Fair Shares Life History Project

3 October - 15 October
Monday-Friday 9.30am-5pm. Saturday 10am-2pm

29 High Street, Stroud

Fair Shares is a local charity where members volunteer their time and skills to help each other out. At the end of last year a project was launched to record the lives of some of our older members. Each person was matched up with a suitable Fair Shares member who would record the other’s life. For all those involved it has been an emotional journey, with some unexpected outcomes. This is a public exhibition of the work produced alongside photographs, films and personal memorabilia.

Stroud Jazz Sessions: Jake McMurchie special guest
Thursday 13 October 8.30pm

Jake McMurchie will be hitting it hard on the jazz platform for our October Stroud Jazz Session! Jake is the solid sax-man from Get The Blessing who won the 2008 BBC Jazz Award for best album. It promises to be an awesome evening. Book your seats on the couch and on the stage!!
Tickets: £4 (£3 performers) on the door

Soundclash
Friday 14 October 9-12pm

Soundclash returns to SVA with a brand new format – a themed “listening” session hosted in a lounge setting. Featuring rarities, b-sides and left-of-centre curios from the sonic archives, our first experiment will take SPACE as its theme, exploring the outer reaches of the sonic cosmos from radical rock’n’roll to eccentric electronics. Sounds by Pav and Rupert. Visuals by Oogoo.
Free to members

Stroud Short Stories
Sunday 16 October 8pm

Stroud Short Stories returns for another sparkling night of short stories read by their authors. This time we promise used car salesmen and children looking to swap parents, beds in forests and lust in coffee shops, Chris Moyles, daleks and finding the ANSWER TO EVERYTHING. With headliner Roshi Fernando, prize-winning author of Homesick.

Visit: www.stroudshortstories.blogspot.com
Tickets: £3 on the door

Negative Space. The Portuguese Nun + short
Thursday 20 October 8pm (screening starts 8.30pm)

Negative Space screenings continue with The Portuguese Nun, the UK debut of American-born, Paris-based director Eugène Green. At once meditative and enthralling, its visual style reminiscent of past masters such as Bresson and Ozu, the film is both a lyrical study of Lisbon and subtle reflection on the workings of cinema as it follows the on- and off-set encounters of a French actress shooting an art movie based on the story of a 17th century nun.
“Mesmeric, subtly comic and weirdly gripping” - The Guardian.
Tickets on the door: £3/£4

BandiT
Wednesday 26 October 7.30-10.30pm

BandiT is a three day rock and pop workshop for 40 students aged 8 to 16. Students throughout the community come together to form bands and to be creative in writing, recording and performing. The prime function of the workshop is to give young people from all backgrounds the opportunity to gain experience in musicianship, creative song writing, recording techniques and performance skills. The Workshop project will be held at Maidenhill School on 24th-26th October with the final performance at the SVA.
For further information please contact longtrainride.co.uk.
Tickets: Adults £6 Children and concessions £4 from Kanes Records and Maidenhill School

Under the Hare & Sun.
An evening with Rainer Rappmann
Thursday 27 October 7.30-10pm

Taking part in a three-day Action with Joseph Beuys in the 1980s, author Rainer Rappmann has dedicated his life to promoting and extending the work of this iconic 20th-century artist. The ideas and ideals behind Beuys’ Free International University (FIU) live on today through the internationally renown FIU Press, founded by Rappmann. He co-founded and taught at the Free School Achberg (Waldorf School) and the Achberg Beuys Symposium. With his intimate knowledge of Beuys’ work, Rainer Rappmann is bringing to Stroud an evening of films, photos and talk around Joseph Beuys’ ideas on Social Sculpture. This will be an exceptional chance to encounter the work of Joseph Beuys and to hear Rappmann before he moves on to the Museum of Wales, Cardiff to take part in the programme of events surrounding a major exhibition on Beuys and the Celtic Fringe.
This evening has been initiated by Worth Attention (www.worthattention.com) and Simon Ryder.
Tickets: £4 on the door

Halloween -
Mockers Raving Looney Party -
Vote Mockers!
Saturday 29 October 9pm til late

With Halloween approaching I guess its time for the “Mockers raving Looney party”. The Campaign to keep music evil “vote mockers”. With djs lord pavinyl of Nicosia, Lord bucklenick of Chelsea and introducing lord krock of stoke Newington. Expect a night of debauched Halloween tunes monster go go beats and hammer house visuals by vdj oogoo voodoo.A classy night of excellent vintage. Campaign rosettes available on entry.
Tickets: £5 advance from SVA or Trading Post

'Kitty Lake's journey to the Outer Hebrides in 1931

'The Weaving Shed' , 29 High Street, Stroud

4-26 November Weds-Sat 10am-3pm

Sally Hampson will venture up and across to the Outer Hebrides, in the footsteps of Kitty Lake's journey in 1931, guided by her journal into 'a landscape of colours, textures and the peaty brown Hebridean sheep, entwined in the cloth, the rhythm of the timeless cycle, and the sound of peddle looms echoing round the valleys'. On her return 'The Weaving Shed' will be set up in an empty shop in The High Street, Stroud, a reconstruction from 1931, with looms, shuttles, fleece dye plants, Sally will endeavour to weave cloth from Kitty Lake's, journals 'fulfilling her dream of being a village weaver'.

