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New Spaces > New Artists > New Art |
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Monday 7 March marks the culmination of 8 years of planning, fundraising and building as The Junction in Cambridge opens three facilities for the creation and presentation of new art as part of its Arts Council lottery funded redevelopment programme.
The 3 new Junction facilities – a theatre, an education space and an art & new technology laboratory – are all set to inspire the latest generation of artists, audiences and participants.
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New Spaces
Each of the 3 new spaces is numbered for simplicity.
Junction 2 (The Shed) is a modern and uniquely versatile performance space designed to present drama and small-scale dance. This is a unique combination in such an intimate auditorium and the architectural design team, led by Plowman Brown Architects, worked incredibly hard to achieve an intimate auditorium with good sightlines, which could accommodate small-scale dance with its demand for a disproportionately large performance area. Special funding was secured from Arts Council England East to fund the dance specification. As a result the auditorium has a fully sprung timber dance floor finished in natural oak boards.
Inspired by Georgian courtyard theatre, the auditorium bridges the distance between audience and artist in an intimate and compact design.
Development Director, Robin Townley, commented “Because of the flexibility of the theatre I genuinely hope that members of the audience attending two very different shows in the same space may perceive that we actually have two theatres - a small intimate small capacity studio theatre for new writing and drama and a larger Georgian Courtyard Theatre for dance.”
For theatre practitioners the possibilities within the new space will be enormous. All spaces have been designed with flexible technical infrastructures that will allow artists to experiment with different performance styles and lighting designs and to easily integrate new technology.
Attenders will appreciate the generous foyer and all day cafe bar at the front of the new theatre with tables and chairs spilling out onto the new piazza. The café bar is set in a dramatic double-height, sunny glass fronted foyer that forms the social hub of the new facilities.
Junction 4 is ideal for participation, community use and artists' residencies. This facility is specifically designed for classes and workshops for people of all ages.
It has the same footprint (floor area) as the stage in the main theatre so productions may be created and rehearsed in Junction 4 and then transferred exactly into Junction 2. This means that groups such as the school and community dance companies involved in The Junction's annual Youth Dance Platform will have an ideal space for class and rehearsal before performing or transferring to the theatre.
With feature windows designed to give it a light and airy feel and with a fully sprung floor, this auditorium will be particularly suited to physical arts activities including dance and other forms of performance.
To date The Junction has presented a programme of over 650 classes or workshops and 30 children's shows. The intention is to increase this to over 800 classes and workshops in the next twelve months.
The new Education room will allow the flexibility both to accommodate these activities and to programme more of them, including participatory dance, new technology and music. Moreover, it will allow activities to be scheduled at the most convenient times for participants.
Development Director, Robin Townley, commented "The new education space will allow more classes and workshops for children of all ages, plus better arrangements for parents. During children's activities, parents will have the option to relax in The Junction's new all day café or to use amenities in the wider Cambridge Leisure Development with its cinema, bowling alley and fitness suite. They will also enjoy the added convenience of secure car parking, cycle racks and bus connections and should be reassured that the new education space has been designed very much with safety and supervision in mind.”
Junction 5 , a brand new Arts and New Technology Laboratory, completes a trio of new creative spaces. This offers a dedicated location for artists to explore the integration of new technology into the arts using the latest equipment.
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New Artists
From the 7-12th March the launch programme for the new theatre takes on an international dimension as The Junction welcomes East Meets East, a series of performances from four of Eastern Europe’s most exciting, accessible, colourful, culturally diverse and entertaining companies.
Click on the following links to take you directly to the show highlights: Akhe, Toaca, Drak, Teatr Novogo Fronta
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New Art
There is much to savour and enjoy in these new facilities and the progressive programme of arts activities they will house.
From March 2005 professional drama at The Junction will be increasingly innovative, challenging, experimental and international with higher profile fringe theatre successes and ‘Jam’ nights introducing up to 4 new companies in a night. It will appeal to those with a taste for theatre beyond the mainstream.
The dance programme will broaden, offering more than contemporary dance, but still seeking innovation and original forms of delivery and presentation.
Family and children’s performance at The Junction will have more diversity, more for those aged 5 years and over.
Community Theatre performances are likely to increase as potential hirers become increasingly aware of the benefits of using the new space and the affordability of the reduced hire fee charged to community users.
The growing participatory programme will involve a greater diversity of workshop types with increasing numbers of one-off or one term workshops led by leading drama, dance and music professionals.
In short, The Junction’s New Theatre season promises a frantic, beautiful, heart-wrenching and enjoyable selection of the best new work of the moment.
Contemporary theatre will be joined by comedy, dance and spoken word, plus a few events that transcend categorisation. The flexible seating arrangements mean that world music and acoustic gigs can move into the new space, giving them the intimate atmosphere they deserve.
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