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You are here: Home / Archives for Jo Leverett

Jo Leverett

MJP Theatre – New opportunity

5th January 2022 By Jo Leverett

PRODUCER/PRODUCTION MANAGER Required

MJP productions  is a new small start-up theatre company committed to cross generational work. It has a particular focus on women’s lives past and present, giving a voice to women’s interior lives as well as external experiences. Its aim is to reach audiences in both London and the provinces.

We’re looking for a person who will oversee the entire producing cycle of a new play in East Anglia in 2023, plus managing workshops and performances already booked in 2022 for a play called Sea Changes in London that had success in 2019 Camden Fringe. Ideally you will be someone who can maintain a calm and can-do attitude, and deliver projects with ambition and confidence. You will have experience of managing productions and community projects, bringing all you have learnt from your practice to support the MJP creative team.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Lead on the production, risk and technical management requirements of defined productions, projects and events 2022/23
  • Work closely with the writer, director, cast and crew to realise productions, projects and events to the highest possible standard
  • Establishing and agreeing budgets and schedules
  • Lead production planning meetings to address production, technical and scheduling issues
  • Verify theatre purchases and scheduling
  • Plan and manage the day-to-day running of allocated productions, projects and events, including all communications relating to venues and scheduling rehearsal times
  • Liaise with technical and stage management staff on productions, projects and events to ensure high quality results
  • Coordinate the production of the poster and programmes and ensure publicity photos, creative team and cast bios are included in promotions
  • Manage social media and website requirements for marketing, promotion and ticket links

QUALIFCATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Relevant degree or equivalent professional qualifications or experience

Experience of working in a leadership capacity such as Technical, Production or Stage Management, either in professional theatre or similar environment on small-medium scale
Knowledge and experience of contemporary theatre practice and working effectively within the theatre production process
Experience of planning, managing and delivering productions and/or events from budgeting to completion, to a high standard

Experience of teams of various abilities
Clean driving licence

SKILLS & ABILITIES

You have strong communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills
You’re a team player who thrives on collaboration and ideas but isn’t afraid of budgets and finance
You can take initiative, while working in clear delegated roles, as well as manage, encourage and motivate others

You understand creative producing is underpinned by securing and managing key partnerships and funding, and you have the knowhow to identify and consolidate these opportunities on your own and with the team
You’re part of a network that includes artists, companies, venues, partners
You’re competent with technology; emails, microsoft office or equivalent, website creation, social media

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Salary: circa £30K per annum, pro rata, depending on experience
Time commitment: To be agreed with MJP Productions

(Approx 10 hours a week to initiate projects. Contract and hours to be reviewed after 3 months)

CLOSING DATE: 20th January 2022

HOW TO APPLY

Please send as an attachment in pdf/word format, your current CV and a covering letter via email addressing the following (no longer than 500 words in length) to mjptheatre@gmail.com:

  • What moves you to create theatre?
  • What you can bring to MJP Productions to realise the company’s commitment to making women’s stories a compelling theatre experience for audiences in London and the provinces?

We will endeavour to respond to everyone who gets in contact and, if appropriate, we’ll send you a script to give you an idea of our work and get your views on how we can work together in a zoom interview in January.

All applications will be acknowledged. Late applications will not be considered.

MJP is committed to diversity and is an equal opportunities organisation.

Filed Under: Artist Opportunities, Member Activities

Notification of the 2021 Annual General Meeting

11th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

This is a crucial meeting where the future of W&BA will be considered.

Thank you to those who responded to my recent appeal for help. All 20 of the members who replied spoke warmly of what W&BA has done over the years. And there were some generous offers and good ideas for future events. However, W&BA’s capacity to organise and manage these is still missing. Nobody has been able to step up to plug the crucial gaps of website management, administration of membership, accountancy and two area representatives.

So we regret to say that the recommendation from the management committee is to dissolve Waveney & Blyth Arts. You will appreciate how painful this is for us, what a difficult decision it was to have to make. We’re certainly proud of what we have achieved over the years and grateful for the hundreds of people who have been members and participants.

You will see in the AGM 2021 AGENDA and below that we have made formal proposals arising from our recommendation to dissolve. As a membership organisation we are relying on you at this point. The W&BA Constitution spells out in section 8 what has to happen in order for us to close. We need 10% of the membership to attend the agm and of these, three-quarters or more to vote in favour of our proposal in order for it to be agreed.

