HANDSWORTH CREATIVE

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN COMICS?

DO YOU LIVE IN HANDSWORTH?

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN THE LOCAL HISTORY OF OUR COMMUNITY?

Handsworth Creative is looking for new cartooning talent to be involved in an exciting and innovative local adventure.

Handsworth Creative CIC (Community Interest Company) is a not-for-profit company formed as an umbrella for creative and local history projects in Handsworth. The first such project will be ‘Handsworth – The Comic’, a history of our neighbourhood in graphic novel format.

Hunt Emerson, one of the directors of Handsworth Creative, is a well known comics artist, resident and working in Handsworth since the 1970s. He is probably best known for his comics in The Beano. Hunt is leading the Handsworth Comic project, which starts with a series of free workshops in schools and youth centres aimed at discovering new local talent to work with professional comics artists on the Handsworth History stories. The workshops will also include studio sessions and visits to Soho House, and the Old Town Hall on College Road.

The project also includes archive recorded interviews with Elders in the Handsworth community, conducted by journalist and sound artist Andrew Cowen. The first of these, with the late Reg Gower, is online at www.handsworthcreative.com.

Hunt told Inside Handsworth: “All of us in Britain are surrounded by history. We believe that Handsworth has as much, if not more, of that history, and that the young people should know about the stories and legacy of the place they live. Comics are an effective and popular way to tell that legacy. Handsworth is famous for its association with Matthew Boulton, James Watt and the Industrial Revolution, but the comic book will cover much more than that. There are tales from Neolithic times right up to more recent Handsworth events such as the visit by Muhammad Ali. There are also many interesting characters and personalities with Handsworth connections that we will feature in ‘Handsworth – The Comic’. We are hoping, through our workshops, to identify a “core group” of new comics talent who will work with us on the comic book. There is no age limit, though we expect the comic to attract older teens and young adults.”

Inside Handsworth will keep abreast of developments, and we will report as there is further progress.

Find out more about the Handsworth Creative project – you might be able to join the workshops, and to meet and work with professional comics artists.

Contacts:

Hunt Emerson: hunt@handsworthcreative.com

Surjit: surjit@handsworthcreative.com

Twitter: @HandsworthCreat

http://www.handsworthcreative.com/

http://www.facebook.com/l/zAQHMhT5E/www.handsworthcreative.com

With thanks to Hunt Emerson