On Friday 19 April we had the pleasure to host local Kingston artist Martin Alton’s book launch event, Cracked Paint.
Take a look at the full video to gain a further insight into events at FUSEBOX.
Find out about more upcoming events at FUSEBOX via our What’s On page.
🎨🌈 The Bear Trail promises a colorful adventure for everyone, whether you’re a family in search of holiday fun, friends seeking outdoor excitement, or simply someone who loves exploring art in unexpected places. Best of all, it’s free to attend and open to all ages!
🌸🐾 With the trail spanning ten weeks, there’s ample opportunity to join in the excitement. Whether it’s Easter holidays or the May half term, the Bear Trail offers the perfect escape for keeping the little ones entertained and creating unforgettable memories together.
But that’s not all! As you journey through Kingston upon Thames, keep your eyes peeled for one of the bear sculptures stationed outside FUSEBOX. This special addition to the trail offers a unique opportunity to experience art in a vibrant setting, adding an extra layer of excitement to your Bear Trail adventure.
Ready to join the fun? Head over to Kingston and let the Bear Trail lead you on a journey filled with whimsy, creativity, and endless discoveries! Make sure to pop in during our opening hours to pick up a guide leaflet from our Box Office team. Once you’ve ticked off all 10 bears across the town centre you will receive a ‘Kingston Bear Expert’ badge of honour!
For more information and to plan your adventure: KingstonUponThames.info/beartrail
Don’t miss out on this paw-some experience! 🐾✨
Update from Kingston First (15/04/2024): “We’re really upset to share that Spectrum, one of the bears that is part of our Bear Trail has been targeted by vandals and thrown into the River Thames. Fortunately, there is CCTV coverage and we are liaising with the Police on this. We’d like to thank all the people who have offered help and support to retrieve the bear, which is testament to the wonderful Kingston Community Spirit. It’s heart-warming to read all your concerned messages, we know how loved the beautiful bears are. We’re currently working on retrieving the bear from the waters and will keep you updated on when and if the bear will return to be part of the trail”.
After the announcement that Creative Youth had won Best Charity/Social Enterprise Award at the Kingston Borough Business Awards in February 2024, we’re thrilled that our work developing FUSEBOX as a new multi-arts venue on Kingston’s riverside was recognised by the community.
FUSEBOX has now been officially open since July 2023, after a short pilot programme which ran from January – June 2023. The space has been home to exhibitions, comedy gigs, live music, conferences and more in that time and we look forward to continuing to welcome the community and letting young artists make the space their own to play and test new ideas.
Thank you to Time & Leisure and everyone who voted, and to SDS for sponsoring the award.
If you haven’t had a chance to visit FUSEBOX, check our our What’s On page or head down during our regular opening hours, Wednesday – Saturday, 11am – 6pm.
[Stage image credit: Joshua Tucker Photography]
‘Facing Futures’ is an exploration into the future of the ever-changing world around us, what it might look like and how these changes may impact the human experience. The curated works cover a diverse range of visual art mediums such as painting, video & photography.
The Facing Futures Launch Night will take place on Thursday 28 March 2024 (18:30 – 21:00). This event will allow for exhibiting artists to network and discuss their works with those in attendance.
Creatives for Culture collective was founded in 2021 with the purpose of building a strong network of filmakers and and film industry professionals. Since then, they have expanded to include those working in a wide range of creative fields.
We are please to be hosting Creatives for Culture this April for their annual creative network event. This event will include guest speakers, small businesses pop ups, a DJ set, film screenings and musical acts, with food sold on the day.
www.creatives4culture.com
Instagram: @creatives4culture
Currently at uni or college and preparing to apply to drama school? Or looking to get into acting and lacking the schooling experience? Or are you interested in acting and want to learn more?
Creative Youth are delighted to be bringing you a series of professionally focused workshops, designed to give emerging actors key advice, feedback and skills to prepare them on their journey into the acting industry.
Suitable for anyone aged 16+. Just 10 places per session are available!
KAOS is a group of professional, semi-professional and experienced artists living and working in the Kingston area.
We are also pleased to announce that KAOS has partnered with FUSEBOX to launch KINGSTON YOUNG ARTISTS competition.
Artists will be exhibiting their work at FUSEBOX during Kingston Open Studios over two weekends: 18-26th May 2024.
WOM Collective are a grassroots organisation of London based female artists, passionate about inspiring and empowering each other and our communities.
We are thrilled to be able to offer a creative and affordable space for them to organise workshops, experiment and develop future projects.
Known for their murals, paint jams and creative workshops, expect to see a wide variety of projects coming up in and around FUSEBOX over the coming months.
Funded by the Foyle Foundation, this Creative Youth commission asked for artists to highlight the heritage that lies within FUSEBOX, including the Medieval Undercroft and the stone foundations of the Old Kingston Bridge. The project aims to engage both local and wider communities in the history of Kingston, as well as inspire creativity and engagement within FUSEBOX and throughout the borough.
