As the bright and varied colours of summer begin to fade into the dark, rich shades of oranges, reds and browns of autumn, there's still plenty of inspiration and creativity in the air!
In this newsletter you can find plenty of creative activities to get involved with.
Promoting Your Small Creative Business - A West Studios Networking Event
This networking event is designed to help you understand the best ways to get media coverage for your small creative business.
Thursday, 4 November, 18:00 – 21:00.
To find out more information about the event, or to book your place, click here.
Exhibitions at West Studios
West Studios Exhibition
Our upcoming West Studios exhibition is a collaboration between the creative businesses, artists & staff members at West Studios.
Each contributor has been tasked to create a piece of art, no bigger than A5, within the theme of ‘West Studios’. The exhibition is open until Friday 22nd October.
SPIKES MACABRE FREEK SHOW
This mixed media exhibition is a visual representation of what comes into the artists mind.
Mental health is also a strong theme in this exhibition.
Dance Classes based at West Studios
Jazz Technique
Our ever popular Jazz Technique aims to further dancers training, focusing on dancing for fun, fitness and self improvement.
It is aimed at people with previous dance experience- whether you've danced throughout your childhood and are wanting to reintroduce yourself back to the dance world or whether you are a dancer working professionally in the industry wanting to maintain technique- we will accommodate to your needs.
It is ideal for dancers just wanting to dance without the added extra costs of shows and examinations.
Mondays and Wednesdays - 7:20pm – 8:20pm
Sass & Heels
Sass & Heels embraces nothing but female empowerment and girl power!
A brand new routine is learnt each week aiming to increase confidence of walking and dancing in heels whilst bringing out your inner sass to a playlist of all your favourite diva hits!
Grab your girls, bring your heels and get ready to strut your stuff in the class with the ultimate girl gang vibes! Guaranteed to kick those midweek blues and leave you feeling good and oozing with confidence!
Wednesdays - 8:30pm – 9:20pm
Please Note - 'Jazz Technique' and 'Sass & Heels' are run by an external company and West Studios is only the venue for the classes.
Winter Workshop: Making Christmas Cards
Sketch out your design on a piece of lino and when you're happy with the design you can begin to carve out the design and get it ready for the printing stage. Once the design is fully carved you'll be able to print this onto your very own range of Christmas cards! You will also get to keep you lino carving to enable to make more cards & prints at home.
Click here for more information about this workshop.
Become a virtual tenant at West Studios
At just £20 a month, the virtual tenancy offers a professional business address and postal service to allow a small business to separate home and work, at the same time as growing their business without the cost of a physical office space.
In addition to the business address, the virtual tenancy packaged includes:
Inclusion on the tenants section of our website
Share your news via our social media & newsletter
Invited to all West Studios events & exhibitions (some of which are tenant exclusive)
20% discount on all West Studios Room Hire
Get in touch via our contact page to discuss signing up as a virtual tenant.
Run your community group & events from West Studios
Whether you are celebrating an occasion, want a large space to hold a dance class or simply need a professional environment to conduct a meeting, the Chesterfield College Group has a range of contemporary spaces to accommodate a variety of needs.
Further information about West Studios room hire can be found here.
For information about facility hire across the Chesterfield College Group, click here.
To Download our Room Hire Brochure click here.
Shop & Etsy Store
Make sure to come down and take a look at our gallery-shop for lots of cards, gifts and quirky items, Items sold at West Studios have been made from small, independent businesses, many of which are Derbyshire/Sheffield based.
The gallery-shop is open Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm. We are also open Saturday & Sundays on the following dates in October & November
October 16th, 17th, 30th, 31st
November 13th, 14th, 27th, 28th
We also have a small selection of cards, notebooks and pin badges on our Etsy store with more to be added soon.
Updates from the tenants
Junction Arts
Volunteer with Junction Arts this November
Saturday 27th November marks the 28th Bolsover Lantern Parade for charity Junction Arts.
They are on the lookout for volunteers to help the parade be a fantastic community event. They are also looking for help during the lantern making community workshops, running the 3 weekends which lead up to the parade. Varied and important roles are available.
Please get in touch with hannah@junctionarts.org to register your interest. Find out more about volunteering with Junction Arts here.
'WORK' Film Screenings
Junction Arts in partnership with Animate Projects present four short documentary films on the subject of ‘work’. All four films were made by artists in collaboration with communities and organisations across the Midlands.
Artist and filmmaker Esther Johnson worked with the Freedom Centre, adult reading group members and former Bolsover MP (1970-2019) Dennis Skinner to create the short film ‘a ROLE to PLAY’. There will be a Q&A with Esther Johnson after the films. Seating will be socially distanced.
Date: Fri, 29 October 2021
Time: 18:30 – 21:00
Location: Bolsover Assembly Rooms, Hill Top, Bolsover, S44 6NN
Click here for more information & book your free ticket to attend the screening.
John King - Artist
Life Drawing is back! Come along to my monthly life drawing class, based in the studio room in West Studios. The class is on the first Tuesday of the month. My next class is Tuesday 2nd November.
To book please email mail@johnkingartist.co.uk
Skullship Design Studio Ltd
We are very excited to be part of the West Studios creative community! Skullship was created and launched at the beginning of September 2021 as a graphic design and digital artworks studio. We will be offering creative services and products for small businesses, charities, voluntary organisations and also the public.
There was also another key reason for launching this company - to create a supportive workspace for George Hope, our only graphic designer/digital artist, to be employed part time and participate in the local creative economy, alongside developing his skills and original art style. George has a range of creative knowledge, skills and interests that have led him to a career in graphic design, illustration and visual arts. George is supported by Pete Courtney and the business admin side is covered by Christine Hope.
Please come and chat with us over a cuppa in Studio 4 and take a look at some examples of George’s work. We are available Wednesday to Friday 10am - 3pm each week or alternatively contact us via the following email chope957@gmail.com. Watch out for our website launch soon too.