In this photo, Dave Chambers of the Mike Westbrook Band works with a young member of the Sutton Hill Brass Band. This internationally renowned jazz band visited Telford three times, performing in the Town Centre and in factories, hospitals, pubs and schools. They also led the parade in Sutton Hill’s May Day Celebrations and ran workshop sessions with young people at Madeley Court School and the Sutton Hill Community Centre. The many visiting artists who took part in our Community Celebrations enabled us to make new contacts with people from both the old and new communities. Their participation in our workshops also acted as a huge stimulus in the development of our artistic skills.
Our Visiting Artists Programme involved the visits to Telford of over 75 professional companies. The theatre companies who visited us included 7.84, Red Ladder, Welfare State International, the Women’s Theatre Group, C.A.S.T, Banner and the New York Labor Theatre. Janet Smith and Phoenix brought their contemporary Dance groups and there was also dance rooted in Oriental (Alpana Sengupta, The Great Indian Dancers and Beshara) and West Indian cultures (Kokuma and Lanzel). There was a wide variety of music ranging from big bands (Bryan Jones), traditional and contemporary Jazz (Downtown Jazz, Mike Westbrook Band and Loose Tubes), Brass Bands (Carlton Main Collier) and several Steel Drum Bands. An extraordinary mix of street entertainers also took part in our celebrations including puppeteers, clowns, magicians and jugglers (Magic Lantern, Major Mustard puppets, Abracadabra, Original Mixture, Arno and Innocenti Clowns, Suitcase Circus, Zippo and The Satellites).
telfordcommunityarts.org 