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To Hull and Back: Music Showcase Throws Lifeline to Grassroots Music Scene

With live gigs off the cards for almost a year now, a new project has won funding from the Arts Council to showcase the musical output of Hull and Nottingham in one mammoth event on 20 March 2021.

Out of Time: The Life of Samuel Fox, Founder of Nottingham Building Society

We take a look at the life of philanthropist, educator, anti-slavery campaigner and founder of the Nottingham Building Society, Samuel Fox...

Silver Linings: Bone Arrow's Clare Gregory on Crystals, Workshops and Life in Sneinton Market

They say that if you treat the universe with the respect it deserves, it’ll treat you right back. That couldn't be more clear than in the case of Clare Gregory of Bone Arrow – after years of working full-time as an MUA, she went on to launch her first collection of silver, gothic-inspired jewellery. The business has gone from strength to strength, and at the beginning of 2020 she opened her first physical store in Sneinton Market. Our Assistant Editor caught up with her about all things C, bad vibes and divine intervention… 

"You’ve got nothing to lose and your life to regain" - A Cocaine Anonymous Member on His Road to Recovery

No matter how far into addiction you may be, it’s not too late. We talk to one of the members of the Nottingham branch of Cocaine Anonymous, who wishes to remain nameless, about addiction and his own personal road to recovery...

Nottingham Arts and Culture Venues Given Government Funding Lifeline with Culture Recovery Fund

Seventeen organisations have received combined funding totalling over £4.5 million to help with post-COVID recovery...

Letters of Constraint: How the National Justice Museum are Documenting Life in the Coronavirus Era

With the aim of encouraging people to reflect on their lockdown experiences to create a written legacy of the COVID crisis, the National Justice Museum’s new Letters of Constraint virtual exhibition is looking for your participation. We talked to Dr Martin Glynn, the museum’s writer in residence, about how you can put pen to paper and be part of Nottingham’s lockdown story... 

“All my life I’ve been taught that the police won’t help me” – Artist and activist Kay on George Floyd, police brutality and the ongoing protests in Britain…

For many, the death of George Floyd was quickly contextualised as an American problem. Stories of racial profiling and police brutality have grown to become expected from a country that seems more divided than it has been in a generation, leaving many in Britain feeling disgusted at how things are done on that side of the Atlantic. But, as the events of the last week have shown, the illusion that issues raised from Floyd’s killing are consigned to the US has been roundly smashed, with thousands taking to the streets in eighteen countries around the world (as well as all fifty US States) to support the Black Lives Matter campaign, which is now considered the largest Civil Rights campaign in history. Growing up in the projects of Alameda, California to Eritrea-born parents, artist and activist Kay – who works under the name The Rainbow Prince – has seen the way police brutality and racism takes form on both sides of the pond, having moved to Nottingham six months ago. And as Notts gets ready to play its part in the movement with a protest on Sunday 6 June, we talk to Kay about why activism is important in the UK…

Interview: Corrina Rothwell on Life as an Artist and the End of Blather

After almost two years of unleashing the manic brilliance of writer Adrian Reynolds in an illustrative fashion, our regular feature, Blather, sadly came to an end last month. Instead of getting all melancholy about things, we chose to celebrate its time between the pages by catching up (over email, of course) with the local lady behind the brushes: Corrina Rothwell. Under the spotlight we get chatting about Blather’s beginnings, the pleasures and perils of being an artist and the inspirations behind her brand of explosive abstract workings.

Nusic New Music Podcast #221 with Georgie, My Pet Fauxes, Different Life Collective, Sancho Panza and More...

Review: Easy Life’s Lunchtime Session and Signing at Rough Trade

Following their newest 'Junk Food' mixtape release, the Midlands group paid a visit to Notts one lazy Sunday afternoon for a laid-back in store set, featuring some greasy garms. Bobby Twidale tells all...

Mermaid Cove Put on Events with Real Life Mermaids

Being a mermaid is something we’ve all dreamt about, but dreams are usually where it ends. However, the folks at Mermaid Cove are bringing this fantasy to life, with the magical underwater performances that they tour across festivals in the UK. We spoke to mermaid performer Elle Woods and marketing man Kai Coombes about how they came up with the idea, what a typical show entails, and how they train to swim in those hefty flippers...

Life on Nottingham's Canals

Of late, my thoughts have been occupied with worst-case Brexit scenarios. Even if the UK doesn’t descend into a completely apocalyptic state, the impending destitution might be a welcome opportunity to disconnect from modern society and adopt a nomadic life of reflection and fresh air. But where to live out this idyllic fantasy now that our borders will end at Dover? Perhaps the UK’s network of inland canals and waterways? My intrepid companion Bunty and I went to find out…

Life on Death Row: "I witnessed two executions – it’s not a pleasant experience at all."

A practising Buddhist priest for over four decades, Kobutsu Malone established the Dharma Song Zendo in New York State’s notorious Sing Sing Prison, and serves as a death row chaplain. Now in his sixties, we talked to Malone as he reflected on a life spent trying to reform America’s broken justice system through Buddhist teachings…

A Probation Officer in Notts

"I don’t want to lock everyone up when we can try and work with them, but equally we don’t want to create any more victims"

Out of Time: Life in Nottingham During The Cold War

Our regular history features takes a look at just how close Nottingham came to being obliterated during the Cold War...

Film Review: High Life

Claire Denis's slow-paced space drama is a far cry away from the alien-filled adventure films that normally make up the sci-fi genre...

Life's Rich Tapestry: The Creative Textile Project Encouraging Women to Use Their Voice

Life's Rich Tapestry is a collaboration between Offshoots East Midlands C.I.C and Ignite futures and funded by the Big Lottery, The Arts Council and Nottingham Women's Centre, with the aim of using the creative arts to empower women to use their voice...

Remembering Baby: Life, Loss and Post-Mortem at Surface Gallery

In October, Surface Gallery welcomed Remembering Baby; an exhibition which sensitively explores what happens when a baby dies, from the view of a parent and medical professionals. Adrian was deeply moved...

We Went to a Zombie Life-Drawing Class and it was Awesome

Life on Alfreton Road

We don’t really do Alfreton Road any more. Not like Arthur Seaton did in Saturday Night Sunday Morning, bingeing in the bars where “the effect of a week's monotonous graft in the factory was swilled out of your system in a burst of goodwill.” Not like the workers who ground away in the sweatshops of an earlier, even darker day and, dirty and spent, spilled out by the thousands into the cobbled streets when the big bell went.

Life After Spanky Van Dykes

The sun rises and sets, empires rise and fall, and Spanky Van Dykes has closed. Even though it’s been a few months since the alternative bar – the big, dark place that projected He-Man episodes in silence – closed its doors unto wooden boards, its regulars still find themselves in a lost state. Those dejected lot who once found their homes - and their lives - in Spanky’s now wander the street in utter confusion. We wrangled as many of them as we could to ask how they’re getting on.

What's Life Like on the MA Creative Writing Course at NTU?

Tuesday Goacher talks boosting confidence with academic study...

Life Begins At 40 - A Conversation With Charmaine

Growing up in Bestwood and raising five sons, all Charmaine knew was being a Mum.

When 40 hit she knew she had to make a change...

David Belbin on the Life and Works of Stanley Middleton

Novelist and chair of UNESCO City of Literature David Belbin on the late, great Stanley Middleton...

Neil Fulwood on the Life and Works of Alan Sillitoe

Notts poet Neil Fulwood explains why Sillitoe is important to the landscape of Nottingham literature...