The ‘Rivers of Light’ Lantern Parade in Newmarket, Forest Heath, was a co-delivered event in partnership with Newmarket Community Arts, Newmarket Community Nature Reserve and Newmarket Town Council.
Residents walked the route of the chalk stream carrying their handmade lanterns before experiencing a finale of local musicians, choirs and dance performances.
(This case study was prepared by We Are Frilly as part of our Phase 3 Year 1 Evaluation Report.)
‘Absolutely brilliant event from start to finish. The parade led by the samba band was awesome, the lanterns and crowd were brilliant, and so was Coventina. Newmarket choir were spot on with a great rendition of the Rivers of Light song‘ – Audience feedback
This case study is part of our project evaluation for Phase 2
In October 2020, artist Genevieve Rudd responded to the MarketPlace commissioning process of Creative Conversations in Lockdown with the idea of a workshop that would connect people, using creative activities to explore their local environment on their daily Lockdown walks. We developed the project in collaboration with Brandon Creative Forum and community members to become a digital guided creative walk.
In 2020, Genevieve had pivoted to Zoom group creative sessions during the first lockdown but had never undertaken a blended distance engagement approach to facilitate creative experiences. Enabling connection for groups unable to meet due to national restrictions and responding to a national trend of residents exploring their hyper-local natural landscape, this concept met the self-identified needs of local community groups that MarketPlace had been working with. The Creative Agents wanted to find ways to unlock doorstep curiosity creatively whilst enabling community groups to remain connected during the national restrictions.
Testing and trialling with community members who show a willingness to try something creates the potential for new advocates to learn and ensure that the ideas work before rolling out to wider, more cautious community members.
The Walk ’n’ Craft Group, based in Mildenhall, and the Can’t Sing Choir, based in March, participated in timed socially distanced (in line with the government restrictions at the time) group creative walks that were led by Genevieve using WhatsApp to send prompts.
Pictured: Left: Environmental artist, Genevieve Rudd sits on a tree stump, surrounded by the lush greens of Brandon Country Park woodland.Right: Genevieve’s mark-making drawing.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for Phase 2
We worked with two local residents, one from Fenland and one from Forest Heath, to support them as Community Producers in 2021. They brought local knowledge and contacts to commissions and events, developed their skills and made creative things happen in their places with their communities.
Developing local people in cultural opportunities helps upskill and raise the ambition of art appetites by creating ownership over the activities. The community producers operate as advocates and a trusted source for local people and businesses to engage and activity partner. This has become an organic evolution from the Creative Collective, and Creative Forum structures the team has created. They identify development opportunities for each member.
Identifying talent, creating opportunities and the space to step into learning and leading happens through a subtle approach on a project-by-project basis. First, local people are engaged through an invitation and a reassurance of their skills and abilities.
Newmarket resident and Creative Collective member Louise Eatock has a passion and interest in the music scene and organising pop-up activities in local venues, but has big ideas for Newmarket’s needs for local people. Louise met Creative Agent Ali at a local authority community network meeting during the first phase of the activity, and Ali supported Louise in delivering the workshop activity. When the Creative Collective formed in Phase 2, Year 2, Ali invited her to join the group.
Louise helped commission ideas for the new Creative Conversations In Lockdown model as part of the Creative Collective. This process identified a commission that Louise could support and co-deliver with the artists as a local community representative. In addition, working on the More than Music project with Matt Cooper and Leanne Moden enabled Louise to take on a different role as a community producer on the project.
“It’s been a good experience working with MarketPlace. Ali (Creative Agent) is super supportive; she has helped me understand what my role could be in the community. Because before I met Ali, I was sort of thinking that I kind of had to not only organise everything but do everything myself as well. And she’s introduced me to other artists.
I’ve got a much clearer idea of programming arts in the community through working with Ali, so it’s been a good experience.” – Louise Eatock, Community Producer
Hilary Cox Condron, Louise Eatock and Colin Stevens at Newmarket Earth Arts Festival 2021.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for Phase 2
Brandon Creative Forum is a community group established in the first phase of MarketPlace, delivering their first event in 2016. With MarketPlace support they have organised 4 local festivals with Tales and Trails 2019 their largest to date. We have supported them to continue local activities as far as possible through the pandemic, with all its challenges, and they are still growing from strength to strength.
In 2019 the group had no ambitions or desire to become a constituted group: they aspired to develop a central hub for cultural activity, enable the community to think about Brandon positively and organise events for everyone to access. At this stage, the group of 4 core leaders universally identified a desire to develop skills in commissioning and to consolidate their learning to date.
Throughout the pandemic, MarketPlace supported the forum and their wider community interest groups to remain connected, develop digital skills, and participate in shortlisting, commissioning, and testing new projects ideas.
Two members of the forum are also members of the Creative Collective. This enabled the group to identify learning from other towns and recognise their skills and achievements whilst participating in commissioning, shortlisting, and interviewing commissions.
