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Summer fun with a new free smartphone app created especially for MK – Discovering MK

Discovering MK is a new smartphone app launching on 31st July 2017. Celebrating MK’s 50th birthday year, the app encourages residents and visitors to get out and explore Milton Keynes, discovering the places and spaces that make this city unique.

Inspired by the Pokémon Go craze, the Discovering MK app reveals an interactive trail of 50 hidden gems around the city.  At each location along the trail, you can unlock information about the landmark, challenge yourself, your family and friends to a fun mini quiz and upload a ‘selfie’ to show you are there.  With a range of competitions and prize draws through the year, we hope you join in and share your selfies on social media.

Developed by Arts & Heritage Alliance MK (AHA-MK) and MK21, the free app, available via Google Play and Apple Store, commemorates Milton Keynes 50th Anniversary and celebrates this unique and diverse city.

We have been able to produce this app for free due to the support of various funders.  This includes a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Sharing Heritage grant, awarded to AHA-MK.  This exciting project, Discovering MK, created especially for Milton Keynes has been given £9,000 to develop this app with a cohort of volunteers, to showcase the heritage and landmarks of the city.  AHA-MK thanks National Lottery players, who make HLF grants possible.  Milton Keynes Community Foundation, MK Council and Santander Cycles have also supported the project generously.

Francesca Skelton, Chair of AHA-MK said:

We are delighted to launch this exciting new app inviting residents, families and visitors to share our Discovering MK adventure this summer.  The app features both known, and more hidden, modern and historical landmarks that tell the story of contemporary Milton Keynes and its heritage. We hope you all have fun!

Perfect for family days out and summer fun, the app can be completed on a leisurely stroll or a fast pace cycle ride using MK’s extensive network of redways and the Santander Cycles MK scheme.

You may not realise it, but there are so many unexpected surprises in Milton Keynes. To uncover them all, the trail is split into five areas, exploring Milton Keynes’ modern and heritage buildings, rich history, iconic public art and blooming woodlands and parks.

The challenge has been set – can you unlock all 50 landmarks around the city?

You can share your journey on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #DiscoveringMK.

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Audience Development Consultant Brief

The Arts & Heritage Alliance Milton Keynes (AHA-MK) is looking for a consultant(s) that can work with a collective of arts and heritage organisations to inform and support development of strategies that diversify, broaden and/or deepen their audiences.

AHA-MK is a strategic forum of arts and heritage organisations in Milton Keynes.  We are a membership organisation that aims to represent, develop and promote the arts and heritage sectors of Milton Keynes.  A key area of our work is audience development.

A group of organisations from our membership have come together to form a collective interested in practical audience development activity.  The collective have attempted some work using surveys and the Audience Finder approach, but are in need of greater support to develop their knowledge and understanding and to make a meaningful difference to their audience development practice.

AHA-MK is looking for a consultant(s) who can work with six cultural organisations to develop audience research techniques, create bespoke solutions to meet challenges and opportunities, and support organisations through implementation and evaluation.  This contract requires a hands-on approach embedding best practice and developing understanding of audience development theory through mentoring and practical experience.

The deadline for applications is: 18th December 2015.

For more information and details of how to apply please download the full brief: MK Audiences Consultant brief final.

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Help awaken the sleeping Dragon by volunteering at Festive Road’s Mid-Winter Fire Festival

“The Darkest of Nights is upon us. And the Dark Knight has sapped the last spark of the old year deep into his soul. All we see around has outgrown its use. The Dark Knight must now die and relinquish the power he holds so that the young, unburdened year can be born.

Listen carefully, the dragon is stirring! But first we need to face this Dark Knight and conquer our fears! When we are able to look into the eyes of the Dark Knight, then we can awaken the sleeping Dragon who will be reborn and bring the brightest light of a New Year.”

Join Fesive Road for an exciting evening of fire, music and solstice celebration on 20th December, from 7pm at Campbell Park.

Paraffinalia leaflet

 

Festive Road are looking for volunteers to help with Paraffinalia:

  • Do you fancy helping to make fire sculptures in the workshop next week?
  • Or maybe you can help us set up the event at Campbell Park on 19th Dec?
  • On the night of 20th Dec we’ll need lots of help with stewarding, car parking, rigging and feeding braziers to keep folks warm.
  • We will also need litter pickers after the event!

If you think you can help we’d be very grateful for any extra hands and feet…email jessica@festiveroad.org.uk to get involved.

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Calling all musicians to be part of Paraffinalia @Festive_Road

paraffinalia

Festive Road is looking for brass, wind and percussion players who would like to take part in Paraffinalia, a fire festival in Campbell Park on 20th December 2014.  We invite you to accompany us on the darkest of days…

Over November and December we are offering music workshop sessions which will culminate in a processional piece and a musical performance to accompany the fire sculptures and performances which we have planned. This is an amazing opportunity to work with Musical Director Tim Hill, of the infamous Tongues of Fire. Have a look at his website: http://www.tongues-of-fire.co.uk/

The musical rehearsal sessions are as follows:

Wed 26th November, 7-9pm at Bath House, Wolverton

Wed 3rd December, 7-9pm at Bath House, Wolverton

Sat 13th December, 11am -4pm at Parks Trust, Cricket Pavilion, Campbell Park

Sat 20th December, morning rehearsal tbc and performance 7-9pm

It’s not essential that you attend all the sessions as long as you can attend at least two and the event itself of course!

