FESTIVAL OF THE BRAIN
21 - 24 MAY 2015
The Festival of the Brain brings science
and art together over four days to explore
the brain. What happens when connections, chemicals and catastrophes send
things off course and is there such a thing
as normal?
Friday 22 May
WORKSHOP
Mindfulness
Co-curated with Susanna Howard of Living
Words and Diane Dever of Folkestone Fringe.
You can enjoy as many Normal? events as you
like with a £15 day pass or a £40 four day pass.
Thursday 21 May
THEATRE
Paines Plough
Every Brilliant Thing
1.30pm & 7.30pm, 14+
Adults £10 / £8 concessions
You’re six years old. Mum’s in
hospital. Dad says she’s ‘done
something stupid’. She finds it hard to be happy.
So you start to make a list of everything that’s
brilliant about the world. A new play about depression and the lengths we will go to for those
we love.
WORKSHOP
Ladder to the Moon
The Film Studio
3.30pm FREE (advanced booking only)
An interactive Film Studio experience:
reimagining the classic film Robin Hood. The
session is especially suitable for people living
with dementia and their supporters.
Launch Event
5.30pm - 7.30pm FREE (not incl. ticket to Every
Brilliant Thing)
Join us for the launch of Normal? An evening
combining a selection of cultural highlights, professional networking and brain fuelling cocktails.
The festival will kick off with a networking event
for artists, academics and those working in
health and social care with the aim of encouraging future cross-sector collaborations.
WORKSHOP & SHARING
Brainstorm
7pm FREE
A show in a day! An exciting
opportunity for local fearless
teenagers to work with director
Ned Glaiser, to explore the teenage brain. The
group will create a mini version of the successful
show Brainstorm which is at the National Theatre
this summer.
Box Office 01303 760 750
8am & Throughout the festival, FREE
Sally-Ann Cranage leads our mindfulness sessions throughout the festival - come to one or all
of our sessions.
LUNCHTIME TALK
Dementia Brain
1pm, £3
Writer and filmmaker James Murray-White and
neuroscientist Dr Tim Rittman explore media
representations of the world of dementia - plus
information on the brain and dementia.
WORKSHOP
English National Ballet
Dance for Parkinsons
2pm, Tickets £3 (advanced booking only)
English National Ballet is a UK leader for Dance
for Parkinsons. This taster workshop for people
with Parkinsons, their carers, friends and family
will provide an opportunity to enjoy an artistic,
creative and motivating social activity, alongside
like - minded individuals.
FILM & PANEL DISCUSSION
Watch / Still Normal?
4.30pm, £3
The premiere screening of Watch by Leah Thorn
and Ewan Golder, a short film about the impact
of dementia on a father/ daughter relationship.
Followed by an energising panel that includes
filmmaker James Murray-White; Director of Old
People and Physical Disability Anne Tidmarsh;
and Chris Gage of Ladder to the Moon.
THEATRE
Smoking Apples & Little Cauliflower
CELL
6.30pm, 11+
Tickets £10 / £8 concessions
Humorous, heart warming and
hopeful, Cell features charming puppetry, physical theatre and an original musical store to tell
the story of one man’s final adventure to create
enough memories to last a lifetime.
THEATRE
Crackpot
8.15pm
Adults £6 / £5 concessions
Susanna works as a writer with
people experiencing dementia.
Sometimes people think she’s a crackpot. Then
they see the results. Crackpot is a funny, bold
and insightful show about a woman’s seven
years working with people experiencing dementia.
www.quarterhouse.co.uk
Saturday 23 May
WORKSHOP
Mindfulness
3pm, £3
Feel good, relax and have fun through movement, music and dance! Through self-massage
exercises, yoga, gentle movement and choreographic games Mita Pujara will guide you on a
journey to release YOUR inner creativity.
POETRY
WORKSHOP
12pm, FREE
INSTALLATION
Mrs Minteeda’s Marvellous Mind
12pm - 6pm Tickets, FREE
Mrs Minteeda is Marvellous but things inside her
mind are not always what they seem. Guided
by the hosts you will explore the wonder of love,
curiosity of language, and mystery of perception.
Take a chance, spin the Brain Carou-cell and
uncover what it feels like to live with dementia.
WORKSHOP
Your Best Self
12.45pm, FREE
In this interactive workshop, solution focussed
coach Rayya Ghul and conceptual artist Nicholette Goff will create a space and provide a
variety of familiar and unusual craft materials,
plus some great questions for you to explore who
you are at your best.
LUNCHTIME TALK
Anxiety in the Brain
1pm, £3
Anxiety and depression influence nearly a third
of individuals at some point in their lives and
carry enormous economic and emotional burden
for both the indivdual and society. Dr Oliver
Robinson is an MRC Career Development Award
Fellow based at the institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London.
WORKSHOP
Strangeface
Normal? Us?
1.45pm, £3
Come with members of your
family or close friends to explore
your identities through mask
making. This focused and fun workshop will
have you working as a team, creating masks to
explore sides of yourself you might not show on
a regular basis. For ages 4 to 104.
