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Feast on the Bridge at Southwark Bridge [11 September]

Southwark Bridge will be closed to traffic and transformed into a magical feasting environment as part of The Mayor’s Thames Festival, London’s largest free outdoor arts festival.

Curated by artist Clare Patey, Feast on the Bridge is a spectacular communal ‘harvest supper’ that aims to reconnect an urban public with the growing cycle and invite people to reclaim a public space in the heart of their city, share a meal and a conversation, dance and make merry.

This year’s Feast on the Bridge is designed by a team of artists lead by theatre designer Cathy Wren, who has created a chorus of scarecrows to line each side of the bridge. Rows of banqueting tables will run the entire length of the bridge which is covered by specially commissioned tablecloths with illustrations and food-related stories collected from Londoners by artist Sophie Herxheimer.

via Feast on the Bridge at Southwark Bridge [11 September].

APInews: E.U. Ministers Call for Culture in Economic Plan

European Union ministers have called for culture to be put at the “heart” of the blocs new economic plan, the Europe 2020 strategy according to Helen Spongenberg on euobserver.com 4/6/10. It could mean that Europe will invest more in its creative industries as a source of future growth. In late April, the E.U. executive is set to adopt its “Green Paper on Cultural and Creative Industries,” aimed at unlocking the economic potential of cultural and creative industries in Europe, a sector that generates five million jobs and represents 2.6 percent of GDP in the 27-nation bloc. The sector includes areas as diverse as cinema, music, publishing, the media, fashion, interior and product design, cultural tourism, performing arts and heritage. Critics warn that Europe should not neglect cultural diversity and caution against homogenizing European culture.

APInews: E.U. Ministers Call for Culture in Economic Plan.