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Two short case studies
Post by Becky Payne
A big part of our work in EDP has been to research completed cases of repairs and adaptations to historic faith buildings and identify key themes and tales of caution and inspiration. The two documents prepared by Becky Payne below present the cases of Saint Thomas, Pear Street in Derby and Saints Peter, Paul & Philomena in Merseyside.
St Thomas, Pear Street, Derby
This was a grade II church which prior to 2011 was facing permanent closure owing to the dwindling congregation and a building with very serious repairs issues. A new incumbent grasped a vision of rescuing St Thomas' Church and bringing it back as a place of worship and a centre for community outreach in a deprived area of Derby. How they approached their engagement with the local community was imaginative and inspiring. They have achieved so much, but it has already taken 9 years and they are still working on it.
Download the short case study
Ss. Peter, Paul & Philomena, New Brighton, Merseyside
This church is known as the 'Dome of Home' given its nickname by seamen returning to Liverpool during the Second World War who when, they saw its striking copper dome from the Mersey, knew they had reached home. Closed in 2008 when the building had fallen into severe disrepair, it started its journey to full restoration and re-opening as a place of worship, when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury set up a full repair lease with The Institute of Christ the King in 2011, to reopen the church as a Roman Catholic Shrine. It has taken 9 years, and 4 grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to achieve this and importantly the leadership of one determined woman who has led a team of volunteers through the development and implementation of a range of community engagement and activities.
Becky Payne is a heritage consultant and a Historic Religious Building Alliance Project Officer
EDP Live: celebrating community-led design in historic places of worship
post by Sophia de Sousa and Katerina Alexiou
On 12 February, 2020, The Empowering Design Practices research team gathered with partners and community collaborators, colleagues, funders and friends to celebrate five years of research exploring community leadership in design within the context of historic places of worship. This was a day to share learning and the resources produced by the research team, to celebrate community achievements and to explore the potential, opportunities and challenges that these buildings, and their custodians, face in providing welcoming spaces for their whole community.
The project's celebratory conference and exhibition, Empowering Design Practices LIVE was held at St Paul's in Hammersmith, a wonderful example of a church that has reinvented itself and transformed its building and offer to the community. The event was a wonderful opportunity to bring together the wide range of people and organisations that engaged with the project to reflect on work we have done together and to generate ideas and propositions for the future.
The day kicked off with an overview of the project and our key learning points and recommendations, based on our experience of collaborating with over 50 places of worship around the country, as well as professionals and support bodies that work with them. This was a moment to reflect on the specialness of historic places of worship as buildings, and on the custodians tasked with looking after and unleashing the potential in these buildings. Through a design lens, we explored how community leadership, partnership working and effective community engagement can help ensure the long-term sustainability of these buildings, and help support local networks, community development and the life and vibrancy of these much-valued sacred heritage buildings.
The morning also included a panel discussion of various partners briefly sharing their key reflections and learning points, from the perspective of the organisations and sectors they represent. A key message that came through, articulated brilliantly by Historic England's Head of Places of Worship and Owners Advice, Diana Evans, was that engagement in design is important, it requires support and capacity building, but it can also be great fun, a space to build confidence and a frame in which important connections, friendships and partnerships can be formed.
The rest of the day included both panel discussions and interactive workshop sessions.
Our first panel of invited speakers was made up of representatives of community-led design projects at various points on their journey. Revd Canon Caroline Dick and Churchwarden David Wilcox from St Michael and All Angels, Whitton Gilbert spoke about their Breathing Space project, and the importance of a vision being greater than simply the reordering of the church. They stressed the importance of talking to people, and bringing them with you on a journey to which each person and organisation can contribute in their own way.
Revd Simon Lockett from St Peter's Church, Peterchurch spoke of the need to form partnerships, and the importance of being willing to experiment and if necessary, to change direction of travel in response to changing circumstances. He stressed the importance of high quality and values-driven design, and that this can be achieved with varying budgets.
Revd Geoffrey Eze from All Saints Church, Hanley spoke of the creation of a new enclosed space within their church, and the importance of changes to a building being catalytic, enabling new partnerships and new ways to serve the community as well as the congregation.
And finally, Adam Yusuf, Chair of Israac Somali Community Association in Sheffield, spoke of the group's collaboration with the EDP research project, and with The University of Sheffield. These helped grow the e group's awareness and appreciation for their building as an entity with its own history and identity, and realise the role that design can play in creating opportunities for the building to serve their community objectives. He also spoke of the importance of connecting with other groups taking on similar projects to transform their buildings, and how much they could learn from each other.
Our panel of professional speakers was tasked with presenting brief provocations from the perspective of an architect, a support officer and a researcher, which then led us into a plenary discussion with the room.
Some challenging questions and propositions were put to the room: Aidan Potter, Partner at John McAslan Architects quoted Jane Jacobs' famous words, "Old buildings need new ideas" and challenged the room to be bold in our thinking about what is possible in places of worship. He also reminded us that the design for these buildings has to be a collective endeavour, with the architect simply one element of a complex and collaborative design process. Architect and researcher Nevine Nasser spoke of the relationship between sacred space and sacred experience, and reminded us that faith buildings must integrate into the society that surrounds them. Perhaps the most challenging provocation came from Wendy Coombey, Community Partnership & Development Officer at the Diocese of Hereford, who reminded us that these buildings must be at the service of people, and not the other way around. She asked what would happen if the custodians of these complex listed buildings facing the challenge of innovation and sustainability, simply decided to give the buildings back and opt for alternative spaces to gather and worship.
EDP Live Exhibition
The exhibition offered a snapshot of the project, with key information and statistics about the activities and groups with which we have collaborated. It also included a section which introduced the wide spectrum of practical resources developed throughout the project and artefacts from public engagement activities and live student projects. The resources on offer for people to explore and take away included interactive websites Explore Design: community buildings, A Design Thinking Guide, as well as freely downloadable materials such as our Design Project Stories and our series of Designing Places with People booklets, on engaging communities in the design process. The exhibition also introduced emerging resources on working with architects, key topics for consideration when setting off on a project to transform a place of worship, and an online course on community leadership in design.
We also shared a series of films produced within the project, which include inspiring stories of community engagement in design, a practical resource on using digital media as a design engagement tool, and films capturing our Design Training, a workshop on developing a shared purpose, and related projects Prototyping Utopias and Tate Exchange.
Finally, the exhibition space included a policy corner which invited participants to record thoughts and recommendations about four key questions. Here is a small taster of the ideas that emerged:
How do we connect heritage buildings with the broader context of placemaking?
Build links with wider, existing place making strategies locally and nationally to create a cohesive approach.
Identify within local planning policy that S106 (CIL) can go towards the reuse of heritage buildings for community/ services/ etc.
How do we champion and enable community engagement in design decision-making?
By showing the local community that changing our buildings will lead to more meaningful resources for the community.
By funders encouraging this approach as a precursor to investment, to secure more sustainable projects. A release of funds for project development?
By ensuring that they are engaged in the process from the start and listening to them. Solutions shouldn't be imposed in a top-down approach.
How do we raise awareness of the value of historic places of worship in the local economy/ society?
Collect feedback from community users and congregations, encourage councils to read it!
By not holding up historic places simply as places of beauty but also as useful spaces that can benefit the local community.
How do we build capacity for community leadership in the design and adaptation of places of worship?
Partnerships with local government and councils for voluntary services.
Training faith leaders. Central web-based resources, including a list of faith leaders willing to advise others.
If owners + funders realised a vital first step was capacity building (if assets are to be protected) they would prioritise this as a first step. You wouldn't build a house without paying for a land survey first.
The event offered opportunities for people to engage practically with some of the project's methods aiming to facilitate collaborative exploration of issues and ideas and the generation of ideas for future actions.
The first workshop of the day (which ran in parallel to the community presentations) brought people together to explore the challenges, assets and opportunities that arise in the efforts to unlock and enhance the potential of historic religious buildings as places of community value. Participants worked in groups to map and connect their ideas about the barriers they face, but also the assets they have (their skills, resources, support) and to collectively come up with suggestions for future actions or processes. Here are some of their suggestions:
Feeding grassroots knowledge (and longevity and connections) of faith buildings to governance - spreading awareness of Taylor Report
Creatively connecting communities to construct and share knowledge and ownership
Investigate partnerships with local agencies, local councillors, voluntary organisations, local groups and local activities
Build networks
Challenge the church establishment to be more radical about what churches can be
The final activity of the day brought everybody together to co-create ideas for possible future collaborations, actions, projects or networks. This 'cross-pollination' workshop focused in particular on exploring ways to enable custodians of places of worship to shape the future of their buildings, and the suggestions generated during the morning workshop were brought to bear on people's thinking. Participants put on the table their resources, current projects and aspirations and explored synergies, connections and new ideas. A champion from each table then moved around to other tables to pitch their ideas and garner further support. At the end of a long day, it was heartening to see the unwilting enthusiasm with which everyone continued to share their knowledge, experience and goodwill to help build capacity in community-led design and support and strengthen communities around historic places of worship.
We would like to thank everyone who attended the day, and shared their stories, reflections and ideas for the future. It is clear that there was fantastic energy and momentum in the room, and that there is much we can do together looking forward.
Sophia de Sousa is the Chief Executive of The Glass-House Community Led Design. Katerina Alexiou is a Senior Lecturer in Design at the Open University. Photos by Jonny Bowsworth.
A 'Design Studio' on Live Projects
by Dr Katerina Alexiou
One of the instruments the EDP project had anticipated using to explore certain research questions and generate ideas for future steps was that of the design studio. A design studio is typically a space for collaborative enquiry where participants go through a learning journey together by engaging in creative design activities.
In May we held our first design studio to explore Live Projects. Live Projects are educational initiatives in which university students work on real practical projects for a designated period of time as part of their study. By the time of our design studio, the EDP project had already supported five different Live Projects with historic places of worship in collaboration with the University of Sheffield School of Architecture and University College London (UCL) and so this was a good stage to pause for reflection. We also wanted to open up the conversation with other initiatives from other universities and provide a creative space to share and discuss Live Project experiences from various perspectives (academics, community members, students and practitioners), and take stock of the future of this type of activity.