Stroud Jazz Sessions with Nick Malcolm
SVA Thursday 10 November
8.30pm-11.00pm £4 (£3 musicians) on the door

The delightful Stroud Jazz Session will feature the fantastic trumpeter Nick Malcolm as special guest at our daring dazzling jam night! His own quartet has made a big impression at The Vortex, Manchester Jazz Festival and Ealing Jazz Festival during the summer of 2011 and will be touring nationally in 2012 to coincide with the release of their first album.
Stroud Jazz Sessions is every 2nd Thursday of the month at SVA. Each night features a special guest soloist performance, eclectic jazz records, and a stonkingly energetic jam set, and acts as a hub for those interested in listening or performing jazz to come together.

Robinson In Ruins + short

Thursday 17 November, 8pm (screening starts 8.30pm)

Following his acclaimed meditations on urban landscape, London (1994) and Robinson In Space (1997), Patrick Keillor’s latest poetic, provocative “cine-essay” reflects on the hidden histories of the Oxfordshire and Berkshire countryside. Images of ruined country houses and wooded landscapes contrast with an allusive voice-over narration – spoken by Vanessa Redgrave - which muses on subjects such as the protests at Greenham Common airbase and the anti-Poor Law uprising.

Tickets on the door: £4 (non-members)/£3 (members)

Sound Clash presents Voodoo & Hoodoo, Myths & Magick

SVA Friday 18 November
9pm-12 midnight free to members

A series of sonic upsets. Every month. In Stroud. Halloween may be over, but the spooks still come out at night .. Soundclash! presents an evening of magic-themed sonic exotica in a lounge setting. Monster mash-up by Pav and Rupert. Visual voodoo by Oogoo. Potent potions at the bar.

Things from Far East: A Talk by Eunju Yoo

SVA Thursday 24 November
8pm-11pm £3 on the door

Eunju Yoo is a South Korean artist based at SVA. She is a performance and film director running an art production called Take New Take (previously, Under the Bridge). For more info:www.underthebridge.tistory.com.

The talk will be introducing the contemporary arts in South Korea; the changes of the last 15 years.The economic and political environments has been fluctuated in the last 15 years and the dynamic social waves have heavily influenced the new art kids and institutions in South Korea. While the world kept eyes on Kim, jongil’s odd kingdom behind his consistent permed hair and the blend gray suits, South Korea has been writing its own history in their shadow. And, their contemporary arts reflects the past and present of the society.

Keith Allen presents

SVA Friday 25 November 8.30pm-1am
Tickets: £8 advanced £10 on the door

Keith Allen presents an Irish evening with special guests food and frolics. Past events have included John Cooper Clark, Son of Dave, Mik Artistik, John Otway, Ed Tudor Pole, Howard Marks... Plus Eatonsquare with Matt Eaton and Keith Allen who will be performing the first of their monthly operas.
Watch press for more details.

Advanced tickets from Trading Post

Stroud Arts Festival presents
La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast)

SVA Thursday 1 December 8pm
Tickets: £3 on the door

Jean Cocteau made this iconic film in 1946. It is regarded by critics as being variously: ‘Pure Magic’, ‘A visual Masterpiece’ and by Cocteau himself as ‘…. the true mirror reflecting the flesh and blood of my dreams.” The plot of Cocteau’s film revolves around Belle’s father who is sentenced to death for picking a rose from Beast’s garden. Belle offers to go back to the Beast in her father’s place. Beast falls in love with her and proposes marriage on a nightly basis which she refuses. Belle eventually becomes more drawn to Beast, who tests her by letting her return home to her family telling her that if she doesn’t return to him within a week, he will die of grief.

The Performance Exchange

SVA Friday 2 December 7.30pm
Tickets: £3 on the door

Exploring performative practices, an evening of performance video and time-based work, followed by a discussion with the artists. Tactile Bosch is an artist led studio space in Cardiff open to performance and experimental art forms.A curious night of collaboration, do come along and enjoy the work in the deep dark crevices of SVA.

CJB’s Funk Club
Prof CJBparrrt too: more Brown inc. 52% solid James Brown

Saturday 3 Dec 8.30pm-1am.
Tickets: £5 advanced or £6 on the door

Prof CJB returns to deliver more pure solid funk on The One with an emphasis on the undisputed creator of funk: Mister James Brown. This vinyl only session will focus on his heaviest outputs including unedited album tracks and dance classics, specialising in the period with Bootsy Collins on bass and the gamut of ‘The Godfather of Soul’ and ‘The Minister of New New Super Heavy Funk’ 70s grooves. The Brown sets will be complimented by period gut bucket funk selections. Whistles & sweat essential.

