News about the arts and entertainment in Leicester/shire 2012

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14th February

Original Bands Showcase ready to roll

The 2012 OBS gigs are ready to roll. Starting on Friday 9th March, the shows for bands from the Midlands will take place at the Musician live music venue in Leicester.

Details are on our OBS 2012 news page.

8th February

Event aimed at young talent

An event on Friday 2nd March will bring together businesses and talented young people, aged 16 to 25. iGen3Live has been developed by consultancy firm Verite Ltd (CVL), a Leicestershire-based business.

iGen3 works to bring together businesses and talented young people. The purpose of iGen3 lies in addressing the challenges young people face in finding their route into business and in the communication issues that often exist between generations within organisations.

The LIVE event is aimed at celebrating the wealth of talent already within organisations and also the talent that lies outside, waiting for a chance to impress.

Inspired by a backdrop of international speakers and performers, they are creating a business networking event with a twist.

The live event is about youngsters taking a step forward into business, as well as showcasing the vast array of talented 18 to 25 year olds that aren't immediately obvious or accessible to people already in business. Participants will meet people like themselves, people very different to them and people who can help them . Additionally, from this group of invited 18 to 25 year olds, a number of individuals will be invited to take part in internships with participating businesses during the summer of 2012, based on the impressions they make in both their competition entries and at the events themselves.

Young people are invited to use their creativity to come up with something that showcases their talents. All entries will be judged equally. Ideas to consider include (but are not restricted to): A presentation, A video (of up to three minutes), A speech, A song or rap or A short piece of writing.

The event will be held at The Kings Hall, Mercure Hotel, Granby Street, Leicester, LE1 6ES, at 2pm on Friday 2nd March.

Find out more on the CVL website | See iGen3Live on Facebook

Local artist brought colourful smiles to Rainbows Hospice

Local artist, Bali Sangha-Jenkins (Baliartbali) donated some her original art paintings to the Rainbows Children's Charity in Loughborough. On Saturday 4th February.

The Artwork includeed eight foot hot air balloon, autumn berries, happy days and many more from her old and existing art collections. As Bali is a keen supporter of the charity, she wanted to show her support by donating some of her spectacular Art just for Rainbows Hospice.

Artist, Bali Sangha-Jenkins said "I feel the children, the hard working volunteers and the dedicated staff could do with some colorful abstract artwork which could help to brighten up and place and most importantly bring smiles to the children's and families time at the Hospice."

The Community fundraiser of Rainbows Charity, Jennifer Leach, said "Bali work is beautiful and we are so happy to accept a generous donationands we would love to have the colorful Abstracts up on our walls around the hospice they would be stimulating for the children with the bright shapes and colors."

See Bali Sangha-Jenkins web site

4th February

EDL march passes peacefully

Leicestershire Police Chief Constable Simon Cole has sent a public thank you to the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland for their support in ensuring that yesterday's marches in the city centre passed peacefully.

Around 700 supporters from the English Defence League (EDL) and 200 from Leicester Unite Against Fascism (UAF) carried out separate marches in the city centre.

There were no arrests directly connected to the marches. Mr Cole said: "The success of the operation is due to a number of factors, not least the support from Leicester City Council in preparing the city for [today's] event and the co-operation of the Leicester public.

"Today more than 2,000 officers and staff were involved in policing the marches joined by colleagues from 17 others forces and to those we owe a huge debt of thanks for their support."

City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: "Whereas the last visit from the EDL ended in violence and the city being brought to a standstill, this year it has largely been business as usual. This goes to show that allowing the EDL and UAF to march was the right thing to do."

"It is now important to get our city back to normal. The Leicester Comedy Festival is in full swing and on Tuesday the city will be hosting the second Big Eat."

The Phoenix Arts Centre was one of the few city's venues that decided to close its doors during the day and open only in the evening at 6.30 p.m. Curve theatre operated normally throughout the day.

The city council and the police asked licensed premises to close between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The SoundHouse told us that they expect any disruption to be minimal as they will be open in the evening and not during the day. The Exchange Bar in Rutland Street planned to open at 2.30 p.m. The Firebug planned to open at 2 p.m.

