'The Kama Sutra'

Eyewitness Theatre Company

The Kama Sutra is purely blithe, merry and mirthful. It is fun, it is naughty, it is a cabaret-style laugh-a-minute study on sexual prowess, impotency, Viagra, unwanted body hair and things that droop. The Eyewitness Theatre Company has been touring since 1990 and has won no less than six international awards, winning the International Theatre Festival in Orlando in 1995 and the Prix Italia in Rome in 1992.

7.30pm
£4 / £3

Changing Practice in association with MAILOUT

Council Chambers, Manchester Town Hall 10am-5pm

Please book in advance @ com.art.99 direct : tel. (0161) 228 2411 for booking form.

This first MAILOUT day looks at what the future might hold for community and participatory arts. It opens in a flurry of futurology, an attempt to second-guess the next ten or twenty years. How will genetic modification affect the price of withies? Will ACE face Madame Guillotine at last?

Then choose your workshops - four or five from twelve covering areas that matter, running throughout the day. Take your pick from:

Regeneration Are creative approaches part of the foundations yet? Has the case been won? A look at some current practice, and the lessons to learn.

Joined-up government Myth or magic? Is real co-operation too much to ask of local authority departments, or ministries? Or are the noble traditions of demarcation, competition, jobsworth and fear of the new dying hard?

Social exclusion Nice government report, but what's new? Real opportunities, possibly. So how to make the best of them?

Citizenship Just another New Labour buzzword? What are the creative opportunities for reconnecting communities and individuals to their civic responsibilities?

Rural Realities Change ... not just an urban phenomenon. The rate of radical change in rural Britain has been seriously quick, and won't be stopping. What could this mean for rural arts practice?

Eurocentricity What does the European connection mean for a multi-cultural country and the arts of its different communities?

Sustainability Sharing the problems of sustaining creative life on the feast (picnic?) and famine diet of project funding, and looking for some answers.

Best value Local government is working to find the best ways of delivering its services to the people who pay for it. How can participatory arts make its strongest case as an important service, and what's a benchmark anyway?

'Artist-led' Catchphrase of the moment ... but what's it supposed to mean, who's it supposed to mean, and why has it caught on?

Buildings for the future Arts centres, civic theatres - concepts that are fifty years old, and looking threadbare. But what's to replace them?

Dealing with disappointment So your bid to be part of the bidding culture didn't work? Grant applications disappearing without trace? You need this workshop.

The Bad Practice Workshop Arts work ... learn how to do it really badly. Find out how your disasters measure up. Then use what you've learnt to sharpen up your own skills in your own work.

Don't miss the interactive bulletin board for ideas swapping. Win the day's great competition, 'Date the Work' - maybe, just maybe...

Finishing off with a round-up of the day, picking up on key thoughts for the future, exploring whether we have the capacity to address the visions, and packing up some concepts to carry home.