{"id":765,"date":"2020-01-10T09:12:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T09:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=765"},"modified":"2020-01-10T09:12:38","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T09:12:38","slug":"765","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/01\/10\/765\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

INTO\nTHE NEW YEAR WITH NEW IDEAS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nits first four years of existence, when serving the arts scene in the Rochdale\narea of the UK, all across the arts<\/em>\ngrew from providing one page per week to The Heywood Advertiser to two pages\nper week. The organisation grew further by then providing two pages per week to\nThe Middleton Guardian and The Rochdale Observer, with all three newspapers\nbeing part of the Manchester Evening News Media Group. The organisation was\nthen granted local revenue funding with the caveat that we continue to provide\npositive media coverage of the local arts offer. That gave us the opportunity\nto apply for the funding for specific projects in which we could work with the\ncommunity on issues of tolerance and awareness and the accumulation of literary\nskills through workshops with major elements of creative writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nensure we were able to create the widest possible awareness of our work, all across the arts<\/em> then launched a\nweekly community radio programme with me and Steve Bewick and, latterly, Steve\nCooke as presenters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Steve Hignett (left) with Dave McKeon<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We were able to accommodate an array of artists live on the programme and memorable nights included performances by young song-writing band The Social Leftover, and by Steve Hignett of Pandemonium Percussion, with Dave McKeon. We interviewed poetry publisher Andrew Moorhouse, as well as a couple of mayors and several Councillors. We invited local authors like Adam Souter and poets such as Katie Haigh to discuss their work. As presenters we chatted \u00b4all across the arts\u00b4, reviewed the arts press and occasionally played iconic jazz tracks. We were broadcasting to listeners in places like Montreal from a tiny shed-sized room down a Rochdale back street and it seemed like the universe was our oyster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst\nof course the excitement of retiring here to Lanzarote was intoxicating it was\nwith a heavy heart that I handed over the reins of our UK dealings to Steve\nCooke with the agreement that I would develop a synergy over here by\nduplicating the format we had successfully applied in the UK. Steve, of course,\nhas further developed all across the arts UK, too, in that time playing an\nimportant role as a link4life board member for Rochdale MBC and establishing a\ncomplementary company in Stories We Could Tell, a title we had once used for a\ncommunity project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nhas now been four years since my arrival here, and we are producing a weekly\nmajor feature  about arts and culture via\nthe on line site at Lanzarote Information and occasionally in the print media\nin the monthly Gazette Life magazines. We have even been invited to chat about\nour services on Monster FM, a major European radio broadcaster and, of course,\nthis work has been specifically addressing events and issues on the arts and\nculture agenda here in The Canary Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps\nmost importantly, though, we launched this all\nacross the arts blog<\/em>, Sidetracks And Detours in June 2019. We have in that\nshort space of time created a pool of just under 20,000 visitors to our pages.\nThis is largely because its presence on the worldwide web affords us the\nopportunity to talk about global arts events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over\nthe last six months we have covered events and arts developments in Portugal,\nthe UK, South Africa and Cuba and we know we already have pockets of readers in\nSouth Korea, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Cuba, Spain, The Canary Islands, UK and\nThe Chanel Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\ncan now use works we already have \u00b4in the can\u00b4 to ensure we build on this\nalready substantial platform. With that in mind we have designed several new\nseries for introduction in 2020 that we are confident will please our readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ann Cleeves
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Words\nFrom The Writer<\/strong> will\nbe a monthly interview with successful authors, including Rachel Abbot, the\nBritish writer of psychological thrillers, the Writing News Short Story Award\nwinning Andrea Sarginson, Ann Cleeves, creator of the TV series Shetland and\nVera, Debbie Howells, author of The Bones Of You,  Michelle Davis, a writer with eighteen titles\non goodreads, Karin Rick, who created Twists Of Lust And Trust and Isobel\nBlackthorn, who saw her novel The Drago Tree, set on Lanzarote, re-invented as\na best-selling travel guide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Male writers will be offering us a few words, too, of course and we have already recorded interviews with Larry Yaskiel, a magazine publisher with two books currently in the bookstores, one telling of his former life as a music manager involved with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Leo Sayer and groups like The Searchers, and the other compiling the historical and cultural links over the last six hundred years between the UK and Lanzarote, many of which will amaze you. Miguel Aguerallde and Louis Brierley, are both prolific writers of science fiction and like all the others listed here are each already phenomenally successful. Poet James Nash is another name on that list, and we have other targets, too, with whom we are confident of securing an interview, including some aspiring writers we believe might go on to emulate the achievements of those listed in this paragraph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Katie Haigh