There is already a lot of literature around the value of Live Projects for students, establishing, for example, how they help them gain practical experience and build important skills in project management, communication and team working. Live projects also have a social value and as our project's emphasis is on community-led design, we were also interested to focus on the collaborative working process and particularly to explore the impact Live Projects have on participating communities.
The design studio took place at St Luke's Community Centre in London and brought together some leading Live Project initiatives in architecture across the UK, from the University of Sheffield, the University of West of England, Cardiff University, University of Nottingham, London Metropolitan University and UCL. We also had community representatives from Bow Church in London, Cemetery Road Baptist Church in Sheffield, Brandon Trust in Bristol, and Grange Pavilion in Cardiff, as well as students who worked with them, and other communities not present in the room, such as ISRAAC Somali Community Association in Sheffield, St Peter's Church in Chester, St Peter's Church Congleton and a built project in South Africa.
In the first part of the day, each live project group was paired with another to share their experiences and discuss key features of their projects, but also key challenges they encountered and things that were important to their success. The task of each grouping was to use various crafts materials provided to create a shared representation of those key aspects.
The discussions and the activity helped unearth the different contexts and commonalities and variations between projects, in terms of people involved, skills and resources mobilised, and processes and materials used. For example there were notable variations in terms of size, duration and intensity of projects, with some lasting over a few weeks, others spread over a year or a number of years. The type of projects varied as well, from single student projects, to group projects ranging from 4 to 30 students. There were also different ways in which universities and students engaged with community groups, some to define project briefs or to deliver activities on the ground, with different accompanying mechanisms of support and roles played by different actors in the process.
The session concluded with a plenary discussion on the benefits of live projects for communities, which brought out some important points about the significance and value of live projects. Here are some key points:
The energy and enthusiasm of students is an asset. Live projects bring in inspiration and can help communities/clients consider a wider spectrum of opportunities and ideas for a place.
Live projects provide a space for enquiry and reflection and can help articulate the needs and specialness of a particular context.
The live project activity can help build momentum, and be a catalyst for change.
The value of live projects rests more in the process rather than the product (the outcomes). They promote mutual learning and help build infrastructures and a community's capacity and confidence to deliver projects.
The second part of the day focused on future opportunities. This time participants reflected from their unique position as students, community representatives or academics, to identify ideas for activities or resources that can promote or improve live projects in the future. These ranged from good practice guidelines on how to develop collaborative briefs for live projects, to ideas for the development of new tools and resources (such as an app for aiding communication), to more strategic objectives such as setting up a live projects network and promoting further collaboration across institutions and sectors.
The EDP project has set an objective to further explore the mechanisms and potential of live projects as vehicles of empowerment, so we hope to follow up some of these actions within the realm of EDP. In the short term, we are supporting two more Live Projects this year in collaboration with our partners at the Sheffield School of Architecture. For now, I will close the blog with a huge thanks to everyone who took part in the design studio for being so generous with their time and knowledge.
Reflections on utopia(s)
post by Katerina Alexiou
Last year, members of the EDP team took part in the AHRC's 2016 Connected Communities Research Festival, which was focused on the theme of Community Futures and Utopias, celebrating 500 years from Thomas More's publication.
The Prototyping Utopias project, led by EDP partners The Open University and The Glass-House Community Led Design, built on our relationship with Bow Church and connections with other local organisations in Bow: Bow Arts, Bromley by Bow Centre and Poplar HARCA. The project was partly an experimentation on how a historic place of worship can be used to catalyse connections in the wider community, but it had a broader objective to explore community utopias, and how the connections people have in their own places frame their future aspirations and can lead to the emergence of new visions and actions.
We were fortunate to also collaborate with three artists who have lived and worked in the area, Paul Burgess, Emma Crouch and Simon Daw. Outputs from the activities were shared at a major public exhibition, the Utopia Fair at Somerset House in central London, between 24th and 26th June 2016.
Following the Fair, I was involved in an AHRC catalyst fund application led by Deirdre Figueiredo, Director of Craftspace, which brought together three projects present at the Fair: Maker-Centric, Life Chances and our own Prototyping Utopias.
At the end of June we all met in Soho House (former home of the manufacturer Matthew Boulton) in Birmingham, to talk about and experience each other's projects; share the theoretical concepts we used to approach the theme of community utopias and the processes we used to engage people from local communities; and explore the outputs and learning produced.
It was a constructive and rich experience and I took away several observations and ideas for further exploration. Here are some key summarising points:
We approached the subject of utopia from different disciplinary starting points or lenses. The Maker-Centric project saw utopia through the lens of heritage and embarked on exploring the past as a catalyst for future thinking. The Prototyping Utopias project used the lens of design, and explored how dreaming can help explore and develop ideas for future realities. Life Chances saw utopia from a social science perspective and used creative disruption as a vehicle for creating novel futures.
Despite those different starting points there were many commonalities between the projects. They all saw the past as a foundation but also limitation for the future, which necessitated an effort to re-examine, re-construct and to a certain extent let free of the past. They all paid particular attention to place and the specificity of the local context in which project activities were carried out. They all also focussed methodologically on making and acting, as vehicles for helping engage people from diverse communities in utopian thinking.
It was also interesting to see the different configurations of working between academics, practitioners, artists and community participants adopted in each case, all however agreeing on the benefits of collaboration in research, design, and action, and the richness of knowledge and outputs resulting from the process.
For me, the most affecting aspect of this exploration of community utopias was exactly the emotional engagement of people with this question and the realisation that we dream the same dreams of peace, equality, diversity, opportunity and respect for each other and for the planet. But we all strive to realise them differently in our locations and contexts through, mostly, small steps.
The Village Hall at St John's Church
"We are aware that some people call it the church and some people call it the village hall"
Three of us went to visit St John the Baptist at Stadhampton on Saturday 15th October. I was especially pleased as I had last visited St John's in 2013 when the builders were still in situ, scaffolding was still up in the nave and the cement was still wet in the arch leading into the new toilets. It was a project I was very interested in as it is one of a few villages setting up an arrangement whereby the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the village share the responsibility of looking after and managing their church building.
It was great to see it two years on – the buildings work finished and the building being used by both the congregation and the community. Absolutely a win-win for both village and church.
Stadhampton, a small village of 800 had really been lacking a community space since the 1960s when the old hall had burnt done. They had been using the school hall but this was only available outside school use and was becoming less available as the school increased in size. There had been talk of the need for a village hall for several years and a committee set up who looked at various options including new build. At the same time, the church had a very small congregation, was in need of major repairs as well as being cold and damp and having no main drainage. So the PCC was very pleased when they were approached by the Village Hall Committee with the suggestion of using the church.
It cost just under £400k and took about 5 years and the church is now repaired, refurbished and is on main drainage. There are two toilets in an extension to the west end, and a fully equipped kitchen and serving area in the north aisle. The pews have gone and have been replaced by comfortable chairs. There is a retractable screen which can be lowered for the Film Club and then disappears entirely restoring the east end to how it has always looked. The base of the tower has been refurbished with modern storage cupboards and is now a comfortable vestry. The restoration of the beamed ceiling, the cleaning of the stonework, the careful design of the wooden panels around the kitchen and the new floor has created a very beautiful and calming space.
But as we know and as was emphasised by the project chair and champion, it is much more than the bricks and mortar, it is about the people. And we were met by a group of 16 people – the largest group of people that have attended one of these workshops and welcomed into a warm and comfortable building, but one that has retained a very special feeling and one that is still very much a church.
Like all similar projects, it was a challenging 5 years with moments of despair as well as celebration, but the testament of its success was those 16 people, some who had been part of the original building committee, and some – which bodes well for the future - people who have joined since completion because they wanted to come and help manage the new building. They all obviously love the space they have created and are quite rightly proud of what they now have.
Looking back during the mapping exercise, they came up with plenty of top tips especially around funding, but also about the importance of continuing to keep checking that people are 'on side'. What came through loud and clear was that 'you need champions' which on one level is about having a supportive bishop (which in their diocese, they do!) but also that any project of this complexity needs its own champion – the person who keeps it going, not just the co-ordination, but who keeps on pushing on through the setbacks and unforeseen problems and also manages to inspire others to keep on too. It was so clear that this person had been Ann Stead the Chair of the Building Committee who had fulfilled that role and was indeed still fulfilling that role! One of her top tips was that you need to keep hold of a clear vision and narrative which is one that you can articulate to funders, the community, the congregation as well as it being your own inspiration when things appear overwhelming.
Most telling for me was a member of the congregation who said that although she had been fully behind the plans from the beginning she was happy to find that the refurbished building remained very much a church. From a more personal perspective, she said that she had been worried about retiring and feared that she might become isolated. In fact, the new activities which were happening as a result of the new community space, had meant that she had plenty to do and meeting people was not an issue. Similarly, another volunteer said that she had been considering leaving the village as it was so difficult to meet people. Inspired by the project, she had volunteered to be on the management committee and the village had become home again.
Seeing photographs of the pews that had previously filled the nave, we saw during the workshop what a flexible space it has become. For the morning session we sat in a circle of chairs, and at lunchtime, three tables suddenly appeared and were arranged down the length of the nave covered in white table cloths and we ate delicious soup, bread and cake properly sitting down and then for the afternoon, those tables were rearranged to become space for the project timeline exercise.
The key for me was that just before I left, I looked back at the chancel and the screen had disappeared, the kitchen area was all clean and tidied up and all the chairs and tables had been put away except for two rows of chairs facing the altar all set up ready for the Sunday service the next morning. A truly shared space and does it matter that some people call it the church and some call it the hall? No, because it is fulfilling both roles perfectly.
Debate on Shared Spaces with Baroness Warsi Foundation
In the last few months we have been in contact with the Baroness Warsi Foundation to explore synergies between our projects and the potential to share and disseminate learning.
The Baroness Warsi Foundation's 'Modern Places of Worship' project, explores the interplay between architecture, faith and identity from both an historic and a modern perspective. The Foundation is hosting a series of ten UK-wide debates, and aims to publish a report and launch an architectural design competition.
