I caught up with Alex from Paint Jam to find out more.

Why did you set Paint Jam up? 

We want to give people who might not be ‘artists’ or work in a creative field the opportunity to discover their creativity in a relaxed, party-like atmosphere. We believe that everyone can be an artist, but many people are almost scared of being creative and we want to change that.

How successful has it been?

It’s lovely to see the transformation in people, sometimes they can be a bit shy at the beginning of the workshop but usually after a few minutes they become more and more confident and walk out with an amazing painting. To see someone who usually doesn’t paint become more confident and relaxed, and maybe helping them to discover a new hobby, is incredibly rewarding.

Why is it good for people who aren’t ordinarily creative? 

We believe that art is for everyone, not just trained artists. There are so many health benefits of being creative, but often people lack the confidence. We want to give everyone the opportunity to be creative in a relaxed, fun environment.

Ana knows that she can’t single-handedly combat the sexism and discrimination in the music industry, but does believe that she can do her bit to bring the work of some amazing musicians and singer-songwriters to a new audience.

I asked her a bit more about the project.

How long have you been photographing musicians and gigs?

I’m an indie music journalist and early-career artist and I’ve been attending gigs and festivals as a multimedia reporter for several years. Highlights include seeing Kate Nash, Florence + The Machine, and Amanda Palmer. But I also enjoy giving a bit of press coverage to smaller acts, which is one of the reasons I make a zine.

What’s the fascination with female musicians?

For the last several years I’ve made a conscious effort to buy music by women, whether that’s mainstream artists or buying EPs at local gigs. I know I can’t single-handedly combat the sexism and discrimination in the music industry, but I can do my bit.

Also I just really appreciate the female perspective – like the female gaze in art – I’m interested in what women think and feel. I don’t want to lump us all together, but I think there’s still a level of difference in the experience of being a woman that comes through in the music that’s made – especially when it deals with explicitly feminist or lesbian themes.

Why did you decide to create Girls To The Front – an exhibition of women in music? Was it a deliberate decision or did it evolve organically?

I decided to have the exhibition when I started screenprinting from photos I’d been taking at gigs and realised that some of them were alright! Also I wanted to be able to publicise some of the more indie bands featured like Houdini Said No, The Farting Suffragettes, and Fistymuffs.

What unique situations are there for women in music?

I think we’re responsible for making a scene, from picking up a bass guitar to being interested in an event on social media, it all helps. We just need to spread the word about acts we like (and be vigilant for the creeps trying to keep women down.)

Moving Pieces‘ work is about finding the stories that reside in the body, and allowing them the space to breathe and be with freedom. Founder and director Charlie Blowers has a background in physical theatre and arts and somatic psychotherapy, and through her work explores the relationship between wellbeing and theatre. The goal of Charlie and co-director Jose is to support wellbeing and mental health as well as create theatre with a compelling narrative.

Their approach uses body based approaches emerging from neuroscience, many of which stabilise the nervous system and support self regulation. Through mask work, mindfulness, Feldenkrais method, storytelling and improvisation, participants are invited to bring their awareness to their experience, notice the subtle shifts in the body as it responds to its surroundings, and bring forth the stories that are held in the body. As Charlie explains, ‘sometimes our thoughts hold our body prisoner.’ Moving Pieces aim to liberate the body and the stories within. It’s an opportunity to process many of the feelings that often go unnoticed; or are pushed away so as not to notice them.

Through mask work I’m struck how much time we spend pretending to be someone else. Improvisation makes me reflect on the structures and ideas that stop us truly presenting ourselves to the world. Slow flowing movement is a welcome reprieve from the fast paced and frenetic pace of life.

Open to artists, mental health professionals, anyone with mental health challenges or those who simply want to explore personal story in a creative way, Moving Pieces offers a distinctive approach to exploring the body, building resilience and devising theatre.

Our protagonist, Tess Miller finds her editing career floundering when she’s given a new assignment working with an old and obscure poet Edward Russell. His story of Rebecca Swift, an artist of yesteryear, is compelling, but there’s something else that captures Tess. Could the searing and tragic romance of which he writes be true wonders Tess? In a bid to garner publicity she goes on a quest to explore the true story, and ends up both rekindling an old romance and finding a new one herself.

The past and present are carefully intertwined, and both described with acute detail. It’s elegantly written and the themes of art, authenticity, generational conflict and love are delicately explored, but at the same time a captivating plot keeps the compulsive pace. Poignant moments are frequent, but never overused or overwrought, and there’s plenty of dramatic twists to hook you in further.

Secret Shores is Carey’s third novel, The House by the Lake, From a Paris Balcony and Paris Time Capsule all being bestsellers. It’s out now on Lake Union Publishing.

