Hundreds of children are getting involved with the Margate NOW festival of art, events and performances through a project with theatre and performance company 1927.
The festival is guest curated by Russell Tovey, as part of the Turner Prize 2019 programme.
Margate-based 1927 has spent the autumn collaborating with every year 5 pupil in seven Margate Primary schools and young people from Arts Education Exchange to create seven animated folk-tales for Raree Tales. The tales will be shared in bespoke Raree Boxes (animation peep hole boxes) at locations across Margate between now and January 12, alongside pop up outdoor animations.
To coincide with the festival and Turner Prize 2019, a group of pupils from primary school Drapers Mills has also helped to create an alternative map of the area to showcase Margate through their eyes. Turner Contemporary’s learning team and artist Sam Ayre held workshops and a guided walk of the town with the children before creating the map. It will be displayed at key points around Margate, including on Turner Contemporary’s terrace for the remainder of Turner Prize 2019, and it will be distributed around town during the exhibition and festival.
A new burst of events and programmes have recently been launched to coincide with the Turner Prize 2019 winner announcement made on Tuesday (December 3).
Dreamland is presenting NOWLAND: a series of cultural events throughout the town as part of the festival. Taking place away from the main theme park in venues across Margate, the arts events will showcase the talent, creativity and expertise of local artists and musicians. Parakeet, a theatre show that was developed with young people in Margate, is soaring back to the town in a homecoming show tonight after an impressive run at Edinburgh Fringe.
Artist Jessica Jordan-Wrench has a new commission at Margate train station in collaboration with Southeastern. Visitors will be met with a text installation, based around a purpose built split-flap display, exploring the radically unstable concept of ‘now’.
A new interactive commission on Turner Contemporary’s terrace from Yuri Suzuki uses artificial intelligence to bring together digital sound and sculpture. In collaboration with Kent Libraries, Turner Contemporary has worked with participants across Kent to contribute to the commission.
A group of young people, who have been referred through local schools due to challenges faced in mainstream education, will be working with local illustrator and artist Kavel Rafferty to create large-scale street art pieces as part of The Re-invention of Daily Life: Arts Education Exchange.
Round in Circles CIC, a Margate-based production company that creates socially-engaged programmes of events and performances, will be showcasing their dance and film work through a series of film projection installations. It celebrates key inspirations, a crossover of dance genres, theatre, drag and site.
Margate NOW launched in September, to mark the opening of the Turner Prize 2019 exhibition at Turner Contemporary. Partners included Turner Contemporary, Dreamland, Margate Festival and local companies such as Open School East and 1927.
This year saw a first for Turner Prize in its 35 year history. On Tuesday (3 December), British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful awarded the prize to all four shortlisted artists on the night – Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani – after they formed themselves into a collective and asked the jury to consider giving them all the title.
Their work is on show at Turner Contemporary until January 12. The exhibition has attracted almost 100,000 visitors since opening to the public on September.