Drawing on our common interest on exploring the relationship between places of worship and local communities we decided to partner on a debate on "Shared spaces: the modern place of worship". The debate is focussed on exploring the potential for places of worship to be shared, by different faith groups, by the wider community, and for mixed uses. It is held on the 25th of November, 3:00-5:00 at Liverpool School of Architecture.
The connection between people and their place of worship, and between a place of worship and the wider community around it, is layered with complex connotations, interpretations and feelings. Places of worship are fundamental to faith communities, providing a physical space to practice their faith and to come together. Bricks and mortar take on spiritual and faith values. For others, a place of worship may feel out of their reach or disconnected from their local community. What happens when those places of worship become shared spaces?
Is the form, feeling and function of a building defined by the particular faith practiced there?
How do different faith groups perceive other places of worship and can different faiths come together in shared buildings?
Can a faith building accommodate local community activities and services while maintaining its integrity and function as a place of worship?
This free debate will consider these questions starting with a series of provocations from a panel of speakers that bring a diverse range of experience and insights into the topic:
Dr. Andrew Crompton, Head of the School of Architecture, University of Liverpool
Daniel Leon & Matthew Lloyd, two of the architects behind the tri-faith prayer space, the Friday, Saturday, Sunday project
The Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most Revd Malcolm McMahon OP
Sophia de Sousa, Empowering Design Practices project research team & Chief Executive, The Glass-House Community Led Design.
The debate will be chaired by Lord Alton of Liverpool.
The event is open to anyone interested in exploring the future of places of worship and their place in our communities.
A clear vision and great design at St Michael and All Angels
post by Sophia de Sousa, The Glass-House Community Led Design
One of the elements of our Empowering Design Practices project is to visit places of worship that have made physical changes to their building, and to speak to those involved about the process and impact of those changes. We want to learn from their experience to help others, and to consider the roles of design and community in their success.
Tucked away in Witton Gilbert, a village outside Durham, is the beautiful parish church of St Michael and All Angels, which has stood there for over 800 years. It sits surrounded by natural beauty, with a churchyard bordering on Witton Dean, parkland that rises from the river below.
Like many rural parish churches, St Michael and All Angels, has undergone a series of changes to the building over time. What stands there today, though clearly a historic place of worship, is not simply a building frozen in a particular moment in time in the past. Many generations have used the building, made changes to it and done their best to make it respond their needs and to reflect their approach to worship.
A clear vision
The success of the recent reordering at St Michael's is rooted in a clear vision, strong leadership and collaboration from both the faith and lay communities. Their vision, for a quiet Breathing Space, a project to help people find health and well-being, emerged from an open and frank conversation about what and whom the building is for. The starting point was firmly rooted in an understanding of what that particular church and its context have to offer, what makes the place special.
What is so thrilling about St Michael's is that the changes that they have made to their building have been done with such care and attention to detail. They demonstrate design responding cleverly to the values and needs of its congregation while providing new opportunities for their wider community use.
Good design matters
St Michael's wanted to make physical changes to their building which are not uncommon in reordering projects. They wanted to improve accessibility, create a more flexible gathering space, and make the building more comfortable and welcoming with the addition of toilet and kitchen facilities. The launch of the Breathing Space project gave both motivation and opportunity to make those changes happen.
The clever expansion to either side of the existing porch, completed in December 2012, created significant extra space for a toilet, office, and utility storage cupboard. The stone used on the extension was sourced (from an old ice cream parlour in Sheffield) to blend seamlessly into the existing stonework.
The conversion of part of the vestry into a kitchen, with a serving hatch through to the side aisle, and the creation of loft storage space, tackled some challenging design questions about balancing the practical with respect for the faith practices and heritage of the building.
The kitchen hatch provides a practical link through to the side aisle, where pews were removed to create a flexible space for activities. The congregation, which is thriving at St Michael's, were keen not to lose seating space for their services, so high quality foldable chairs were purchased to provide both seating for services, and flexible arrangement of seating for a range of activities in the aisle.
We are grateful to the Revd Canon Caroline Dick and all of those at St Michael and All Angels, who so generously shared their story and what they had learned along the way. The tips they had for those embarking on a similar project were many. Here are just a few.
Think big vision to get the small things done
Think in phases, and use your vision to support small steps.
Reach out and build partnerships.
Get your most vociferous opponents involved, help them understand your position and give them a voice in decision-making
Acknowledge and thank people for their contribution
Reposted from the Glass-House blog (2 August 2016)
Report from focus group with architects and support officers
In the first year of the EDP project we focussed on understanding and collecting examples of good practice in the development of historic places of worship to meet wider community needs. Much of our activity was focussed on visiting past projects and reflecting on the process with those that saw projects through. In November 2015 we also held a focus group with people who provide professional advice and support, particularly officers working for Historic England and project architects. We wanted to get their perspective on the challenges in current practice and examine existing as well new resources and ways in which these challenges can be overcome.
We were fortunate to have 15 participants, with a variety of educational and professional backgrounds and an admirable insight and willingness to share their experiences.
Identifying and dealing with challenges
In the first part of the workshop we started with mapping recurring challenges along a timeline, starting with the stages of exploration and visioning, through to development and delivery of plans for adapting historic places of worship. We asked participants to reflect on practical challenges from different perspectives (architectural, faith, heritage and community), always thinking about the particularities of engaging with and serving community needs. The emphasis in the discussion was on Church buildings due to the participants' experiences, but most of the challenges and themes identified are relevant to different faith buildings and projects.
One of the key challenges identified, particularly important in the initial phases of design, was the relation between church and wider community, and the lack of engagement with one another. Local communities are often unaware of plans or activities carried out by local places of worship, or are reluctant to engage because of the faith element. Similarly, the worshipping community may find themselves divided between the mission of their faith (and building) and secular needs. In fact this challenge seems to be tightly associated with the existence of multiple attitudes relating to faith, heritage and community. Participants for example mentioned conflicts between heritage and conservation values and the values of a worshipping community, with cases were external communities are interested in preserving the building and historical fixtures and fittings more than the congregation. Similarly there were reported conflicts between 'old' and 'new' perceptions of spirituality, or 'old' and 'new' perceptions of heritage. However, lack of engagement may also come because of lack of knowledge of how to engage others in the process. Lack of capacity was another key grand challenge. This includes lack of knowledge of the planning process, terminology (jargon) and skills for project management. To lack of knowledge, it is important to also add lack of time, people resources (beyond the 'usual suspects') and lack of funding (especially for visioning and development). Returning to the issue of community engagement, participants also pointed out the lack of community auditing, understanding who the stakeholders are, what their needs are, and what their assets are. A lack of clear statement of need and shared vision is one of the key barriers many projects face and this is something we ourselves are discovering in the new projects we work with. In addition to these challenges, in the later phases of the process, many participants also mentioned the slow pace of the process and the difficulty of maintaining drive and commitment over a long period.
But we did not only stay at describing the challenges. Our participants suggested many useful ideas and strategies for overcoming those challenges. Some of the key suggestions were:
Provide support with the formation of statements of need and significance (e.g. through workshops or sharing of existing resources)
Develop a community engagement training exercise to identify and define stakeholders
Provide training on project management (managing budgets, people) and fundraising
Encourage networking and social events to learn together
Invert power of Dioceses to empower individual PCCs
Bring together client committee members, planning officers, DAC officers, architect to discuss ideas and plans
Develop materials to elucidate the process and jargon
Provide state funding for preventative maintenance
Provide funding to make a start
Identify knowledge, resources and training materials for professionals
The second part of the workshop focussed on the knowledge, resources and materials that would be useful for professionals working in the field. Our aim in the EDP project is not only to support groups to lead the development of their places, but also to support those who support them, and provide open training materials to budding architects, designers, and community and building development professionals. The responses can be sorted into two categories: domain specific/local knowledge and key generic skills. The table below summarises some of the key ideas.
Although there are differences between the architects and the support officers, we can identify some common themes. Domain-specific knowledge (e.g. liturgy, history of faiths and faith buildings, terminology, planning process, conservation etc) was seen as a great barrier, the discussion revealed the existence of a wealth of resources that can be consulted. This includes for example the websites of the Princes Regeneration Trust, the National Churches Trust, SPAB and the Maintenance Co-ops project, ChurchCare and Churches Conservation Trust. The EDP team is in the process of collating existing resources together and making them available on the website. See our Resources page.
When it comes to skills, there was a significant emphasis on collaborative skills (motivating, engaging, working with, managing others) but critical skills were also important (e.g. researching the community and the history of the place). Creative skills were important too although more implicit perhaps in discussions about methods and processes to help engage with the community, and support collective visioning.
We are grateful for all these discussions and we are planning to carry out more focus groups with experts providing advice and support to places of worship.
All these ideas and observations are making their way into the development of our educational programme, which includes the delivery of a two-day training course for professionals next year, as well as the creation of resources to be delivered through an online open educational platform.
Visit to the Sheffield Buddhist Centre
post by Ruchit Purohit
The EDP team visited the Sheffield Buddhist Centre (SBC) in August 2015. Tucked away in beautiful surroundings this historic building is an old Presbytery now converted into a Buddhist centre.
We were greeted by Achara, one of the leading members of the building committee, who showed us into a very welcoming and calm room where the meeting was to take place.
The visit to the Sheffield Buddhist Centre is part of our 'learning from the past' strand of research. Like we did with St Luke's the workshop included a walkabout where participants are divided in three groups to reflect on architecture, heritage, faith and community use of the building. This was followed by a round table with all stakeholders aimed to map out the timeline of the process and identify crucial moments. After a relatively slow start, the workshop evolved into a rich and vibrant discussion.
Some of the key learnings from the workshop are:
Leadership and decision-making – for this group one of the key aspects of success was assigning one person (Achara in this case) to take a key role in leading, negotiating and managing the project on behalf of the working committee:
It happened very consciously because one of the decisions that we made, and I am proud of, is we agreed on a design committee and we agreed the rest of the Sanga, the community, would keep out of it and wouldn't comment
Other key aspects of the process were:
Building trust amongst the committee (putting complete trust on people you could rely on)
Volunteering was seen as a key to the process as each member devoted their time and committed to a common cause. A lot of commitment and generosity from the people that were involved.
