Spring 2014 • northumbria.ac.uk •
NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY NEWS
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CULTURE
CULTURE CRIME STORY • 31 May – 1 June • Northumbria University
Jony Ive The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products
We’ve commissioned a crime and it’s up to you to solve it! Northumbria University and New Writing North are following the success of the 2012 Newcastle Writers’ Conference with Crime Story, a crime fiction festival aimed at aspiring and established writers and crime readers.
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he weekend-long festival will include discussions, workshops and panels all themed around a fictional crime. From initial investigation to final sentencing, participants will be able to directly access expertise from Northumbria academics representing law, criminology, health and forensics. Invited guest speakers and best-selling crime authors will also be on hand to guide delegates through the writing process. In a scenario written by Ann Cleeves, prize-winning author of the Vera Stanhope series (now a major ITV series starring Brenda Blethyn) and the Shetland Island Quartet, a young man is found dead in a locked room. He leaves behind a grieving foster mother, a landlord who keeps to himself, and a picture of an
By Leander Kahney This new biography offers a detailed portrait of Northumbria University graduate, Sir Jonathan Ive – Senior Vice-President of Design for Apple and the man behind some of the world’s most iconic products, including the iPhone, iMac, iPod and iPad. Before you read on, we feel it’s our duty to point out that the weather in Newcastle isn’t always dreary! The following extract is taken from Chapter 2: A British Design Education focusing on Jony’s time at Northumbria University.
called Design for Industry], furniture design, fashion, graphic design and animation. The department is well equipped with lots of tools and technology. ‘The designers are able to use a range of materials – wood, paper, plastic, metal, leather, kevlar, cotton, you name it,’ said Professor Paul Rodgers, who lectures on design at Northumbria, though he didn’t teach Jony. ‘They have access to all these machines – drilling, sawing, fastening, stitching, etching, burning, you name it. And they receive really good training in those workshops, backed by a technical staff.’ The ID department at Newcastle, founded in 1953, gained recognition in the 1960s, in part because of its close ties to British industry. According to another alumnus, Craig Mounsey, who completed the course a year before Jony, ‘Newcastle had the reputation for being the best… They won everything. All of the design teachers at school would parade the work from Newcastle as being the standard.
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Renowned for its beer (Newcastle Brown Ale), football team (Newcastle United) and horrible weather, Jony’s new home was a vibrant, industrial port city. When he arrived at the city, Margaret Thatcher ran the country, and the mainstays of the city’s economy, shipbuilding and coal, were in decline. Despite the rain and Mrs Thatcher, Newcastle had a reputation as a party town. Roughly a sixth of the city’s inhabitants were students and the city centre was home to many bars and nightclubs. In 1985, Jony’s first year in university, the British music scene was as lively as ever, especially in the North, where bands like The Smiths and New Order gained national attention. Within a few years, the city’s nightclubs would be host to a rave scene, thumping to the dynamic electronic dance music that Jony came to love. Now known as Northumbria University, Newcastle Polytechnic was (and still is) regarded as the top college in the United Kingdom for ID. These days, the design school has about 120 staff and admits about 1,600 students from more than 65 countries. The department, then and now, is housed in a tall building called Squires Building*. ‘It was a rather brutal big building but was a great place for creativity in general,’ said David Tonge. ‘It was shared with fine art, fashion and craft just over the corridor. This was before industrial design had become fashionable.’ Each floor of the building is dedicated to a different design discipline: ID [Industrial Design – now
#iwantNU
* Northumbria’s design department is now housed in the award-winning City Campus East design building, with space in Squires.
DISCOVER MORE Jony Ive, The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products is published by Penguin and is priced at £14.99.Copies are available on campus at Blackwells Bookstore, or can be purchased online by scanning the code.
enigmatic girl smiling down from the bloody wall. And so begins the crime story… With their murder scenario in hand, Crime Story participants will get an in-depth look at how the criminal justice system works... and how it sometimes doesn’t. Crime Story is an unmissable opportunity for any lover of crime fiction – from aspiring writers to curious crime fans wanting to peek behind the covers of their favourite fictional world. The festival takes place right on campus and tickets are available for all interested students, staff and members of the public from 14 February 2014.
DISCOVER MORE For further information, or to book, a place visit www.crimestory.co.uk.
Ann Cleeves
The Business of Performance There’s no doubt about it – the acting world is a competitive and challenging industry. But there’s far more on offer for the Performing Arts graduate than landing a part in Corrie or treading the boards in the West End. Many Northumbria graduates have carved out high-profile acting careers finding employment in TV, film and theatre. Others, however, have become their own boss, launching successful cultural businesses and in turn creating even more acting and theatrical opportunities. NU News looks at the work of four performing arts graduates making waves in the industry.
