Anna Francis talks about how Local Trust’s Creative Civic Change programme helped them set up the Portland Inn Project – an ambitious project to revamp a disused pub into a community space. And George Hill, from Creative Kingswood and Hazel Leys, shares how bursaries have helped residents expand their cultural horizons.
Local Trust’s community power podcast explored what happens when you give local people the money, power and assets to make a difference in their neighbourhoods, drawing on examples from Big Local areas. This episode is from series two, which was released in October 2022. After the pandemic, community groups were responding to the cost of living crisis – once again stepping up to provide emergency food, fuel and mental health support.
This episode is about Local Trust’s Creative Civic Change programme which supported 16 ‘left behind’ areas to embrace creative thinking and activities – such as public art competitions, neighbourhood murals, and cultural trips. This helped residents explore and challenge deeply embedded beliefs, approach old challenges with new perspectives and imagination, express themselves and connect with others.
Episode 4: Celebrating Creative Civic Change in the Midlands
Chris Allen
Hello and welcome to this week’s Community Power Podcast, a series being brought to you in partnership with Local Trust. My name is Chris Allen, and in this series, we’re showcasing some incredible projects, focusing in particular on what happens when you give local people the resources, the power and the assets to make a difference to their neighbourhoods. With me is series producer Beth Lazenby, it’s a little bit different this week, Beth, isn’t it? So tell us about it.
Beth Lazenby
Yeah, it is, indeed. So this week, we are celebrating our Creative Civic Change programme, which is our sister programme, which looks at what happens when you give communities funding to focus on arts and creativity. So it’s only a three year programme. It’s coming to the end this year. So we thought it’d be great to talk to George and Anna, who have both been part of different Creative Civic Change projects.
Chris Allen
We’ll be hearing from Anna Francis in a moment or two’s time. But first of all, here’s George. I’ve asked him to introduce himself.
George Hill
So my name’s George Hill. I’m the co chair of Creative Kingswood Hazel Leys in Corby in the East Midlands.
Chris Allen
And that’s obviously where you were born and bred?
George Hill
I was born and bred in the west coast of Scotland, in a town called Greenock.
Chris Allen
Yeah, right. And what brought you down to Corby?
George Hill
My brother was living here in the 1980s and I’d just left the army, and I was kind of wandering, so I wandered to Corby.
Chris Allen
And you never got out again.
George Hill
Yeah, I travelled a little bit, but for the last since the 80s, mid 80s, I’ve been, Corby’s my home. Yes, absolutely.
Chris Allen
Brilliant. And Anna yourself?
Anna Francis
Hello, yeah. I’m Anna Francis, and I’m one of the directors of The Portland Inn project in Stoke-on-Trent. I’m an artist, and I am also an associate professor at the University in Stoke.
Chris Allen
Right, so one of the things you have in common – despite Stoke on Trent and Corby has been where you live – is the Creative Civic Change project. Tell us a little bit about it, Anna, what it aims to do?
Anna Francis
So Creative Civic Change is a programme which has supported, I think it’s 16 areas across England to think about how creative and cultural activity can support communities to rethink, revive and develop, really. It’s been a three-year programme that’s extended a little bit because of the pandemic, but it’s been an amazing, supportive programme which has really put control and power into the hands of community members to think creatively about what their areas might need.
Chris Allen
And what is it about creativity, and the different types of creativity that engages people?
Anna Francis
Well, for us with our project, we’ve found that having creative conversations really opens up new ways of looking at some deeply embedded problems, and it enables people to kind of see things differently, to take an imaginative journey, which can actually really lead to some positive outcomes and some lasting change.
Chris Allen
Right. And is it easier for people to engage with creativity than with some of the systems that we have?
Anna Francis
Well, because our neighbourhood, we were in a regeneration zone where there was a major consultation with the community, and the area was due to be demolished, and in that process, no change happened. Whereas, with a creative process, you might take a material and you might transform that material, and change happens immediately. And so you can start seeing something concrete and something visible that people can get their hands into, and they can take a part in making some physical change, which then leads, I think, to other ways of thinking and seeing the neighbourhood.
