 As part of this year's Spirit of Manchester Festival hosted by Manchester Community Central, we invite you to come and join us for a day of art, creativity and fun on 26th September.
We will be showcasing the excellent work produced by people who use the Booth Centre. You will be able to see some fabulous art work, video productions and some live performances from our opera group. Refreshments will be provided so please come along, have a look at our new premises and see what we have been up to. RSVP to: james@boothcentre.org.uk Date: Friday 26th September Time: 13:30-15:30 Venue: The Booth Centre, Edward Holt House, Pimblett Street, Manchester M3 1FU
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 Swap the rush hour for an hour of musical entertainment from Streetwise Opera’s Manchester performers; let our songs inspire you for the rest of the week!
Watch uplifting performances from people who’ve been empowered by singing and acting together in weekly workshops at the Booth Centre and the Methodist Central Hall. There’s a taste of Verdi’s Macbeth, the world premiere of a very special new song by Stef Connor (Streetwise Opera's Composer in Residence) and other musical treats in store. We hope you will join us for this short, informal evening in the lovely refurbished Library – our groups are all about having fun and trying new things and that’s what this evening is about too! 'Everyone was talking about the passion and power of the performance afterwards' Audience member ‘It really improved my confidence, singing in front of a group’ Streetwise Performer Tickets: Free, but space is limited to 50 people so reserve your seat now (includes a free soft drink) 6-7pm (doors open at 5:30pm) Manchester Central Library, St Peters Square, City Centre, M2 5PD Click here to reserve your space online. Or call Streetwise Opera on 0207 730 9551 or email admin@streetwiseopera.org  The Answer to Everything is an interactive film and live opera event set in a conference. At first smarmy compere Steve Hedges keeps the delegates united and corporate confidence appears sky high, but as music gradually engulfs the business rhetoric his world begins to fall apart. Do they really have ‘the answer to everything’? Moving between stage and screen, the audience is invited to take part as conference delegates in this cheeky, satirical look at big business. Skilfully mixing performances from Streetwise Opera’s homeless and ex-homeless performers with a handful of professionals including renowned soprano Elizabeth Watts, this rich and characterful 70-minute experience features new commissions by Gavin Bryars, Orlando Gough, Emily Hall, Anna Meredith and Duncan Ward with existing music by Britten, Handel, Gounod, Schumann and Vivaldi. This is a live performance with optional audience participation; come dressed in your finest business-wear, collect your lanyard and conference pack from the Welcome Desk and get ready to ‘break out’. Monday 10th February 2014, 18:00-19:30 Cornerhouse 70 Oxford Street Manchester M1 5NH Tickets £8.00/6.00 £6.50/4.50 members £3 Live Wire Members Buy tickets - On sale from the Cornerhouse box office. 
Tomorrow the Booth Centre's Streetwise Opera singing group will be travelling to London to perform at the British Film Institute on the South Bank in the premiere of The Answer to Everything. This is the culmination of two years of devising, recording, filming and rehearsing.
To coincide with the premiere, celebrated soprano (and Patron of Streetwise Opera) Elizabeth Watts, Duncan Ward and The Sacconi Quartet have generously allowed Streetwise Opera to release their recording of 'Lascia Ch'io Pianga' from Handel's Rinaldo as a single to raise funds. The track appears in a section of The Answer to Everything and also features Streetwise Opera singers from Manchester and Nottingham singing a chorus part devised by Duncan Ward. This is Streetwise Opera's first commercial release. You can download the track for just £0.79 - all proceeds will go to help fund Streetwise's work at the Booth Centre and around the country. If you can't get to London to see the performance then we hope you'll download the single and listen to this unique track, which will give you just a flavour of the unique opportunity the Booth Centre gives homeless people to take part in professional opera singing with all the benefits of increased confidence, and self esteem that it brings. I LIVE TEMPORARY is a digital installation created by homeless people from the Booth Centre, in collaboration with experimental arts organisation, arthur+martha.
Customised postcards, sound recordings and an epic tweet poem carry tiny stories, little snatches of homeless people’s lives. These voices are often unheard, but they have insight to offer everyone. Combining text, sound and image, I LIVE TEMPORARY is a report from life outside the borders of comfort and acceptance. Funny, sad, angry, resigned - here are all the human colours. arthur+martha works with people who are pushed to the margins of society – older people in hospital, excluded school pupils, holocaust survivors and many others. Launch event Date and time: Friday 11th May, 2 – 4pm Venue: The Egg, University of Salford, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Salford, M50 2HE Exhibition general opening times: Open: Friday 11th May - Friday 1st June. Times will vary. Admisson: Free Venue: The Egg, University of Salford, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Salford, M50 2HE Full details about the event are available on the University of Salford Arts Events website. We recently took part in the Peripheral Vision project in conjunction with the Workers' Educational Association, which used digital media and visits to cultural venues in Manchester to help people improve their creative film, art and photography skills. Culminating in a film festival and a book launch, this project encouraged those on the periphery to challenge others’ vision of society today. Here are some of the films created by the people that took part in the project: And this video gives some more information about the project and how people responded to it: We had great fun taking part in this initiative and got a lot out of it! For more information about the project please visit the Peripheral Vision website. On Friday 25th November 35 people decided to brave the cold weather and sleep outside Manchester Cathedral to raise money for the Booth Centre.
The event raised over £5,000, which will make an immediate difference to the work the centre can do. Amanda Croome, manager of the Booth Centre said "The number of homeless people in Manchester has increased recently and the Booth Centre is doing everything it can to ensure that as few people as possible end up rough sleeping, and those that do are able to get off the streets as quickly as possible. This boost to our funds will make a real difference to our work." Although the event only gave a glimpse of what life on the streets is like, we wanted to make sure that those participating understood the reality of sleeping rough. "We asked two people who have slept rough in the past to give everyone taking part a true picture of what it is really like to sleep out, how dangerous and demoralising it is and also to explain how they have rebuilt their lives with help from the Booth Centre." Among those taking part in the event was Jill Southern, who works at St Thomas Primary School in Leigh. "It was a great experience. I did get a couple of hours sleep, but I'm lucky enough to be able to come home to a warm house and a cosy bed afterwards. The evening really made me appreciate what I've got." A huge thank you to everyone that took part and made this event such a success! For photos of the event please see our facebook page.  On 30th June our Streetwise Opera singing group put on a performance of Fables: A Film Opera at the Zion Arts Centre in Hulme, as part of the Not Part Of Festival. It was a fantastic event and a huge success.
This is a photo of the group, just before they went on stage (photo by Ciara Leeming) To find out more about our collaboration with Streetwise Opera and our programme of musical activities for homeless people, please see our Music page. Here are a few photos we took from our entry in the 2011 Manchester Day parade. We had a great time walking the parade route with our giant explorer and jungle creature, and the atmosphere was fantastic. Almost 70,000 people lined the streets to watch the parade, and we were even lucky enough to have some sunshine to brighten up the day!       The Booth Centre and The Royal Exchange Theatre recently worked together to produce a play entitled LOVE. This is a short trailer that was made with the guys from the Booth Centre to promote the play and the work going on within the Booth Centre and The Royal Exchange Theatre. Film shot and editied by Ali McElhoney / ASBO Productions. LOVE Trailer from Ali McElhoney on Vimeo. |
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