Artists’ Pitches for the Chinese New Year Celebrations on Sunday 29th January 2012

2012 welcomes the auspicious Year of the Dragon and Sunday 29th January 2012 will see London celebrate in style with a one-day festival featuring a Dragon parade through the streets of Soho, performances on a spectacular stage in Trafalgar Square as well as the lion dances throughout the day in Chinatown.



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This Chinese cultural celebration will feature a sumptuous selection of artistic presentations. These will include screening of a short film about how different groups in the Chinese community celebrate the festival, Chinese music performed through collaboration between Chinese and Western musicians, Festival Poetry performed in Mandarin and English, Festival songs performed by leading Chinese vocalists (along with a local community choir) and a multimedia dance piece based on the myth upon which the Festival is based.

Audience members will also be treated to samples of the traditional festival MOON CAKES and Chinese tea.

‘Moonlight Reveries’ is funded by Liverpool Primary Care Trust, Arts Council England and Merseyside Police Authority, and is supported by Merseyside Dance Initiative, Confucius Institute, Hope Street Ltd.

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Chinatown Arts Space Creative Director David Tse discusses the subject of Arts vs the Professions in an article in the May edition of Hong Kong's Baccarat magazine. The article is available to access via a PDF file - click the link below to view/download.

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On Friday 3 December, Barnet Council announced their proposal to cut all core funding to artsdepot, the only professional arts venue in the borough, with effect from April 2011. This decision comes as a huge shock because of the late notice and our previously good relationship with the Council. At an already uncertain time this leaves the future of artsdepot in an increasingly vulnerable position.

To support your local arts venue, please pledge your support by signing the petition now, and pass it on to others you think may be interested.

SAVE artsdepot Petition Online

The I Value the Arts campaign aims to provide a voice for everyone who values the arts in their community and it has now received 16,430 pledges of support. This is great news, and a true reflection of how cultural services are an integral part of every community. However, in light of recent developments it is now more important than ever that everyone has the opportunity to sign up. I would like you to help raise the profile of the I Value the Arts campaign and get more people involved. It is vital that you get in touch with as many people as you can and ask them to pledge their support at www.ivaluethearts.org.uk

As you may know, the recent Comprehensive Spending Review left local councils facing an average cut of 28 per cent. The non-statutory status of local funding for cultural services has meant that the arts sector is left vulnerable to bear the brunt of these local authority cuts.

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