I think this building, the building and its size and its gardens, there are huge opportunities for people to get involved with this project at different levels so it is very very engaging, it is gorgeous, I love being here. Everybody loves being here . Personally it is always a pleasure to come here and be in this space, I think anybody, from the person just walking through the door for the first time can find something to contribute to the project because of the size and the nature of the property, which I think is very important at engaging people and creating unity and creating the sense of cohesion among our community because some centres in our movement have less cohesion than we have here.
Participants also talked about using spirituality as a tool for taking the process forward and achieving clarity. Mitra or friendship is a key element in Buddhist philosophy and this helped the team to develop deep bonds and a trusting relationship with each other.
Probably the most basic one is that we have a huge emphasis in what we call 'building Sanga, which is kind of, forming a network of friendships which forms the way of the Buddhist community and there is a huge emphasis on Sanga participating in our project …
…As conscious practitioners there is a big emphasis with that in the Buddhist community and that will manifest not only as individual friendships but as kind of helping with the work of the centre; helping making the centre look beautiful, helping with whatever work there is at the centre so we not only have gardening volunteers but we… you saw the volunteer work that was done while the building project was under way. We had volunteers doing out book keeping and helping in the office. We had volunteers who helped with cleaning and so on and so on. The whole project is supported by a mixture of members of the community giving money and member of the community giving their time and their help and their expertise to keep the whole centre running
There was also a really poignant discussion about the different fears the team had when they started and how they dealt with it.
There were fears of
dealing with a space bigger than really required
Something that someone said that lodged in my brain at one of those meetings was he said it was like a toddler and you buy him or her new clothes a size too big because you know they are going to grow in to it and it is similar with this space, it might seem vast and huge but actually it is that analogy that lodged with me as a very helpful analogy as hopefully we will grow, we weren't going to stay as we were with quite small classes and stuff so that was very helpful and practical.
entering in a space that previously belonged to a different faith group and thus incorporated different faith elements
the risks associated with taking a Grade II listed building and converting it – what will be allowed and what won't be?
I think we also underestimated what we were doing in an architecturally sense; we had just bought a church and we were converting it to a Buddhist centre and I think we just underestimated that this was significant, this was part of Britain's cultural history changing
Controversy – of risking to upset the non-Buddhist community by changing the heritage. This was a key moment as the Church bell had broken and came down during roof repairs. It was decided that this will be replaced by a Buddha statue. The architect suggested to apply for planning permission and necessary sanction was granted. But still the wider community was not happy.
We were accused of pulling strings behind the public's back with planners. It hit the BBC news website.
Achara, very wisely decided to go and meet the person who was leading this protest. A simple learning was that talking to the community before taking decisions really helps.
So I went down to see the person who was most upset and said 'if you don't want this to happen we won't do it' and at that point we came into a very different relationship, and she shared her fears… This might interest you. So first of all she was worried about the smell of curry when we arrived. Secondly they had assumed it was a 15 foot florescent Buddha and there would be parking jams all around Sheffield.
So actually it was a blessing in disguise because if, for me the big learning was it wasn't just down to me but I feel responsible that there wasn't enough care taken in informing local residents what we were doing. So we have a couple of minor tensions which we resolved very quickly but we could have done better.
This links to a theme that commonly comes across in most of our workshops that of understanding what is community. The building committee had to be careful of the fact that they had to deal with a different set of users (the Buddhist congregation (mitras)) but also that there was a wider community out there.
We should have entered in a relationship and friendship faster with the local community, when I say local community I mean people who are looking onto the building
Immediate residents?
Yes because there was issues around parking
Yes, parking, suspicion of noise etc
Overall, the process proved to be very emotional for the team, throughout the different stages.
I mean this is personal too but there were three big moments for me, one was after that worst meeting I have ever been, I stopped and wondered what I had joined, and two weeks later one of the best meetings that I have ever been in where we said 'OK, let's go for this'. Then I just remember being very very emotional on the opening day.
The project in itself is indeed a great achievement. I left in awe that such a building had been transformed at such a scale and for a very different use still retaining a lot of its important elements. A great feat led by a humble community.
I think one of the things that I have become aware of fairly recently is that, and I think it is through this project that has taken so much of our energies and taken so much time, through this we have achieved a huge level of humility and that is born itself out on such things as electing a new chairman for the future and that sort of thing and that unity, I think, is continuing to grow and I think we should be very careful to preserve it.
Love in Action: Learning from St Luke's Church Oxford
A central aim of the Empowering Design Practices project is to develop methods, tools, resources and mechanisms to support people embarking on projects for refurbishing and enhancing local places of worship. But before we can develop new things, we need to look at past practice: How did other people do it? How did their journey look like? What kind of places they created? What are the pitfalls of the process and how they can be overcome?
To inform our own practice, we therefore set up a strand of work called Learning from the Past. The research includes interviews, focus groups, workshops, and a number of visits to past projects. These site visits offer a way to experience the place and engage with the people who relate to it: those who were originally involved in envisioning a new future for their building and who saw it through, but also current users, worshipers, visitors, or people using its services.
In this blog, I would like to recount our first site visit to St. Luke's Church in Oxford and share some thoughts and observations.
The site visit
We were all excited about visiting St. Luke's. Becky Payne (our valued expert on sustaining historic places of worship) had already written a case study about the project. St. Luke's is not a renovation project like the ones we intend to focus on for our support, but the church was rebuilt retaining to a great extend the footprint and character of the original building. A really inspiring example, from which we felt we can learn a lot, particularly about the way the steering team led the re-design process while creatively engaging with the wider community in one of the poorer parts of Oxford.
It helped that it was a glorious day when we visited, but the first impressions approaching the building were really positive. The entry to the building was smooth and the main hall looked big, bright and tidy. The space gave the impression of a well looked after community centre but it combined a sense of spirituality. In this minimalist space, a beautiful unconventional painting of the last supper drew our attention instantly conveying so much about the principles behind the creation of this space.
The main room has cupboards all around the periphery, which are used for storage, and there is a mezzanine level on its short side. Beside the main room there is a kitchen area, and beyond that a connecting space leading to the 'Chill out' room - a space mainly used by children and youth groups, with sofas, a second kitchen area, a standalone sink, a pool and a juke box.
The walkabout
Following a quick lunch and introductions to the project and to each other we divided in three groups to walk around the building. Each group was tasked with discussing a different topic: architecture, heritage, and community, particularly focussing on how changes in the building have affected people's lives and perceptions.
Participants talked about a feeling of cosiness the Chill Out room has, welcoming different types of users and different types of uses, including art, dance (from ballroom to street dance), cooking, mother and toddler group activities and even just listening to music and playing pool. All these activities happen often alongside worshipping, and the Hungarian and occasionally also the Asian Church also rent the space out for their own service.
The building was designed to allow wheelchair access, which necessitated moving the entrance to the side. This was originally met with disapproval by the local authority planners, who expected to have an entrance to such a public building on the front and at a distance from the surrounding private flats. Indeed we found out that there were many negotiations between the architect, the steering committee and the council throughout the whole process, and people in the community also came in with their perceptions and requirements about the place, whether for a small thing like the sink in the Chill Out room or something bigger, like the façade of the building.
These negotiations extended to the perception of heritage different people had as this extract from the discussion shows:
'Surprising some of the young people find it quite difficult to adjust to the new building as they so loved the old building even thought it was falling apart and everything, they had a very strong sense of ownership over it. I think they thought 'this brand new building doesn't feel like our yet'.
We did some art projects; they made a Celtic cross out of clay which is hanging in there, and (…) they have got their own chalk board thing and just things that make them feel it is their building as well.'
'In some ways we have established a new heritage haven't we?
Mapping milestones and assets
The second part of our visit focussed on mapping milestones in the process from the start of the project until now, but also the assets associated with key events: the people, skills, tools and resources that made things happen. We used a map with some key events pre-drawn, based on the interview we had already conducted with the church warden.
It was a lively discussion and bit more disordered than we had planned! Thinking about the key events and their succession, helped participants recall and reflect on the process. Doing this as a group helped create a more complete picture. The initial phases of the project drew most of their attention, as they were rightly the most intensive, the most difficult and the most defining. The process had its highs and lows, and there were many setbacks as well as achievements.
There were plans to replace St. Luke's going back to the 1980's. But the journey which kicked off the transformation of St. Luke's into what it is now started in 2005 when the steering group formed. A first proposal was designed with the help of students from Oxford Brookes University. Then around 2007 come another design, which included private flats to help generate revenue to maintain the building, but the plan didn't get permission due to requirements relating to an elevated flood risks in the area. This also started an on-going consultation with local residents, which revealed their will to maintain the church as a community landmark and resource.
Constant community engagement was one of the key characteristics of the project that made it so successful, and so was working in partnership with other local faith and secular organisations; engaging with local media; and combining multiple sources of funding.
A key point in the discussion was when we asked the team about their values and what made them persevere in the face of numerous difficulties over a long period of time:
'Well, we haven't touched on faith. For us, this project was part of the outworking of our faith, not just a kind of blind optimism, it was actually looking for guidance, trying to listen'
'We also had a fundamental belief in St Luke's for me. I knew there needed to be a St Luke's here. It was unlike other churches, it served a need that could not be met in other ways'
'It was meeting the people around here and realising that St Luke's can help people get a sense of belonging and feel valued, things that other churches aren't able to do'
St Luke's moto is 'love in action'. This was what drove the process and what drives the group's everyday activities and use of the space now.
During the workshop a group of three youngsters appeared on the door. They hesitated a bit to get in when they saw us, but they were immediately welcomed in. We could see they felt at home and one was confident enough to share his view about the place. I thought, maybe that is where it all starts, in giving people voice and confidence.
I feel privileged to have met the people and I have learned a lot. Below I include a list of top tips that the team suggested to us, to help others embarking on a similar journey.
Watch this space for more blogs about our visits to past projects.
Top tips from St. Luke's, Oxford
Capturing imagination – visualising the project
Ensuring a mix of skills – getting people in early
Flexible design of project – contingency
Engage the community
Be clear about what you are/your values
Patience and insistence
Design to allow mix of as many groups/users as possible
See if you can phase the project
Lottery funding useful early on (but only early on)
Divide responsibilities and respect each other's skills


