Chinese Arts Centre's 90 Degrees East

About

Chinese New Year is almost upon us again and to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit, Chinese Arts Centre is hosting a number of events and activities in our main gallery space to see in the New Year in style! 90 Degrees East will be a creative and interactive educational space for audiences of all ages. This is a really exciting opportunity for Chinese Arts Centre to open up its gallery as a working and constantly evolving space. The audience become the artists, the curators and the viewers simultaneously! There will be a number of outreach projects taking place throughout the celebratory period, working closely with the Wai Yin youth group and bringing together two older community groups, the NEESA well women's group in Cheetham Hill and the Wai Yin elderly group. There will be a large art installation created with the youth group and showcased in the gallery for the opening day. Both the NEESA and Wai Yin elderly group will be sharing each other's cultural cuisines, Wai Yin providing the main meals and NEESA providing their South Asian sweets for afters! Documentation of both projects will also be available on the Chinese Arts Centre blog. The gallery will be used as the main space to deliver a number of creative workshops, which you can book yourself on to. Chinese Arts Centre is also eager for any school or local groups to come use the space for free however they want — whether it is to lead a dance class, drama workshop, music session or use as a story telling space. Just let us know what you have in mind and we can make arrangements to accommodate your activity! Main events lead by Chinese Arts Centre will be: Open Rabbit Drawing competition — with the chance to win a free art workshop for your school/ group. All the materials will be provided and already set up in the space for you to use. (FREE) 3D Mask Making competition — open to all ages, this is the perfect opportunity for people to get creative and for teenagers and young adults there is a brilliant prize on offer to spend a day with the current artist in residence! Just pick up a mask pack from the centre, or download the PDF from our webpage any time after the 11 January, build and decorate your rabbit mask and then take a picture of you wearing it in your chosen location! All images can be sent to chinesenewyear@chinese-arts-centre.org and they will be on display on our blog and within the gallery space. (FREE) Illustration Workshops with Stephen Nutall —local artist and illustrator extraordinaire, Stephen Nutall will be running a series of art workshops linking to the themes of Chinese New Year and the year of the rabbit. Stephen is a fantastic illustrator whose workshops are perfect for teenagers and young adults although workshops are open to groups of all ages. (PAID EVENT, BOOKING REQUIRED) Chinese New Year Resource Space — Within the gallery space there will be a permanent resource area for individuals or groups to come along and find out more about the year of the rabbit and Chinese New Year traditions. Come along for a cup of Chinese tea and enjoy a space designed to let you learn, contemplate and be inspired. 90 Degrees East celebratory event - on January 29 Chinese Arts Centre will be holding a celebratory event for Chinese New Year, where we will be announcing the winners of the drawing and mask making competitions and sharing some Chinese music, tea and much more together. Hope to see you all there!