Endings, and new beginnings

November 26, 2018 by Ray Morgan

Our baby is fifteen years old. No, you're not going mad. My wife and I haven't been hiding a secret child from you all for the past decade and a half. Sundown Arts, the arts organisation that we both run, is 15 this week.

Fifteen years ago, Jo went to a night at the Sunrooms in Southend (RIP) and performed her poems there, and asked if she could help with the next one. The chap Jamie running it agreed, and along with two other friends, Cherryl and Stuart, they started a regular event in Southend of spoken word. Jo got live music and comedy acts involved too. It quickly evolved. I went to the first one in 2005 or 2006. I started helping out on the door - taking the entry fee, stamping people's hands, and occasionally plucking up the courage to read some of my very new poems during the open-mic section. I was still at university at the time and would keep up with news of the events I'd missed on MySpace.

As time went on, the organisation changed. The original team fell away, I graduated and moved home, and it became Jo, Cherryl and I with a team of other volunteers. We'd meet up over cups of tea and plates of biscuits and brainstorm ideas for the next events. Who had we seen gigging who we liked? Who was on our wishlist to book?

We did events at the Royal Hotel Ballroom, The Alex, Leigh Folk Festival, Village Green, the Union Chapel - we'd pitch up anywhere and bring poetry, live music, comedy and a cabaret-style event to whoever would have us. No matter the venue, Cherryl would dress it with fairy lights and 'Sundownify' the place. We all got into a van and toured Essex, rocking up with poetry books and guitars. We booked people who were local and looking for exposure, established acts, and people with their star on the rise. Josie Long and Isy Suttie did stand up for us. Scroobius Pip debuted spoken word for us. Kate Tempest came in the very early stages of her career, blew everyone away and won a coffee machine in our raffle. We've had Frank Sidebottom, Jenni Eclair, Ed Harcourt, John Hegley, Luke Wright (our patron), Birthday Girls, Jo Caulfield, Salena Godden, loads. Too many to list!

Again, the organisation evolved. Volunteers came and went. We always had our stalwart soundman Chris 'Troop' Davison, who made everything tech-related run smoothly every time. We honestly can't express how important it is having a good sound man. They have to put up with all kinds of stress, but Chris made it all easy. He must have used miles of gaffer tape over the years, taping leads to venue floors - miles and miles of the stuff.

We had some hard times. We always tried to have enough in the bank account, but it wasn't always easy. We paid for an artist out of our own money once, and swore never again. But we mainly had some blistering times. We once got Gig Pick of the Week in the Guardian Guide, and couldn't believe our luck. We got a handful of brilliant Arts Council funding bids, something we're SO proud of. In fact we never got turned down by them. Whether it was for commissioning poets to write new material to a 9 month programme of events including a tour for our tenth year, we had immense support from ACE and we are forever grateful. It was the only time we ever put in a budget to pay ourselves, and even then it was only a tiny amount. We did all this hard work for love, and never thought of it as anything but a proper job.

Helping run Sundown has helped me get jobs, given me confidence, introduced me to literal world-class best friends, galvanised my relationship with my future wife - showed us that we can run a business together.

As Sundown Arts turns 15 we are bringing it to a close. No money in the bank, dwindling venue options and audiences, and a need to do more of our own creative things in our spare time. We have dedicated a lot of time to putting other people in the spotlight, and while we have loved it, our own creative time has suffered. It's ok - life changes. Change is good. We have achieved so, SO much in a relatively short space of time, all voluntarily, and all alongside full-time jobs. We're not going to stop running events - we'll be back with something new in 2019, but it feels good to bring this particular chapter to a close.

To anyone who has volunteered, shown up and paid their £3 or £5 at the door, to ALL the hands I've stamped over fourteen years, to performers, technicians, venue staff, printers, helpers, photographers, journalists who listed and promoted our gigs, supporters, retweeters, to people who turned up and said "I always thought I hated poetry but that was brilliant", to people who run other events and venues but never thought of us as a competitor, to you all - thank you. We had an absolute time. We'll be back, for sure, but for now, this is goodbye from Sundown.