Community Pride Podcast Episode 4 - How did Big Local develop local pride through creativity?

Kayla Jones 00:03

In Philadelphia, a city in the state of Pennsylvania in the US, there are over 4,300 murals that dot the city, making it known as the mural capital of the world. The sides of high rises, car parks, apartment complexes, barber shops, and historic buildings across the city are covered in colorful, masterfully painted art pieces by local artists. Since 2016, 1 percent of the cost of new buildings goes towards art in the city, which has produced hundreds of murals a year and is considered one of the US’s largest public art programmes as it involves local community groups and childhood programmes aiming to get more children involved in the arts. 

Public art across the world, such as the art found in Philadelphia, serves as a powerful medium to tell stories of communities. Cities like Berlin, Bogota, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Melbourne, to name a few, showcase how artists leave their mark, transforming urban landscapes into vibrant public art showcases. Bristol in south-west England, which is the hometown of artist Banksy, is also known for his public art, which adds to the local identity of the city. Through public art, visitors can uncover narratives of personal triumph, collective struggle and the shared aspirations of the local community through this free open-air gallery offering profound insights into its people and their journey.

I’m on my way to my next Big Local visit, this time in a town in East London which is known for its art and community creativity. Walthamstow might not have quite as many murals as Philadelphia, but its mini art pieces across the sides of housing blocks, pubs and restaurant entrances is no less impressive and moving to see in person. Especially on an otherwise cold and rainy day in December 2024. As I step off the train at Walthamstow Central, I’m immediately reminded of the impact public art can have on communities, as I’m met with a mural which says the words, ​‘welcome to the home of people who make and create’. 

I’m your host, Kayla Jones. Join me as we explore pride and community creativity for Big Local communities on the Community Pride podcast.

Kayla Jones 02:39

Right away, I’m even more excited to visit my next Big Local area. Fellow creatives! As I walk along my route to meet John and Andy, who are a part of the William Morris Big Local partnership in Walthamstow, I keep seeing even more and more art pop up along my path. William Morris Big Local has funded several of these art pieces through the years. With [one] Walthamstow’s Big Local, being named after a well-known creative figure, William Morris, Jon, who’s a part of the partnership team, sees creativity in the local area as a huge part of Walthamstow’s identity.

Jon 03:14

There’s a lot of history of creativity within Walthamstow obviously, we’re called the William Morris Big Local. So William Morris being an incredibly famous socialist, but also designer and creative, famous for his wallpapers and kind of arts and crafts movement. We just found that embracing art and creativity is a really great way to connect with all different groups. It’s been done with murals on the side of buildings, to mosaics and getting people to kind of design things. So it’s been wonderful just to see the impact that William Morris Big Local has had on the area, and yeah, kind of creativity, I think, kind of runs in the DNA of what we’ve been trying to do over the years.

Kayla Jones 04:05

Through the years, William Morris Big Local has focused on a lot of creative projects such as street murals, youth clubs, crafting workshops, a Discovery Trail we’ll talk about later that was meant to raise the profile of local businesses, and a youth theatre at Big Creative Academy, where I’ve come to meet Andy and Jon. In fact, we’re meeting in a room not too far from the theatre where there are sounds of lively music and dancing going on, clearly in preparation for a performance.

Jon 04:35

So I guess, yeah, it would be strange if we didn’t do things that had a creative edge to it. Yeah, supporting, like a local community college and providing some funding for a theatre space to kind of build this state-of-the-art theatre that’s now used by students and has also put on events in the local community.

Kayla Jones 05:00

The 200-seat theatre is one of the ways students can showcase their creative work from courses across Performing Arts, Fashion Design and Media. The college is a unique way to offer industry training and experience in the arts. This has resulted in students being able to put on performances for residents to enjoy. For Jon, he sees Big Local supporting the arts across Walthamstow as a way to bring together people of all ages. While projects like the theatre can take up large portions of Big Local budgets and bring lasting impact to local areas, Jon and Andy have found that even creative projects with small investments can bring about change and growth for residents who have unique ideas. 

