Friday 4 December 2015

Beach Hut 44



Tonight was a special night as we knew that many of the delegates from The Art of Ritual conference would be coming down to the hut as part of their programme for the day.  So we pulled out the big guns and asked Beyond team member Kirsty Tyler to get her creative thinking cap on and produce something wonderful for us all to see and she exceeded all our expectations.

Hut 44 beside Hove Lawns became the home of a beautiful, hand-crafted nativity scene built entirely from cardboard.  Not only was the scene gorgeous to look at, but it was also animated via a series of handcranks and cams which made the various figures come to life when someone chose to turn one of the handles.










The angel on the roof opened and closed her wings.









The donkey nodded in the direction of the baby Jesus.


The star twirled in the sky like a dancer pirouetting.


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The wise men seemed to have got mixed up with a lost sheep.




At the heart of it all were the holy family, bedded down in the straw and trying to focus on the wellbeing of the baby rather then being distracted by any guests.




Tomorrow we're at hut 449, right beside Hove Lagoon.  Another one of our team, Julie Carroll will be at the hut throughout the afternoon, offering to pray for you or with you.  Please drop by any time after 2pm to join in with this and the official opening time will be 5.30pm as usual.








The Art of Ritual

Today Beyond hosted The Art of Ritual conference with support from the Westminster Faith Debates.  I brought together artists, celebrants, ritual practitioners, event designers and performers to look at the boundaries between all these roles and the place of ritual and art in contemporary human experience.

It was a fascinating day covering all sorts of interesting topics which we hope to blog about in more detail later.  But for now, here are a few photos from the event to give you a flavour of our day.





The opening ceremony encouraged us to focus on the creative spark in each of us.











Turning the remains of the sparklers in a creative bubble.






Cole Moreton invents a 'human sparkler' ritual.








Such happy, creative people!