WE can’t go TO the theatre, but we can still enjoy great theatre and opera and dance, thanks to the marvels of digital technology, and Robin Peters, director of Strode Theatre at Street, hopes that people will join in regular streamed productions and get at least a little of that performance magic. He says: “With…
MESSUMS Wiltshire, based in the 700 year old tithe barn at Tisbury, is launching a series of online exhibitions, events, interviews, essays and virtual tours. The impact of the coronavirus means people are “being asked to make previously unimaginable changes to our lives to keep us all safe,” says Johnny Messum, explaining that during the…
HAUSER & Wirth, the international fine art gallery, which has Hauser & Wirth Somerset at Durslade Farm, Bruton, has responded to the coronavirus crisis by launching Dispatches, a series of online exhibitions, original videos, and experiences. The aim is to connect the view “with our artists – and all of us with each other –…
MUGWORT doesn’t have the most appealing name in English, but its scientific name “artemisia” will be familiar to anyone interested in the history of herbs. Its medical uses included preventing weariness on a journey, according to a 16th-century medical text that is the inspiration behind a herbal border at the National Trust’s Lytes Cary Manor…
THE story of Nicholas McCarthy’s young life so far has been one of challenge, determination, tenacity and success. He shot to fame in 2012 at the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games in London where he joined the likes of the band Coldplay. It was apt that a pianist of just 23 years and born…
JUST a month ago, print-maker and artist Peter Ursem was looking forward to an exhibition with The Arborealists, at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton. Now, with the exhibition cancelled, because of Covid-19, in common with all visual and performing arts events, the Dutch-born artist, who lived in Dorset for many years and is now…
THE coronavirus regulations mean many older people are forced to isolate themselves, and for some, particularly if they are on their own or don’t have a garden, boredom and loneliness may be a problem – a Somerset artist has launched a service which may also introduce some to a new hobby. Joanna Commings from Wellington,…
THE main Iford Festival programme of operas and concerts for 2020 has been cancelled, but the team hopes that the Picnic Proms may be able to go ahead at the end of August and beginning of September. A statement from David Moss, Chairman of Iford Arts. “As a consequence of the government’s advice relating to…
TO mark International Piano Day, the Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton invited Sarah Nicolls to introduce the audience to her Inside-Out Piano, on Sunday 29th March at 3pm. Now, in the light of the Coronavirus measures, the performance will be broadcast on line at the same time, and will be available for a week….
THE trustees of the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World have announced that, in response to the severe funding challenges that CCANW shares with many other arts organisations, they have decided to close on 31st March. The charitable incorporated organisation’s work will be re-focussed through an independent curatorial practice led by CCANW’s founder,…