Jon 05:45

Money is definitely, definitely important. But also some of the people that have been involved in the projects, the money helped, you know, them give them the confidence to go and do it and a bit of an excuse to like, ​“Okay, well, I’m getting a bit of money”. 

Andy 06:00

Yeah, and someone believes in me!

Jon 06:02

And so it may not be a lot of money, but yeah, people have then changed careers because they’ve, they’ve gone and found their passion, and then they’ve got really positive feedback from it, and then they’ve, like, literally changed careers. And I know at least two people that have through William Morris Big Local and the seed funding that they had that then changed their path.

Andy 06:26

Wow, that’s amazing.

Kayla Jones 06:28

Yeah, it is amazing. That’s really cool!

Andy 06:30

Yeah, you can spend £500, somebody plants some bulbs, and that’s it. It’s all over. But sometimes that £500 is a thing that keeps growing. And like changing someone’s life like that — yes, you’ve made a big difference. 

Kayla Jones 06:40

Taking that chance on an idea that seems small but has potential is one of the biggest benefits of bringing creativity into community projects. It can be a way for residents to develop the connections, confidence and knowledge to grow programmes themselves that will carry on beyond Big Local.

Andy 07:04

We all started out as amateurs trying to figure things out. We are always getting better at networking. We’re always finding out different contacts, and sometimes we’re kind of the middle-man, and we don’t actually get involved in a project, but we connect somebody who wants something and somebody who can provide it — link them up, and something happens. And there’s a lot of that happening. 

Jon 07:27

I think as a resident, you can just say you can get annoyed by things that aren’t being done or whatever. But I think what’s been lovely being part of Big Local has been the sense of, yeah, let’s, well, let’s try and do it. Well, I know somebody who could….

Andy 07:44

That’s definitely something that dawned on me when I first started to get involved in some of the little planting things. And you’re thinking about, ​“Oh, is it all right? Do we have to ask the council if we can do this?” No, just do it! You know, they’re not going to complain if you pull a weed out. That feeling that, yeah, we can actually make a difference. And I’d love other residents to kind of get that feeling and sort of like for the penny to drop with them.

Kayla Jones 08:09

One unique community-led as well as community run project has been the creation of a tool library in Walthamstow, which Andy took me to after our interview. From the outside, it looked like a colourfully painted garage or garden shed, but inside, there was a wealth of tools available for locals to take out on loan. I spoke with one of the volunteers who was operating the tool library during my visit, who told me about her own project and how she got involved with the tool library.

Volunteer 08:40

And most of our tools are donations. Like 90% of it probably. We just bought some tools at the beginning, just the most popular ones, and then they just come to us! Plenty of people, plenty of parents, they come by and borrow some tools to repair toys as well. I think that’s right.

Andy 09:02

That happened right in front of your eyes. Yeah.

Volunteer 09:07

Sometimes they have to fix, yeah, music instruments or a desk or cabinets, and it’s like making their dreams come true. I know it sounds funny, but yeah. We just encourage them, yeah. Some people, they just want to hang a curtain, you know, the rail for curtains. And they never, never used a drill before, and they’re just thrilled afterwards. Like, ​“yay, we made it!” — they’ve got power. Yeah, that’s awesome in our work. 

Kayla Jones 09:39

In a place like London, a lot of residents don’t have the space for large equipment, such as lawn mowers, handsaws or carpet cleaners. However, occasional needs of these items mean that for a lot of people, they either don’t have access to be able to use these tools at all, or they have to purchase them for one time use and then have to figure out what to do with them afterwards. The tool library was a way for locals to be able to access all kinds of tools, from simple hand tools like hammers or wrenches to rakes, drills and wheelbarrows for an array of different projects. Another great part about the tool library is that now that residents have knowledge of how it works and its benefits, many of them are happy to donate tools they no longer need so others can still get use out of them.

