Residents of Hangleton and East Brighton are being asked to share their experiences of where they live to create a visual map of their neighbourhoods as part of a new Brighton Festival initiative.
Two weekends of free arts and cultural activities are being held as part of a new Your Place festival within a festival, and will explore what can be done to bring the communities closer together.
Taking inspiration from the recently popularised Random Acts of Kindness movement, Your Place 2018 Artist in Residence Kate McCoy has been leading a series of workshops known as Random Acts of Neighbourliness, which encourages participants to share experiences of their own neighbourhoods.
They are also being asked to come up with creative ideas to get to know their neighbours and bring the community together.
Their contributions – which have ranged from coffee and cake mornings to getting rid of double yellow lines so that the children of elderly residents can visit more easily – will be incorporated into an interactive, visual exhibition by installation artist Luan Taylor at the two Your Place weekends throughout Brighton Festival.
Kate McCoy says: “Being Your Place’s artist in residence is my ideal job, I get to meet loads of different people in a range of settings and find out more about them creatively, connecting through laughter and conversation.
“I have been setting up in community centres, lunch clubs and youth drop-ins, asking people to sit down with me and create a visual map of their neighbourhood using objects to represent themselves, their neighbours and the landmarks and features that surround them.
“So, a Pritt stick has been a lamp post where young people hang out on the Knoll Estate, a bus stop in Whitehawk that can be seen from a living room window, and someone who works with the community, sticking people together.
“I have also been asking people to decide on a random act of neighbourliness, something that could happen to bring the community closer together. People have been so welcoming in both communities, open and even more creative than they thought they were and have made beautiful images and said thought provoking things that I hope you will come and see.”
Naomi Alexander, Artistic Director of Brighton People’s Theatre, says: “Kate McCoy was chosen by residents from East Brighton and Hangleton to become the artist in residence for Your Place from an impressive range of artists who applied.
“They were particularly taken with her down to earth and relatable approach to working creatively with people who may not think of themselves as creative. Her idea of Random Acts of Neighbourliness caught their imagination and people in both communities have been really impressed by the work she has done over the past few months.
“Your Place is a partnership project run by Brighton Festival, Brighton People’s Theatre and two resident-led, community development projects on either side of the city: Due East and the Hangleton and Knoll Project.
“We have been working with a steering group of local people from both communities over the last year to co-programme and co-design Your Place for the Brighton Festival 2018. We are really excited about all the brilliant shows and workshops that are part of this year’s programme.”
Hosted by local community centres, and programmed in collaboration with local residents and artists, Your Place will bring a diverse line-up of free performances, workshops and activities to the Hangleton and East Brighton communities. The inaugural project in 2017 was a resounding success, with over 2,000 people taking part in Your Place across the two weekends, and participants describing the experience as ‘inspiring’ and ‘energising’.
Artists taking part in the Your Place 2018 weekends will include: David Shrigley, The Ragroof Players, The Future is Unwritten Theatre Company, Herringbone Arts, Joanna Neary, Culture Clash, Touched Theatre, Dundu and Worldbeaters, Brighton and Hove Music and Arts and many more.
The Your Place events will take place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 May, 12pm to 5pm at Hangleton Community Centre and Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 May, 10am to 5pm at Manor Gym, East Brighton.
There’s a throwaway line in this article which goes to the heart of neighbourliness and community. While we need some management of traffic and parking, it’s taken to revenue-led extremes in Brighton and Hove, and it restricts people from visiting relatives and friends. It’s the old and lonely, the disabled and vulnerable who miss out most and so are worst affected by the spreading rash of parking zones and yellow lines all over the place.
It’s not just here, I know, and it’s true lots of people can use other means of transport, but buses are not cheap, and are best if you’re going to Churchill Square or back again.
The answer is to ensure new homes, shops and offices have enough parking spaces when they’re built, with discounts for clean tech and maybe for smaller engines. Plus, despite all the talk, I don’t feel safe cycling on the unpoliced roads in Brighton and Hove, and I certainly don’t feel it’s safe to expose my young children to cycling on our roads.
Of course, we can leave the old and disabled to rot, with maybe a daily 15min visit from a carer, minus travel time of course. That works, doesn’t it!
Brilliant reply from Maisie. I’ll second all of that!!
I have often thought we could do more or should do more to engage with each other through organised fun days at our local parks especially during the summer holidays as a member of a large family I have enjoyed such days with my brothers sisters and there children older members turn up to watch and catch up so all you need is a pack lunch or picnic basket we usually opt for rounders as it tends to suit everybody for me there are five ideal venues Queen’s Park Brighton St Answell Park Hove
Hove park Buckingham park Shoreham and we have two great playing fields in Hangleton so if your like minded and enjoy organising lets communicate