Pretty Shitty City

I’ve been keen to check out the Framework Social events ever since I’d first heard about them, but I was also a bit apprehensive. What kind of people go out to bake bread and listen to music?

Last Tuesday I finally plucked up some courage, spurred on partly by the fact that I had my own promotion to do (thanks for letting me flyer guys ), and ventured down to St. James Social Club to see some art.

That’s what Framework is basically; a place for people to perform, watch and interact with (or is that intra-act?) art.

I arrived early-ish so that I could take a seat comfortably and watch from the sidelines (not very sociable, I know). The organisers were friendly and they filled me in on the programme of events. I payed my £2 (proceeds going to Oxjam on this occasion) and went to the bar.

St. James’ Social Club is a great little venue for performance, with the tables and chairs arranged in a sort-of U shape around the dance floor come stage. Its worth mentioning that Swansea Jazzland organise events here every Wednesday.

So what happens at the Social?

First off, there was a pile of A4 sheets and paper aeroplane instructions on every table to get people in the mood for fun. It was a bit like a school workshop, but better and with alcohol. Adam Goodge was first to talk, with stories of past and present art projects; the current one was teaching people how to play Johnny Cash songs, even with his admittedly limited knowledge of guitar chords. This was followed by poetry from Swansea Bay Asylum Seeker project, a speed lecture about the art environment by John & Hilary, a raffle and live music.

The Framework Socials really do offer a great alternative to going down the pub, or the cinema or staying in with your Wii, and by all accounts its different every week. So if you’re open-minded and enjoy socialising (you don’t need to be ‘into’ art) then I can’t recommend them enough.

The next Framework event will be part of the Dylan Thomas Fringe, and takes place at the brand new Elysium Gallery on the 2nd of November.

http://www.myspace.com/frameworkswansea

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Art, Community, Music, Events, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.