If our proposal is accepted, we will then need to decide what to do to disburse the funds we have in our reserves and how to deal with all the associated closure requirements. The constitution gives us a starting point for this process, and we will be consulting the membership about the details.

If our proposal fails, then we hope those present at the agm will make an alternative proposal, which would need to be agreed, possibly by the full membership.

You will appreciate that it is more than usually important for you to attend if you can.

We hope that as many of you as possible will come to the agm, not only because of the decisions that we have to make but also because it may well be the last chance for us to come together as a creative and networking community. We will be displaying our archive of publicity brochures, CDs, postcards, etc as a reminder of the many enjoyable events which we have organised across our 11 years of being W&BA.

Thank you

Ann Follows, Chair

 

AGENDA

Annual general meeting 2021

1 Minutes of 2020 AGM AGM 2020 MINUTES

2 Financial statements and Chair’s report 2020/21 W&BA Financial Statements 2020-21

For approval

3 Report from the Recovery sub-committee

4 The future of W&BA

Proposals from the management committee:

 1 That W&BA is wound up and its assets after settling outstanding liabilities, dispersed as set out in the  W&BA Constitution

2 That the membership be consulted about the dispersal of any remaining assets

3 That the processes required to wind up W&BA be handled by a small group comprising Ann Follows, Brian Guthrie and Jade Nice

5 Any other business

Ann Follows

11 November 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog

Wild About Bungay, 2021

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

This wonderful publication has been produced to acknowledge and celebrate Bungay’s wildlife and the life and love of Jasmine, sister and wild-life enthusiast who sadly died in 2012. Jasmine’s brothers Chris and Terry Reeve, both residents of Bungay, led the nature walk for around Bungay’s local footpaths and countryside. Keen to show us the natural environment as if through the eyes of their sister.

First stop at Bungay castle where a small wild flower garden has been planted in memory of Jasmine. In this mid-September morning, no flowers were in bloom, but the plant list showed it would be full of colour and insect life in early summer. Chris read the poem The Song of the White Jasmine Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker.

In the heat of summer days

With sunshine all ablaze,

Here, here are cool green bowers,

Starry with Jasmine flowers;

Sweet-scented, like a dream

Of Fairyland they seem.

 

And when the long hot day

At length has worn away,

And twilight deepens, till

The darkness comes – then, still,

The glimmering Jasmine white

Gives fragrance to the night.

Our group of 20 walked through the water meadows on a footpath along the side of the river Waveney between Bungay and Earsham. We stopped frequently on the way to examine points of interest in nature that Jasmine had enjoyed in her lifetime: willow trees grown for making cricket bats; common alder trees that like their roots in water; common fleabane in flower; playing grandmother jump-out-of-bed by pinching the base of flowering convolvulus with its brilliant white, trumpet shaped flower.

 

 

 

As we approached Earsham besides a field, a herd of huge beautiful cows began to walk besides us, as if accompanying us. We learned from their owner, farmer and photographer Frances Crickmore, that this herd had been imported from France when they decided to diversify their farming products to include cheese. This particular breed is known for their rich milk, and from it the Crickmore’s developed the now famous Bigot Brie cheese. The cows followed us along the footpath until we crossed over the river via a wooden bridge. Here we were joined by Frances Crickmore who introduced herself, told us about the farm and the land around us. She told us we could purchase the cheese in its signature circular wood box from a vending machine by the farm.

 

At the end of the walk we thanked Chris and Terry for an interesting and enjoyable afternoon. We had all learned about their sister and shared her love of this area.

Ann Follows

September 2021

Filed Under: Blog, W&BA Activities

Two Rivers Book Festival at Cupiss Letterpress, Diss

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

To say that Cupiss Letterpress is a hidden treasure of Diss is a bit of a cliche but true nonetheless, and all the more so because it’s closing down after nine years shy of two centuries in business.

As part of our Two Rivers Book festival, we were offered free guided tours for the day. John Harding, who’s worked there since leaving school and 55 years later about to retire, was our host. The imposing mechanical printing machines contrasted with dusty Victorian decor and piles of print paraphernalia, an historic assemblage of past logs and equipment most of which with unrecognisable functions.

 

Inside the workshop, sited at the top of a track in the middle of Diss, John welcomed us and explained that the original business, established in 1830, wasn’t printing but for mixing and distributing a home-made medicinal horse “digestive”. The original recipe, in popular demand throughout the 20th century, was invented by the first Mr Cupiss. He needed to print labels for the dispensing bottles, and rather than find a supplier, he purchased his own printing press. As the demand for his horse digestive declined, so the print works grew and became a locally significant printing business.

