OH MY DOG! but Creative Routes is thrilled to announce that we are roaring for submissions of artistic proposals for BonkersFest 2008. Submission details at the bottom of this notice...

BonkersFest! 2008 'De-normalisation: The next civil rights movement?'

Saturday 7th June 2008 in London AND at exactly the same time and date in four other parts of the UK!

Bedlam, The Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, Lambeth Road, London SE1,

Sunday June 8th 2008

BonkersFest! Tea Party Camberwell Green, London SE5

BonkersFest! the acclaimed annual arts and music festival opens a public space to a roaring creative vortex. A celebration of the pure embrace of both art and madness working to a single end, the moral purpose that great art embodies and a truly joyful exaltation of madness, creativity, the expression of individuality and diversity.

In 2007 BonkersFest! identified normality as a mental health issue

and showcased the top shelf of the UK's mad and normals world of musical and artistic talent.

Jo brand opened the festival by firing hundreds of bananas out of a canon. There was a wide range of music in a Big Top; a virtual reality tour of the local loonies bin made with mad in-patients of the Beardsley hospital; Morris Dancers; The Big Utter Video Diary; theatre and musical tent; dance; exhibitions; visual art commissions; art installations; therapies tent; and BonkersFest! Advertising Breaks screening the commercials made by the BonkersFest! Madvertisng Agency and students of the London College of Communication and screened on a giant TV throughout the day.

"Bonkersfest!...a huge success, you should be very proud of yourselves" - Jo Brand

To see what else Jo Brand had to say visit http://www.laplandmusic.net/CreativeRoutes/BonkersFest/guardian.html

Us Bonkerfolks don't want to aspire to normality, we think madness facilitates incredible creativity. We believe as with the natural world, there is a political, social and cultural ecosystem, and if the notion of normality creates distress this ecosystem is unbalanced.

BonkersFest! 2008 will be constructed of de-normalising zones, moving out in concentric circles from the centre. Your proposal will be assessed on its artistic merit and then assessed into which zone it fits into.

We want to hear from the mad and from normals, from individuals, groups and organisations, we want proposals from performers, film makers, ideas peoples, visual artists, performing arts educators; carnival peoples, person standing in the street, actors, musicians, dancers, chorographers, directors, playwrights, scriptwriters, journalists.

We want the wildest and maddest ideas, the most normals of ideas and visions from the widest variety of genres, styles and techniques. You have an opportunity to be part of a growing Festival, engage with a huge diverse range of peoples, exchange creative wotsits and develop new collaborations.

Creative Routes will run a range of commissioned BonkersFest! projects that involve workshops for their members.

Please submit your initial expression of interest ONLY on 1 side of A4 and your full contact details to Creative Routes by Friday November 23rd 2007.

e-mail to: [email protected] with subject heading: BF08 Proposal

or snail mail to: Creative Routes (BF08 Proposal), Camberwell Pleasure Centre, Artichoke Place, London. SE5 8TS.

BonkersFest! is managed by Creative Routes (an award winning arts charity run by the mad for the mad based in Camberwell, South London) in partnership with MadPride, Arts Council England, South London Gallery, Young Vic Theatre, Shape, Attitide is Everything, Nomadic Collaborations, Dave Morris of GLA, Continental Drifts, individual artists.

".....From the spectacle of iconic summer events such as The Notting Hill Carnival and the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, to growing events such as the Shoreditch Festival or BonkersFest! in Camberwell, our streets, parks and open spaces have been filled with activities...."

Sarah Weir. Executive Director, Arts Council England

ACE September 2007 Issue - Summer In the City - see intro & p8.

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/documents/newsletters/IssueNo12Sept07PartOne_phpfynnNE.pdf

Supported by Southwark Council and Arts Council England

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