The Chesterfield Postcard Show - Opening Weekend
The Chesterfield Postcard Show opens on the 9th of May at West Studios and to celebrate we are hosting a special print workshop on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th of May. So, as well as enjoying the artwork on display, you can make your own! There will be teas and coffees served, with all profits donated to Junction Arts.
The Chesterfield Postcard Show is organised by Junction Arts and local artist Dave Elsom, to allow creatives, communities, and up-and-coming artists to show their work in a professional exhibition.
The Chesterfield Postcard Show
9th – 19th May @ West Studios
Opening Weekend & Print Workshop
13th & 14th May – 10.30 am – 2.30 pm
The exhibition is free to attend and open to all.
Pieces will be available to buy during the exhibition to raise money to support local arts charity Junction Arts and their work within the community.
Tapton Lock Festival 2023
Junction Arts and Derbyshire County Council present the Tapton Lock Festival.
Over the weekend the banks of Chesterfield Canal will come alive with outdoor theatre, music and dance, arts and crafts workshops, stalls, a climbing wall, ‘have a go’ canoes, boat rides and much more.
The event takes place around the Tapton Lock Visitor Centre on the 9th and 10th September, from 11.00am – 4.00pm both days and entry is free.
For more information about how you can get involved, sponsorship and stall opportunities, or to know more, contact jane@junctionarts.org or hannah@junctionarts.org
Chesterfield Children's Festival
Junction Arts is delighted to announce that this summer we are launching our first Chesterfield Children’s Festival, a free weekend of fun for families that will include music, theatre, storytelling, dance, and art workshops.
The two-day event, which is funded by Arts Council England, will celebrate the joy of childhood, imagination, and play. It will take place in Queen’s Park on the 29th and 30th of July, bringing colour and excitement to Chesterfield during the summer holidays.
The arts and culture festival will have a number of family-friendly acts and activities taking place over the weekend. Entertainment announced so far includes a silent disco tour, an interactive game zone, a comedy club, a circus, story time yoga, tie-dye workshops, face-painting and a brass band that plays everyone’s favourite Disney tunes!
Music and live theatre will also take place in and around the town centre during the festival weekend, the full line-up will be announced in June.
Junction Arts is also commissioning a new artwork on the themes of childhood, play and games to celebrate the launch of the festival. Three local primary schools in Chesterfield and surrounding areas will work with the artist during several engagement sessions in the spring.
Junction Arts Project Coordinator, Jemma Burton said: “We’re delighted to announce the launch of the Chesterfield Children’s Festival, a weekend that’s all about fun with live performances and lots of opportunities to get creative. We have secured a number of high-quality acts already, but we’ll be announcing more very soon!
“Everyone is welcome, there’s no need to register or buy a ticket, families can simply turn up, get involved in the workshops or just enjoy the entertainment on offer. We look forward to seeing you there!”
Junction Arts hope that this will become a much-loved annual event for the town, inspiring children, and young people for generations to come.
Any local businesses who are interested in supporting or sponsoring the event should contact Hannah@junctionarts.org to find out more.
The Chesterfield Children’s Festival will take place on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th July, from 10am-4pm daily.
Chesterfield Postcard Show 2023
What's On
Chesterfield Postcard Show 2023
Get involved in the 2023 Chesterfield Postcard Show! This exhibition of mini masterpieces is now welcoming submissions to the show.

This year’s show is entitled ‘Wish You Were Here’ and will take place between the 9th and 19th of May at West Studios.
The exhibition celebrates the importance of getting creative and its impact on people’s self-esteem and well-being.
Organisers, Junction Arts, and local artist Dave Elsom are inviting people locally, from across the UK, and Internationally to create their own postcard piece of art and submit it by the 20th of April 2023.
Last year the Postcard Show hosted over 130 individual postcard artworks, seeing first exhibits and sales for several new artists and creative people in the community. We raised £430 and this year we’d love to do more.
Artist, Dave Elsom, had previously taken part in two gallery postcard shows. Not finding anything like it in the area, he saw it’s potential to support Junction Arts. “I saw it as a great way of getting people involved, where both professional artists and people who do it for fun can join in with an exhibition and help their community!”
Pieces will be available to buy during the exhibition to raise money to support local arts charity Junction Arts and their work within the community. Local businesses are also being invited to support the event by sponsoring local schools to take part, businesses requiring more information can contact hannah@junctionarts.org.
Submissions should be created on A6 card, not paper, and sent to The Postcard Show, Junction Arts, West Studios Sheffield Road, Chesterfield S41 7ET by the 20th of April 2023.
If participants need a card, they can send a message to Hannah@junctionarts.org to request a blank card to be sent to them.
Next Gen
What's On
Next Gen
Join an innovative new group for artistic 16-24 year olds who are interested in pursuing a creative career, who want to meet with like-minded people and explore opportunities in the arts.

