Arts Melbourne

For the past 19 years Arts Melbourne have organised the popular Melbourne Festival Art and Architecture Trail in Melbourne, South Derbyshire featuring approximately 150 artists in private houses, gardens, halls and public buildings in the historic heart of the village.

The team are at the heart of  the creative and performing arts in Melbourne and South Derbyshire organising concerts, performances, workshops, talks, exhibitions, events and community projects in Melbourne.

Having organised a number of Pop Up Galleries and open exhibitions the Arts Melbourne opened Creative Melbourne a Gallery with studios at Wellington House, Church Street, DE73 8EJ right in the heart of Melbourne.

During the period of the pandemic arts Melbourne have delivered four “word” projects working with the local community.

Little Memories of Melbourne was a collaboration with poet Rebecca Goldsmith as part of Arts Derbyshire’s “Writing Ambitions” programme sponsored by Arts Council England. The project collected memories from local residents which were used to inspire “GRASP” a poetry film.

Sonic Tapestry collected soundbites from local residents which sound artist Dr Chris Wright used to inspire a series of sound pieces which built on Rebecca Goldsmith’s GRASP poem. The project was sponsored by East Midlands Airport.

The Melbourne Letters was a letter writing project working with elderly individuals in Melbourne who have become isolated during lockdown. We shared letters and photographs of celebrations and events in Melbourne to improve mental health by remembering good times. The project is  ongoing and was shown outdoors in May. The project was sponsored by South Derbyshire District Council.

Whispers from the Woods was supported by a National Forest Arts Grant. Poet Dan Webber worked with young writers in and around Melbourne to collect a line capturing their feelings about the changes in their social lives as we moved to spending more time meeting friends to walk & talk outdoors. The lines inspired a poem “Evergreen / Everlong  – Whispers from the Woods” which was shared at TIMBER Festival and will be at Markeaton Park in August and  Melbourne Festival in September.