Chris Allen
Thank you. And George, what have you been up to in Corby? What you’ve been, how have you been engaging with the programme?
George Hill
Engagement is always a challenge, but challenges are only opportunity. So we’ve had many projects, and I love what you say there. You know that beautiful description of, you know the creative, the change, that can happen, and it has happened within our community. So we’ve engaged with our community of Kingswood Hazel Leys. And for me personally, I see it as an opportunity for members of my community, our community, to be able to participate in art, you know, in the broadest sense, and we’ve allowed that and enabled that and supported that. And that’s, that’s what we will continue to do, and we hope to do after Creative Civic Change ends in October.
Chris Allen
George, you said engagement is absolutely key. Have you found that people are able to link into Creative Civic Change more easily, perhaps, than other programmes that you’ve seen?
George Hill
We do all the publicity, do the one to ones, the chat and going to neighbourhood centres and, yeah, and I can understand why people don’t want to engage perhaps, you know. Just concentrating on keeping a roof over their head, or they’re putting a loaf on the table, and to come and do a bit of art might not seem like appropriate, but those who we do engage with are engaged so and there is work being produced. So there is beautiful conversations, and the facilities that we use allow that and enable that. Think that if somebody takes part in something, there’s no expectation on our part for them. They can just enjoy it and to have some joy in it. And if they share with their community, that’s beautiful. But we, you know, so we do a little bit of follow up. And there’s some stories within the Creative Civic Change that have been of individuals who have taken it a bit further, you know, so that there are, there are those examples of that. But I just don’t know that we need to expect people to become artists, you know, because we all are artists anyway. So just just, it’s just about a joy, you know, in what’s a difficult, difficult time that we’re living in?
Chris Allen
Yeah, so, just enjoy.
George Hill
Yes.
Chris Allen
That’s all we expect of people, have a good time
George Hill
And have fun.
Chris Allen
And you learn through, don’t you, and you meet other people, and you feel perhaps more positive about yourself.
George Hill
It reduces a bit of isolation, perhaps. And there’s you break bread together, you have a cup of tea, a biscuit and it’s just, we don’t want to put people under pressure to you know, so, yeah, it’s just joy, simple.
Chris Allen
And what about Portland then? What’s the kind of things reflecting what George was saying there, bringing people together? What have you seen?
Anna Francis
I don’t think we would have described ourselves as an organisation before Creative Civic Change. We were a project. And Creative Civic Change has enabled us and our community to really form some important frameworks, actually. Though, we work in an area where there is really no social infrastructure. So there’s no community centre, there’s no pub, there’s no post box. So really, our project was about trying to bring back the community infrastructure in an area where there isn’t any.
Chris Allen
How did you do it, if you’ve got nowhere to meet? How did you do that?
Anna Francis
Yeah, so that’s been part of our project. It’s called The Portland Inn project, and it’s all about trying to get the resources to regenerate a disused and abandoned pub. And we’re in the process of doing that. And so we’ve got an asset transfer, we’ve reworked the design for the building with the community. So we worked with an architect to do that, and we are now fundraising for the architectural plan, which we do have planning permission for. But Creative Civic Change was everything that wasn’t about the building. That one of the first things we did was set up a community decision making panel right at the beginning, which gives a formal structure to how community members can help us to shape what it is that we do locally. And I think that because skills and skills development has been a key part of our programming over the three year project, we’ve been able to think about the skills that we want to develop with it, with the community. But also community members have begun to identify things that they want to do, you know, skills that they want to develop, and creative methods that they want to test out.
So for example, one of our community members, Nana, she was really interested in cooking, but she talked about not having loads of confidence around sharing that with the community. And via the project, we set up Nana’s kitchen, and she’s just started off by hosting some community meals around a campfire. Everyone would get involved in preparing the food together, and then we would have a meal together and a discussion and that’s now a really important part of our project and our programme, and has really supported Nana to think differently about herself and her role in the community and really building confidence.
Also, the young people were really interested in learning more about music, so we worked with one of the people that work with us regularly, with our youth club, it turned out, was an amazing musician and rap artist, and so he worked with the young people to write a music, well, create a music video, actually. So they made the music and they made the video. And so we’ve been able to think about how ideas that community members want to test, that use creativity in its widest sense. We’ve been able to support that via the project, and to sort of think about how we can all develop skills together that can then go back into the project and support the community to kind of, you know, be together creatively, which has just been so fantastic.