“We still need youngsters to come in with us on the forum. And we are working on that, but it’s such a strange town. But having talked to Wisbech as part of the Creative Collective we can see that their problems are the same as our problems and then we could work out a solution together from that.” – Jill, Blanchard Brandon Creative Forum
Through remote working and digital connectivity with MarketPlace, the forum became more embedded in the team’s processes. It started to identify the community’s needs in the face of the pandemic, beyond activities and events for enjoyment.
By August 2020, the group took steps to become constituted and, in 2021, challenged what their perceptions of a central hub could and should look like by taking on a market stall to begin to reach wider communities.
Pictured: Left: Brandon Creative Forum member Jill Blanchard chatting to Brandon residents at the ‘See You Soon’ stall at the market. Right: Members of Brandon Creative Forum meet at Brandon Country Park to assess the area for the Walking Companions podcast project.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for Phase 2.
During the first summer of the pandemic in 2020, MarketPlace supported Wisbech photographers Jenna Bristow and Steve Hubbard of Click Therapy CIC to create a collection of images that tell a story of a town coping with Covid19. The project developed into an exploration into the connection between the medium of photography to support people’s wellbeing and mental health.
During the first summer of the pandemic in 2020, Wisbech photographers Jenna Bristow and Steve Hubbard of Click Therapy CIC created a collection of images that tell a story of a town coping with Covid19. As photographers interested in using digital cameras to support people’s wellbeing and mental health, they invited local residents to contribute three words that summed up their life experiences during lockdown as a portrait and record of Wisbech in that time. The Creative Conversations in Lockdown commission created a book of resident feelings and stories left over a dedicated phone and text service called Lockdown Easedown. They were capturing a universal moment in time this project was revisited for further development.
As the pandemic continued, a further investment was made to continue to evolve this project idea and document the impact of the latest lockdown on residents. The power of sharing and telling stories that resonated from the first book, ‘Lockdown Easedown’, was highlighted as a development opportunity to be embedded from the beginning of this second commission. Partnering with writer Bel Greenwood, lunchtime online workshops developed the creative writing skills and contributions of Wisbech residents, the Click Therapy artists and community organisers to reflect upon their experiences.
The participants wanted to share their stories more widely, they lent themselves to being performed but the participants didn’t want to do that themselves, so a connection with the local theatre group was made. The vulnerable nature of some of the stories being shared could have left participants increasingly vulnerable by sharing them directly, alongside developing new skills to adapt and perform their work. Drawing upon the skills and interests of community producer Jodie Hicks, she reformed her theatre troupe to bring the experiences of selected stories to life and launch the second book, ‘Surviving Lockdown’.
“I’ve been in a theatre group with my friends Chris and Glenn for a couple of years. So we haven’t actually done anything for a long time, and then I started working for MarketPlace. Colin, Creative Agent, spoke about my interests, and I said my primary interest is theatre and stuff like that. Colin, just kind of, came up to me and said, ‘I have an idea I’ve been working on with Click Therapy that would lend itself quite well to kind of theatrical reading. And would you, or know anyone, [who would] be up for it?’ And I kind of thought, well, it seemed quite ideal for us and to see them as kind of monologues.” – Jodie Hicks, Alternate Orbit Theatre
This case study is part of our project evaluation for Phase 2.
In 2020 Michelle Brace was commissioned by MarketPlace and the Creative Collective to pilot an objects-inspired oral storytelling project, ‘Mantlepiece’ to connect and celebrate communities. This project has since tested and developed it’s distance engagement methods as an intergenerational project between a school and a care home. In this latest testing phase the model trials democratised delivery and archiving potential within community organisations and by community advocates.
The first iteration of the project tested the model of remote recording and artwork production with groups during lockdown over Zoom. The first iteration saw the collective share objects and stories over Zoom and send their content to Michelle to create a SoundCloud library of their stories and a group portrait of objects to represent the group.
The sharing and intergenerational potential of the project, due to the nostalgia of items shared by people, resulted in a second commission testing a distance delivery model between a care home and a school group. This enabled sharing of heritage and learning about past generations whilst increasing the wellbeing and feelings of value felt by care home residents. This delivery model provided resources and instructions to staff to deliver the activity to safeguard against COVID-19 transmission. This resulted in an exhibition of the stories and objects including the responses of the children to the experience.
When MarketPlace was approached by Suffolk Libraries to partner on their Let’s Get Creative programme and platform development, Michelle’s project was a natural fit for working across multiple locations to create a sense of ownership and belonging of libraries with its existing users and new audiences. Objects and Stories is the latest iteration of this concept, testing a new devolved delivery approach.
MarketPlace has a specified geographical area for delivery and so Michelle delivered the project in Brandon, and Community Producer Louise led delivery in Newmarket, with mentoring from Michelle. A training day was held in order to reach the wider West Suffolk Libraries to support the staff through the experience and to explore the potential for delivering activity directly with their service users.
“When we did the CPD session with library staff I came away feeling overjoyed and convinced that this is a great idea and works with everyone. They all came with a story, some thought out, others grabbed on the go, but they each told a compelling story of who they are. The objects provide a lovely way to connect people and enable them to be vulnerable and share, as it’s an insight into who they are. They become not just a person in a library but a guy who had a fine art degree.’ – Michelle Brace, artist
Since 2015, the CPP MarketPlace project has set out to enable more people in Fenland and Forest Heath (part of West Suffolk) to get involved with arts and culture where they live. The project has reached thousands of people through creative projects that have been developed with community groups and individuals across the towns and villages in both districts.
