Wassard Elea Retreat Spaces

30/05/2026

A Thousand Stories Conference July 2026

Megaphone Writers Community Interest Company is organising the Thousand Stories Conference in Birmingham, UK, on July 11, 2026. It is a day for people of colour who create books for children. Speakers include authors Serena Patel, Mayo Agard-Olubo, Abena Eyeson, Shireen Lalji, G M Linton, Ashley Thorpe, Anika Hussain, and Eva Wong Nava. Speakers also include editors Safae El-Ouahabi, Louise Lamont, Anjem Anwar, and Stephanie King....

Megaphone Writers Community Interest Company is organising the Thousand Stories Conference in Birmingham, UK, on July 11, 2026. It is a day for people of colour who create books for children. Speak…

08/05/2026

Diversity in the Arts

Public investment in more cultural diversity in the arts results in the development of cultural infrastructure which is a necessary condition for a humanely focused social development. Such cultural infrastructure is an important defence against the very destructive ‘us vs. them’ narrative that seems to be growing again in the West, and is echoing the 1930s. A diverse artistic culture makes it clear that we are actually all part of ‘us’, there is in reality no ‘them’....

Public investment in more cultural diversity in the arts results in the development of cultural infrastructure which is a necessary condition for a humanely focused social development. Such cultura…

02/05/2026

Featured guests: Esther Lamneck and Mara Helmuth

Musician Esther Lamneck (clarinet and tárogató) and Composer Mara Helmuth enjoyed a collaborative residency at Wassard Elea in the Spring of 2025, in the two apartments The Philosopher and The Poet. Here they worked on a new music project. One work resulting from this residency was Wind Blown Rain for computer and tárogató. The video part of the work was created by…...

Musician Esther Lamneck (clarinet and tárogató) and Composer Mara Helmuth enjoyed a collaborative residency at Wassard Elea in the Spring of 2025, in the two apartments The Philosopher and The Poet…

25/04/2026

Featured Guest: Prof. Thomas Kiørboe

Professor Thomas Kiørboe (Dr. Scient), of DTU (Technical University of Denmark), enjoyed a residency in 'The Philosopher' during the Spring of 2025 and here he worked on the research article 'Diatoms–copepods: An evolutionary arms race' now published and available at Kiørboe is the author of about 270 peer reviewed journal articles and 2 books (see his…...

Professor Thomas Kiørboe (Dr. Scient), of DTU (Technical University of Denmark), enjoyed a residency in ‘The Philosopher’ during the Spring of 2025 and here he worked on the research ar…

19/04/2026

Featured Guest: Owen Gray, visual artist

Image copyright 2025 Owen Gray, used by permission. My paintings are a slow journey into the what’s known yet unclear in our inner worlds. Just like a dream, all the elements can never fully be realized, yet with time, new discoveries are illuminated. Owen Gray Image copyright 2025 Owen Gray, used by permission. The distinguished visual artist Owen Gray, together with partner Jane Goldberg (see separate blog entry), has had several residencies at Wassard Elea, most recently in the Autumn of 2025....

Image copyright 2025 Owen Gray, used by permission. My paintings are a slow journey into the what’s known yet unclear in our inner worlds. Just like a dream, all the elements can never fully be rea…

18/04/2026

Jane Goldberg: Changing Times Tap Dance Company inc.

The distinguished tap-dancer and tap-dance historian Jane Goldberg has had several residencies at Wassard Elea, together with partner Owen Grey (see separate blog entry), most recently in the Autumn of 2025. As artistic director of Changing Times Tap Dance Company Inc., a non-profit preservation, promotion, and performing entity, begun in 1979, Goldberg began teaching at New York University for twenty years....

The distinguished tap-dancer and tap-dance historian Jane Goldberg has had several residencies at Wassard Elea, together with partner Owen Grey (see separate blog entry), most recently in the Autum…

01/07/2025

We are developing our focus towards events and other cultural activities, and are in the process of selling the apartment we called "The Artist", aka Nr. 41, to better enable our other plans. After almost 20 years of ownership, we are passing this apartment on to good hands.

We are developing our focus towards events and other cultural activities, and are in the process of selling the apartment we called “The Artist”, aka Nr. 41, to better enable our other …

30/08/2024

Starting in October in Birmingham - this is something I am REALLY looking forward to. Nice cosy Friday mornings in the Moseley Hive enjoying great fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction! Come and join me at this fully-funded reading group where no 'homework' is needed. Each week I'll bring and read aloud some great writing by a range of authors, then we have a good conversation about them. Totally free, thanks to The Royal Literary Fund . More details: https://www.rlf.org.uk/community/ Reserve a place by emailing leila DOT rasheed AT rlfeducation.org.uk (links in the images too)

29/08/2024

🌈 This is soon, Birmingham folk! I'm so excited to be interviewing author Iqbal Hussain about the wonderful NORTHERN BOY, a unique book that genuinely made me both laugh and cry. 📚Come and support your book lovers' local: The Heath Bookshop ❤

"Joyful, defiant and dazzling....It's 1981 in the suburbs of Blackburn and, as Rafi’s mother reminds him daily, the family moved here from Pakistan to give him the best opportunities. But Rafi longs to follow his own path. Flamboyant, dramatic and musically gifted, he wants to be a Bollywood star."

14th September, tickets from:
https://the-heath-bookshop.eventcube.io/events/62853/iqbal-hussain-northern-boy

The Heath Bookshop Iqbal Hussain

Iqbal Hussain - 'Northern Boy' at The Heath Bookshop, Units 3&4 Kings Court, R/O 94 High Street, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 7JZ Tickets and Information

08/08/2024

At the Cilento's first ever horror film festival in the beautiful setting of the Franciscan convent at Gioi, we were so happy to see the film made by Salvatore Carbone and starring Lars Mogensen once again. Lars was in no way a professional actor but was always supportive of arts in the region. He started the Elea Arte Club and you could tell how much fun he had making this film, Requiem for a Witch! Infinite thanks to Salvatore and to Santecchia Film Festival.