ALMA Winter Arts Weekend: Full Programme

Curated by ALMA Artspace, this multi-platform arts festival will connect you to Newquay’s landscape, history and heritage through a vibrant programme of exhibitions, installations, walks, talks and workshops.

A Celebration of Creativity + Community

Introducing the inaugural ALMA Winter Arts Weekend (WAW)! Part of the Be Newquay Festival, happening on the closing weekend of the festival, WAW is a vibrant gathering of artists, storytellers, musicians and makers, from Cornwall and beyond. Join us for a weekend filled with fun and creativity as we brighten the winter months and celebrate community.

Explore and celebrate Newquay’s history and heritage through an array of high-quality, engaging and accessible art and cultural experiences.

The programme offers something for everyone, aiming to connect people to the town, its extraordinary landscape, and each other.

Below is a run-down of the weekend programme.

Friday 29th November

Organ Recital and Mulled Wine
St Michael’s Church Hall, Newquay
5pm – 6pm
Free

To mark the start of the Winter Arts Weekend, we are thrilled to welcome organist Martin Palmer to Newquay for a special performance at St Michael’s. As the town prepares for the Christmas Light Switch On celebrations, join us for a glass of mulled wine and listen to the wonderful sounds of the organ at St Michael’s Church.

It is free, but requires pre-booking to help manage numbers

Saturday 30th November

Opening Ceremony Story Telling with Recalling Fire
St Michael’s Church Hall, Newquay
10am – 11am
Free

To mark the first full day of the Winter Arts Weekend, join Sam and Alex of Recalling Fire and wander along the byways of the “otherworld” as seen by Newquay’s ancient forebears. Suitable for all ages, this story-telling session promises to ignite a spark of curiosity as we delve into Newquay’s amazing past! There will be warm drinks and food from our friends at Agweres.

Find out more at www.recallingfire.com

It is free, but requires pre-booking to help manage numbers.

Community Flag Making Workshop
St Michael’s Church Hall, Newquay
11.00am – 4.00pm
£10 pp

Join artist Amy Brock-Morgan for a fun and collaborative community flag making workshop as part of the ALMA Winter Arts Weekend. The workshop is open to everyone age 16+. No skills or prior experience required. All materials provided.

Book Tickets – there’s ONLY a FEW tickets left!

At sites across Newquay, experience exciting and inspiring artworks and installations by artists working across all disciplines.

Tom Sewell Works on Paper Collage, drawing and cyanotypes
Now showing at Newquay Orchard Heart & Soul Cafe
9.30am – 4pm daily
Free, drop-in

Tom’s work investigates human relationships with nature. Using research into (pre)history, mythology, archaeology, language, landscape and life to offer ideas of a space that can be used to transit the porous border between nature and culture; questioning that dualism and exploring how that border moves through time and space. Tom’s work touches on ideas of speculative fiction and utopian-idealist narratives. At the core of it I’m asking, where are we?

Neil Halstead Sound Installation
The Huer’s Hut
29 Nov – 1 Dec, 11am – 3pm
Free

Musician, producer and songwriter Neil Halstead has created a thoughtful, looping soundscape that will emanate from the Huer’s Hut – a symbol of Newquay’s historic past.

Perched high above the sea, the striking white structure is a grade II listed building, dating back to the 14th Century. Echoing its original use as a shelter for the Huer, (who would sound a cry of ‘hevva hevva!’ to alert the town to the arrival of pilchard shoals on the horizon), Halstead’s soundscape will act as a beacon – encouraging passers by to follow the sounds – pause, listen and reflect.

Art Installation by Leila Galloway
The Fly Cellars, Newquay
11am – 2pm daily
Free

Hebaska is both the Cornish word for calm and new work that will transform the Fly Loft, a cavernous space previously used for storing pilchards, above Newquay Harbour. The installation is a re-working of the organza originally exhibited in a collaborative installation Sound Solid Liquid Light, shown at Two Queens, Leicester, earlier this year with artists SJ Blackmore, Naomi Frears and Alice Mahoney.

This installation will be accompanied by performance violinist Juliet Walshe on Saturday 30 November, 1pm – 3pm.

It is free and you can drop in at any point, but requires pre-booking to help manage numbers.

Moogie Wonderland Workshop
St Michael’s Church Hall, Newquay
1.00 -3.00pm
SOLD OUT

Learn how to make electronic music on modular synths and how to create visuals using live programming software.

FREE Family + Drop-in Activities
St Michael’s Church Hall, Newquay
Free, drop-in
10am – 4pm

Following on from the story telling session with Recalling Fire to launch the festival at 10am (as above), there will be family-friendly drop-in activities:

• 11am – 3pm: Drop-in art sessions for kids, young people + families run by Newquay based artist Delphine Gwilliam-O’Connor (free, but pre-booking required – drop in at any point)
• 2pm – 4pm: Make a Mini Monolith drop-in clay workshop for kids, young people and families.

The New Eves & Daisy Rickman
St Michael’s Church, Newquay
Doors at 6pm
£15 pp

ALMA is honoured to present a special evening with live music from The New Eves and Daisy Rickman in St. Michael’s Church in Newquay.

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Sunday 1st December

A Day of Monolith Celebrations
St Michael’s Church, Newquay
2pm – 5pm
Pay by donation (suggested: £15)

ALMA and Stone Club invite you to a curated day of celebration, music and conversation as we explore The Newquay Monoliths – a new public sculpture commission for Newquay, created by artist Robin Sullivan.

With artist talks, family art workshops and live music from the inimitable Angeline Morrison, it promises to be a beautiful finale to the Winter Arts Weekend.

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Clay Workshop with Mud Club (Drop-in Sessions) 
St Michael’s Church, Newquay  
2pm – 4pm
Free 

FREE drop-in clay sessions for everyone with the wonderful Mud Club. 

As part of the day of Monolith celebrations with Stone Club, Alma is thrilled to welcome Mud Club to Newquay: a playful and collaborative ceramics duo. Drop in for a session making treasures for shrines, pieces of ritual for your home or gifts. 

Free to make, with optional firing £10-£20 depending on size. Everyone is welcome to come along and have a go! All materials will be provided. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. 

It is free and you can drop in at any point, but requires pre-booking to help manage numbers.  

Seaweed Pressing with The Seaweed Institute
WI Hall, Newquay
10am – 12.30pm
SOLD OUT

Join Alma to learn the craft of seaweed pressing – a Victorian practice that captures the underwater beauty of seaweeds.

During the workshop you will learn to recognise and identify local seaweed species. The cultural history of seaweeds will be discussed, as well its agricultural, scientific and ecological uses. You will learn how to forage, store and use abundant local seaweeds.

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ALMA’s Winter Arts Festival will feature on the closing weekend of Be Newquay Festival – a new season of events, activities and workshops that celebrate Newquay’s culture and creative spirit. Throughout each weekend in November, the festival will be taking place at various venues across the town. Find out what else is on the programme here. Join us and be creatively curious.

The Be Newquay Festival has been curated by Cornwall Council project ‘Experience Newquay’ in collaboration with local project partners Love Newquay and Visit Newquay. It is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.