What is Southend Sundown?

You may have heard a few bits and pieces about the arts group known as “Sundown”.  But what do they actually do, and how can you get involved?  Jo Overfield is the creative director of Southend Sundown and answers all the questions here:

SUNDOWN is a diverse arts event playing host to live music, spoken word, comedy, short films, DJ’s and any other performance art.  It is based in Southend-on-sea but now curates events in London and throughout the UK, including many festivals. Sundown has now been running for 6 years, celebrating its birthday every November.  In November 2010, this infectious arts organisation will be 7 years old.We have collaborated with many other organisations and events including Apples & Snakes, Writers Centre Norwich, Whitechapel Arts Gallery, Arctic Circle, Union Chapel, The Jam, Norwich Arts Centre, The Maltings, The Glass Onion, Southend Festival, Village Green, Metal, Bury St Edmunds Festival, Leigh Folk Festival, Sutton with Shopland Festival, Level 4 Magazine and many more.Artists we’ve had perform include Frank Sidebottom, Ed Harcourt, Adem, Jo Caulfield, Isy Suttie, Josie Long, Kiosk of Champions, Josh Weller, Luke Wright, Scroobius Pip, Laura Dockrill, Pictish Trail, The Langley Sisters, Sam Lewis, John Hegley, Kate Tempest, Tim Clare, Francesca Beard, Martin Newell, Ladygarden, Helen Arney, Elvis McGonegall, Jay Foreman and many, many others.The creative producer behind Sundown is Jo Overfield, her co-producer is Ray Morgan. Sundown is co-hosted onstage by Cherryl Scott who also helps with volunteering and promotion.  Our main sound engineer and technician is Chris Davison who also helps with promoting and volunteering. 

We are a non-profit organisation with very little funding, run entirely by volunteers for the passion of the arts.  Any money received on the door goes straight back into the running of the event – advertising, paying acts, promotion, printing, research etc.  We received Arts Council funding for a small Sundown project back in 2008 called How Many Roads?  We are hoping to apply for funding again this year.  Sundown is moving into the world of curating and producing having taken inspiration from events such as the Meltdown festival at the South Bank Centre and the ATP events.

Sundown’s next event will be at the Leigh Folk Festival on 27th June then we’ll be having an outdoor summer event at The Alex in July.
We will also be performing at the Village Green festival in September and at the Union Chapel in London on 16th October.
The aim behind Sundown is to create an interesting and varied arts event that you might find in London except it’s right here, in Southend.
We often combine headline artists with local artists to give them the platform they deserve and so the audience can see local people perform alongside more experienced artists.  There is no other event like this in Southend.

www.sundownarts.org
www.myspace.com/sundownmultimedia