUCATION OFFER HAS NOW BEEN LAUNCHED and is available for schools, children's clubs and youth groups (www.belpernorthmill.org/education.html). We've recently welcomed both Ecclesbourne Secondary School and Ambergate Primary School, as well as had evening visits from local Beavers and Rainbows groups over the last few months. 

For the past five months Nesta has been running a pilot programme to see if matched crowdfunding - that is funding bodies combining grant funding with multiple financial contributions from the crowd - can stimulate exciting and dynamic new projects in the arts and heritage sectors. 

In the second phase of the programme Nesta will be testing a larger funding contribution from both ACE and HLF for projects, to examine what impact this has on the demand for programmes and their ability to raise funds from the crowd. 

The Women’s Community Forum is organizing a series of 5 events bringing together Black and Minority Ethnic and Refugee artists from across the UK in March/April 2017.

We are also in the process of collating a catalogue of BLACK* artists for inclusion in the re-designed The Women’s Community Forum website available end of March 2017.

The networking event will allow us to get to know each other, share ideas, identify and express our needs.