Thursday 25 October 2012

3 years in Margate!! Come to our birthday party. Fantastic live entertainment from Abigail Cardwell and Sleeping In City Lights



Three years ago we packed our boxes and moved to the seaside. Join us to mark the move, celebrate local creative talent with live entertainment from Abigail Cardwell and Sleeping In City Lights

We are also marking the launch of our coworking space.
Here’s Wikipedia’s explanation of coworking.
Find out more at our new website.
Come see for yourself on 2 November.
First Friday - 6pm-9pm @ Marine Studios
We’ve already signed up our first co-workers come along and find out more.
Help us celebrate three years in Margate – and maybe find your new workspace.

Bigger, better, geekier – we’ve won Arts Council funding for GEEK 2013



We’re delighted that we’ve been awarded Arts Council funding for GEEK2013, the second-year edition of our festival of gaming.
Last year’s GEEK2012 was a white-knuckle ride – if it had flopped we’d have had a nasty financial bump. Fortunately the hard work of all those involved – and the support of the ticket-buying public – made the festival a success.
The Arts Council funding will help us take GEEK2013 to even geekier heights – stay tuned for more news as we’re busy hatching plans.
We want to hear from more sponsors, games people, and fringe eventers
There’s still much to be done and there are opportunities – and potentially Arts Council funding – for games people and fringe eventers. We want to hear from:
• Sponsors. We’d love to hear from further sponsors – we want to put your name up in lights (well, on a banner and in adverts at least). Maybe you can help us fund a free-ticket day.
• Games people. Get in touch if you’re a developer who wants to test a game, a game-maker who wants to demo or sell your game, or if you have an idea for a workshop.
• Fringe eventers. Last year’s ranged from games-themed poetry to a theatrical mystery and chip-tunes disco. Tell us your idea and we’ll try to find a way to get your game-face on.
So don’t keep your geek-tastic thoughts to yourself – get in touch.

Can you hear the great tree calling? The third Adventures in Comics call for entries



If you’re a comics fan who creates – or longs to create – their own comics, then we invite you to pick up the third annual Adventures in Comics (AIC3) gauntlet.
We’re proud that AIC is now in its third year and that Paul Gravett, author of ‘1001 COMICS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE’, will once again help organise the festival.
Call for entries – let your comic talents climb ‘THE GREAT TREE’
AIC3 throws down a two-page A4 comic challenge to all comers and this year’s title is ‘THE GREAT TREE’.
Follow these links to see previous year’s entries on the titles Mechanical elephant (2011) and Lifeboat (2012).
You can send your entries to AIC3 to info@hkd.uk.com.

And our alter egos are off to outer space via Hong Kong’s space museum



Busy, busy, busy. That’s us this year.
The ‘us’ in question is both Marine Studios – the people who brought you the aforementioned GEEK2013 and AIC3 – and HKD, the award-winning museum and exhibition designers.
By day we’re Marine Studios, a CIC company who are all about events, communication, and regeneration. And in our parallel corporate life (also by day – even we need to sleep sometimes) we wear our HKD hats.
Well, we would be wearing our HKD hats except we’re throwing them up in the air because we’ve won the job to redesign Hong Kong’s space museum. The museum’s egg-shaped dome (actually an ovoid hemisphere according to the project team) is a Hong Kong landmark, just next door to the famous Star ferry on Kowloon bay.
The project budget of roughly £2.4m will cover the refit with a host of new interactive exhibits. Our working brief is: ‘The story of the cosmos – back to the big bang, and forward to new adventures in space exploration’.
We’re already rolling on a tight schedule that will see the reworked and rethought museum re-embrace the universe in 2015.

Monday 1 October 2012

Its a busy 1st Friday 5th October




The Wonderful Pushing Print is back! Dont miss it! 6th-27th of October.

In addition to the main festival there are a number of fringe events. We are one. We welcome back Sophie Herxheimer now joined by Susan Mackervoy. Their show, Unruly: Print into Poetry opens with a 1st Friday at 7.30.
Catch up with Sophie and Susan earlier in the evening, they will be at the Pie Factory at 6.15 for a bit of Unruly live poetry.
Marine Studios 1st Friday 5th Oct. All are welcome. We'll be reading a few poems at 8 pm - and we're hoping that people will bring along a poem or a piece of work to share, too (maybe work inspired by Margate?).
For more details of the Festival, take a look at the Pushing Print website here.

GEEK2013 Public Meeting save the date


We are busy playing, dreaming and scheming but now its time to call on people to come and help us to build GEEK into a great festival of Play and Games.
We are working with friends here in Margate to sort out a venue then we will be inviting people to come along to find out more about what is being planned and how people can get involved.
Save the date 11th of Oct - email us to make sure you get an invite.
Visit GEEK2013.co.uk or  GEEK2013 facebook for more information.

Marine Studio Coworking launch



The count-down has begun. Marine Studios is launching a new coworking space. Come and work with views of the sea.
Look out for our new website - then bring your laptop along and join us for a few days to see if coworking by the sea is for you.
Benefits of being part of our community:
• Flexible membership options -  affordable working space
• Free wifi
• Events, Meeting Room, Library and Games
• Free tea and coffee
• A say in how we run the space
For more information visit our website marinestudios.co.uk or email info@marinestudios.co.uk.

Another wonderful Hide and Seek Weekender



(Picture credit Mike Massaro)
A little review. Our friends at Hide & Seek have just held their fifth weekender event at the Southbank in London.
Games from all over the globe were present, with a special emphasis on games that are both fun to watch and play. Knowledge, skill, dexterity and guile were all on display as was a little cheating - a fantastic custardy, dazzling event. We very much hope that we can work with these guys in Margate soon.
Talks included:
• Joshua DeBonis of indie game studio Sortasoft told us about the bizarrely named Pigeon PiƱata Pummel. We want to Play! Please please bring it to Margate. See more about the game here.
• Punch the custard! This brilliant game was devised by George Buckenham. Two players are put head to head to find out who can punch their custard quickest. See a video of the game here.
Does Public Play have a role to play in Regeneration . We think so and said so.  Find out more here Wired.co.uk article here.
Visit the Hide & Seek website for more information on the Weekender here.