The BioBlitz is being run from the Mothecombe car park and will be clearly signposted.

London poet, Sabrina Mahfouz took to the stage next, and for her opening piece she played characters from a talent show, showing off her impressive talent for mimicking accents. Her quickfire storytelling technique was put to further good use in a dark but amusing poem called Little Red Ravinghood. After Sabrina came John Osborne from Norwich, who read amusing poems from his book, What If Men Burst In Wearing Balaclavas? He gets a gold star from me for name-checking Super Furry Animals in one of his poems- twice!
The headliner was Malaysian-born, London-raised artist, Francesca Beard. Her cool and calm presence was complimented by occasional bursts of laughter, and just when you think things are getting a bit serious, she’ll gladly poke fun at herself. Like the other artists tonight, Francesca has many trophies in her cabinet, including writing for BBC Radio 4, national tours and many residencies as a writer.
It was hardly surprising that every seat was taken: Forked is an event you want to come back to time and time again- you can feel that by the audience’s reactions. A thoroughly enjoyable night, featuring some fantastically talented young poets.

Words: Arash Torabi

See the full launch details HERE
For more about Diggy, visit www.diggysmerdon.com

Info and tickets at www.dontstayin.com/parties/bionic

WIN!
We have managed to blag a pair of VIP tickets to the event on Fri 2 July and bunch of merchanise including clothing and CD’s to give away to one lucky reader. Just answer the following question:
Q: Name one of the DJ’s playing at Bionic’s 10th Brithday event on Fri 2 July

Email your answer to 2...@outofhand.co.uk by Fri 25 June and please remember to include your name, address and mobile number with your entry.

A statement from the organisers released this morning said:
Glade Ticket Holders can now get a discounted Sunrise Celebration ticket through Ticketline, as part of their refund. The cost is just £87, and no booking fee will be charged. They’ll also be refunded the remaining £38 from Ticketline. Daniel Hurring, Sunrise Director says, “As fellow independent festival organisers we felt deeply saddened about the Glade being cancelled this year. Many of our team have worked for the Glade over the years and our hearts go out to the organisers. We hope to see the Glade back again next year – we’re living proof that the phoenix can indeed rise from the ashes!”
The discounted ‘Sunrise/Glade’ tickets are £25 less than the standard ticket price for Sunrise, and £30less than the gate price.

For anyone who bought Glade tickets from Ticketline or via the Glade website, they can be exchanged by contacting Ticketline’s customer services by email at cust...@ticketline.co.uk or by phone on 0844 888 4409.

About the Dance Stage at Sunrise…
The Sunrise Solar Dance Stage has been wholly revised and revived for 2010, with a new concept, new blood and a stunning line-up of top quality DJs and live electronica artists. Catering for a range of musical tastes, from Breakbeats to Downtempo electronica, psy-trance to dubstep, the Sunrise Dance Stage is the home of contemporary and cutting edge dance music. On top of this, there’s a Flying Rhino session, all hosted by Opus Sound – 100% powered from the wind and sun!

Cornwall’s long running Lostfest returns this weekend as the village of Lostwithiel host their annual summer festival. Expect live bands, including The Underbelly playing live, over 100 stalls selling a wide range of goods, arts, crafts, homespun, vintage, Retro and such like. The streets will be filled with buskers, dancers and choirs amongst other things – all to celebrate and party as the village pulls together for this special all day festival. Music wise, alongside Cornwall’s The Underbelly, bands such as Josie and The Lovecats and Lost in Space are also playing, before making way for Hong Kong Ping Pong, Freshly Squeezed and the Back Beat Sound System.
The whole festival is free and runs from 10am – 10pm, more info at www.lostfest.co.uk

Fancy going into the great outdoors and taking part in some adrenaline activities or just to enjoy the scenery? Then you need to check out the Go Expo – The Great Outdoors Exhibition at the Riviera International Centre, Torquay on Sun 30 & Mon 31 May. Doors open 10am-5pm and tickets are £5 in adv or £6 on the door. Activities and demo’s inclue indoor surf simulator, street surfing, laser combat, trail biking, free-running, free riding, uni cycling and loads of other things. Full info at www.goexpo.co.uk

The Trustees of the Cornwall Theatre Company, which owns and runs The Acorn Arts Centre in Penzance, have taken the decision to close the Acorn from 31st August 2010.

This decision has been taken with enormous regret but has become unavoidable given that the charity would not be financially sustainable beyond that date and therefore unable to pay its staff and its overhead costs.

“We are keen to emphasise that the currently advertised programme at the Acorn, and the summer season in Penlee Park, will be unaffected. We appreciate that many people will be very upset by this news and will want to offer their help and one of the most immediate ways people can show their support of the Acorn is to continue to buy tickets for the current season.” said Toni Kirk, the Acorn’s Centre Director.

Trustees and staff have, for many months, been exploring numerous options to meet the charity’s financial challenges but in their view, there is no likelihood of increasing revenues in the current economic climate. The Acorn has been operating with a small annual deficit for a number of years and has only been able to sustain itself by rigorously controlling its expenditure and working to secure as much income as possible.

Cornwall Council is the only funder to make an annual contribution to the on-going running costs of the venue. This year, the charity requested a larger grant from Cornwall Council but, regrettably for all involved, the Council was unable to meet this request. Arts Council England has not offered any prospect of the Acorn becoming a “regularly funded organisation” (RFO), a status which enables many West Country venues and artistic organisations to function effectively (but which is currently not being granted to any new clients by ACE). However, we would like to thank the officers of both organisations for their encouragement and support. This funding situation has meant a “hand-to-mouth” existence which is simply no longer viable.

The Acorn receives significantly less public funding than comparable venues across the South West region. In 2010 it will receive £30,600 (all from Cornwall Council) towards its general running cost whereas other South West venues with similar programmes, operations and audience figures receive between £75,000 and £102,000 through a combination of grants from their local authorities and Arts Council England. For the Acorn to be covering all its costs from tickets and bar sales, and assuming an average 60% capacity audience across the year, each and every customer would need to spend in the region of £23 on each visit to the venue and we would need to charge £1100 to hire the venue for each performance (the current charge is £260). This is not a realistic proposition.

“The staff and Trustees have worked so hard over the past few years to try to secure the long term future of the Acorn. We are all deeply upset that this decision has had to be taken but we are aware that as a small venue there is only so much income we can generate from the local community and that the long term solution is to secure additional unrestricted funding but this has been unattainable in the current financial climate.” said Toni Kirk

Colin Rogers, on behalf of the Trustees, said: “We believe passionately in the importance of the Acorn as a vital centre of the cultural life of West Cornwall and have made this decision with very heavy hearts. The Acorn offers such a rich and varied artistic experience to the public and is an indispensible venue for local and visiting artists and companies. Over the last five challenging years, it has been run extremely well and with great dedication by our Centre Director, Toni Kirk, and her terrific staff. However, operating in an area where a large part of the community does not have much disposable income to spend on cultural activities means that an arts centre can only be sustained by regular, sustained investment of public funds. We sincerely hope that, while activity in the building must cease on 31st August, a sufficient swell of public opinion will bring the long-term financial support that is needed to re-open the Acorn before too long.”