Sheffield takes on the world!

From the Tribune

 

A huge wall mural in Sheffield city centre has been nominated for a major global prize. The 25-metre-tall Reverie by Peachzz (real name Megan Russell) was created last year on the side of the Cubo building overlooking Pounds Park.

Commissioned by Sheffield City Council, last June the mural was highlighted by the website Street Art Cities as one of the best new murals, and it has now been nominated as one of the best from the whole of last year alongside murals from Argentina, Colombia, Russia, Spain, and Denmark.

As well as Reverie, Russell is also behind murals at Walkley library and at the Alderson Road car park off London Road. 

Unfortunately it didn't win, but came second, beaten by a mural from Spain.

See https://streetartcities.com/awards/2024/winners for more detail, including images

When news of this success broke, SVAG sent a message of congratulations to Megan:

On behalf of the Sheffield Visual Arts Group, can I congratulate you on achieving second prize in the world competition. A great honour and we in SVAG are very proud at this recognition for you and the city.
Well done!
With all good wishes for the future.

and received a reply:

Thank you so much for your email, I really appreciate it :)

Recognition for Sheffield Culture

We were delighted to see in the New Year Honours that an MBE has been awarded for services to culture to Kim Streets DL, the Chief Executive at Sheffield Museums Trust. Congratulations from all at SVAG and richly deserved.

A new Artwork for the City of Sheffield

Back in the first half of September this year a rather unusual boat was launched on the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal. One glance at the image above shows that this is no ordinary barge. The artwork, designed by Alex Chinneck has elements of a traditional barge, but there is a wild loop amidships.

It's called, not unsurprisingly, the Looping Boat. Made from steel, to reflect the city's heritage of steelmaking, and aluminium for the loop, it is decorated in traditional colours. The design also incorporates the Tudor Rose, the Assay Mark of the city. The name on the stern, The Industry, is a link to the first barge to use the canal.

 

Located on the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal, between locks 4 and 5, near to the Meadowhall Retail Park, the static artwork appears to be floating on the canal and is positioned away from the navigable channel of the canal.
There is access to the towpath from both the Tinsley Marina and Meadowhall, but if you can manage steps, the most convenient access is from the Carbrook Tram Stop, where after crossing the footbridge, the towpath is a short walk away. (3 minutes at most).

Already it is something of a tourist attraction. When I visited there was a gentleman photographing it who had travelled from Stoke-On-Trent just to see and photograph it.

Sheffield Culture Strategy 2024: producing a new vision for creativity in the city

Sheffield is a city of inspiring artists, makers and doers. People around the world know the names and work of our artists, musicians and designers. But those who live here know that there are thousands of amazing creatives across communities and neighbourhoods in Sheffield just getting on with it. We also know as a city there is much more we can do to support them to flourish.

 

With this in mind, we saw the need for a new vision for creativity and arts and culture here in Sheffield. Our hope was to help make sure everyone who lives, works and visits here has the opportunity to take part, to collaborate and to benefit from all the wonderful things that arts and culture bring to Sheffield.

Hence the a city wide consultation on culture in the city.

 

This work has been commissioned by Sheffield City Council, the University of Sheffield and Arts Council England. It’s being delivered by creative consultancy company Fourth Street, Sheffield-based social enterprise Opus Independents, and a team of culture freelancers from the city.

 

Mary Sewell at work in her Portland Works studio.

(Image by A.F. Calow 2024)

We wanted to know from Sheffield’s creative community what the focus of a new culture strategy should be. We completed an initial "pre-engagement" survey in December 2023 to help us design a more in-depth engagement process starting in February 2024.

Our approach aimed to rebalance the conversation around culture to magnify voices that are less frequently heard, alongside institutional perspectives - through what we are calling a "diagonal approach". We wanted to ensure that artists, creatives, freelancers, community leaders, business people and those interested in culture feel able and empowered to get involved and have their say.
Some may feel that the draft report was flawed by the lack of practitioners involved (and the survey wasn’t aimed at the audiences). It also seemed to exclude both the young and the old, showing a lack of awareness of the grey pound. (It was mentioned at a SVAG Committee Meeting that SU3A, a group with 3000 members was absent from a post survey consultation meeting.).

More detail about our approach to engagement can be found in the document "Engagement Plan". [Available through link below]
We have also completed baseline research of the cultural sector in the city at the moment - this detail can be found in the document "Cultural Audit". [Available through link below]

What we hope the Culture Strategy will do for the city

We think that to create a healthy culture sector in the future, the new strategy needs to:

  • Uncover and celebrate our shared story of Sheffield’s culture and creativity.
  • Help create the conditions for organisations and creatives to thrive, collaborate and participate in the way that infrastructure and resources work in the city.
  • Map out what changes we need to make so that young people see a future in Sheffield’s cultural world, with clear routes to grow the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
  • Offer a view on how any organisation, individual and group could work together if they want to and take part in a growing and thriving ecosystem of cultural work that delivers with and for communities and neighbourhoods across Sheffield.

Source: https://haveyoursay.sheffield.gov.uk/culture-strategy

From the SCC website: We have also brought together hundreds of creatives through our engagement programme over the past few months. This has involved individual artists and freelancers, small and large creative and community organisations, and the city’s major institutions among others. This is not a Sheffield City Council strategy, but a sector for the city and its valuable creative and cultural sectors. It can only work if it is co-created and gets broad buy-in.

It's possible to read the report that was presented on the 18th July 2024 to the Economic Development & Skills Committee of SCC on the draft Culture Strategy
There is a lot to read, so pour yourself a drink (coffee, tea or whatever ) and start reading this mighty tome.

