Places

Bournemouth was a case-study location for Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery. As part of this project, we worked with the artist Michelle Rumney as well as a number of local community groups. Michelle’s installation The Ragged Map was displayed in the Royal Arcade in 2021. The work was inspired by what people thought was exciting and important about the places where they lived. It was developed through a game that involved walking the streets, both in person and online via Street View.

We worked in Darlington as a case-study for two projects: Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery and Feeling Towns. We collaborated with the local poet Lisette Auton, whose poem Darlo Matters was exhibited at the Darlington Hippodrome and at Darlington Railway Station in 2021. Community and arts organisers created miniature books about the town, from which a collective poem was devised and published. We embedded researchers in the council to develop models for understanding pride in place and meeting Levelling Up ambitions.

We worked with Dorchester when we extended our Feeling Towns project in 2023, supporting the local authority in developing its place and heritage plans. We used creative methods including emoji mapping and collage poetry to better understand how disparate communities experienced pride in Dorchester. We conducted fieldwork with volunteers in the Corn Exchange, with shoppers in South Street, and with residents and visitors at the local market. We held poetry collage sessions with Youth Council members and with young people.

We worked with Isle of Wight Council as we extended our Feeling Towns project. In 2023, we facilitated a creative consultation session during a business stakeholder event at the Trouville Hotel in Sandown on the Isle of Wight. Business owners, councillors and residents were invited to respond to a series of creative prompts about the local area, pride, place, and the environment. These stakeholders worked in groups to combine these responses into a series of collage poems that outlined their visions for the town.

We worked with the Hereford Towns Board as part of Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery. We also collaborated with the artist Toni Cook and young people from the Point of View project in the Powerhouse at the Maylord Centre, Hereford. We discussed young people’s views of Hereford and the changes they felt were needed to improve the city in the future. These responses were recorded to create an audio piece. In 2022, we collaborated with volunteers at Ledbury Poetry Festival and young people at Heavy is the Head in Hereford.

For Feeling Towns, we undertook fieldwork in Harefield, a ward in the East of Southampton. We hosted a stall during the “Love Where You Live” event, run by the Stronger Communities team for residents to access local services and take part in activities. We then held a poetry collage session in the SO18 Big Local community hub and supported ArtfulScribe workshops at the Woodlands Community College. Southampton City Council has also been a key partner in Neighbouring Data, which seeks to develop innovative approaches for using qualitative evidence.

Southend was a case study town for Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery. Local artists Emma Edmondson and Lu Williams worked with us on our community engagement in the town and hosted The Southend Salty Pub Quiz, compiling their experiences of navigating public art projects, proposals, councillors, consultants and commissioners. They invited the public and decision-makers to take part, and the resulting film What Makes Good Public Art? was seen on Big Screen Southend at Focal Point Gallery.