Our selected artist is Steph Ward, a local artist who graduated from Kingston School of Art in 2019. Steph’s proposal for our heritage installation is to design and create a stained-glass window installation, illustrating the history of Crafts and Community in Kingston. This piece will then be installed permanently within FUSEBOX in Spring 2024, becoming a new architectural feature that generates discussions around community, heritage and creative inspiration within the space and throughout Kingston.
We are incredibly excited to be supporting Steph in the process of creating this stained-glass installation. With our Artist Heritage Project now officially underway, head to the project page to stay up to date with how FUSEBOX’s heritage installation progresses.
This project is funded by The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Community Resilience Fund. Having identified a need for affordable spaces for creatives to come together and work with communities, we are launching our Community in Residence Programme in FUSEBOX, our new multi-arts venue on Kingston’s riverside.
WOM Collective are a grassroots organisation of London based female artists, passionate about inspiring and empowering each other and our communities. Over the years, the collective has proudly been a part of numerous community projects, touching the lives of children, teens, and adults alike. WOM Collective are committed to supporting communities and young people, and we are thrilled to be able to offer a creative and affordable space for them to organise workshops, experiment and develop future projects.
Creative Youth is looking forward to building relationships with WOM, whilst offering the collective support and advice in key areas such a fundraising and establishing connections within the borough. Known for their murals, paint jams and creative workshops, expect to see a wide variety of projects coming up over next year. Head to the project page to stay up to date on our new found collaboration.
Mindful Art Exhibition
17 – 26 January 2024
Since February 2023, Creative Youth has been collaborating with Mind in Kingston and Mind Richmond to run free weekly mindful art sessions at FUSEBOX for young people aged 12-25. We are delighted to now be sharing the culmination of artwork that has been produced by the young people that attend these sessions. This exhibition will run from Wednesday 17 – Friday 26 January 2024. Find out more about Mindful Art Sessions.
Kingston Art, Music, Pop Fashion 1960s – 1990s Exhibition
2 February – 27 March 2024
AMP Kingston is a National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) supported project, exploring and celebrating Kingston’s musical heritage from the 1960s – present day. Through a mix of oral histories, archive material and intergenerational community responses, this range of displays aims to connect the community to the rich cultural legacy of the area, and inspire and support the next generation of creatives. This exhibition will run from Friday 2 February – Wednesday 27 March, find out more.
Creative Sparks is returning in February 2024, with the opportunity to discover more exciting emerging creatives than ever before! Creative Sparks sees emerging artists from different backgrounds to take over FUSEBOX with music, visual art, theatre, comedy and more. With thanks to Arts Council England funding, Creative Youth is working closely with our panel of Young Creatives to produce 4 Creative Sparks evenings throughout February. These evenings will take place every Friday and follow a different theme each week.
Want to take part in our February Creative Sparks nights? Apply to our open call here (Deadline: Friday 12 January).
Our friends at Story Storks opened our festive programme with a sold out performance of The First Father Christmas. Families were left enthralled by the catchy songs, immersive lighting and interactive storytelling that filled the venue over the weekend.
Laughter could be heard throughout the venue over the next week with outstanding comedy from Bad Clown’s: Christmas Crackers and Comedy vs Climate Change’s: Oil I Want For Christmas. Both companies brought along an outstanding variety of comics that delivered high energy performances with incredible feedback from our audience members.
Creative Youth also offered intimate festive film screenings of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Elf. Set amongst FUSEBOX’s christmas lights and decorations, these holiday classics reflected the festive atmosphere that can be felt within the Creative Youth team as we reflect on the fantastic year we’ve had.
Thank you to everyone who attended our festive events, stay tuned for a new programme of events starting up in the new year, including acting course: The Kingston Players and our AMP Exhibition!
Drop in any time between Wednesday – Saturday, 11:00 until 18:00 and explore Kingston’s new creative space.
Our Box Cafe & Bar offers a variety of hot and cold drinks, as well as a relaxed and open atmosphere – whether you’re a freelancer looking for a new space to work, or simply wanting a catch up with friends.
Take in the surroundings of Kingston’s historical artefacts as you explore our new creative space. With plenty of events and exhibitions coming up on our What’s On page, there will always be something exciting for you to discover on each visit.
A huge thank you to all of wonderful supporters for coming to celebrate to launch of FUSEBOX on the 7th July 2023.
Robin Hutchinson, chair of Creative Youth, said: “FUSEBOX is quite simply a game changer for Creative Youth ensuring we can offer young creatives a dynamic, flexible and inspiring place. A home for them to develop their ideas, projects and partnerships. Even the pilot programme has shown that great things will emerge from this space and now we will be open full time, the opportunities just multiply.”
Incoming Co-Directors of the Charity, Archie O’Neill and Daniel Cartlidge, chatted to Time and Leisure Magazine about their hopes for the space and how FUSEBOX plans to make a positive impact on the local community.
