Eventus is offering an exciting opportunity for 2 experienced photographers to be part of a joint academic and arts research project which aims to transform the way society views older women.

The project, entitled ‘Look at me! Images of Women and Ageing’, is being led by a team of researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and Derby and by Eventus.

We are delighted to announce that Viva – the South Yorkshire Arts Consortium will be officially launched on Tuesday 2 February 2010. 

The consortium has been set up with the mission to develop a sustainable consortium of arts organisations within South Yorkshire in order to maximise funding opportunities, raise the quality of the cultural offer, share resources and work effectively together.

Membership of the consortium is open to not-for-profit arts organisations who work predominantly in South Yorkshire.  Invitations to the launch have already been distributed widely by email, but please contact us if you require any further information or would like to attend.

Our Director Clare McManus is one of the founding Directors of the consortium alongside:
Ashley Barnes (Dead Earnest Theatre)
Jon Maiden (Point Blank Theatre)
Mary Turner (Action Space Mobile)

A Membership Prospectus will be available at the launch and there will be an open application process for membership.  Members will also be able to make nominations to appoint additional Directors at the first members meeting later this year.

We have been successful in our application to Phase 2 of Capacitybuilders Modernisation Fund.  The Modernisation Fund aims to help third sector organisations be more resilient to the impact of the economic downturn. The funding is targeted at helping these organisations overcome barriers to collaboration and merger, or take other steps to adapt to the recession.

We now wish to use our grant to buy the professional support we need in order to consider our continued role within Viva - the South Yorkshire Arts Consortium.

We’d like to thank everyone who applied for this photography commission that we advertised just before Christmas.  We had a fantastic response and had some difficult decisions to make but we are very pleased to have appointed Pam Gill who is based in Derbyshire.

Pam will be working on this action research project in Killamarsh with women, aged 45-60, who do not normally take part in arts activities.  She will engage the women at a domestic and neighbourhood level to take part in digital photography by capturing the things - family, home, activities, neighbourhood or possessions - that are most important to them.

The project will take place during February and March this year, and we look forward to sharing the outcome with you.

We recently congratulated the first group that Clare mentored for HLF – the Lincolnshire Heritage at Risk Project were awarded an HLF grant of £304,300 over 3 years.   Clare worked with them to develop their understanding of how to reach and work with non-traditional volunteers. They now expect over 500 local people of all ages to become volunteers for the scheme, and for these volunteers to be trained to survey the survival and condition of historic sites across Lincolnshire and compile an ‘at risk’ register.

Clare is already working as an HLF mentor with 2 more local heritage organisations in Lincolnshire advising them with regard to community engagement, and was recently appointed to work with a group in Lancashire with her role to focus on learning and participation.

This has been a new venture for Eventus, but one firmly rooted in our experience of community heritage and engagement projects, which has been very successful so far and we look forward to continuing to work with HLF over the next 4-5 years.