talks to
Sidetracks And Detours<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Of\nThe Arts Community\u00b4<\/strong>\nwill als<\/strong>o introduce you to less\nhigh-profile stars whilst featuring reports on\nthose who employ their nevertheless considerable artistic skills for the\nbenefits of their neighbourhoods. In these articles you will meet people like\npoet and activist Robin Parker, local historian, writer, poet and musician\nMichael Higgins, and performance poet Katie Haigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Are\nThe Music Makers<\/strong>,\nis also be a new monthly series, looking at the body of work of late, great artists\nlike Mickey Newbury, Kate Wolf, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and John Stewart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nwill also introduce Cathryn Craig, a session singer who went on to a solo\ncareer, and her fellow American female singer Katy Moffatt and we will also\ntake an in depth look at the former leader of The Stormkeepers, Gary Hall, an\namazing songwriter who recorded as a solo artist for the Roundtower label. This\nseries will introduce us to the writers of works like American Trilogy, Across\nThe Great Divide, L.A. Freeway, Waiting Round To Die and Daydream Believer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Graham Marshall<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

News<\/strong> has always been\na major ingredient on Sidetracks and Detours and we will continue to bring you\nall that becomes available from a wide range of arts disciplines, and new\ninitiatives by the Cabildo here on Lanzarote and by other governing bodies\naround the world. The news will, as ever, also feature a network of artists and\ninclude submissions from some of our \u00b4press-ganged volunteers\u00b4 like Graham\nMarshall with his specialist knowledge of classical music and Steve Bewick the\njazz radio presenter. We also hope to introduce new occasional reporters such\nas Seamus Kelly and Alan Lawless, (look out for some of his jazz reviews). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nthis early into the New Year we have delivered extensive previews<\/strong> of the imminent\n36th<\/sup> Annual Classical Music Festival to be held over a month long\nperiod across the eight Canary Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Duo Cassado<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reviews<\/strong> will be posted soon of recitals\nby <\/strong>Cuarteto\nde Cuerda Ornati, Duo Cassado, Cora de Camara Ainur, Camerata de La Royal\nConcertgebouw Orchestra de Amsterdam and Orquesta de Camara Rusa de San\nPetersburgo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special\ninterest features<\/strong>,\nlike the piece we ran last year on the museum \/ house of the late winner of The\nNobel Prize for Literature, Jose Saramago, will continue to enjoy prominence on\nour site. In 2020 we will explore other unique locations like the Cic El Almacen,\nand the theatre in the caves here on Lanzarote. We will also be offering unique\nperspectives of arts installations such as our nearby Underwater Museum and of\nthose by Anthony Gormley, particularly of that on Crosby Sands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Podcasts,\n<\/strong>and\nthe production thereof, turned out to be a slightly steeper learning curve than\nwe had anticipated in 2019 but Jim Loughrill, author of My Silent Voices, has\nrecently given us something of a crash course. Sidetracks And Detours in 2020 will\nemploy podcasts to guide you towards our re-releases and new recording of\nLendanear material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hyperlinks\nare another tool we have not sufficiently or correctly employed up to now, but\nwe promise to make our links more accessable and relevant. These links will\nbecome the Sidetracks And Detours that make your meanderings all across the arts<\/em> even more\ninteresting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nrecommendations page<\/strong> will\nbecome a regular feature in 2020 on which readers will be able to make their\nown personal recommendations to fellow readers about favourite bands, albums,\nradio or TV programmes, live shows and their best loved books. We hope you\nwon\u00b4t mind if we chip in, too, with some recommendations of our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arguments\non the arts scene<\/strong> are\na given, of course. Indeed it is part of the raison d\u00b4etre of the arts to spark\ndebate so we intend to voice our arguments to support our opinions. We will\noccasionally spotlight decisions of government that impact on that scene\u00b4s\neffectiveness. In so doing of all this we promise to continue our desire to\nview  so called high and low art forms\nside by side, whether its radio or TV or live performance, whether it is painting,\npoetry or pottery, or dance or drama. We will continue to take the road less\ntravelled and to find our way down Sidetracks And Detours as we continue our\nexploration all across the arts.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INTO THE NEW YEAR WITH NEW IDEAS In its first four years of existence, when serving the arts scene in the Rochdale area of the UK, all across the arts grew from providing one page per week to The Heywood Advertiser to two pages per week. The organisation grew further by then providing two pages […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}