Winters Greetings

Wishing you a cosy winter time! From the ACE Foundation.

For more photographs of Bury Farm in the snow, please see our albums on facebook.

magic word: magic night

Thank you all those who attended the Magic Word event in December, it was certainly a magical occasion.

It is undoubtedly challenging getting together an audience for something you can't easily describe, and even more so when its forecast for snow! Thankfully our audience were not perturbed by the predicted weather conditions and the snow only added to the magic!

On entering people were unassuming and apprehensive perhaps, the intrepid explorers became more intrepid and by the last few, they were definitely snowmen!

The different acts proved suitably varied and provoked mixed responses. An unusual collection, the acts all sparked the audiences imaginations with croc E moses proving to be a substantial success all round! With lighting, music, moves and words all carefully choreographed and lovingly crafted it was a performance like no other.

In just a few hours so many transformations occurred. Not only was everyone much clearer on what it was they had come to see, and that they would recommend most of it to their friends, but the world outside had translated the magic into a white carpet over EVERYTHING!

Truly a night to remember.

Jazz Day with Alan Barnes

Plans are in motion, this inspirational day is booked for 4th July at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge.

Alan Barnes, a favourite British saxophonist, will be leading the day and all of you will be following and taking your own tangents! All players of any jazz-friendly instrument are invited so long as they have a minimum of grade 3 reading skills. More masterclasses and lunchtime jazz sessions are all included.

To find out more go to: www.acefoundation.org.uk.

For flyers contact: ace@acefoundation.org.uk

Attingham Trust update

Since 2005 we have annually sponsored a European student to attend the Attingham Trust Summer School in the UK.

This is a three-week intensive course which explores country houses, their collections and their relation to their landscape, all in the context of todays world. Aimed at professional in the field of collections and display it attracts an interesting selection of people all with different experiences and knowledge. The responses to the course are always inspirational and reinforce the excellence of the program which includes field specialists and privileged visits to Britain's heritage houses.

The 2010 course will run from 2nd-20th July and will give the scholars an opportunity to visit 25 historic houses.

The Attingham Trust run two other annual courses; the Royal Collection Studies course and the Study Program. These are shorter more specialised programs.

Photographs from the Attingham Trust

National Youth Jazz Collective

A small course we went to in December resulted in a fantastic blast of jazz and confirmed that people do just want to play! And to learn!

The ACE Foundation also made a small contribution to the course.

Photographs by Trevor Barlow

ACE Study Tours. New brochure.

Its that time of year again! The ACE Study Tour brochure is now out! Call 01223 835 055 to request a paper copy or search for your perfect trip at: www.acestudytours.co.uk

British Archaeology Summer School

In July 2010 a fleet of students will arrive from America and Canada ready to experience the delights of Cambridge and the heritage of Britain.

At Corpus Christi's request, the ACE Foundation are directing the school, planning out their stay and ensuring they will have the most appropriate cultural experience.

It is a four-week long program where the students will be introduced to the archaeology of Britain by top Cambridge Professors and specialists. They will stay within Corpus' own accommodation and the course includes a four-day trip to Wessex when they will visit the iconic sites of archaeological wonder.

Running such trips is nothing new for ACE in the 60's & 70's similar programs were devised by, what was then, the Association for Cultural Exchange again for American Students. These were a huge success so we dug out the archives to inspire us for this one! Obviously there were a few things that needed updating....!