Advanced tickets from Trading Post

Mezz#15 Jem Finer

SVA Wednesday 7 December 7.30pm
Tickets: £4.50 on the door

At the time of writing, Jem Finer’s composition Longplayer has been running for 12 years in a Docklands lighthouse. Designed to continue for a 1,000 years without repeating, Longplayer brings together Finer’s interest in technological systems and time... however all these numbers overlook the simple beauty of the composition itself. Trained in computer science, a founder member of the Pogues, and more recently winner of the prestigious PRS New Music Award for his Score for a Hole in the Ground. Finer’s ambitious artworks oscillate between the lure of technology and the physicality of the natural world: the sounds produced by Score … (pictured above) depending solely upon the play of water on metal underground which is then amplified by a large horn extending up into the surrounding King’s Wood in Kent. His most recent piece, Spiegelei which was recently sited at Compton Verney, continues his interest in technology, revisiting and updating the camera obscura. For Mezz#15 Jem will be talking about these and other projects. This promises to be a wide ranging and fascinating encounter.

Stroud Jazz Sessions Christmas Jam

SVA Thursday 8 December 8.30pm-11.00pm
Tickets: £4 (£3 musicians) on the door

Stroud Jazz Sessions will be celebrating the end of a riotously fun and successful year with a Christmas jam featuring all the greats from the Stroud Valleys area in a yule-filled hootenanay of jazz antics! Stroud Jazz Sessions is every 2nd Thursday of the month at SVA. Each night features a special guest soloist performance, eclectic jazz records, and a stonkingly energetic jam set, and acts as a hub for those interested in listening or performing jazz to come together.

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST POETRY SLAM!

Friday 9th December. 7.30pm

A head-spinning night of bardic bravado and virtuoso verse as a glamorous array of gorgeous performance poets aim to woo your hearts and hearing parts in a cut-and-thrust contest of perfect proportions. Heavenly hosts Sara-Jane Arbury and Marcus Moore keep order as random judges mark the quality of the writing, the performances and response from the applaudience. Who will score a beauty and become Stroud’s super model Slammer? Whose poetry will be too beastly? The first round is on the theme of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – after that, anything goes…

For further information, or to enter the slam, please contact Marcus on 01285 640470 or email john.marcus.moore@gmail.com

Mockers presents “Beauty and the Beat”

SVA Saturday 10 December 9pm til 3am
Tickets: £5 on the door

Mockers presents “Beauty and the Beat” in conjunction with Stroud Arts Festival’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ programme. Dress code: Shades. Have you ever noticed the world behind a pair of dark sunglasses? Everything is the same yet everything is different. “You wait 6 months for a mockers and then along comes two”

EVERYBODY DIES BUT ME + short
Thursday 15 December, 8pm (screening starts 8.30pm)

Previously hailed for her raw youth documentaries, Russian filmmaker Valeriya Guy Germanika’s 2008 drama about a group of teenagers in the Moscow suburbs preparing for what they believe will be the event of their young lives – a Saturday night school disco – is a heartfelt and emotionally gripping portrait of teenage angst. Winner of the 2008 Special Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Tickets on the door: £4 (non-members)/£3 (members)

Keith Allen Presents Kid Carpet and DJ Posh Rats

Friday December 16 8.30pm till late

Kid Carpet music has been described as 'kiddy disco punk' and 'shit-hop', as it is recorded in his home studio using instruments such as samplers, Casio keyboards, and various children's toys including plastic Fisher-Price guitars and Tamagotchiinnards. Kid Carpet was the one of the first live acts at SVA back in 2004 where he performed at a party to celebrate the purchase of 4 john Street. He always goes down a storm, it's great to have him back.

Christmas Sucks

SVA Saturday 17 December 9pm-3am
Tickets: £5 advanced or £6 on the door

Disco Sucks is returning to the SVA for a special Christmas edition with a night of 110% underground disco. No re-edits or CDs, just dirty ole vinyl played over the well loved Black Box soundsystem. Disco, funk and early electronic music from the club scene of 70s and 80s New York via the car boot sales of the UK. Plus lights, smoke and science fiction films on the projector. DJs on the night to include Tim Telling, Rossmatic, Deano and B Man.

Advanced tickets from Trading Post

SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS + short

Thursday 22 December, 8pm (screening starts 8.30pm)

One of the great Hollywood comedies, a cautionary - and hilarious - fairytale directed by the late, great Preston Sturges. Following the picaresque misadventures of a director who disguises himself as a tramp and sets out across America to find the true meaning of poverty for his new project, O Brother Where Art Thou, the film has proved an inspiration to later generations of filmmakers – not least the Coen Brothers.

Tickets on the door: £4 (non-members)/£3 (members)

Groove Lounge

SVA Friday 23 December 9pm-3am
Tickets: £5 advanced or £6 on the door

Groove Lounge, from Cornwall has spent the last 8 yrs delivering a non riged music policy. A deep funkness with added latin, mod hammond and northern soul. Resident Dj Richard Ballinger with his huge expansive knowledge of soul music. Has shared company with the likes of Dom Servini, Mark Murphy and Jazzman Gerald. Originally from Stroud Richard has always tried to shift the boundries, experimenting with 60`s R and B and Rock n Roll with the likes of Pav Vinyl. Now were back on the Funk and Soul Trail with future dates at the famous Penzance, Arts Club and the fantastic and experimental SVA.
Advanced tickets from Trading Post