From scrubs to sketches: the art of nursing | RCN Magazine - Royal College of Nursing

Canada’s Corvette Gamble: Could Germany Help Build the RCN’s Next Warship Fleet? The Royal Canadian Navy’s next surface combatant may be smaller than a frigate, but the strategic problem it is being asked to solve is anything but small. As Canada moves toward a new fleet of continental defence corvettes, the emerging contest is no longer simply about replacing the service’s aging Kingston-class vessels. It is becoming a test of whether Canada can rapidly create a new layer of armed maritime presence—one capable of operating across the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic approaches while remaining affordable enough to build in meaningful numbers.

“Top of the show!” says Will Tuckett. On the grand piano, musical director Andy Massey strikes up an arpeggio that could melt the most frozen of hearts: “We’re walking in the air …” It is The Snowman, of course. Raymond Briggs’ 1978 picture book was animated for the screen in 1982 with a score by Howard Blake and became a hit stage show in 1993, an annual outing for Birmingham Rep ever since. Now it’s getting a reboot, directed by Tuckett, former Royal Ballet dancer turned choreographer and director of everything from the National Ballet of Japan’s Nutcracker to a stage adaptation of In the Night Garden. We’re in a studio in Birmingham. As the overture plays, a large wooden box in the centre of the room opens like the cover of a book, to become a house. There’s a kitchen, a couple at the table with a pot of tea and an endearing puppet cat winding round their legs. Upstairs, a boy wakes up, looking forward to Christmas. Taking flight … The Snowman at Birmingham Rep. Photograph: Johan PerssonThe Snowman is a perennially popular show but “it needed a bit of a refresh,” says Tuckett.

Interactive playground by WON JI LIM EXPLORES rituals of controlCreated by Chicago-based South Korean artist Won Ji Lim, Shifting Center (2026–ongoing) is a participatory sculptural installation that translates personal rituals of control, such as counting, checking, and aligning objects, into a physical, interactive environment. Measuring approximately 9 × 9 × 6 feet, the modular structure is constructed from metal pipes and connectors, forming a framework reminiscent of a playground jungle gym. The installation integrates suspended objects, woven membranes, transparent pockets, balancing mechanisms, and a series of rule-based activities that visitors can physically enter and navigate. Shifting Center is a participatory sculptural environment in which movable structures, suspended materials, and personal rules form an evolving system of order and adjustment | all images ©Won Ji LimThe artwork is a self-contained system, open to physical additionsThe project by artist Won Ji Lim pairs structural framework with unstable or organic materials.