So, you know, when we applied to Creative Civic Change, we didn’t realise that we couldn’t spend the money on the building, and so we were a bit shocked. But actually, it’s been the best thing for us, because although it’s called The Portland Inn project, it’s become much more about the relationships that we have with our community and the activity and programme that we do together, which eventually will end up with the building. But actually what’s much more important, I think, is developing who we are as a community and kind of coming back together around this idea of, sort of the development of social infrastructure, which isn’t about buildings, actually, it’s about everything in between. What makes a community, what is the glue that kind of holds, holds everything together?
Chris Allen
The building becomes a means to an end, doesn’t it? And it sounds like you’ve discovered that community, the building will help you, but actually it’s not the be all and end all.
Anna Francis
Absolutely. And I think we wouldn’t probably have got to that point without Creative Civic Change.
Chris Allen
And George, you’re nodding longer enthusiastically with that, and sort of you recognise those ideas, those principles.
George Hill
I do. And I just think that Creative Civic Change…I’ve been involved in community for since 2010 but Creative Civic Change has been a beautiful addition to my own personal experience of working within community, for many of the reasons Anna has spoken about so. And just giving somebody the opportunity to have a bursary to buy some materials to go and see a show, and we’ve done that as well. So, and I don’t know that we’re as structured as that, but what we’re doing is just we have a wonderful collective in the in the Creative Civic Change team, you have Made With Many, Corby Community Arts, the Core Theatre, and our critical friend Heather Peak-Morison and members of the community, Big Local’s part of it as well.
So it’s just, and I just thinking back over the last three years, the stuff that we’ve done and put on, you know, trips and, you know, Skegness Arts Festival, Birmingham Custard factory, the murals, the community murals, actually getting physical art on the wall. And this was all done definitely with a lot of consultation and having the community make the decisions on designs, on places where these things can happen. And the master classes that are about to happen now are exciting. So there is, and it’s, I feel a little bit not sad that it’s ending, but it’s given us the momentum, I think, to seek, for, you know, to look for more investment, because these things do cost money.
Chris Allen
You’re talking very warmly and very personally there about the impact it’s had, had on you. Life changing. And also the people around you. We know which, I think, which people will hear very, very clearly. This had a massive effect on perhaps on your confidence, on your meeting with the people, seeing what community is. And also you’ve seen that in others as well.
George Hill
Yes, absolutely. The last trip that we’ve done for our community, we have a much bigger community, we have 1700 homes in Kingswood and 1300 homes in Hazel Leys. So I think there’s about five, 6000 people within our Big Local and Creative Civic Change area. Not everybody’s going to take part in it, but those who do, just the Skegness Arts Festival trip, there’s just so many you know, afterwards, people are coming up saying “that was wonderful”, and they might not have been able to afford to do that and and it’s highlighted a lot of the real problems that we have.
Chris Allen
And you talk about trying to continue this because, not because of the project, but because of the values within the project that you’re discovering. Now, how do you think it might be possible to do that? Have you got people working on where you might…?
George Hill
Yes, our Creative Civic Change in Kingswood Hazel Leys, I’ve had a meeting already with the whole team, and we’re just going to chop doors, and we’re going to put in bids, and we’re going to, you know, we’ve got, we’ve got a strategy. Sounds a bit grandiose, but we’ve got a strategy ready to go. We’re going to hit the funders again and show the successes and the wins and push through, you know? So we’re going to, yeah, we’re going to, we’re going to make this happen.
Chris Allen
You’re going to make it happen. You’re going to make it.
George Hill
Continue, continue.
Chris Allen
And Anna, you’re nodding very enthusiastically there, because you recognise all the values that George is there talking about as well you must have seen in Portland.