 

Coming Soon!

In recent months we have heard about some exciting arrivals in the city!
English Touring Opera have announced that they will be moving to Sheffield,  after initially opening a temporary office in the city in Autumn 2024 in the Workstation on Paternoster Row. ETO are excited by the prospect of deepening its long-standing relationship with Sheffield Theatres and working with new partners like Music in the Round on broadening the scope and reach of its work, as well as joining a thriving cultural and creative industries sector which accounts for more than 7% of Sheffield’s working population – almost double the national average. The move will also allow the building roots within the community and work with both new and existing local partners, including Sheffield Music Hub, on dedicated productions, workshops and projects for children and members of the community.
Sheffield is also ideally located for much of ETO’s touring cycle, especially for its other venues in the North of England, which include Buxton Opera House, York Theatre Royal, the Gala Theatre in Durham and Storyhouse in Chester.

On April 4th 2025 ETO will be performing at the Sheffield Lyceum in a production of Bellini's opera The Capulets and the Montagues sung in the original Italian with English surtitles. Tickets are available via Sheffield Theatres website, starting at £15

They are also putting on two productions for schools in March, which are completely sold out.

 

S1 Artspace is delighted to announce it has purchased the former Yorkshire Bank Chambers in Sheffield’s Fitzalan Square as its permanent new home. The Grade II listed building will undergo a complete restoration and expansion to become an ambitious new arts and cultural venue for the city. This significant milestone marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for S1 and Sheffield’s cultural landscape.
The renovated site will feature spacious public galleries across two floors, showcasing an ambitious programme of new work by local, national, and international artists across the artistic spectrum. Additionally, it will include artist studios, a community and events space, a research centre, a shop profiling local artists and makers, and an independent bar.

 

 

In recent months came the news that a national youth orchestra has become the latest performing arts organisation to announce plans to relocate from London to Sheffield. Orchestras for All (OFA) has said it will move from its headquarters in the capital to South Yorkshire and follow in the footsteps of the English Touring Opera. OFA will be based at Canada House,(left)  a Grade II-listed building in the city centre which has been vacant since 2011.


Councillor Martin Smith from Sheffield City Council said the newcomers would "make brilliant additions to an already thriving cultural scene". A council spokesperson said OFA's decision to relocate to the city came after a "rigorous shortlisting" process following a national call-out for suggested destinations.

 


Canada House is currently being restored as a music hub. The renovation project is being spearheaded by the Harmony Works charity, which promotes music education for young people.

The John Lewis Building

Sheffield Visual Arts Group's View

For a long time, the future of the Surrey Street building, which houses the Central Library, the Graves Art Gallery and a theatre, has been up for debate, with the building itself in need of major repair and refurbishment. Sheffield Visual Arts Group has campaigned continuously for the Graves Gallery and been involved in consultations over the future of the building for over 10 years.  We understand the issues surrounding it. Does the now vacant John Lewis building, owned by the City Council and situated in the heart of the city, provide an opportunity for a new solution to the problem of the building’s decay? Not just based on that building itself, but as part of our public arts, literature, and culture complement ?


A huge advantage of the building is that it is located in our central ‘Culture Corridor’: that large sweep of cultural provision, from Shoreham Street to the City Hall. It is also near to the proposed new park and adjoining transport hub. The ‘Corridor’ includes the largest concentration of performance stages and galleries and exhibition spaces outside London, as well as the central library.  The enhanced ‘Corridor’ could add considerable weight to the city’s efforts to attract creatives and their families to the city, and to market itself as a place to visit with strong cultural links with the rest of the world.


The council promised in 2017-18 to find a new library site in the heart of the city, and made a commitment to developing the Graves building as a ‘landmark arts building’.


Our suggestion for how the John Lewis building and the Graves building could be adapted to make a huge contribution to the city’s culture is this:


Move the Central Library to the John Lewis building. That roomy space could be readily adapted to provide all the facilities that a modern library needs, could house the Archives and local Studies Library, the children’s library, community spaces and more.  We are fully aware that such a refurbishment must be achieved sustainably.

 

Turn the Graves Building into an arts and culture centre, very much in line with John Graves’s intentions. The enlarged Gallery could be moved to the ground floor, with level access provided via Tudor Square, with a cafe at that level. A variety of other cultural functions could be accommodated within the building: studios spaces; meeting rooms for arts and culture enterprises; a culture space for children; commercial space for arts businesses. The recent success of the Print Market in the Millennium Gallery is an example of how significant a role that partnership between the public and private sector can be. We need to develop more of it.


It would be an ambitious project and would need wide public commitment and serious resources. But the gains for the city would be enormous. And well worth the energy and commitments needed.

 

January 2022

 

     Unlocking The Potential of Culture, Arts and                        Heritage in South Yorkshire

A report to the four South Yorkshire local authorities and Sheffield City Region

Museum Sheffield's

Commitment to anti-racist action

Visual Arts Sheffield:

A legacy of the Making Ways project, bringing together resources, links and opportunities for visual artists in Sheffield.

          Supporting 'Family Voice' - Can you help ?

                         'Sheffield Together'

                        Sheffield Culture Hub

"Keeping culture open online

and helping the arts community stay strong in Sheffield during lockdown."

                           Cultural Updates

For a regular notification of all the wonderful cultural events

going on in Sheffield, email:

and she will send you a Cultural Update.

          Links to other Arts and Cultural Groups in the City 

Print | Sitemap
© Sheffield Visual Arts Group