Becky Zimmerman and Stephanie Noble Performance graduates Founders: One Day Creative After studying a range of specialist modules, year three Performance students at Northumbria are offered the freedom and support to create and deliver their very own cultural project. It was this element of the course, alongside work experience with regional dance agency, Dance City’s Creative Projects team, that inspired Becky and Stephanie to look beyond acting and explore the world of theatre in education. The two entrepreneurs launched One Day Creative Education in 2013 following several years working for other theatre in
education companies. At that point they had already gained extensive industry experience – such as the delivery of international projects including community work in Romania. Becky said: “We wanted stability and the chance to employ a wider range of business skills. I believe that strong performers are usually strong communicators – and I think this is why I enjoy the sales and marketing elements of business today.”
Becky Zimmerman (right) and Stephanie Noble
EXHIBITIONS
Elizabeth Blackadder: Prints.
Ørnulf Opdahl: New Paintings
Staff, students and visitors to Northumbria don’t have to travel far to soak up some culture. With internationally-renowned art right on campus, the University Gallery and Gallery North are artistic hotspots open to the wider public. Why not check them out over your lunch break? University Gallery Ørnulf Opdahl: New Paintings 7 February – 28 March. Born in 1944, Ørnulf Opdahl lives and works on the island of Godøy (God’s Island), on the west coast of Norway near Ålesund where he was born. Strongly influenced by the magnificent coastal landscape surrounding him, his paintings reflect the threatening power of nature but can also resemble paradise on earth, of winter nights and starlit skies.
Gallery North Elizabeth Blackadder: Prints and Lucy Jones: Looking Out, Looking In: Portraits and Landscapes 4 April – 23 May. Dame Elizabeth Blackadder’s masterly use of printmaking allows her to depict everyday objects with spontaneity and ease. By contrast, Lucy Jones is a painter of provocative self-portraits and unpeopled landscapes of raw, wild beauty.
Colour/Boundary until 21 February Colour/Boundary explores the concept of colour using references as diverse as cinema, landscape and cartography featuring five artists: Caroline De Lannoy, Sharon Hall, Clyde Hopkins, Mali Morris and David Sweet. The exhibition is supported by Arts Council England.
DISCOVER MORE For full details on all gallery listings, visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/universitygallery and www.northumbria.ac.uk/gallerynorth
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DISCOVER MORE A new MA in Theatre and Performance Practice is being launched in September. This new venture is designed to give students invaluable professional experience bridging the gap between undergraduate study and the creative industries. To find out more about Northumbria’s Performing Arts courses visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/arts
A successful funding application to the Business Enterprise Fund in Bradford secured £15,000 to kick-start the business. One Day Creative Education now works with over 500 schools across the country using drama to educate children on subjects as diverse as e-safety, environmental concerns and historical events.
Amy Golding
Amy Golding Drama and Applied Theatre graduate Founder: Curious Monkey
DISCOVER MORE To find out more about their work, visit www.onedaycreative.com
An organisation creating new opportunities for students is Curious Monkey founded by Amy Golding. After several enjoyable years with Live Theatre (one of Northumbria’s key cultural partners), Amy was looking for a new challenge. Curious Monkey was born to bring together her love of working in community settings and the professional directing experience gained at Live. The company brings to life stories that deserve to be told, and this has taken Amy as far as South Africa to work with young women from the Eastern Cape creating a production that was performed at South Africa’s National Arts Festival and within a number of male prisons. Amy points out that the course at Northumbria provided her with a strong grounding for her professional career. She said: “Having practical experience,
Ali Pritchard Drama and Scriptwriting graduate Founder: Alphabetti Spaghetti “Original, off the wall and clever”. This is how the BBC described Alphabetti Spaghetti’s debut production in 2012 – a great start for this new writing theatre company founded by Northumbria graduate Ali Pritchard. The company was formed to create opportunities for new talent and bridge the gap between study and employment. And it’s working! Taking over the upstairs space in a city centre venue, Ali has created a public platform for writers, directors, actors and set designers. He’s already seen one of his new discoveries snapped up by a leading actor’s agent, immediately securing work with an internationally-renowned theatre company.
In launching Alphabetti Spaghetti, Ali has had to put into practice the wider business skills that he developed through degree modules such as Arts and Entrepreneurship and Professional Directions. He is now responsible for writing funding bids, pitching for sponsorship, running and programming a venue, commissioning new writing and of course, his biggest passion, writing and directing new work.
DISCOVER MORE For more information, and to find out what’s on, visit www.alphabettispaghettitheatre.co.uk
A scene from a production by Alphabetti Spaghetti
accessing rehearsal space and delivering projects in the community during my time at Northumbria really set me up for the world of work”. The practical facilitation, as well as covering topics such as fundraising, evaluation, production and management – all crucial skills require to take on many roles – added a real edge to Amy’s graduate CV. She added: “I urge Performing Arts students to make the most of their university days and the vast range of resources on offer at Northumbria.”
DISCOVER MORE For further information, or to book, visit www.curiousmonkeytheatre.com Check out Curious Monkey’s latest project Beats North blog here: http://beatsnorth.tumblr.com