Make a noise, that’s what. The newest exhibition at London’s Imperial War Museum – People Power: Fighting for Peace – explores just how citizens have been doing that over the last century. From pacifists refusing conscription in World War I, to the protests against military intervention in Iraq, individuals have always come together to collectively make their voices heard.

Postcards, letters and images sensitively portray the personal aspect of global issues, and reflections on the dilemmas individuals face when choosing their side are a reminder of how morally complex so many of these issues are. Describing himself as a ‘practical pacifist’ author A.A.Milne wrote in a letter displayed here that to fight would seem to support war, and to not would feel like allowing concentration camps and Nazism.

For a long time protest was the only way that women in particular could try to have their voices heard. Those marching earlier this year follow a long line, from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom to the women of Greenham Common in 1981. The famous Greenham Common protests are represented by carefully hand crafted banners, and the creativity and role of art in anti-war protests runs throughout the corridors and displays that step through the decades.

Early sketches of the anti nuclear war symbol, now synonymous with peace movements, are a reminder of how these things start out. Grassroots to global. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), launched in 1958, asked artist Gerald Holtom to design an image to be brandished on banners and placards at the march outside nuclear weapons research facility in Aldermaston, Berkshire. The now ubiquitous symbol was partly derived from the letters N and D in the semaphore alphabet, representing nuclear disarmament.

The brutality represented in Paul Nash’s depictions of the trenches is one that disappeared with the advent of the Cold War and technological advances, making warfare seem all the more remote. Blood splats on David Gentleman’s posters for the Stop the War Coalition may be intended to be explicit, but feel less emotive today when war is something fewer of us have direct contact with.

Peter Kennard and Cat Phillip’s iconic 2007 photomontage Photo Op which depicts Tony Blair taking a selfie against the backdrop of a devastating explosion, feels as much a slur in this context on society as it does on Blair. It’s all too easy to click a petition or share a link, without really making an effort. It’s easily understood. Despite all of these years of protest, the many banners waving, every individual who has been scorned as a coward, every person who has stood up and shouted, we’re still at war. Ernest Rodker, a young activist who marched at Aldermaston and later in February 2003 as one of the 2 million strong crowds against the war in Iraq, echoes that sense of disillusionment in an interview for the show.  ‘Many people thought ‘What’s the point?’ The biggest march that had ever been and no impact, just ignored by Blair.’

But that’s no reason to stop trying. These people didn’t. If there’s one message to take away, it’s that we can’t give up. Use your voice, your legs, your hands and your heart. Make a noise and cause a scene – they can’t ignore us forever.

Running at Imperial War Museum London until 28th August 2017.

£25 per person, or two for £35 – price includes a glass of wine/tea and coffee and nibbles. Get in touch with Kate to book.

Join us at this creative writing workshop for adults; a space in which to explore storytelling, learn new techniques, stimulate ideas, channel your creativity – and put some words on paper. Open to all levels and experience, the session will include exercises, prompts, activities and discussion to help get your imagination and pens flowing.

Released on 20th January 2017, all proceeds from the sale of the single via Bandcamp will go to the grass roots charity group Phone Credit for Refugees and Displaced People. They work to help keep a vital mobile phone lifeline open for refugees desperate to connect with families and to access important services and information.

As Ros and Vas explain ‘We hope our song helps make a difference by raising much needed funds. We chose Phone Credit for Refugees after meeting our Labour MP Stella Creasy at Walthamstow feminist bootcamp and she put us in touch with people who knew this fantastic volunteer group. You can see where your money is going and you are directly helping people to access important services and information and to stay connected to their families.’

The duo wholeheartedly belief in the value of music and the arts for making change. ‘We come from Greek and Scottish/Irish backgrounds and our music stands against the growing tide of suspicion and intolerance. We decided in 2013 that we had to use any skills or talent we had as musicians, as songwriters, as a band to question and challenge, to show what we stood for. Otherwise your music ultimately says everything is fine and acceptable. We also think we can help change our culture by being creative and making our own culture rather than just passively consuming it. This leads to a real communication between artists and people in different countries.’

They’ve previously contributed to the #moreincommon album in aid of Hope Not Hate, and found ‘a growing sense of horror ‘ through the experience of seeing our world fall apart in some ways, but know that ‘we have to wake up and act now to ensure our silence is not taken as acquiescence.’

But we have to finish our chat. They have to rush off and pick up their makeshift drums ready to bang outside Downing Street in protest against the UK government’s apparent complicity with Trump’s immigration policy and terrifying populist extremism. No silence here. ‘There is a time for songs and a time to take to the streets.’