Volunteer 10:25

And they afterwards they don’t need it, they donate it here, and then after half a year, they can borrow it again. Sometimes we’ve got these members and they are like, ​“Oh, I donated this one”. Sometimes they ask if we have a specific tool and if we don’t have it, they ask if they will buy it, use it and donate it, if they can use it later. And we are always like, yes, yes, go for it.

Kayla Jones 10:54

The tool library has become a versatile resource, serving various purposes for members of the community. For some, it offers the practical benefit of accessing tools needed for DIY projects around the house. For others, the library opens up new creative possibilities providing access to tools they might not have had the opportunity to use before. Residents can explore hobbies like woodworking, crafting, or other hands-on projects that require specialised equipment.

Volunteer 11:24

So I started volunteering at FRP, Forest Recycling Project, and then they needed some help here. And I just got more involved and more and more. And I started, you know, to run the tool library this summer.

Kayla Jones 11:42

And have you done some of your own DIY projects with the tools?

Volunteer 11:46

Yes, yes. FRP, everyone can do some bud boxes or bird boxes, so I started with that kind of project. 

Kayla Jones 12:06

During my visit, several people came in to either take out loans in the library or return equipment. For a couple of them, it seemed that Andy knew a bit about their projects and what they were trying to achieve, sparking interesting conversations about home improvement or gardening.

Volunteer 12:23

But the highest ones are usually aluminium and cordless power tools…..

Andy 12:32

We can deduce — from the number of things we’ve loaned out, we can calculate how much carbon we’ve saved. Like, if every hammer that was borrowed had been purchased. How much would it have cost in carbon to make that hammer? Is it 85 tonnes of carbon?

Volunteer 12:48

Yes, 85 so far for four years.

Andy 12:53

So it’s making a difference. Real numbers!

Kayla Jones 12:56

By removing financial and logistical barriers, the tool library empowers individuals to learn new skills, express their creativity and take on projects they might have once considered out of reach. The tool library not only supports personal growth, but also fosters a sense of resourcefulness, collaboration and innovation within Walthamstow.

Jon 13:18

Real friendships have been made. Lasting friendships have been made sometimes with people that live only maybe a few doors away from each other, but they just didn’t have a space to actually meet up in. The community living rooms [are an] incredibly important for the DNA of having a cohesive, supportive community. And the tool library, it has been an absolute phenomenal success, which started off as a small space with a few tools that people could borrow in this kind of simple membership system. It’s become a sustainable business in its own right. Well, community interest — that just makes complete sense to have. Just like you’d be borrowing a book that you could do the same for tools.

Kayla Jones 14:03

To encourage creativity and collaboration, Local Trust have developed opportunities through the years for Big Local areas to learn more about running their own creative groups, such as workshops on organising a bingo night, a photo competition, poetry events, knitting groups and community podcasts. Equipping Big Local communities with the tools to come together and create is not only a great way to encourage collaboration between residents, but can be a way of creating civic change. Former Local Trust CEO Matt explains to me. 

Matt Leach 14:35

The creativity is great, but actually what it helps enable is social capital building, the creation of networks and trust, which is just so important to any community thriving. And yes, I know I’ve seen some amazing mosaics. You could go to Newington down in Kent where you see faces from people in the community on a fantastic mural just outside the community centre that’s really helped transform, you know, a community centre where the activities within it have helped transform the estate. And they signal that the community centre is part of the community itself. You know, not just a place where services get delivered, but a place that’s owned and is part of the lives of the people who live there. But as you walk up the road from that community centre, you see a formerly kind of not particularly nice alleyway down the side of the school that was transformed by amazing pictures or cut-out wooden paintings of animals that were created by artists and local children as part of the Creative Civic Change programme that took place there.

Kayla Jones 15:43

The Creative Civic Change programme was an experimental funding program alongside Big Local that supported 15 areas through initiatives designed to empower communities through creativity and the arts. The programme focused on collaboration, innovation and inclusivity through creative projects with an aim to build stronger, more resilient communities through a range of activities such as public art installations and community festivals. For many communities, this was a way to come together and create even in difficult times. 