Anna Francis
Yeah, certainly. I think the thing that’s different about Creative Civic Change, you know, there’s loads of shared things that I can recognise in what you’re saying, George. But what’s been so important, actually, is that each neighbourhood and each area has been able to form their own plan, and has been able to kind of really work with their community, to think about what works in that neighbourhood, because what works for us in Portland wouldn’t necessarily work the same for you, and I think that’s what’s been so important that Local Trust and the other partners have trusted us to be able to work with our communities and to create something bespoke, meaningful and relevant to those neighbourhoods.
George Hill
But that goes back to Local Trust. When Big Local was set up, it was, it was about communities having the power to make those decisions.
Chris Allen
Now, at the beginning of every podcast, I say, “This is what happens when you give local people the power, the money and the assets to get on with it”, and you seem to be saying, “Yeah, that’s what works.”
George Hill
Absolutely. There’s no wrongness in this. There’s no it’s just, it’s just being a bit of a flexibility.
Chris Allen
Anna, I’m guessing, you know the building is not the be all and end all is what we’re saying earlier, but the building might really help you develop moving forward.
Anna Francis
Yeah. I mean, just recognising that the more solid the structure and framework around us, the more people are able to kind of trust us, want to get involved. We’ve noticed we used to operate from a series of temporary structures, and then just having a shipping container, which is a place to visit, has really changed how our community think about us, but also how funders think about us as well. So that’s been quite important. But one thing that I think we’re really advocating for with The Portland Inn project – we’re working on a 100 year plan for our neighbourhoods – but we’re also working on influencing tools which are, we hope, going to be really useful to other communities like ours, but also to advocate to policy makers and funders to think longer term, a longer term, sustainable approach to the way that communities develop. I think it would be much, much better for everyone.
George Hill
Breathing space, isn’t it, you know, just that, because that three years has been really valuable, hasn’t it? You know, yes, and I’m supporting you.
Chris Allen
Now I believe…You wanted to have my chair. You wanted to have my seat, aren’t you? You’re going to be doing your own podcast as you move forward, in order to try to keep the story going. George, you’re going to be you’re going to be in a hot seat from time to time?
George Hill
Heather and I will be co hosting six podcasts around six Creative Civic Change areas. This podcast will get the stories of each of those six Creative Civic Changes.
Chris Allen
Anna, you’re going to be a guest on one of George’s you know podcasts as well. Hope he doesn’t give you a hard time.
Anna Francis
Yeah, well, we’re really looking forward to it, because George and Heather are both very inspiring people, and we’re looking forward to them coming to visit us in Stoke, and, you know, just having a really great and rich conversation.
Chris Allen
Well, thanks to you both for being here today, and thanks for sharing your thoughts. And we look forward to the podcast coming down the road, and we’ll definitely put all the links in there in our show notes.
Anna Francis
Thank you very much.
Chris Allen
That was Anna Francis and George Hill from the Creative Civic Change project that was split between Stoke on Trent and also Corby. And we’re going to find out a little bit more for them, obviously, in the podcast they mentioned. But how can we find out a little bit more in the show notes this week?
Beth Lazenby
So we’ll be sharing links to find out more about The Portland Inn project and Kingswood Hazel Leys CCC as well in the show notes. And yes, we will be sharing all of the episodes of the new podcast on our channels as well. So stay tuned for that.
Chris Allen
And I love the insights from both of them, especially George, just talking about just come and have fun. There’s nothing wrong with just having fun. Just come and come and enjoy yourself.
Beth Lazenby
Yeah, and I think we’ve heard that from other areas as well, isn’t it? It’s just about opening the door and getting them in to have a bit of fun and putting no pressure on that, but learning that there’s so much positivity that can come out of just getting people together and giving them something productive to do.
Chris Allen
And builds up people’s confidence as they discover they’ve got talents they never realised.
Beth Lazenby
Yeah, absolutely. I think I would love to go along to one of their classes. They sound like great fun.
Chris Allen
So where are we off to next week?
Beth Lazenby
Next week, we’ll be going to North London, to Noel Park Big Local, and Laurie is going to be chatting to us about some interesting projects they’ve got, helping young people into employment.
Chris Allen
Thanks Beth. And yes, we look forward to joining us next time on the Community Power Podcast, brought to you by Local Trust, discovering what happens when you give local people the power, the money and the assets to make a difference to their neighbourhoods.