text:
Jaderná elektrárna Vandellòs (španělsky Central nuclear de Vandellós, katalánsky Central nuclear de Vandellòs) je jaderná elektrárna, která se nachází ve Španělsku, v provincii Tarragona v autonomním společenství Katalánsko. Nachází se na pobřeží Středozemního moře.

První blok (Vandellòs I)
Výstavba prvního bloku započala v roce 1967 a skončila v roce 1972. První blok měl 1 reaktor UNGG o výkonu 480 MW (jednalo se o jediný takový reaktor mimo Francii). První blok byl odstaven po havárii v roce 1990, nyní se už nikde na světě takové reaktory nepoužívají.

Druhý blok (Vandellòs II)
Výstavba druhého bloku započala v roce 1981 a byl dokončen v roce 1988. Je na něm tlakovodní reaktor o výkonu 1087 MW. Licence mu končí v roce 2027.

Majitelé
Elektrárna je ve společenství vlastníků, které se nazývá Asociación Nuclear Ascó-Vandellós a vlastní i jadernou elektrárnu Ascó. V tomto společenství jsou španělské energetické firmy Ibredrola a Endesa.

Reference

Externí odkazy

Jaderné elektrárny ve Španělsku
Provincie Tarragona
Postaveno ve Španělsku 1981

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
In case you missed it: This week's best reads from Pennsylvania cities
Eleanor Klibanoff, WPSU
Before Philadelphia's Love Park will be demolished next week as part of a renovation, Mayor Jim Kenney lifted a longtime ban on skateboarding. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
Wolf War II: The Legislator's Revenge, coming this spring to a Harrisburg near you.
Lead in Pennsylvania
In what is quickly becoming a recurring segment of ICYMI, there was a lot of news surrounding lead paint and pipes in Pennsylvania this week. If you're just tuning in, don't panic. There's no new concern around lead poisoning in your home or community.
What we have in Pennsylvania is a very old concern that can be easy to ignore. But now, in the wake of the Flint, Michigan, lead-tainted water crisis, many people are starting to ask important questions about their pipes and paint.
The CDC has determined that any level of lead is dangerous to children. Many cities are working to remove lead pipes before a problem emerges. But what about the pipes in your (private) home that connect to the (public) system? Who is responsible for replacing those? In Madison, Wis., it took funding incentives and a city mandate to get all those pipes replaced.
Some Pennsylvania cities may want to look into that step. Though most would have to do the hard work of replacing their lead main lines first.
If you ask the state Department of Environmental Protection, water isn't the problem. The agency released a statement saying that the 157 water systems tested all had lead levels below the action threshold. It's the old homes, built before lead paint was banned in 1978, that you have to worry about. Before we delve into lead paint, take a second to check their work: look up your water system's Consumer Confidence Report.
It's true that Pennsylvania has a lot of old houses, with chipping, dusty lead paint. The state ranks fourth for most homes built before 1978.
In an interview with Newsworks, Montgomery County Health Department supervisor Rhonda Stanek said that's a problem: "Usually, we see our cases go up in the springtime when families start opening their windows to let the fresh air in. The kids like to stand at the window and look out. And then they're always putting their hands in their mouth."
Lead paint tastes sweet. Kids end up going back for more. And that's how you get kids with dangerous levels of lead in their system.
If you want to see data from your community, check out the state Department of Health's 2014 Childhood Lead Surveillance Report.
Have you or someone you know been affected by lead poisoning? Has your landlord had to deal with lead paint? Have you replaced your lead pipes? If you have any first-hand experiences with lead that you'd like to share with Keystone Crossroads, please send us an email at crossroads@whyy.org.
Budget in Pennsylvania
It's February, which means it's time for the governor to propose his new budget, to be approved in June.
No, we still don't have last year's budget sewn up. Yes, Governor Wolf is forging ahead with many similar — if not more ambitious — plans this year. Yes, the legislature is likely to vote it all down again, putting us in a similar — if not worse — spot than before. No, this isn't deja vu. It's all really happening again.
What does the new budget have in store for cities?
The Department of Human Services, which funds all the social service programs in the state, would get an additional $1 billion under the new budget. But the House is working to restore about $1 billion worth of funding cut from the budget of the state prison system. And no last-minute stay of execution for PERC, the Pennsylvania Employees Retirement Commission, which Wolf defunded completely. We've been keeping an eye on this move, which eliminates the organization responsible for managing and funding the state's 3,200 local pension funds.
The House, playing its role as the thorn in Wolf's paw, is scheduled to review a bill in March that would revive the agency.
LOVE in Pennsylvania
Putting aside all of the depressing news in the state for a moment, here are some happy tales from around the state.
A muralist, famous for her installation art that engages passerby, is bringing her talents to Philadelphia. Candy Chang will be addressing mental health issues through a surreal mural of 64 fables. Chang is perhaps most well-known for her "Before I Die" chalkboard mural that asked residents for their bucket-list dreams.
Chang said, "I'm really interested in the city, the history of cities, the shape of cities, how they've changed, what they're fundamentally made of, how we've changed and what we've lost along the way."
(Honestly, Candy, be our Valentine.)
In Lake City, near Erie, an empty, unsellable Post Office has been turned into a community center. The space has been used for a community Halloween party, weddings, karate classes and free yoga. It's so popular as a rental space that it's never needed borough assistance. The space is completely self-funded.
Just in time for Valentine's Day, LOVE Park in Philadelphia is kicking off its renovation. The work hasn't yet begun, so the city has welcomed LOVE's true tenants — skateboarders — back for one last ride. Resident Cool Dude/Mayor Jim Kenney said, "Between now and February 15th, we're going to lift the ban on skating here and allow folks to come back and experience the place one more time…Come back for one more spin on your board."
If you're looking for a last minute V-Day present for your favorite urban thinker, check out Cards Against Urbanity. It's an urban planning spin on the popular Cards Against Humanity, which is an X-rated spin on children's game Apples to Apples. If you like urban planning, or want to learn more about urban planning, this game is for you.
Whether you're skateboarding through a local park, checking out some public art or figuring out state budget doomsday scenarios, have a lovely weekend.
Brought to you by Keystone Crossroads
Exploring the stories that matter across the commonwealth with all Pennsylvanians in mind.
About Eleanor Klibanoff, WPSU
@eklib eleanor@psu.edu