Please contact Jessica or Jitty at Festive Road if you are interested in taking part:

jitty@festiveroad.org.uk
jessica@festiveroad.org.uk

If you want to know more about the event itself, please do have a look at our website: www.festiveroad.org.uk

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Fringe Comedy shows for as little as £4 #lovemk

MK Festival Fringe 2013

MK Fringe has partnered up with Comedy Cow this year to create an awe-inspiring, side-splitting, howl inducing Fringe Comedy programme. You can catch one of over 50 Comedy acts during the Fringe Festival at venues across MK including: The Crown in Stony, The Chrysalis Theatre, MK Gallery Event Space and the Red Dot Bar at MK Stadium.

Stand up acts include; the hilarious Lee Nelson, the old favourite Patrick Monahan, the Brendan Burns Show, Late Night Gimp Fight, The Beta Males and the impressive Brett Goldstein. But we are doubly excited to be welcoming our favourite home grown comedy pals McNeil and Pamphilon with their wonderful new show Secret Holding Pattern.

Many of the acts we’re presenting are home grown and most are on their way up to Edinburgh with new material that they are keen to test out on audiences at MK Fringe first!

If it’s a full comedy show you want though, on Friday 18th we’re presenting the very special Simon Jay with his new show, Is He a Bit Simon Jay? and also Augustus Stephens’s new show, This Way Madness Lies, on Wednesday 23rd. Both are at The Chrysalis Theatre and tickets are only £4!!

As if that wasn’t enough the Comedy Cow are hosting the Crown’s Big Weekender, a two day Comedy  extravaganza on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July which includes some fantastic children’s comedy as well as featured acts like: Vikki Stone, Tom Binns, Omar Hamdi and Paul Savage.

So what are you waiting for? For more information and to book tickets have a look at MK Fringe website: www.mkfestivalfringe.com or www.comedycow.co.uk

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Dance Festival for Milton Keynes 28th & 29th June #MadeinMK

Motus Dance FestivalMÓTUS; -a dynamic Festival of Dance taking place 28-29 June in Milton Keynes!

28th June is outside the MK Gallery in Margaret Powell’s Square. We have companies which include Motionhouse, Ffin Dance Company, Theo Clinkard, Anjali and a specially commissioned wall running piece at the gallery by Vanessa Cook who was one of the aerialists for the Olympic and Paralympic Opening Ceremonies and who has performed with Motionhouse and Lyndsey Butcher.

All of the performances on Saturday are free; there is a dance on camera workshop with only fifteen places available at the gallery on Saturday which is £20 each.

On Sunday the events are ticketed and include workshops in Ballet, Contemporary, Street, Salsa, Integrated Dance and Indian dance.

There is a matinee show with Ffin Dance Company and Anjali followed by a work in progress panel and show.

Lastly at 6:30pm and 8:30pm we are proud to present acclaimed choreographer and performer Theo Clinkard and his company with his new work ‘Of Land And Tongue’ which is being performed in the round.

The festival is being supported by Arts Council England, Arts Gateway MK, MK Community Foundation, MK Council, MK Festival Fringe and The Venue MK and forms part of the Made in MK summer listing.

http://motusdancefestival.wix.com/motusdancefestival

 

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Highlights from Chairs Note March 2014

Arts Council Grant awarded

It was great to be able to announce at this week’s Forum that AHA has been awarded just under £30,000 by the Arts Council for our “MK Audiences” project. This is part of the Arts Council’s “Audience Finder” initiative launched over a year ago, which Adrienne Pye of the Audience Agency told us about at an AHA meeting in November 2012, with a view to creating an “MK cluster” within this national initiative.

New AHA website

Thanks to all of you who commented on the pilot version of the new AHA website recently circulated. The response was generally very positive, thanks to the enormous amount of work that has been put in. Suggestions have been taken on board wherever possible, and the new website will hopefully go live next week. The address is unchanged: http://www.aha-mk.org.

Discussions with thecentre:MK

Thanks to all those who sent in ideas of eventsexhibitions/activities AHA members might wish to mount in thecentre:MK. We took the whole list for discussion with the centre last week. They seemed impressed with many of the ideas and very positive about offering opportunities in the centre, and are due to get back to us next week.

Registering AHA as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Following the preparation of a draft for the Charities Commission, and discussion of this at our January AHA meeting, we have now made the formal submission to the CC. The process thereafter may take as little as a month, but it might be significantly longer.

Guardian profile for MK

In case it hasn’t reached you by other routes, Monica Ferguson did an interview with The Guardian earlier this week: see http://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/2014/mar/04/monica-ferguson-stables-milton-keynes-festival.

Midsummer Boulevard workshop

Many thanks to our Vice-Chair, who participated, on AHA’s behalf, in a 3-day workshop at the beginning of February, the aim of which was to produce a blueprint for developing the eastern end of Midsummer Boulevard. No doubt there’ll be a report on the outcomes in due course: we’ll keep you posted.

Lobbying MK Council on their 2014/15 budget

Thanks to those AHA members who commented in response to my request for responses to MKC’s budget proposals, and especially to those who took the trouble to write to the Council.

Member News/Opportunities

Voluntary work wanted: Raihana Sohrabi is looking for voluntary work as a junior accountant to gain experience. Currently studying AAT level 3. E-mail raihana.ahmad03@gmail.com.

First artist call-out for 2014 Festival Fringe: Information is attached. Please feel free to share this with friends, contacts, networks, etc. Contact Anita Allen anita@mkfestivalfringe.com or on 07952 237421 for an application form. http://mkfestivalfringe.com/callouts/