Matt Leach 16:16

And as part of that programme — it was a programme that ran alongside Big Local for a number of years, with a little bit of extra funding from us – the Newington Big Local brought a theatre group into their community every year with a huge pop-up tented theatre next to the community centre, with people coming to see, you know, productions that normally you’d have had to go to a big town or city to enjoy and probably pay quite a lot of money at that. This was art, creativity, drama coming to the community itself, which increased the way in which it could be accessed.

Kayla Jones 16:50

Through creative projects, residents are better equipped to tackle complex issues while celebrating their unique identities as a community. Bringing together multi-generational groups through creative arts and craft sessions, theatrical programmes and art installations — the process can transform challenges into opportunities for growth, resilience and shared success. Senior Researcher Laura Fisher found that for many of these Big Local areas, what started as community projects have sometimes turned into long term initiatives, or they’ve created spaces for local artists and entrepreneurs to become more connected and visible in their local area.

Laura Fisher 17:33

For some Big Local areas, they are quite keen to support social enterprises, and often that can have, like, a quite a creative angle, thinking Par Bay in Cornwall, they were able to give a lot of funding to some of these more creative entrepreneurs, and they’ve renovated a community space called Cornubia. And within that space, you know, you’ve got the classic community hall type thing, you know, big open space, but there’s also a, like a shop front where people can sell. Cornwall has got that quite challenging heritage of tourism, but a lot of jobs locally being rooted in that tourist sector. So that was, like, really important to them, artwork and murals. And, you know, some Big Locals have commissioned statues, or sculptures, rather, for you know, maybe to recognise heritage industries that are no longer around or famous local residents and things like that, but others, it’s just been more about brightening up local spaces.

Kayla Jones 18:31

For William Morris Big Local, as well as investing in local art projects like murals around town, they also wanted to find a way to shine a light on local artists, entrepreneurs and business owners in a way that was memorable and engaging to Walthamstow residents. With a little allocated funding that was aimed at revitalising the local economy, Jon came up with an idea that he hoped would make a wide impact. Jon created the Discover Local Trail, a colourful map featuring spots in Walthamstow from local businesses, parks, restaurants and pubs in the area. This corresponded with the Discover Local Passport, which residents could stamp every time they went into a stop along the trail. Though the event is now over, Andy and Jon were kind enough to take me along the route of the Discover Local Trail, where many residents gathered stamps from various locations in Walthamstow.

Jon 19:27

When I went and did a bit of a Discover session walking around the local areas, I kind of mentioned earlier, what was really clear was actually a small grant of a few hundred pounds is not even going to touch the sides with a newsagent that’s having to switch off the fridges because they’re really worried about what the electricity bill is going to be that month. So kind of had to re-evaluate the small amounts of funding that we had. And as I said, there’s a lot of people to help. It’s trying to come up with an idea that could support as many businesses as possible with limited funding. And so the idea that we came up with was a project called Discover Local. 

Kayla Jones 20:09

The Discover Local map, which was printed and went up in window store fronts across Walthamstow, was a great way for local businesses to connect with one another and raise their visibility locally. We were able to visit a couple of shops listed on the trail: a local grocer’s, the bike repair shop and the Salvation Army. Shops we visited had all participated in the Discover Local Trail and had residents coming into their shops to collect stamps, many of whom they said had never visited before. Our last stop was at the local Salvation Army, which had a charity shop and a large community room in the back. Jon and Andy introduced me to Julie, who ran the programme A Community Living Room, which put on events such as dance classes, knitting, drawing and a Swap Shop. Today there was a lively game of UNO going on for a board game afternoon.

Andy 21:02

Hello, we’ve come to talk about the Big Local project Discover Local.

Salvation Army manager 21:11

Yes. I mean, just as an incentive to get people shopping local, using local. Fab, love it.

Kayla Jones 21:20

Did you find people came in here for the first time that maybe didn’t know this was here — or that they just never thought to come in here before?