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


TREJO, Alan doubled down the lf line.
TREJO, Alan scored on a wild pitch.
VERDON, Jordan singled to center field; BIBLE, Chad advanced to third.
BROWN, Andrew doubled to right center.
SHEEHAN, Danny hit by pitch.
BIBLE, Chad singled to shortstop; SHEEHAN, Danny advanced to second; BROWN, Andrew advanced to third.
Cullen, Hunter doubled down the rf line.
Persinger, Dillon singled through the right side, advanced to second on a throwing error by rf, RBI; Cullen, Hunter scored.
Cardenas, Ruben singled to center field, advanced to second on the throw, RBI; Persinger, Dillon scored, unearned.
ADKISON, Tyler pinch ran for MARTINEZ, Andrew.
FERNANDEZ, Jorge to p for ERICKSON, Jacob.
Bryant, Taylor singled to right field; Pacheco, Niko advanced to second.
Romero, Boston pinch hit for Hudgins, Chris.
LAMBERT, Ray to p for FERNANDEZ, Jorge.
Cope, Daniel to c for Romero, Boston.
HENSLEY, David doubled to left center.
BROWN, Andrew singled to left center, advanced to second on the throw, RBI; HENSLEY, David scored.
SHEEHAN, Danny reached first on a fielding error by ss; BROWN, Andrew advanced to third.
SHEEHAN, Danny Failed pickoff attempt; BROWN, Andrew scored on an error by p, BROWN, Andrew, unearned.
Cardenas, Ruben doubled to center field, RBI; Persinger, Dillon scored.
MARDUENO, Adrian to p for LAMBERT, Ray.
Pacheco, Niko walked; Hurst, Scott advanced to second; Cardenas, Ruben advanced to third.
Bryant, Taylor walked, RBI; Pacheco, Niko advanced to second; Hurst, Scott advanced to third; Cardenas, Ruben scored.
CALABUIG, Chase reached first on a fielding error by cf, advanced to second.
CALABUIG, Chase advanced to third on a wild pitch.
NEVAREZ, Dean flied out to rf, SAC, RBI; CALABUIG, Chase scored, unearned.
HENSLEY, David reached first on a throwing error by 3b.
PETROVICK, Hayden to p for MARDUENO, Adrian.
Pavletich, Jake to 1b for McLellan, JT.
BROWN, Andrew advanced to second on a wild pitch.
BIBLE, Chad singled through the left side; SHEEHAN, Danny advanced to second; BROWN, Andrew advanced to third.
ADKISON, Tyler lined out to cf, SAC, RBI; SHEEHAN, Danny advanced to third; BROWN, Andrew scored.
HENSLEY, David singled up the middle.
SAYLOR, CJ to p for PETROVICK, Hayden.
ESCOBEDO, Julian to cf for BIBLE, Chad.


When you first get new braces, it may take a few days for you and your mouth to get used to them. During this time, you may find yourself feeling your braces with your tongue and experiencing some discomfort. Don't worry. This is perfectly normal, and with some tips and tricks from our Orthodontist in Ponte Vedra, FL, you'll learn how to get used to braces quickly. Your braces should feel like a normal part of your mouth in no time.
1. You Are Experiencing Excess Salivation.
When we first adhere your new braces to your teeth, you may experience some excess salivation due to your mouth mistaking your new braces as food. This should subside after your braces have been in your mouth for a few hours.
2. Your Braces Rub Against Your Lips or Cheeks.
You may find that your braces are rubbing against your lips and/or cheeks. This is a normal part of the adjustment process and can last up to five days after your braces are affixed to your teeth. If you find that you are developing a sore from your braces, go ahead and place a little dental wax over the brace or wire that is irritating your mouth. An additional tip on how to get used to braces is to rinse your mouth with a glass of water and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt to relieve irritation and help the sore heal. Sores and irritation along your lips and cheeks should dissipate within the first week.
3. Your Wires Feel Extremely Tight.
Some types of braces have automatically adjusting wires. These wires tighten when exposed to body heat. If your wires feel exceptionally tight or uncomfortable, our dentist recommends rinsing your mouth with ice water which will help relax the wires for a short amount of time.
4. Your Mouth Is Sore.
Getting your braces put on your teeth isn't a painful process, but you may experience soreness for a few days after your appointment and any time your wires are manually tightened or if you have self-adjusting wires. For these times, you can take an over the counter pain reliever or anti-inflammatory that is age-appropriate. If you are unsure as to which OTC pain medication to use, our dentist can recommend products.
5. You Are Unsure What Foods to Eat.
Another tip on how to get used to braces is knowing what foods to eat. When you first get your braces, it can be difficult to remember what foods you can and cannot eat. Our pediatric dentist in Ponte Vedra, FL will supply you with a list of friendly and unfriendly foods for braces. For the first 48 hours, you should focus on eating soft foods. This is because the adhesive used to attach your braces takes about 48 hours to fully set. During that time, you will want to avoid hard and excessively chewy and sticky foods. After the first 48 hours, you will still want to avoid hard, sticky and extremely chewy foods, but you may be able to cut fruits, vegetables, and meats into small pieces and eat them slowly. If you have questions about the types of food you can eat for the first few days to weeks after getting your braces, feel free to call our dental office and ask.
6. Your Dental Hygiene Routine Will Change.
After you get your braces, you will have to adjust to a more vigilant dental hygiene routine because there are more areas in your mouth where food particles can get trapped. Our dentist recommends brushing in the morning and in the evening as well as after every meal and flossing once a day. The process of brushing and flossing your teeth will also take longer. This is because you have to brush along every surface of your teeth and around and over the brackets and wires. Additionally, You will want to rinse your mouth each night with a fluoride rinse to ensure all the food particles have been removed from your mouth before you go to bed. This will help avoid cavities around the brackets.
For more tips and tricks on how to get used to braces and to schedule an appointment with Dr. Derek Hoffman our Ponte Vedra Orthodontist to see if braces would help straighten your child's smile, call us at 904-373-5120.
Next: When Do Kids Get All Their Teeth?


Did Jesus say ghosts exist?
A. I am aware of no scriptural scholar who would say that this statement of Jesus confirms that there are, in fact, ghosts. On the other hand, Jesus did not debunk the notion when given the chance. Which is pretty much where the Catholic Church stands on the matter of ghosts: There is no settled doctrinal teaching with respect to their existence, no provision in conciliar teaching or canon law that addresses it.
What the church does affirm is that God has from time to time permitted departed souls to commune with people on earth for their betterment — but the exact nature of that communication (whether by an intellectual sharing or a physical manifestation) has not been defined theologically.
Clearly there is no intrinsic contradiction between the existence of "ghosts" and Catholic theology, and Thomas Aquinas did assert in the supplement to his Summa Theologiae that "according to the disposition of divine providence, separated souls sometimes come forth from their abode and appear to men."
What the church does reject is any attempt proactively to summon the dead. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to 'unveil' the future" (No. 2116).


The artists included in the exhibition are: Ignasi Aballí, Vito Acconci, Maja Bajevic, Marcel Broodthaers, Anne-Lise Coste, Esther Ferrer, Peter Friedl, Richard Hamilton, Emanuel Licha, Gordon Matta-Clark, Cildo Meireles, Younès Rahmoun, Tere Recarens, Àngels Ribé, Dieter Roth, Mireia Sallarès and Zush.
Enthusiasm. Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection is a project that addresses contemporaneity from an optimistic, persistent and passionate perspective. A direct concept that, rather than displaying works thematically or chronologically, stands as a specific whole; that is to say, a particular way of understanding artistic practice that vindicates the emotional intensity of the artwork.
In general terms, enthusiasm is understood as a subjective process of exaltation of the spirit, in which passion and fervour act as an emotional trigger of what we want to achieve, be it discreet, ambitious, intimate or public. Through a plural analysis of the concept, the project reviews the MACBA Collection with the aim of staging and contrasting a series of behaviours and attitudes that are prone to this excitement. A firm and obstinate position that rejects naive or simply cheerful attitudes in favour of confidence, resistance and furore at different levels. The exhibition proposes an exercise in the activation of works, in which diverse causes and challenges are interwoven, giving rise to a selection of unique challenges that, within the field of contemporary art, move between individual obsession and aesthetic, social, and political commitment.
Following these premises, Enthusiasm. Challenge and Obstinacy in the MACBA Collection puts forward five possible approaches based on the enthusiastic act: the cosmogonic construction, the creative power of daily life, the performative charge of the body, social activism and the crisis of the very notion of art. In other words, the determination of artists such as Zush, Anne-Lise Coste and Younès Rahmoun to build a world of their own through experiences, fantasies and beliefs; the repetition of simple and everyday gestures by Esther Ferrer, Ignasi Aballí, Dieter Roth, Richard Hamilton and Tere Recarens; the performativity of Vito Acconci and Àngels Ribé; the non-conformist actions of Maja Bajevic, Emanuel Licha, Mireia Sallarès, Cildo Meireles and Gordon Matta-Clark; and, finally, the critique of the art system by artists such as Marcel Broodthaers and Peter Friedl, suggest a narrative sequence in which enthusiasm denotes a strong ideological position before the artistic fact: one that, in the end, conceives art as an act of faith capable of achieving its aim, whether it is changing the world or simply questioning oneself.
Enthusiasm builds on the conceptual legacy of two projects based on this concept and which took place in Barcelona in the mid-2000s. On the one hand, the project Faith and Enthusiasm (2004), by the artist Antonio Ortega: a processual exhibition organised at Espai 13 of the Fundació Joan Miró, which, focusing on the notion of success, attempted to raise funds to build a waxwork figure of Yola Berrocal, the best example of enthusiasm according to the artist. On the other hand, the exhibition Enthusiasm presented at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in 2005: an archive of films linked to the Polish amateur film movement between 1950 and 1980 compiled by artists Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska. Both projects incorporated a liberating impulse arising from passion. And it is here, in the challenge that is more visceral than rational, more passionate than strategic, that the intensity of this survey of the MACBA Collection lies. Despite having very different objectives, and doing so through disparate forms of presentation, all the artists in the exhibition share the same gesture: to express themselves forcefully.
Under the effect of contagion and complicity, the three concepts behind the exhibition – enthusiasm, challenge and obstinacy – also apply to all the agents and structures that intervene in the project: the curatorial position, the configuration of the MACBA Collection, the desire of the Visual Arts Programme of the Diputació de Barcelona to disseminate and, best of all, the interrelation with the individuals and groups that will visit the exhibition.