 

 

This bell jar trophy, is a stone passed by a horse in the early 1900s having successfully been treated with
Mr Cupiss’s horse medicine. Next to it a complete set of the Suffolk horse society’s stud books dating back to 1885, each one hand wrapped and ready. As with the demand for the horse medicine, the stud logs have also declined as machinery replaced working horses. And today the digital revolution has replaced the need for the mechanical print business.

 

 

 

For me the overwhelming sense of a living history and indeed my learning on the day, was in the huge array of fonts and lettering. Tray upon tray, both beautiful and functional, the variety of fonts made from wood and lead were immaculately if chaotically stored. The wood ones hand carved, some acting as 3D ‘shadow’ had a fascinating appearance. The ‘upper case’ trays being capitals and the ‘lower case’ trays being, well, lower case. Another commonly used term originating in the printing business is ‘form’ which is the frame that holds individual letters in place ready for print.

 

John gave me the opportunity to run a pre-set form through the 19th century printing press, which involved inking up and rolling under the press using nothing but cogs and levers.

The first electrical press, purchased in 1950, stood next in line to the 1830s mechanical press. Behind these, in a rough back extension, were a couple of computer screens and digital printer which have replaced the entire works. Cupiss of Diss is both a working museum and modern print shop. The old printing presses are used by artists and for specialist print work. Now it is on the market for sale, it will be interesting to see whether it remains in Diss or is split up and re-located to new owners elsewhere. I left the hour-long guided tour feeling I’d just been part of something really unique and unlikely ever to be repeated; an unexpected delight of W&BA’s 2021 Two Rivers book festival.

Ann Follows

October 2021


Filed Under: Blog, W&BA Activities

Looking Out, November

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

The night before November strong winds and heavy rain blew remnants of summer away.  Cherries and maple were late turning colour but now their leaves have been whisked away, pirouetting across the garden. Oaks and elms stoically remain green-leaved but almost all our ash trees dropped their leaves in one day.   November is a month of winds and rain, or fogs and frosts, ushered in by the festival of Samhain. But we can no longer be sure of our seasons as the warming globe creates more unstable weather patterns.

 

November usually marks a turning in, preparing for hard times ahead, a time of harvesting, storing. Everything seems to be busy – the squirrel running down the path towards me, sugar beet clamped in its jaws; the screech of the jays as they raid the oak tree; blackbirds stripping fruits from rowan and rose; the rat invading the compost bin; the last butterfly, a Red Admiral, sipping sugar from a patch of blackberries and hedgehogs pulling leaves and grass into a safe winter house.

 

Other wildlife is on the move. Young foxes turned from their earths to find their own territories; tawny owl young dispersing, and the barn owl hunting along farm ditches at dusk. Once the winds turn north-easterly the winter migrants begin to arrive. Scandinavian thrushes, late this year; geese flying in to coastal marshes; starlings gathering with resident birds in nightly murmurations.

 

November’s full moon, the woodcock moon, brings these strange long nosed, woodland waders across the North Sea from Siberia. According to fable the goldcrests arrive too, the woodcock’s pilot. It is a time for gathering and for contemplation. But this year, it is hard not to think more globally as the COP 26 conference  starts in Glasgow. We think about the changing world and our part in it. Do arts and culture have a role. Can we do more with our creativity?

 

As November inches into winter, the conference brings a call for action to reduce global warming. The website for the UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021 supports the need for cultural and community action.

 

Culture — from arts to heritage — can help catalyse a step-change in the global ambition for climate resilience.  Rooting resilience measures in existing community action, culture, heritage and knowledge …. helps assure more effective and durable outcomes.

Several organisations are promoting the involvement of artists: see climateheritage.org and cultureatcop.com. You can raise your voice above the wind and sing with a global song – Enough is enough – see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz8ex7Mnjb4

As wind whipped the trees here into a frenzy, I thought back to the 2007 storm – our national outpouring of grief  at the loss of so many trees. Several friends had young children at the time. They remember listening to the wind as they gave a night feed, or slept blissfully through it as a child spent its first night sleeping. Those children are getting married this year. A reminder of how cycles and seasons turn. We look back and remember the noise, the fear, the sadness and the rush to clear up. 15 million trees lost in one night of destruction.