We can make a noise too, helping the most vulnerable speak simple words of reassurance to loved ones, by buying Time to Mourn/From Fear to Fury here and see them live on March 18^th at the LOUD WOMEN Volume 1: Album Launch Party, with all profits going to Women’s Aid.

First published on Joyzine

Folkestone’s creative hub will be marking the event with a whole host of events that demonstrate harmony, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action – through the creative angle. This year’s theme is ‘#BeBoldForChange’ and the Quarterhouse programme embraces this. February and March are packed with films, talks, workshops and events that inspire and demonstrate the power and potential of women.

On February 11^th Hollie McNish, poet, writer and performer spoke about and read from her latest book, Nobody Told Me, stories and poetry about motherhood. She is completely convinced that we still need feminism, and sees creativity as playing a bit part in this. ‘I think creativity really is one of the best parts of humanity…and often brings out the structural and political issues I think and makes them easy to engage with in so many different ways. Hearing midwives say they’ve snuck my poems into hospital wards is probably the current highlight!’

Motherhood clearly changes things for women, and through their sessions the Motherhood & Identity Project are seeking personal testimonies and autobiographical exploration of what this might look and feel like through physical, social, or political aspects through workshops and an exhibition at The Brewery. It seems that even in an age where choice is apparently celebrated, that choice only counts when it is career orientated.

As Catherine from the project says ‘There is a certain boldness in claiming public space for women with babies on their hips and noisy messy small children to be welcomed in and to have their ideas heard. So much potential is lost when we treat women in this stage of life as only caregivers, or only value their contributions when they leave their family elsewhere.’

Ethnicity and nationality are also in the spotlight. In The Diary of a Hounslow Girl on Mar 29^th, by Ambreen Razia with Black Theatre Live shows the experiences and challenges of growing up amongst the city temptations as a 16 year old Muslim girl. Comedian Bridget Christie’s acclaimed show Because You Asked For It (Mar 31^st) challenges us to think about what leaving the EU means – all through humour and a bold female voice.

It’s not just gender that plays a role – age, ethnicity and social class all impact and diversify the lives of women. Boss(y) Girls is for and by young women aged 13 to 25 who are passionate about empowerment and speaking out. Their workshops offer the opportunity to talk, design, create, meet like-minded people and have fun. Inspired by Beyoncé’s words, ‘I’m not Bossy, I’m the Boss’ boldness infiltrates every part of the project. As founder Emma says ‘this project is all about teaching young women to be bold, and that you don’t just have to accept things the way they are – you can change them.’ ‘Guerilla girl action’ is on the agenda, where the team will be sharing the outputs from their collaborative sessions.

At the other end of the age spectrum, but not necessarily issues, Older Women Rock! is an innovative project run and devised by Leah Thorne, whose work explores identity and liberation. They’ll be combining visual arts, poetry and vintage clothing to raise awareness and explore issues that face women in their mid-50s to early 70s. As well as a pop-up shop and exhibition at the Space Gallery, a panel discussion on Mar 11^th, a debate with the founders of the iconic magazine Spare Rib, the Women Over 50 Film Festival (Mar 1^st), screenings of Carrie Greenham’s Home (Feb 22^nd) and Stories from the She-Punks (Mar 8^th) they host the brilliant Profanity Embroidery Group on Mar 5^th for an embroidery session to stich not frills and flowers, but controversial but necessary phrases on and in their clothes.

Subverting stereotypes through a ‘feminine’ activity sounds like a brilliant twist, and Professor Julia Twigg, Professor of Social Policy and Sociology at the University of Kent and a huge advocate of the work says that such activities are ‘vital’ to women. ‘I certainly want to endorse the responses of women to dress that are bold, whether through the wildness of their dress, or through their refusal to be bothered by it. I think we need each other to be bold.’

Entrenched attitudes are not easy to shift.  But creativity can help us think about and challenge these patterns, and give everyone the confidence to do so as part of such a collective event. From boldness great change can come. It certainly will be coming out of Folkestone this spring.

The creators of FloVibe – Jason Pooley (The House of Yoga) and collaborator Lou Wellby of Jam Sandwich Live – have brought together all the things they love in one place, for a weekend of what they term ‘soul-nourishment.’

Starting from their five values of community, empowerment, connection, play and celebration, they’ve manifested them in a sparkling event that will take place on 2-4th June 2017 at the idyllic Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire.

There’s yoga masterclasses, dance and movement workshops, inspiring talks, storytelling, live music spanning folk, jazz, roots & reggae (including Cristobal & The Sea), incredible DJs, nutritious, delicious wholesome food and treatments in the woods. Rather than exhausting you, this is a weekend of revelry that aims to inspire and restore.

Tickets start at only £75 for the day, and are available here, with weekend and camping options available.