City residents can meet Magnum photographer Mark Power and artist Dan Thompson at events staged by Appetite Stoke-on-Trent.
Power and Thompson are working with Appetite on separate events showcasing the city and its people.
Artist Dan Thompson will be talking about his social history project, London Road, at Room with a Brew, Stafford Street, Hanley, on Thursday, January 29 (6.30 – 8.30pm).
Thompson, who won national acclaim for his #riotcleanup project, has joined forces with community groups and Appetite to chronicle the life of London Road, Stoke.
He has immersed himself in the local community – even renting a home in the area – as he compiles a history of London Road and the characters that have frequented it.
Brighton based Thompson is working with the organisers of the London Road Festival – a successful annual arts and music festival which happens in Stoke each June. A book chronicling life on London Road in the “past, present and future” will be launched at the festival.
He took on the project when the Festival organisers suggested to Appetite they would like to work with “someone like Dan Thompson.”
Thousands have viewed Mark Power’s open air exhibition, The City of Six Towns, in Albion Square, Hanley, since it opened in mid-November.
He will be at Room with a Brew on Friday, February 6, to reflect on his photographic experiences in Stoke-on-Trent.
The event begins at 5pm and runs for two hours.
Power spent 15 days visiting the Six Towns to create a photographic record of life in the Potteries.
He found a city in transformation with many old industrial buildings being replaced with modern service centres and shops.
“Behind every new build was a sign of the past, while in front of every ruin – ancient or modern – could be found evidence of potential change,” said Power.
The City of Six Towns exhibition was commissioned by Grain Photography Hub, Appetite, the Library of Birmingham and the Arts Council of England. The exhibition runs until February 20.
Spaces at both events are free, but limited. Please reserve a place by emailing your name, e-mail address, post code and phone number to [email protected]
ENDS
For media enquiries contact Nigel Howle by telephone on 0776 2043436, e-mail [email protected].
Notes to Editors:
Appetite is the Creative People and Places programme taking place in Stoke-on-Trent from 2013 to 2016. Appetite aims to get more people in Stoke-on-Trent to experience and be inspired by the arts. This investment in the arts and cultural sector of the area aims to mobilise and strengthen the skills, knowledge and infrastructure that already exists within the area and provide unprecedented opportunities for more people to see, make and influence more art in the city.
The Appetite programme is funded by Arts Council England and is led by the New Vic Theatre in partnership with B Arts, Brighter Futures, Partners in Creative Learning and Staffordshire University. It is supported by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Visit the Appetite website at www.appetitestoke.co.uk