5:00-6:00pm Sunday 19th February at The Mitchell Arts Centre. A free performance that combines sound installation and live actors to bring Aubervillers in Paris ad Stoke-on-Trent together in the same space. French arts company Les Freres Poussiere have collected sounds from the two cities and in this drop-in sonic session brings together people and places 300 miles apart. A continuous sixty-minute performance: you are welcome to drop in anytime during the hour and no booking is needed.
The organisers of DATfest (bITjAM) are interested in what you listen to on your mp3 players, iPods and mobiles as you go about your business. We plan to hang around in Hanley during the 17th February and create a playlist of tracks from asking people what's on their player. Look out for a sign saying 'What are you listening too' and tell us! We plan to use this playlist to create a live mash up of the music on the closing ceremony of DATfest at Fat Cats Hanley 8-11pm 19th February. We'll also create a Spotify and Grooveshark playlist too! #stokelistening2
A live art channel focused on allowing artists to engage with audiences and emerging artists. Geeklab will provide artists with new forms of passing on skills to other emerging artists/audiences. Using digital technologies like live streaming and new media we provide new forms of interaction between artist, audience and learners. Want to make a 'paper synth?', a dubstep boom generator from an old hard drive?, want to hack a Wii remote so it works with Ableton Live and more. All of which is going to be streamed live on the Saturday 18th Feb. So if you can;t make it in person, don't worry, you can watch it live on line or catch up later. On at the Mitchell Arts Centre in Hanley, Stoke on Trent. Saturday 18th Feb from 1 till 4pm. For more information and to book a place on Geeklab, or if you would like to offer your skills and do a workshop then let us know. #geeklab http://www.ustream.tv/channel/geeklab http://www.bitjam.org.uk/home http://www.datfest.org.uk Video streaming by Ustream
In libraries across Stoke we've hidden funny, surprising and moving poems. Find the QR codes, scan them with your phone and put some poetry into your social media life. Try our code to unlock a poem to whet your appetite, and visit Bentilee, City Central, Longton, Meir, Stoke, Tunstall and Trentham over Friday 17 or Sat 18 to collect the full set. Presented by Stoke-on-Trent Library Service. For opening times go here and click through on the left hand side menu to the library you want. #codewords
After the success of the live tweet-in showing of The Social Network at DATfest 2011, we're giving you another chance to get your phone out in the cinema and join in with a live audience tweet-in projected onto a big screen alongside the film. We couldn't think of a better sequel than Kevin Macdonald's epic, visually stunning and moving documentary that tells the story of a single day in the life of planet earth (July 24 2010) using 4500 hours of video footage crowdsourced through Youtube (don't worry, its 94 minutes long!). #lifeinaday http://youtu.be/bT_UmBHMYzg
A box of memories has been lost. What does it hold? Who does it belong to? A man is looking for someone; a woman. She’s lost in the city; or hiding. You decide, as you follow their surprising and magical journey towards what could be their last waltz. Take This Waltz is a theatre event to follow online from 1st February, culminating in 2 live screening events on 17th and 18th February. Booking opens soon at www.b-arts.org.uk. #takethiswaltz
After last year's sell-out workshops we return to the City Central Library for more mini figure film fun for the under-tens. Bring you Vaders, your Hogwarts or just a whole pile of bricks to the workshop and we'll show you how to make simple stop-motion animated films. Sessions run 10:11:15am, 11:30am-12:45pm. Booking opens soon via City Central Library - check back for details. Here's a great one made last year. You can find more on the bartsonfilm Youtube channel. http://youtu.be/iDX5egkomo0
To celebrate the weekend long events bITjAM will create a mash up of the tracks you shared with us as part of 'What are you listening too? ' This is where you can see upto 5 electronic musicians or DJ's 'jamming' with the tracks at one time!! The free closing party will take place at Fat Cats Hanley 8-11pm Sunday 19th February.

LATEST NEWS WEDNESDAY 23RD FEBRUARY

….Academy of Sound Cubase workshops almost fully booked….only a few tickets left for 100 Stories Friday…..listen out for DATfest on Cross Rhythms radio Friday morning…Twitterbug – a play being written on Twitter, launches here….pop-up event Static featuring Bitjam at The Exchange on Saturday night…along with lots of DIY digital goodies…

LATEST NEWS MONDAY 21ST FEBRUARY

…DATfest brochure downloadable here….
…Lego animation workshops fully booked….call Stoke City Central Library to go on waiting list…

Friday 25 February – Sunday 27 February 2011

DATfest is brought to you by bITjAM and b Arts. with the fantastic support of Stoke-on-Trent city council.

Stoke-on-Trent’s first ever digital arts and social media festival takes over venues and streets across the city centre for a weekend of events. Almost all of it will be free, with some events being ticketed and many drop-in.

The festival kicks off on Friday night with a multi-media electro-acoustic concert event at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery performed by musicians from Keele University Music Technology Group.

On Saturday we take to the streets with B Arts’ 100 Stories – a unique walking tour around the city centre looking at Stoke’s hidden histories that blends live performance, projection and digital soundscapes.

On Sunday we end with a special bITjAM performance #mediafail. The digital discards we all have cluttering up our hard drives – out of focus photos, phone messages and video of the sky – will be transformed live into magical sounds and images.

As well as performance events there’s a full workshop programme that encourages all ages to join in and get creative. At the Central Library there’s social media surgeries for the over-fifties that will have you Flickering and Facebooking in no time; Lego animation workshops that will create brickfilms from your minifigure collection; and Mediafail workshops that provide a final resting place for your digital mistakes.

You can also join us and help make DATfest even richer. PechaKucha night is an opportunity to share your creative ideas in a fun and fast event in 20 slides or less, and the Artmob web project will enable you to programme your own bit of the Festival.

If you’ve got a suggestion for an event or would like to know more do get in touch at bitjam@me.com

Keep up with all the DATFEST news at www.datfest.org.uk

DATFEST is co-ordinated by bITjAM and supported by B Arts and Stoke City Council. It is a part of Stoke Your Fires, Stoke’s animation and film festival.

www.stokeyourfires.co.uk

http://www.socialmediasurgery.com/

http://www.bitjam.org.uk/home/

http://www.b-arts.org.uk/home