Said Archie: “Creative Youth works across any art form you can think of – visual, performance, dance, video games and film. It’s really important for us to have this space. We’ve been somewhat behind closed doors during the pilot season while the facade was reconstructed. But we’ve had young people inside and experimenting with the space. This launch event is important for us to show what we have done so far, our plans for the future and making sure everyone feels included.”
They have been thrilled with the response to the pilot season. Said Daniel: “These last six months of testing have helped us to establish key partners and contacts with community groups and we have a broad range of people who want to use the space for multiple different reasons. We want to fill it with all kinds of art from all kinds of young people in the local area and surrounding boroughs. It’s about being able to delve in to community work and see what is happening in the youth clubs, the arts centres and drama groups and give those who don’t have performance venues or exhibition spaces a platform to showcase their work. We are really excited for the future.”
Kingston has so much to offer in terms of creativity and culture, says Archie. “When I came here and joined Creative Youth two years ago I was amazed to see how many young people there are creating and making things. A lot of that comes out of the university but also from the likes of a really dynamic youth service such as Achieving for Children, who are engaging young people on a regular basis through youth clubs, and with initiatives such as Anstee Bridge. The aim of FUSEBOX is to give young people a space they can fully take over as well as having the expertise from a team like ours who can support them in the next step of their careers.”
Archie added: “It is also a beautiful space and it’s important to showcase FUSEBOX as a heritage site, which is now open on a continuous year-round basis for the local community to see.”
FUSEBOX will be open to the general public from w/c 4th September on the following days:
If you have any questions or would like to get in touch with us please feel free to contact us on fuseboxkingston@creativeyouthcharity.org
Kicking things off on Friday 30 June (20:30) is Lu Greco with their incredible fringe piece Gender Fluid Babe Manifesto, a piece about a trans person killing their internal demons from their root. Set in the context of being brought up in Argentina in the 90s, and told through act, spoken word, dance, drag and visuals. Find out more
Following on Saturday 1 July (20:30) is Guilherme Cosme’s – Perspehone and the Ghost Brother. A dark and immersive visual music experience which explores themes of mental health, sexuality and religious brainwashing. His homonymous album, released in 2022, is a meditative collection of tunes which finds the singer diving deep into his own battle with mental illness. Find out more
Get involved on Sunday 2 July (12:30 & 14:30) with Amy Sze Production’s perfomative workshop, Be Right Back. All about migration and diaspora, the workshop uses playful storytelling through scaled 3D-printed miniatures, maps and interactive modelmaking. As an all-migrant creative team from Hong Kong, the collective encourages the participants to share their experience and ask: How can we build a community together and share our common experience of being an immigrant in Europe? Find out more
Rounding off the first weekend of the festival at FUSEBOX is Qingyang Wang’s Journey of Whispering Dreams (Sunday 2 July 20:30). The solo performance is a blending-together of autobiographical fragments, poetic text, physical movement, dance, soundscapes and ancient Chinese cultural references, including an allusion to the classic play Peony Pavilion. Find out more
Our first July performance is ASHES from the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Cracow on Tuesday 4 July (20:30). While maintaining an intimate and private narrative, the show portrays a clear image of a family breakdown in the modern world. Inspired by a monologue from the TV series “Bojack Horseman”, the creators reinterpreted the well-known story, enriching it with private experiences and rewriting it in order to fit the reality we live in. Find out more
On Wednesday 5 July (20:30) we have BeBop Theatre bringing you A Grand Day Out. Ever wondered what would happen if you got your divorced parents back together again for a day? In this funny and intriguing performance, BóNJ is pulling in all their family favours and really hoping Gran keeps picking up the phone. It’ll be just like the old days…Right? Described as somewhere between the warmth and comfort of yer Gran’s homemade soup and ‘Marriage Story’ (2019), this is a playful show that’s not to be missed. Find out more
Next in the line up at FUSEBOX is Maria Telnikoff’s: My Dad Wears A Dress, on Thursday 6 July (20:30). In this one-woman show, Maria explores her own personal experience of growing up with a transfemale parent: the highs, the lows and the heels!
Filled with early ‘00s nostalgia, it’s a personal yet relatable show about growing up, difference and acceptance. Find out more
Finish your festival week laughing at our stand up comedy evenings, with perfomances on the 6 and 8 July (15:00) from Whole Lotta Comedy where the comedians of the future perform for you today. Young comedians who are already making their way on the UK comedy circuit join together to entertain you. Find out more
If that’s not enough, Best of Brighton Fringe: Comedy will be concluding our week on Saturday 8 July (20:30). Each year Creative Youth’s wonderful team of young people head to Brighton Fringe to judge the best theatre and stand-up comedy shows by performers under 27 at the festival. Be sure to catch this year’s choices and keep an eye on our website for the announcement of the winners making their way on the UK comedy circuit join together to entertain you. Find out more
