CAKE 24

Digital Landscapes

Creative Fuse North East invites you to our 24th CAKE (Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange) event, where we will explore the use of digital tools to help audiences to engage with national parks and heritage sites in new ways. Our speakers will discuss rural innovation and entrepreneurship, the role of theatre in community engagement, and the development of an app that fuses poetry with the digital to allow National Park visitors to experience 'Poems in the Air'.

The event will also be an opportunity to visit The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre, Northumberland National Park’s brand new visitor attraction that will excite and inspire people of all ages to explore the landscape, history, culture and heritage of Northumberland. There will be a chance to visit the new “Digital Landscapes” exhibition, showing how technology can be used to help enjoy and understand landscape. From maps to apps, walking to cycling, the exhibition showcases how technological advances can encourage users to explore and interpret the landscape.

Following the event, there will be the chance to take a walk to Steel Rigg, the best viewpoint for Hadrian’s Wall, led by rangers from The Sill.

The Sill has excellent public transport links, but we will also be offering a free bus service to and from the event, departing from Claremont Road, Newcastle University campus at 12:30 and returning at 16:15 (will arrive back at the University at around 17:00). Please get in touch if you'd like to reserve a seat on the bus.

This event is funded through the ESRC’s Impact Acceleration Account.

Speakers:

Paul Cowie, Faculty Research Fellow, Newcastle University Centre for Rural Economy

Paul is a Faculty Research Fellow working in the Center for Rural Economy. His research interests are in rural innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in the less traditional economic sectors. Paul is also interested in the use of theatre as a research and engagement method. For the past 3 years he has been working on 'The Town Hall Meeting', a project exploring how communities interact with the planning process in theatrical productions. This contributes both to development of public understanding of the planning process and allows communities to co-produce research which informs future planning policy. The Town Hall Meeting was developed in collaboration with Cap-a-pie Theatre Company.

Lee Bolton, Director, TAC Design

Lee is Director of TAC Design, a brand design agency based in Newcastle upon Tyne. TAC Design was founded in 2009 and specialises in working with clients in the creative, cultural and leisure sectors. Lee was part of the Poems in the Air project, part of Northumberland National Park’s Sill Arts Programme. Acclaimed poet Simon Armitage was commissioned to write six new poems inspired by hidden gems in England’s most tranquil national park. The Poems in the Air app contains all of the information, maps and directions you will need to find each of the six sites and listen to Simon reading his poems in the exact places that inspired him.

Amanda Drago, Creative Producer, Fundraiser and Arts Manager, Art in the Barn

Amanda's background is in dance, having had a 20-year career performing, teaching, producing dance and running her own company Falling Cat, a resident dance company at Dance City, Newcastle. On retiring from dance she joined Arts Council England as Relationship Manager Dance and then latterly Combined Arts where she managed a portfolio of regularly funded organisations across the north receiving £1.2 million annually. She is currently a freelance Creative Producer, Fundraiser and Arts Manager supporting individuals and arts organisations in project management, fundraising, organisational development and business planning. Past and current clients include Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Great Exhibition of the North, Creative Seed, Newcastle Mela, Hexham Abbey Festival and Greening Wingrove.

Amanda is currently putting into practice everything she tells other organisations through her new business venture with her husband, composer and musician Kit Haigh. She is currently renovating Green Croft, an 18th Century farmstead in Northumberland into a an artist retreat space and B&B. Whilst capital plans are progressing, this year she is producing Art in the Barn, commissioning 2 artists to create new work for The Threshing Barn which backs on to Hadrian’s Wall national trail. Kit Haigh has created a generational music installation and Imogen Cloet a visual art installation.

Getting there:

By car: If you are travelling from the WEST along the A69 (from M6/Carlisle), follow the brown & white tourism signs to “Hadrian’s Wall”. As you near the junction, near Greenhead, turn left off the A69 and follow the signs to “The Sill”.

If you are travelling from the EAST along the A69 (from A1/ Newcastle), follow the brown & white tourism signs to “Hadrian’s Wall”. Take the slip road off the A69 towards Corbridge. At the roundabout at the bottom of the slip road, take the third exit onto the A68. At the Errington Arms turn left on to the B6318 and follow the signs to “The Sill”.

The postcode for The Sill is NE47 7AN. Parking is available at a rate of £1/hour.

By bus: There is an hourly bus service (AD122) running from Hexham Bus Station and Train Station to The Sill, the bus journey takes approximately 30 minutes. For more information and a timetable click here. Alternatively, if you're travelling from Newcastle a free bus service is being provided for this event - see above for more details.

About CAKE:

CAKE (Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange) is Creative Fuse North East's monthly networking event, bringing together businesses, freelancers, academics, charities and creative practitioners from across the Creative, Digital and IT sectors. Each themed CAKE event has expert speakers delivering short presentations that explore opportunities and innovation challenges. The events generate debate, explorative discussion and stimulate new innovative ideas by looking at each event’s theme from a variety of different perspectives – in keeping with the event name, attendees enjoy a slice of delicious cake while they network.

Is this event for you?

Whatever your professional background, this event is designed to support this potential by inspiring new conversations and allowing introductions to take place that will enable collaboration.