Salvation Army manager 21:26

I think there were a few that passed here and hadn’t been in. I think most did, so we had quite a lot of our locals saying, ​“Oh, have you got your stamp”. But no, really, really good. But then we were kind of encouraging people to go round and find some of these other places. So I know, like a couple of our people are now using the tool library, you know, stuff like that. People using this, this supermarket. I love that place. Yeah, and now that’s my go to.

Andy 21:56

They’re very friendly people, aren’t they?

Salvation Army manager 22:00

Absolutely brilliant idea.

Kayla Jones 22:03

Over the years, William Morris Big Local has cultivated a culture of creativity for many of their projects, encouraging residents to explore their ideas and share them with the partnership, which has sometimes turned into projects with lasting impact, such as the Discover Local Trail.

Jon 22:20

It’s been brilliant to be involved in a project that’s actually gone beyond what you thought was possible a few years ago. If you said that I could set up a local trail to encourage people to go into local businesses, I’d say, no chance. But being part of William Morris Big Local has given me that confidence to kind of dream big on a on a local level, it’s been a real kick-starter for other initiatives — that grassroot led, community based delivery. William Morris Big Local has been amazing. And I think where other whether it’s the local council or other organisations have looked at William Morris Big Local, and seen some of the smaller initiatives that they have done, and then taken them on to actually build into some of the work they’re doing. It has been like a game changer for the local area to win that money and also be that kind of – ​“role model” may be the wrong kind of word, but it has been a real leader in starting off different local projects.

Kayla Jones 23:24

Through her work researching Big Local communities across England, Laura has discovered that creative projects have a profound impact on the lives of residents.

Laura Fisher 23:33

Thurnscoe as well in Yorkshire, they kind of got local school children involved in designing murals just to brighten things up. And that’s it’s again, there’s like links to community pride, where you see things that look nice in your community, and you see what was maybe just a normal brick wall that now, like, has something that someone’s put time and love into and care into. I think that’s really meaningful.

Kayla Jones 23:54

For Andy and Jon at William Morris Big Local they’ve seen how even the smallest bit of creativity and collaboration can often ripple outward, inspiring more people to get involved, and sparking a cycle of positive change in the community.

Jon 24:09

It’s sometimes been that little bit of funding that has given the person the confidence to then actually go and make that step and create a business. You know, hundreds of people win projects that Big Local has supported over the years. What’s been really interesting is that some of those projects, whether it’s youth clubs or games clubs or Community Living Rooms that we supported, that legacy has existed, that we’ve been able to kind of pass those on to other organisations to take on. And so even though William Morris Big Local has almost come to an end, groups and that funding and that legacy will continue on from when William Morris Big Local finishes.

Kayla Jones 24:54

1% of proceeds going into art installations or murals in Philadelphia from building projects can sound like a low number, but when you look at the art covering so many of the buildings, walkways and parks, you can see just what an impact it’s made in the city and how it’s a part of Philadelphia’s identity. As we’ve learned through Walthamstow’s journey, even small investments into art and creativity can grow into lasting change when residents are given the chance to collaborate and create. In neighbourhoods where public creativity thrives, the impact goes far beyond aesthetics. They can be lasting symbols of hope, resilience and progress. Once-used spaces can transform into communal hubs where residents can gather for creative workshops, gain new crafting skills, or just enjoy a fun game night. Local businesses and entrepreneurs can grow their visibility through these creative projects with footfall and attention from new visitors, from the support they’re receiving from the community. 

When people come together to create a mosaic art design, replant a community garden, participate in events supporting local businesses, or attend a theatre showcase put on by children, they’re not just collaborating or participating. They’re also building bridges, strengthening relationships and revitalising their area, showing what can happen when a community invests in itself. William Morris Big Local and their work across Walthamstow shows that collaborative creativity, whether through well-funded initiatives or modestly supported projects, has the power to drive lasting change in communities. Their efforts preserve and pass down local stories of struggle, triumph, innovation and opportunity, which can inspire and resonate with future generations. 

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Community Pride Podcast. For more information and resources on community collaboration and creativity and Big Local as a programme, go to learningfrombiglocal.org.uk