Sloans and other bars in New Walk opened on the advice of the police. The Musician was not expecting any impact and will open as usual in the evening. The Shed opened as normal for its evening gig. The Crumblin' Cookie's comedy shows were not affected by either the march or the snow.

THE city council is advised people to be aware that some buses and traffic would be re-routed in the city centre and there were a small number of road closures and changes to city centre bus stops while the marches took place.

30th January

Cultural Exchanges

Cultural Exchanges is a diverse week of interactive discussions, performances and talks at DMU; showcasing an eclectic programme of guests. The Festival and its programme represent the culture and creativity of De Montfort University, the city of Leicester and contemporary society in order to bring together cultures and industries. It is hosted by the Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities, and is run by degree students.

This year's festival highlights include:

Matthew Bourne - award winning choreographer Matthew is renowned for his visionary interpretations of classical ballet such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.
Dame Janet Suzman - known for her outstanding portrayals of most of Shakespeare's illustrious heroines.
Jamal Edwards - CEO of the online music channel SBTV. Hugh McIlvanney - the only sportswriter to be named Britain's journalist of the year.
Heather Peace - best known for her roles in the TV dramas Lip Service and London's Burning and will soon be on our screens in Waterloo Road.

More details are available on Facebook

27th January

App launched for bars and clubs

An App for smartphones was launched last night. Grapevine City provides an App that will deliver information about bars, clubs and nightlife in Leicester. Users can plan their budget, their tastes and their night out by searching data, supplied to their App, on their smart phone.

The localised information is available to download free from the supplier's web site. At present it is available for Android, iPhone and Blackberry handsets.

The launch took place at Manhattan 34 bar in Rutland Street. Jono Mays told us: "I used to run SuperFly nightclub so I realised how useful it would be if people could check out what is going on using their phones.

"If you are on a night out you can check the latest drinks offers, which DJs are playing and find where the best scene is likely to be. People used to do this on Facebook but that has become too cluttered with noise".

Jono showed me how users could look for live rock music and plans are being made to increase the supply of gig dates in the system. Jono said "The data is pretty much limited to Leicester and Leicestershire. We have plans to widen that out to Nottingham, Loughborough, Derby and other nearby cities".

You can download the App from the Grapevine-city web site.

16th January 2012

Club owner convicted over flyposting

THE owner of a city centre music venue has been ordered to pay almost £5,500 after being convicted of a string of flyposting offences. Tim Sturgess, who operated the Auditorium venue in Market Place, Leicester, was convicted of seven offences of flyposting across the city, which is illegal under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 section 224.

Leicester magistrates heard how Sturgess was responsible for so much flyposting across the city that Leicester City Council is now looking to impose a Criminal Antisocial Behaviour Order (CRASBO) preventing him from flyposting in future.

At a hearing on January 16, magistrates heard how posters for the Auditorium had been seen in Loughborough Road, Sanvey Gate, Narborough Road, Humberstone Road, Woodgate and St Nicholas Circle.

Sturgess pleaded not guilty to the offences, claiming the venue wasn't his business, despite all the venue's licence applications, business rates and day-to-day running being handled by Sturgess. Magistrates imposed fines totalling £1,295 for the seven offences, and ordered Sturgess to pay £4,153 in costs, along with a victim support charge of £15.

The Auditorium closed in September 2011, but if the CRASBO application is successful it will apply to other venues owned and operated by Sturgess. He currently runs Thread, in Yeoman Street.

Leicester assistant city mayor responsible for neighbourhood services, Cllr Sarah Russell, said: "Flyposting is a blight to our city and the removal costs are an ongoing drain on council resources. "Most proprietors work with us in a responsible way, and to protect the responsible premises it's important to take action against people who flout the law."

Pages in this section:

Bands news - for 2012 | for 2011| for 2010

Dance - news about dancers and dance shows for 2012 | Dance news 2011 | Dance news for 2010

Drama - news about theatre, plays and drama for 2011

Literature - news about writing, authors and books for 2012

Venues - news about venues for 2011 | Venue news for 2010

Visual arts - news about painting, films, photography, digital arts and much more for 2012

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Our section for the press and media

Comedy news for 2011

Comedy news for 2012

Exhibitions new about arts 2012