This funding means we can continue to build on our collaborative approach to working with communities, increasing opportunities for people to shape the creative and cultural offer in their place.
Creative People & Places National Portolio funding is unlike other Arts Council funds, which might focus on artist development or capital building projects; instead, it is focused on meeting specific aims including:
That more people from places of least engagement experience and are inspired by the arts.
Communities take the lead in shaping local arts provision.
The aspiration for excellence is central – this covers both excellence of art and excellence of the process of engaging communities.
To learn from past experiences and create an environment where the arts and cultural sector can experiment with new approaches to engaging communities.
With this funding, CPP MarketPlace will focus on targeted groups, neighbourhoods, villages and towns in the two districts; sowing ideas; growing skills, confidence and ambition and showing just what’s possible when the creative spark of inspiration is ignited.
The CPP Marketplace team will be using the next few months to prepare for the next phase, which will include some new programmes of work that have been informed by what’s been learned so far. We’ll be sharing more information through our website, social media and newsletters, as well as opportunities for discussion in the Spring.
Arts Council England is investing £38.3 million in 39 Creative People and Places programmes as part of its Creative People and Places national portfolio 2022-25. All successful applicants will receive funding between £750k to £1 million over the three-year period. The £38.3 million is made up of £25.3 million in new money and £13 million funding previously awarded, to cover part of this period.
Developed by Arts Council England with an initial investment of £37m from the National Lottery, the first phase of the programme ran between 2013 and 2016.
Arts Council England supported a second phase of the programme which ran from 2016 and invested a further £17m in the existing projects to deliver new activity for a further three years, as well as investing in 6 new programmes. In 2021, Arts Council England announced that Creative People and Places had become part of the National Portfolio for the period 2022-2025.
In Summer 2021, Creative People and Places launched a project called 60 Second Stories. A series of mini films from each of the 30 CPP projects. Giving insight into how we co-create with individuals and communities and explore creative activity.
We contributed two videos for the series sharing the Local Voice of community members, artists and performers and what creativity means to them.
Sometimes it’s the small moments that matter, finding a new way to express your thoughts, the act of doing something creative, coming together to share and feeling safe enough to do so. A group of Mildenhall residents met up regularly for Meet Up Mondays cuppa and chat at the Barleycorn Café, brought together by owner Shelby Foord. Together we tried out creative activities including Art Journaling led by artist Marian Savill. We saw the positive effects of art in small moments and we think Susan Feary’s words sum it up nicely.
Film: Colin Stevens, Creative Agent. With thanks to: Susan Feary (speaking), Barleycorn Cafe, Shelby Foord, Marian Savill, Meet Up Mondays, Arts Council, CPP
Space to Create
https://youtu.be/Ld6GyLP50gY
Why does art matter? We asked some of our creative collaborators what they thought. Filmed at St George’s Fayre and Christmas Market in March, Fenland.
Filming of March Market (1st half): David Johnson (Dmj Imagery Ltd) Filming of St Georges Day (2nd half): Rydian Cook and Mariana Vaz
Edited by Creative Agent, Colin Stevens
With thanks to: Marian Savill, Hilary Cox Condron, Dan Donovan, Caitlin Howells, Dan Walsingham & Richard Alan, March Town Council, Fenland District Council, CPP and Arts Council England.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for 2019/2020
Writer Bel Greenwood was commissioned as part of our Creative Conversations in Isolation programme to bring together a group who were interested in creative writing with a landscape and environmental theme. Everyone had to get used to being on Zoom rather than meeting in person, but the group enjoyed getting to know each other and experimenting with their writing guided by Bel. People were finding new connections to their local environment and nature through lockdown, this group were no different, giving them lots to write about. They produced a blog to share their work and have continued to meet and write.
Recognising an increase in people’s connections to their local environment, this commission was a way to develop interest and community audiences connected to this theme.
Images reads “It’s about generating a sense of imaginative connection with the landscape – they have a very strong relationship with the landscape and I want them to generate a successful collection of work. I hope I’m building confidence in people in their own stories and starting them off on an adventure.” – Bel Greenwood, writer.
The group had mixed previous writing experience from academic papers and books to one creative writer. Their passion for the natural environment unified the group.
Each workshop consisted of a combination of surprising writing challenges and the opportunity to collaborate and share. As well as the experience of having a professional writer critique and support edits in work produced.
Key outcomes for the group were to improve their skills in writing creatively through their connection to the landscape. Also to support them to increase their confidence in sharing their work publicly.
Graphic showing participation and audience numbers. Facebook: 1191, Participants: 9, Twitter: 4417Pictured: A photo of a robin singing. Text on the image reads: “Dear Robin. If I’d only sat up and taken the time to smell the damp earth and appreciated the beauty of my garden instead of considering my work a trial to endure, things could have been different. By Jaqui Fairfax”.