WORKSHOP
Salmagundi Films
Thinking Machines: iPad Animation
2.30pm, £3 (advanced booking only)
Explore the emotional roller coaster of being
human, using stop frame animation and boiler
suits. Learn to animate the boiler suits and
tell a story through their body language. The
short film produced will be screened on loop at
the festival. The workshop is suitable for ages
14-25.
Box Office 01303 760 750
Dance To Feel Good
Brain Food at Follies
4pm, FREE (not incl. food & drink)
Listen to words and performance poetry from
fellow Folkestonites exploring brain matters,
while you chow down on some brain stimulating
dishes. Come along to listen, and eat! Hosted by
Follies.
READING
Reading for Wellbeing
Sat & Sun, 4.30pm, FREE
What is so good about being told a story? Reading for Wellbeing explores the positive effects of
listening to someone read aloud. It helps people
to feel relaxed, comforted and able to express
themselves through discussion. Zena Cooper
discovered Reading for Wellbeing whilst working
in a mental health service and she has run
groups for individuals with and without mental
health issues.
WORKSHOP
Mindfulness
5pm, FREE
THEATRE
Talk About Something
You Like
6.30pm
Adults £10 / £8 concessions
A funny, moving and unflinchingly honest account of mental illness. In 2011,
Byron spent his summer resting in the magnolia
bosom of an NHS psychiatric unit. In this show
he extends the frayed mitten of insanity in the
hope that you might shake hands.
THEATRE
Fake it ‘til You Make It
Work in Progress
8.15pm
Adults £6 / £5 concessions
Award-winning artist Bryony
Kimmings is back with a brand
new collaboration that seeks to blast the taboo
of mental health out of the water. Expect home
made music, stupid dancing, onstage arguments
in this heartwarming celebration of the human
brain.
www.quarterhouse.co.uk
THEATRE
Sunday 24 May
WORKSHOP
Mindfulness
12pm, FREE
WORKSHOP
Living Write!
12pm, £3
Writing to clear your brain and release your
words. Led by experienced flow writing teacher
Susanna Howard, this workshop is guaranteed to
leave you feeling calmer and happier. Come with
a pad, a pen and an open mind!
LUNCHTIME TALK
Understanding Trauma
1pm, £3
Come and learn about what trauma really is and
how it can affect a person’s life, get tips for those
who have experience of trauma or have loved
ones suffering. Includes the benefit of the arts
and the role of diet in self - healing. Led by Sarah
Stringer
WORKSHOP
Singing is Good for You
2.30pm, £3
With a growing number of singing for health and
wellbeing groups it is clear that singing can have
a positive effect on our health, both mental and
physical. Come along and join in this fun and
friendly singing session.
READING
Reading for Wellbeing
4.30pm, FREE
WORKSHOP
Liberation from Normality
4.30pm, £3
In this workshop we will look at how ‘normal’ is
defined and how we are effected by these definitions. Using painting and drawing materials we
will create visual images to capture expressions
of our responses. Led by Arike.
WORKSHOP
Mindfulness
5pm, FREE
PANEL DISCUSSION
Performing Normal?
5pm, £3
This panel discussion will look at how the arts
are changing people’s understanding of the brain
and mental health issues. With special guests
including performance artist Bobby Baker and
researcher Paul Camic.
Box Office 01303 760 750
This Room
6.30pm
Adults £10 / £8 concessions
In This Room, Laura Jane Dean
reveals the actualities and artefacts of a therapeutic process.
Working with neuroscientists and a CBT therapist, Laura attempts to understand what it might
mean to be ill, what it might mean to get better
and invites us to ask, ‘Am I okay?’
FILM & PANEL DISCUSSION
Behind A Mind
7.30pm, FREE
Short film ‘Locked’ by Behind A Mind, exploring
OCD. Winner of the Scottish Mental Health Arts
and Film Festival. Followed by a short panel
discussing OCD with Laura Dean and Claire
Gellard, director of ‘Locked’.
Exhibitions & Installations
INSTALLTION
Annie Ho Cooper
Annie’s work explores memory - what is lost as
well as what can be found for people living with
dementia. Her work explores the stories behind
material objects, which can often trigger special
memories through exploration of all our senses
including touch and smell.
INSTALLATION
Brain Wave
Laura Froude’s ‘Brain Wave’ paintings are on
show at Quarterhouse for the duration of the
Festival Of The Brain.
READING
Bibliotherapy
Reading for Wellbeing with Zena Cooper, 23 &
24, 4.30pm, FREE
Local Author readings 23 & 24, 2pm, 2.45pm,
3pm, FREE
From high art to zen poems to comics, our library
is for YOU. Come, relax and read stories that
hold your hand and reflect life back to you. If you
are a local writer your work is influenced by the
brain and mental health, contact us for a slot in
the Bibliotherapy space.
INSTALLATION
Diary Drawings
A corner of Quarterhouse will become an
intimate screening room for a digital exhibition
of Bobby Baker’s Diary Drawings. Bobby began
her Diary Drawings in 1997 when she became
a patient at a day centre. Originally private, they
gradually became a way for her to communicate
complex thoughts and emotions to her family,
friends and professionals.
www.quarterhouse.co.uk