Theatr Clwyd To Take Part In Nationwide Art Project To Celebrate The Centenary Of The Women's Vote

Theatr Clwyd announces their support for PROCESSIONS, a mass participation artwork to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, which gave the first British women the right to vote.

PROCESSIONS is produced by Artichoke, the UK's largest producer of art in the public realm, as part of 14-18 NOW, the UK's official arts programme for the First World War centenary.

PROCESSIONS will invite women* and girls across the UK to come together on the streets of Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London on Sunday 10 June 2018 to mark this historic moment in a living, moving portrait of women in the 21st century.

Theatr Clwyd is one of 100 organisations working with women artists up and down the country in the lead-up to the event, as part of an extensive public programme of creative workshops to create 100 centenary banners which will form part of this vast artwork.

The banner-making workshops will focus on text and textiles, echoing the practices of the women's suffrage campaign and will be spaces to consider the power of the vote today and our shared future. The banners made will represent and celebrate the diverse voices of women and girls from different backgrounds.

Renowned North Wales artist Ticky Lowe, who recently created the 'Garden of Light' 10ft giant daffodil instillation for Marie Curie at Carnarfon Castle, will be leading the workshops at Theatr Clwyd.

Ticky Lowe is a maker and workshop practitioner, she works with textiles to make interactive artwork.

The workshops are free but booking is essential via the box office 01352 701521 or the website theatrclwyd.com

Ticky Lowe, Artist said, "I'm really excited to be working on a banner for "Processions" and I am looking forward to working together with women of all ages and abilities and from different cultures using "stitch" to celebrate women and their achievements 100 years since we first won the right to vote.

As this banner is being made with Theatr Clwyd we are intending to focus on influential women in the theatre and in the wider Arts world - actresses, writers, poets, painters, musicians, singers in Wales and make our banner as theatrical as possible. ... there will be sequins and feathers"

Gwennan Mair, Director of Creative Engagement at Theatr Clwyd said, "I am extremely exited to be working on this project because It's a chance to engage on a personal level with our community. It's a very important year to be remembering and to do this through the arts means we bring conversations, feelings and history alive."

Helen Marriage, CEO Artichoke said, "The 100th anniversary of the passing of legislation which made universal suffrage unstoppable is a moment both for celebration and reflection. Individuals and groups up and down the country, including Theatr Clwyd, will be at the heart of this UK-wide artwork. What they make and bring to their chosen procession on Sunday 10th of June will form part of a unique living portrait of women today."

PROCESSIONS is commissioned by 14-18 NOW and produced by Artichoke. With support from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

PROCESSIONS Cardiff is produced by Artichoke in partnership with Festival of Voice and Wales Millennium Centre.

Producers of extraordinary live events, Artichoke is one of the country's leading creative companies and is a registered charity, funded by Arts Council England. At Artichoke, they use art to undermine the mundane and disrupt the everyday, and create a new kind of world that we'd all like to live in.

Their previous projects include Royal de Luxe's The Sultan's Elephant, which brought an estimated one million people onto the streets of London in 2006; La Machine's 50-foot high mechanical spider for Liverpool's Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008; Antony Gormley's One & Other 100-day-long invasion of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London in 2009; and Deborah Warner's commission for the London 2012 Festival with Fiona Shaw, Peace Camp, a nationwide celebration of landscape and poetry, which took place across eight separate sites around the UK; Temple by David Best in Derry~Londonderry, attended by more than 75,000 people; and London's Burning, a festival to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London in September 2016. Artichoke creates and produces Lumiere, the UK's largest light festival, which has been staged in Durham every two years since 2009; in Derry~Londonderry in Northern Ireland as part of the celebrations for City of Culture 2013, and in London for the first time in January 2016. www.artichoke.uk.com

14-18 NOW is a programme of extraordinary arts experiences connecting people with the First World War, as part of the UK's official centenary commemorations. It commissions new work by leading contemporary artists from all art forms. The commemorative period is marked by three key seasons - Anniversary of the Declaration of War in 2014, the anniversary of the Battle of Jutland and the Battle of the Somme in 2016, and the centenary of Armistice Day in 2018. 14-18 NOW is responsible for the UK tour of the iconic poppy sculptures by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper, and 'We're here because we're here' by Jeremy Deller in collaboration with Rufus Norris.

14 -18 NOW is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and by additional fundraising. 14-18 NOW has commissioned over 140 artworks to date that have been seen by more than 30 million people.

Theatr Clwyd is one of the foremost producing theatres in Wales - a beacon of excellence looking across the Clwydian Hills yet only forty minutes from Liverpool.

Since 1976 they have been a theatrical powerhouse and much-loved home for the community. Now, led by the Executive team of Tamara Harvey and Liam Evans-Ford, they are going from strength to strength producing world-class theatre, from new plays to classic revivals.

They house three theatre spaces, a cinema, café, bar and art galleries and, alongside their own shows, offer a rich and varied programme of visual arts, film, theatre, music, dance and comedy. They work extensively with the local community, schools and colleges and create award-winning work for, with and by young people. In the past two years they have co-produced with the Sherman Theatre, Hijinx, Gagglebabble and The Other Room in Cardiff, Paines Plough, Vicky Graham Productions, HighTide, Hampstead Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, The Rose Theatre, Kingston, Headlong, Sheffield Theatres and the Orange Tree Theatre, amongst others.

In 2016/17 over 420,000 people saw a Theatr Clwyd production, in the building and across the UK.

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