OA 78014 is a Loading... luxury yacht, built by Ocean Alexander and delivered in 2010. Her power comes from two 1622.0hp Caterpillar C-32-ACERT diesel engines. She can accommodate up to 6 people with 2 crew members waiting on their every need.


As per Jason Filipow: "Yeah, it's the black 'Peace Fingers' on top of red/yellow "World Odor". It's a 'test' print....scrap/throwaway (from cleaning the screens of ink, etc) from our in-house printer. We don't sell these or make them available in anyway...Shepard occassionally gives them to friends. The photo you have posted is probably from the Obey Clothing offices."


For many, the phrase 'stay strong' implies a level of physical fitness, a body-tone or a muscular -skeletal system that embraces the body and keeps you going when the daily challenges of the job are overwhelmingly not in your favor due to the current housing patterns that pits officers against an enormous number of inmates. However, what we need to seriously take into considerations are the things that make you 'mentally strong.' After all, most of the job requires you to be alert, to think and solve complicated problems.
Just like we have bad habits that rob you of your physical strengths, there are bad habits that rob you of your mental energy and ability to focus on what you are responsible for on or off duty – your self-control. Exercising your 'mental muscle' is very important as it is the main tool for cognizant awareness you have to possess to do your job at its best and make you perform your duties at the peak of your efficiency and abilities.
This habit of exercising your mind, along with the hard work and dedication you have put into your job as a correctional officer, shall reap you the success and rewards you are looking for. Realizing from the moment you hit the 'line,' you see the environment as a very negative place to work in. Therefore, to offset this negativity you must begin your thoughts by realizing your blessings to possess a better perspective than those you are supervising behind bars.
Show your gratitude of your blessings through your behaviors and deeds. Never surrender your personal power to others, especially the inmates. Giving negative people your power is self-defeating your purpose or presence there, and drags you down. Accept all challenges willfully but cautiously, and view the adversity as an opportunity to become better and stronger as each obstacle you overcome, you gain confidence and better at the job.
Don't waste your time on things you cannot control -instead focus on the things you can control. Doing so will give you more positive and productive results and a more useful delivery of your energy. Know your job and its limitations. Boundaries set are positive and serve specific purposes in creating better emotional and physical resources to work and grow with.
This may cause grief to some but it provides you the opportunities to become better at what you desire to do. Don't be a risk taker. Use your mental power to identify risks and create that 'comfort zone' you know will keep you safe. Learn from your mistakes and reflect from the past, but do not dwell on it; you cannot live a life with regret and expect to grow mentally. As an individual and professional, create your own role and your own definition of success- don't play 'follow the leader.' Don't resent the success of others but rather, recognize your own abilities and seek achievements on your own.
Remember that some failures are positive steps towards your growth in wisdom, personally or professionally. Keep your mind healthy by doing healthy things. Accept responsibility for your decisions and don't waste your time blaming others. There is no entitlement to your job – just expectations. Do not limit yourself to your capabilities or potential. Remember that in every case of adversity, there is an opportunity to learn and understand things better than before. Use your mental energy wisely, don't throw it away on irrelevant things that resemble gossip, whining or complaining. None of that helps you do your job better.
Equally important to you is the feeling to trust yourself and be realistic of your job and its expectations. Don't engage in pessimistic predictions. Allow your positivity in life give you the optimism you need to see the reality clearer and better than others. Acknowledge the fact that with your job comes some level of emotional pain or discomfort. This is where you find yourself challenging yourself for self-control and the energy to say true to your own morals, values and ethical conduct you set out to live with from the very beginning of this journey as a correctional officer.
Being a correctional officer is not a popularity contest – it's a viable and respectable job to ensure secure and safe conditions for all. It can be a most fulfilling career path to choose and take if you remain mentally strong. Tolerating discomforts is like a good workout at the gym – no pain thus no gain.
Carl ToersBijns thank you for this post on the correctional officers and also on where to buy bowflex selecttech 552 adjustable dumbbells. Staying strong mentally and physical is not easy task, this post is good.


text:
package it.smartcommunitylab.aac.oauth.flow;

import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.UUID;

import javax.annotation.PostConstruct;

import org.apache.http.client.config.RequestConfig;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
import org.springframework.http.HttpEntity;
import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
import org.springframework.http.HttpMethod;
import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
import org.springframework.http.client.HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory;
import org.springframework.security.core.Authentication;
import org.springframework.security.core.GrantedAuthority;
import org.springframework.security.core.userdetails.User;
import org.springframework.security.oauth2.provider.AuthorizationRequest;
import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
import org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate;

import com.nimbusds.jwt.JWT;
import com.nimbusds.jwt.JWTClaimsSet;
import it.smartcommunitylab.aac.Config;
import it.smartcommunitylab.aac.jwt.JWTService;
import it.smartcommunitylab.aac.manager.ClaimManager;
import it.smartcommunitylab.aac.manager.RoleManager;
import it.smartcommunitylab.aac.manager.ServiceManager;
import it.smartcommunitylab.aac.manager.UserManager;
import it.smartcommunitylab.aac.model.ClientDetailsEntity;
import it.smartcommunitylab.aac.repository.ClientDetailsRepository;

/**
 * Implementation of the {@link OAuthFlowExtensions} with the Web hook
 * functionality. The call is accompanied with the JWT token of the requesting
 * client with respect to the authorized user scope claims.
 *
 * @author raman
 *
 */
public class WebhookOAuthFlowExtensions implements OAuthFlowExtensions {

    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(WebhookOAuthFlowExtensions.class);

    @Value("${jwt.issuer}")
    private String issuer;

    @Autowired
    private RoleManager roleManager;
    @Autowired
    private UserManager userManager;
    @Autowired
    private ClaimManager claimManager;
    @Autowired
    ClientDetailsRepository clientRepo;
//	@Autowired
//	private ClientKeyCacheService encrypters;
//	@Autowired
//	private JWTSigningAndValidationService jwtService;

    @Autowired
    private JWTService jwtService;
//
//	@Autowired
//	private SymmetricKeyJWTValidatorCacheService symmetricCacheService;
    @Autowired
    private ServiceManager serviceManager;

    private RestTemplate restTemplate;

    @Value("${hook.timeout:10000}")
    private int timeout;

    @PostConstruct
    public void init() {
        RequestConfig config = RequestConfig.custom()
                .setConnectTimeout(timeout)
                .setConnectionRequestTimeout(timeout)
                .setSocketTimeout(timeout)
                .build();
        CloseableHttpClient client = HttpClientBuilder
                .create()
                .setDefaultRequestConfig(config)
                .build();
        HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory clientHttpRequestFactory = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(
                client);
        restTemplate = new RestTemplate(clientHttpRequestFactory);
    }

    @Override
    public void onAfterApproval(AuthorizationRequest authorizationRequest, Authentication userAuthentication)
            throws FlowExecutionException {
        // get client
        ClientDetailsEntity client = clientRepo.findByClientId(authorizationRequest.getClientId());
        if (client == null) {
            logger.error("invalid cliendId: " + String.valueOf(authorizationRequest.getClientId()));
            throw new FlowExecutionException("Invalid cliendId: " + String.valueOf(authorizationRequest.getClientId()));
        }

        String hook = getAfterApprovalWebhook(client);
        if (StringUtils.hasText(hook)) {
            try {
                URL url = new URL(hook);
                String token = extractToken(authorizationRequest, userAuthentication, client);
                HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
                headers.set("Authorization", "Bearer " + token);
                HttpEntity<Void> entity = new HttpEntity<>(headers);

                ResponseEntity<String> result = restTemplate.exchange(url.toString(), HttpMethod.GET, entity,
                        String.class);

                logger.debug("Hook response code: " + result.getStatusCodeValue());
                logger.debug("Hook result: " + result.getBody());
            } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
                throw new FlowExecutionException("Invalid hook URL: " + hook);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                throw new FlowExecutionException("Hook invocation failure: " + e.getMessage());
            }
        }
    }

    protected String extractToken(AuthorizationRequest authorizationRequest, Authentication userAuthentication,
            ClientDetailsEntity client) throws FlowExecutionException {
        // TODO cleanup handling of autorities in session!! it's a mess
        // note: session with principal contains stale info about roles, fetched at
        // login
        Collection<? extends GrantedAuthority> selectedAuthorities = userAuthentication
                .getAuthorities();
        // fetch again from db
        try {
            User user = (User) userAuthentication.getPrincipal();
            long userId = Long.parseLong(user.getUsername());
            it.smartcommunitylab.aac.model.User userEntity = userManager.findOne(userId);
            selectedAuthorities = roleManager.buildAuthorities(userEntity);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            // user is not available
            logger.error("user not found: " + e.getMessage());
        }

