Keeping you up to date

If you want to know what we're up to have a little sneaky peek at our calendar of events (the little square thingy on the right hand side of the page....scroll down and you'll find it)



This will tell you about what we have planned week by week during our thinkARK Wednesday clubs at Cardiff Arts Institute (we're there from 7pm). Lots of things have happened so far from skills swaps and screenings of interesting talks to discussing ideas of potential projects and collaborations and also not forgetting.......the occasional chat and a drink! We will also post details of our upcoming projects and other interesting events that thinkARK are involved in.

So if there is something that tickles your fancy, come along and join in.

Design Process tools for community projects

Useful resource for community design project:

ARK in the PARK video

Recent Press for ARK

Inspiring Women event

Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cardiff/2011/mar/02/inspiring-women-chapter-cardiff?CMP=twt_gu


http://www.guardian.co.uk/cardiff/2011/mar/09/thinkark-cardiff-inspiring-women-display-geraldine-nichols


Womens View
http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/wvon/2011/03/cardiff-to-share-stories-of-inspiring-women/



Cardiff Quiz

Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cardiff/2011/jan/26/future-cardiff-event-think-ark-cardiff-arts-institute-anti-quiz


Media Wales
http://yourcardiff.walesonline.co.uk/2011/01/26/pub-quizzing-our-way-to-a-new-future-for-cardiff/



Journalist student Ed Bolla on our recent skill swap event

http://journobolla.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/capture-cardiff-thinkark/

Wednesday Club - Minutes and any other business

Apologies: With half the gang in Cornwall at the Intersect it was a pretty quiet Wednesday in ARK. However its sometimes weeks like this that I prefer the most, as I get to speak to a small group in more detail about what we want to do or how we need to improve what we do. So what did I learn this week?

We need Minutes, or rather we need to record what we discussed each week in a informal manner. This can be a written, recorded, photographed or sketched. This is for those who didn't make it as well as all you people out there who are still deciding whether to come along or not. Don't worry we know its a scary thing, but take the plunge, say hello and get involved...we are actually quite nice people.....honest!

So what else happened this week? We discussed the best use of the meeting room and bar in the Cardiff Arts Institute for our meetings and this is what we concluded:

Upstairs meeting room works best:
For more formal Wednesday clubs - workshops/ projects discussions etc where the room is facilitated or lead. One of the conversations tonight was around the fact that although ARK has an informal structure, sometimes you need you need a chair or leader to keep things in check.

Downstairs bar works best for:For informal chats and catch ups, welcoming new people in a relaxed environment, like a personal warm welcome. It turns out although 'upstairs' is a great open space it can be a little intimidating for new people to walk into so maybe we need to take it in turns to meet and greet new people, tell them what we do first before introducing them to the bigger ARK picture. What do you think?

We want to develop the Skill Swap Barter Market. Firstly by interviewing everyone who has swapped so far to find out how it went. Secondly by deciding how we develop this idea further. So if you have recently swapped your skills we want to hear how it went....photos would be good too!

Can we organise a ARK school trip? We're thinking a weekend away to learn or develop new skills. Maybe we hook up with a similar group in the UK and where we run a 24hr project? What do you think?

Well that was it for this week, hope to see everyone back next Wednesday.

Lynsey

Create Cardiff quiz

Back in January we arranged an evening of ‘anti-quiz’ at Cardiff Arts Institute as part of their Future/Cardiff project. The quiz took form in several rounds of first a warm up round to get people engaged with things they might know about Cardiff, moving to rounds that encouraged the participants to think hard about what they really knew about their city, and the people they engage with – from their neighbours to Cardiff heroes (a round contributed by Dan Green from Big Little City). Other questions ranged from examining empty properties and landmarks around Cardiff and what they could be used for, and mapping great things like where they thought a difference to their community could be made, and the three best places in Cardiff they had kissed someone! (A nice time to do that, on St Dwynwen’s Day!).

The prize for the evening was ‘knowledge’ and the sharing and learning from it – all who came loved Cardiff and had many views of it and ideas for its future, whether it was based in the realms of planning, sustainable development, community building and engagement, or the Arts.

The night was attended by about 25 people, from many different backgrounds, and all were absorbed during the evening with debating the ‘answers’ amongst their teams – many of the discussions were full of memories and heart-felt love for Cardiff and how it could be improved, and how to preserve the best parts for the future – answers were not necessarily right or wrong, and the event provoked discussion, lateral thinking and laughter among the participants.

Groups came up with words to describe Cardiff ranging from beautiful, creative, friendly and vibrant to the less complimentary - decaying, unfulfilled and soulless. Ideas for unused spaces and empty buildings in the picture round (Callaghan Square and SPIN building (formerly The Gaiety) on City Road) included calls for a skateboard park, outdoor pool, work pods or food market; and for the building, a Chapter East, community centre, theatre, circus school, or mosque.

See more photos on our Flickr page – the evening’s discussions and ideas were recorded by Jordan Harrison from the University of Glamorgan, and is available now at www.jghaudio.wordpress.com.

Thanks to Geraldine Nichols for most the write up.

Where are all the Women?

I was asked a while back if I could think of some ‘inspirational women’ I know to speak at a local Cardiff event. To my dismay, I was stumped. So was the questioner, hence the question. We both sat there, humming and hawing. But as neither of us are Cardiff locals – we used this as an excuse, a poor one but an excuse nonetheless.

This year, it is the global centenary of the celebration of International Women’s Day, www.internationalwomensday.com As the topic entered our conversation at last weeks ARK meeting we decided it would be a perfect opportunity to celebrate ‘inspirational women of Cardiff’. For further information on local Welsh events go to www.cymruwomen.org.uk and www.flarewales.com

The date is Tuesday 8th of March, but ARK will be doing our celebrating on Saturday March 5th.

The intention is to celebrate local inspirational women that enhance our lives everyday, be they a sister, a mother, a daughter, a friend? Has your grandmother done something outstanding? Is she outstanding? Is your friend the only female on the senior management board of a company? Have you worked ceaselessly for the betterment of your community? Does your mother still bake homemade sourdough bread that is a unique family flavour? Did your sister walk the breadth of the Australian desert alone, with one pair of shoes?

Or maybe it’s just their sheer existence that makes your world better. We would like to know. If you would like to ‘nominate’ someone as one of our most inspirational woman then get in touch.

More details will follow.

Posted by Laura on behalf of Sharon