Transformation Project

After months of planning, the last week of November saw the launch of the Transformation Project at St. John’s and Cranmer.  The intention of the week was twofold: firstly to open up a conversation about the meaning of transformation, personally and socially, and secondly to give an opportunity to artists of every type within the college to communicate their view of transformation artistically.

After a weekend of building display systems and arranging the paintings, collages, photos and 3D artworks, the week officially began with an opening night event in the Leech Hall.  Over 70 people attended the night to drink wine, eat cake, view the artwork and watch performances by the college community- all based around the theme of transformation.  It was amazing to see the variety of artistic talent within the John’s and Cranmer community as we heard music from Barbieshop (an all-female barbershop group), a string trio and a band and watched storytelling and performance poetry. We finished with two original short films and a ‘glow show’ finale of glow in the dark juggling.

The week continued with random acts of kindness to transform the college community and the streets of Durham, the yarn-bombing of a tree in the chapel yard, a poetry reading in Haughton Dining Room, and a stand-up comedy night/ poetry slam.  Worth extra mention is the Wednesday night performance of a brand new play, written and developed in little over a week as a collaboration between Cranmer students and the Bailey Theatre Company.  The play touched on themes of identity, relationship, prejudices and personal transformation and made amazing use of the chapel as a performance space.

The week brought together an incredible range of talent across the college community, gave many people the chance to show their gifts and opened up a range of fascinating conversations about the power and potential of transformation.

 Visit our blog to see more of what happened: http://johnstransformationproject.blogspot.co.uk