We start 2014 with the news that Melanie Manchot’s
Tracer (commissioned for our 2013 programme) will be featured in her upcoming solo exhibition at
Oriel Davies Gallery in Wales. The exhibition launch is on Saturday 1 February from 3-5pm and includes a live parkour performance. Tracer is also currently screening at
MOT International in London until 1 February as part of group exhibition, When the Grid Goes Soft.
Artist Paul Merrick, filmmaker Hal Branson and Craig Cheel from Apeuro Parkour & Freerunning worked with pupils from Hotspur Primary School (pictured, above) to make a short film inspired by
Tracer.
Here's the result (spoiler alert: it's absolutely brilliant and we couldn't be prouder). Great North Run Culture Director Beth Bate said, "
We're delighted that Melanie's project has inspired these young people to make their own film. All You Need is Glove
is a really lovely piece of work and we were impressed by how quickly the group learned skills such as parkour, filmmaking and storyboarding and how well they worked together as a team to produce the film in just three days."
Read Paul Merrick’s project blog to find out more.
Anyone lucky enough to catch Paul Smith performing
A mind full of nothing but continue at The Sage last September and chatting about it afterwards will know that he has a way with words. So you won’t want to miss
Paul on BBC Radio 2 talking to Dermot O'Leary about his #GNRC13 project and writing lyrics about the Great North Run. (Oh, and the brilliant new Maximo Park album of course.)
A huge thanks to everyone who took the time to fill in our #GNRC13 audience survey – a whopping great 95.7% of you said you were made to feel very welcome (for this we’re very grateful to our friendly team of volunteers), while 90% of visitors rated their experience as excellent or good. Aww, you guys!
This year we're not only looking forward to commissioning exciting new work but we’ll also be celebrating the 1 millionth finish of the BUPA Great North Run – a world first right here in the North East. Watch this space for more news and we wish you all a fantastic 2014.