        // TODO move claim building to claimManager or claimService - and ADD CACHE!
        Map<String, Object> claimMap = claimManager.getUserClaims(userAuthentication.getName(), selectedAuthorities,
                client, authorizationRequest.getScope(), null, null);
        JWTClaimsSet.Builder builder = new JWTClaimsSet.Builder();
        claimMap.entrySet().forEach(e -> builder.claim(e.getKey(), e.getValue()));

        // eventual client claims
        Map<String, Object> clientClaims = claimManager.getClientClaims(client.getClientId(),
                authorizationRequest.getScope());
        clientClaims.entrySet().forEach(e -> builder.claim(e.getKey(), e.getValue()));

        List<String> audiences = new LinkedList<>();
        audiences.add(client.getClientId());
        audiences.addAll(getServiceIds(authorizationRequest.getScope()));

        JWTClaimsSet claims = builder
                .audience(audiences)
                .claim("azp", client.getClientId())
                .issuer(issuer)
                .issueTime(new Date())
                .jwtID(UUID.randomUUID().toString()) // set a random NONCE in the middle of it
                .build();

        JWT jwt = jwtService.buildAndSignJWT(client, claims);

        logger.trace("signed jwt from service :" + jwt.serialize());

        return jwt.serialize();

//
//		JWSAlgorithm signedResponseAlg = ClientKeyCacheService.getSignedResponseAlg(client);
//		JWEAlgorithm encResponseAlg = ClientKeyCacheService.getEncryptedResponseAlg(client);
//		EncryptionMethod encResponseEnc = ClientKeyCacheService.getEncryptedResponseEnc(client);
//		String jwksUri = ClientKeyCacheService.getJwksUri(client);
//		JWKSet jwks = ClientKeyCacheService.getJwks(client);
//
//		if (encResponseAlg != null && !encResponseAlg.equals(Algorithm.NONE)
//				&& encResponseEnc != null && !encResponseEnc.equals(Algorithm.NONE)
//				&& (!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(jwksUri) || jwks != null)) {
//
//			// encrypt it to the client's key
//
//			JWTEncryptionAndDecryptionService encrypter = encrypters.getEncrypter(client);
//
//			if (encrypter != null) {
//
//				EncryptedJWT encrypted = new EncryptedJWT(new JWEHeader(encResponseAlg, encResponseEnc), claims);
//
//				encrypter.encryptJwt(encrypted);
//
//				return encrypted.serialize();
//			} else {
//				logger.error("Couldn't find encrypter for client: " + client.getClientId());
//				throw new FlowExecutionException("Couldn't find encrypter for client: " + client.getClientId());
//			}
//		} else {
//
//			JWSAlgorithm signingAlg = jwtService.getDefaultSigningAlgorithm(); // default to the server's preference
//			if (signedResponseAlg != null) {
//				signingAlg = signedResponseAlg; // override with the client's preference if available
//			}
//			JWSHeader header = new JWSHeader(signingAlg, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null,
//					jwtService.getDefaultSignerKeyId(),
//					null, null);
//			SignedJWT signed = new SignedJWT(header, claims);
//
//			if (signingAlg.equals(JWSAlgorithm.HS256)
//					|| signingAlg.equals(JWSAlgorithm.HS384)
//					|| signingAlg.equals(JWSAlgorithm.HS512)) {
//
//				// sign it with the client's secret
//				JWTSigningAndValidationService signer = symmetricCacheService.getSymmetricValidator(client);
//				signer.signJwt(signed);
//
//			} else {
//				// sign it with the server's key
//				jwtService.signJwt(signed);
//			}
//
//			return signed.serialize();
//		}
    }

    /*
     * ClientDetails
     */
    private String getAfterApprovalWebhook(ClientDetailsEntity client) {
        return (String) client.getAdditionalInformation().get(Config.CLIENT_INFO_WEBHOOK_AFTER_APPROVAL);
    }

    private Set<String> getServiceIds(Set<String> scopes) {
        if (scopes != null && !scopes.isEmpty()) {
            return serviceManager.findServiceIdsByScopes(scopes);
        }
        return Collections.emptySet();
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Registrations for MAGFest 11 are go, go, go!
Got your New Year's plans squared away? Well nuts to that! Go to MAGFest instead!
From January 3-6, the Music And Gaming Festival will once again be tearing down the walls of the Gaylord National Hotel in National Harbor, Maryland. Those who have attended past events can't stop singing its praises, and I doubt its 11th iteration will be any different. Four-day passes start at $40 per person, $30 per person if you are rolling in a crew of eight or more, and hotel rates start at $135 a night.
Last year, extraordinary performances by Nobuo Uematsu's band Earthbound Papas, live speedrunners / rock collective Bit Brigade, and others left attendees all wet in the pants. On the schedule so far this year, Bit Brigade will return as will my boy Random a.k.a. Mega Ran. Special guests include Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson, the voice of Duke Nukem Jon St. John, and most likely the HAWP crew plus Ashley Davis, though they have yet to be formally announced.
But the headlining guest is none other than Kinuyo Yamashita, famed Japanese composer responsible for the soundtracks of the original Castlevania, Mega Man X3, and a very dear game to my heart called Power Blazer. In fact, I think I'll have her sign my boxed copy!


text:
II INTERNATIONAL CONCERT COMPETITION
"Debut Berlin"
Final concert — June 2st 2017, 20:00
with German National Orchestra
Søren Nils EICHBERG, composition
Dylan BLACKMORE, organizing committee
Mikhail JUROWSKI, conducting
Prof. Natalia PRISHEPENKO, violin
Fjodor ELESIN, cello
Prof. Vitaly SAMOSHKO, piano
Closing concert
Born in Moscow in 1945, Michail Jurowski is the son of the composer Wladimir Jurowski and grandson of the conductor David Block. His sons Vladimir and Dmitri are also internationally renowned conductors. Michail Jurowski grew up in the circle of internationally acclaimed artists of the former Soviet Union such as Ojstrach, Rostropovitch, Kogan, Gilels, and Chatchaturjan. Dmitri Shostakovich was a close family friend and he and Michail not only spoke often but would also play four-hand piano pieces together. Such experiences had a huge influence on the young musician and it is therefore no coincidence that today Michail Jurowski is one of the leading interpreters of Shostakovich's music. In 2012 Michail Jurowski was awarded the third International Shostakovich Prize by the Shostakovich Gohrisch Foundation. Michail Jurowski was educated at the Moscow Conservatoire, where he studied conducting under Leo Ginsburg and music science under Alexei Kandinsky. During his studies he assisted Gennady Rozhdestvensky at the National Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra of Moscow. While still a resident in Russia he conducted the Music Theatre of Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko in Moscow and during his last years in the Soviet Union frequently conducted performances at the Bolshoi Theatre. From 1978 Michail Jurowski was regular guest conductor at the Komische Oper Berlin and in 1989 he left the USSR with his family and was offered a permanent post with the Dresden Semperoper. Other titled positions have included: General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra; Chief Conductor of Leipzig Opera; Chief Conductor of WDR Rundfunkorchester in Cologne; Principal Guest Conductor of the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria. As a guest conductor Michail Jurowski has led the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Dresden Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porta Casa da Música, São Paulo Symphony and Stavanger Symphony orchestras among others. In addition he works with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra at least twice a year. Recent highlights have included his debuts with the London, Warsaw and St Petersburg philharmonic orchestras. He also conducted the Dresden Staatskapelle at the International Shostakovich Festival in Gohrisch, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Lübeck Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic's New Year's concerts, the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, the Norwegian Opera Orchestra and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, in addition to his regular guest conducting weeks at Norrköping and Stavanger symphony orchestras and a revival of the lauded Romeo and Juliet with the Zurich Opera. The 14/15 season will see Michail return to the Bolshoi to conduct another run of Fiery Angel as well as The Queen of Spades and he will also lead the State Academic Symphony Orchestra at the Viktor Sedov Memorial concert. His other ballet and opera engagements include Eugene Onegin at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Czar's Bride at Cité de la Musique in Paris and Romeo and Juliet at the Opernhaus Zürich. He will also return to conduct the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto, Flanders Opera's New Year's concerts, Tirol Symphony Orchestra Innsbruck, Royal Danish Orchestra and Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia. Besides televised concerts and radio recordings in Stuttgart, Cologne, Dresden, Oslo, Norrköping, Hannover and Berlin, Maestro Jurowski has recorded with L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and has conducted various CD recordings; including film music, Shostakovich's opera The Gamblers, Shostakovich's entire vocal symphonic pieces, Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Christmas Eve, as well as orchestral pieces by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Reznicek, Meyerbeer, Lehár, Kálmán, Nicolai, Rangström, Pettersen-Berger, Grieg, Svensen, Kantcheli and many others.
In 1992 and 1996 Jurowski won the German Record Critics' Prize and in 2001 he received a Grammy nomination for 3 CD productions of Orchestral Music by Rimsky-Korsakov with the RSB Orchestra.
International Concert Competition
© 2017 Blackmore Music Group