Next Gen. is all about you taking ownership of your future and making the decisions to lead a fulfilling creative career. We will meet one evening a month at West Studios – a beautiful space for the creative community, and as a group you will decide what creative workshops you do with professional practitioners, who the guest speakers will be and what cultural trips you’d like to go on. You will get first hand experience of managing a community project and professional mentoring from the Junction Arts team.
Sessions are free to attend, we can also cover travel expenses and we provide snacks and drinks!
Here are upcoming dates of meet ups, anyone 16-24 is welcome to join. If you can, please email or call Jemma before to let us know you’re coming jemma@junctionarts.org or 01245 209219.
Thursday 19th January 5:30-7:30pm
Acrylic Pouring
Thursday 16th February 5:30-7:30pm
Pitching Yourself and S40 magazine live brief
Simon from S40 and S41 will lead a session on pitching yourself. He will also set a live brief to design a cover for the magazine and write and article to be published inside.
Thursday 23rd March 5:30-7:30pm
Meet up and workshop.
Thursday 20th April 5pm-8pm
Stop-motion workshop with Abbie Canning
Thursday 18th May 5pm -7pm
Lino printing with artist Dave Elsom
Thursday 22nd June 5pm – 7pm
Art workshop with Lucie Maycock
Our Place Broadcast
What's On
Our Place

Junction Arts are proud to present Our Place.
The live broadcast is now online!
You can view the broadcast on our website.
The broadcast can be watched with subtitles, British Sign Language captions and Audio description is preferred.
Visit https://junctionarts.org/our-place for more information and project details.
Our Place Background
Travelling across four counties; Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, Our Place showcases and connects diverse communities, cultures and creative talents. Our Place brings together the hills of the High Peak to the streets of inner-city Leicester, Ukrainian and Indian dance fusion inspired by Derby’s rich engineering history, embellished memories upon aprons made in rural Lincolnshire, and the creative voices of Nottingham, Swadlincote and Chesterfield’s young people, as we learn what ‘Our Place’ means to them. Junction Arts has led the project, in association with six arts organisations: City Arts (Nottingham), High Peak Community Arts (High Peak), People Express (Swadlincote), Soft Touch (Leicester), Surtal Arts (Derby) and The Hub (Sleaford). The project has seen over 50 participants working with 27 artists throughout the summer in a series of diverse residencies involving textiles, VR, filmmaking, dance, creative writing and music video production.
The Our Place feature length film broadcast has been produced and directed by Chris Bevan, from YSP Media.
Our Poems, Our Places
What's On
Our Poems, Our Places
Join Junction Arts online to explore and connect virtually with local places and people through reading, writing and sharing poems.
How do you capture a place through poetry? Explore the art of capturing place through poetry in this new online project. Embark on a journey of imagination and visit our virtual map of North East Derbyshire, where you can read a wonderful collection of place-based poems written by poets Junction Arts has worked with both past and present. The map features poems by Matt Black, Babs Barson, Jo Bell, Liz Cashdan, Cathy Grindrod and Bolsover Poetry Group.
Visit our project page to find out more!
https://junctionarts.org/community-projects/our-poems-our-places/
The Art of Letter Writing Online
What's On
The Art of Letter Writing Online
Now available online
A free online project for you to enjoy from home.

The Art of Letter Writing online is a project created to celebrate the unique relationships we make with each other by writing and receiving letters. This project has been specially created to go online and anyone can take part. Whilst we’re physically distancing, what better time than now to connect with family and friends? It also means that you can work at your own pace and complete the steps in your own time.
During this project, you will look at the art of letter writing, the importance of historical letters and illuminated lettering. Throughout the project you will be guided through 3 activities that will encourage you to think, write and create.
This online project also showcases unique archive letters from Derbyshire Record Office.
This project is available for all to enjoy.
To get started visit our project page https://junctionarts.org/community-projects/art-of-letter-writing-online/
Voyage of Discovery
Projects
Voyage of Discovery
Now available online
Our current Stay at Home life lends itself to the Discover Arts Award. Children and young people everywhere can learn and have fun exploring their own creativity, researching an artist and sharing with others. The workbook is now available from our website and we will support and moderate the work remotely before sending out certificates to the participants from Trinity College London.
To get started visit: https://junctionarts.org/community-projects/voyage-of-discovery/