Since then, we have let trees disappear, slowly, one by one, making way for railways, roads, houses.  Perhaps as leaves fall we should celebrate the trees, draw their profiles, photograph them, weave words round them. The night before November strong winds and heavy rain blew remnants of summer away.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, W&BA Activities

‘Elemental Expressionism’ by Veronica M Worrall, Art Photographer

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

Recently an edit of ‘Project Unseen’ was included in a virtual exhibition curated by Duke University, USA. This attracted the attention of undergraduates in China who were curating a live environmental art exhibition in Shanghai. Regretfully the indoor show was cancelled due to Covid but the undergraduates persisted and artwork was exhibited at an outside Art Fair. They organised the printing of one of Veronica’s images to be included.

Veronica wrote up the story to emphasise the need for collaboration not only with nature but with each other as we move towards COP26, Glasgow next month. .. a conference which, as John Kerry sais, ‘ is the best hope for the world’.

Read more here. 

Filed Under: Member Activities

Ballroom Arts

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

The Ballroom at BallroomArts is East Anglia’s newest and most impressive gallery with its large bright open space and additional display walls in the dramatic open stairway.

It’s proving to be very popular for shows for both solo artists and artists groups. We’re well into planning for 2022 and we’d love to hear from artists, curators and event organisers with artworks to sell and bold ideas for activities which will benefit from the stylish and high quality facilities.

For artists groups, sharing the space and fees, The Ballroom is an attractive option. If you haven’t yet visited, get in touch and we’ll be pleased to show you around.

Contact us on admin@ballroomarts.org

 

Filed Under: Member Activities

Halesworth Community Choir’s new singing year

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

Would you like to join a friendly and welcoming choir?

Halesworth Community Choir’s first fortnightly rehearsal of our new singing year is Sunday 7th November, 10.30–12.30, at The Cut Arts Centre, Halesworth, when we will start learning a programme of songs for a performance in June or July 2022.
We’re looking for new members so please come along for a free taster session. The choir is open to all, without audition, and there’s no need to be able to read music as all songs are taught by ear.
We currently practise social distancing and ask for masks to be worn except when singing. We are also not providing refreshments at the moment.

For details of the choir see our website: hcc1.no-ip.info or email: halesworth.community.choir@gmail.com.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Member Activities

Popular community theatre launches specialist support group

10th November 2021 By Jo Leverett

Strive logo

The Seagull, in Lowestoft, is starting a group to support children and young people who live with the effects of addiction. The group, called Strive, is intended to support young people who have experienced challenging circumstances as a result of growing up around substance misuse issues.

Working with specialist practitioner Lily Ayers, the Seagull has developed the group to fill a gap in the provision locally. Similar groups exist in Norfolk but Lowestoft does not have a specialist group for family members of those who fight addiction on a day-to-day basis.

Operating every Wednesday night from 6pm to 7pm at the Theatre, the group will give children from families where there are addiction issues, the chance to meet, take part in positive arts-based activities and share their experiences.

Seagull Manager, Karen Read said:

“We know that struggling with an addiction is incredibly hard for anyone, and we are keen to try and support those families with this issue. We are just a local theatre so don’t have the expertise to do this ourselves, but when we heard about the amazing work Lily has been involved with in Norfolk, we knew we wanted her to set up something similar here.

Thankfully with the support of the National Lottery, we have been able to put together the funds to allow this project to run every week from November. We hope that the existence of the group gets well publicised so that the right children and professionals can get involved.”

Practitioner Lily Ayers said:

“Addiction is still very much a taboo subject. My hope is that this project can help to break the idea that addiction within the family should be kept a secret and is something to be ashamed of. There is a lot of support available for the user but support for the affected others- especially children is a lot harder to find. Young people in these situations are often isolated and their self-esteem suffers. I want this project to be a safe and confidential place where they can share their feelings with other young people who completely understand and not be fearful of being disloyal to their families- everyone needs to offload sometimes and it’s so important for children and young people to learn healthy coping strategies as to prevent them developing similar challenges themselves in the future.”

Filed Under: Member Activities

Jo Leverett

11th October 2021 By Jo Leverett

Jo Leverett

Jo has over 10 years experience working with arts organisations in event management and marketing.

Whether it’s a bespoke email campaign, targeted PR exposure or the development of a social media presence – Jo can help either get you started or do it all for you.

If you’re starting from scratch or looking for an overhaul, Jo can design a fresh new image for your company.

She has organised and managed international, national and local events covering the arts and sciences with prestigious events at the Royal Society, BAFTA, Kew Gardens, concert halls and other venues across the UK.

Even if you just need a small amount of help to lighten the load and release some of the stress – get in touch!

www.joleverett.com

Filed Under: Member Artists

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