Awarded – Page 3 – Plymouth Octopus

A Timeline of Change

Collaborators

Friends of Central Park
Karen Moore History
Old Plymouth Society
Fotonow

Briefly describe your project

Plymouth’s Central Park has seen huge changes in its 90-year history and people have always been central to the story. A small part of the story is already available as an online community resource. The rest of it can be told once the necessary copyright permissions can be purchased. There are a large number of images and a Collectives funding grant will make it possible. In this way the whole story of Central Park and what it means to the people of Plymouth will become available as a free community resource.

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

We want everyone to realise what a treasure they have in Central Park and how it could have been lost because of successive developments. By documenting its history, we want Plymothians to fully appreciate the value of Central Park and what it means in all of their lives.
As a community resource, we hope to establish a place where more people are encouraged to contribute their memories or photographs such that the record can be progressively refined and updated as new information comes to light.
Much repair and restoration work remains outstanding in the park, and it will need to be informed by knowledge of what existed previously as well as by present needs and desires. We want decision makers to have all the historical background so that they will make choices which are appropriate for the park and work to increase people’s enjoyment.

Describe how your Collective formed

The Timeline Collective comes from work in 2019 and 2020 to capture individual memories and photographs from Central Park’s past. Led by Fotonow and the Friends Group, with Council support and Lottery Heritage funding, it was very successful in setting the scene and shining a torch into areas that were previously unknown.
Following The Box’s opening in 2021, it became possible to go through the official records. It required painstaking research by Karen Moore and was part-funded by £250-a-POP. It identified a very large amount of new material from which heritage volunteers have compiled about 40 new articles. Once licensing and website issues can be addressed, these new articles and the existing ones will enable the whole of Central Park’s story to be told.
Moving into the final phase of work, The Box is keen to encourage the project and has joined the Collective having already provided useful information and generous offers of support. The Old Plymouth Society has also joined the Collective having heard about it in the Community Heritage Forum and being one of the main users of the information generated by the project.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

RELAY TEAM – Like an athletics team, a collective where one team member works on the project then passes the baton

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?

Research / Pilot

Front Page / Back Page / Centrefold

Open Collective page

Collaborators

CAMP CIC
Flock South West
Visual Arts Plymouth

During the first round, POP members will be asked to advise you. What advice would be most helpful?

We would be interested in finding out different ways of publicising this opportunity to local artists and creatives, so we can reach as many people as possible. As well as places and people to send the publication to, so the news of Plymouth, Devon & Cornwall artists goes far and wide!

Briefly describe your project

Front Page/Back Page/Centrefold is a portable artwork and publication showcasing the amazing talents of local artists from Plymouth, Devon & Cornwall. We want to raise the profile of Plymouth as a city of creatives, and with the large touring exhibition the British Art Show (BAS) arriving in October, this is THE time to do it! The BAS receives a lot of attention and we want some of this attention on local artists! We are Plymouth, hear us roar! (artistically!).

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

We want to support and publicise local artists and get their work seen far and wide.

The British Art Show is a large touring art show, organised every five years, that celebrates the vitality of recent art made in Britain. This year it has toured to Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Manchester and is coming to Plymouth in October 2022 to January 2023.

The British Art Show can provide an excellent opportunity for local artists to get their work seen by a large audience that will travel to the city to see the British Art Show. But how to do this in an effective and agile way? How can local artists infiltrate the arts organisations in the city that will be showing the British Art Show?

This is how!

Front page / Back page / Centrefold will be a high quality publication featuring work by artists from Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall. Artists will be invited to submit an image of an existing piece of work to be showcased in the book. There will also be three commissions for artists to create new work especially for the publication – one for the front page; one for the back page; and one for the centrefold. The artists will be paid a fee for each of these commissions.

The collective has far reaching networks across Devon and Cornwall and we will send the call out to artists far and wide across the two counties. Many artists who contribute to the cultural life of Plymouth live in wider Devon and Cornwall, which is why we would like to spread the net further. We would also invite members from other POP organisations to submit their work.

The resulting publication will be made available for people to pick up free at the British Art Show venues across the city (The Box, Arts Institute, MIRROR and KARST) as well as other cultural venues. We will also post the publication to arts organisations across the country, and work with the arts organisations in Plymouth to access their mailing lists and social media to further publicise the publication.

The money from the POP collectives fund will be used to pay for the design of the publication; fund the three artists’ new work commissions; print the publication; distribute the publication; and promote the publication.

All three partner organisations have strong track records of successful commissioning and publishing projects, and project management.

We need to work fast to get the publication produced for November/December 2022, but we are all passionate and committed arts workers who love Plymouth and want it to shine brightly creatively, as other British Art Show cities have done!

Describe how your Collective formed

CAMP is a grass roots artist-led support network for creatives living in Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall. Flock South West is an arts production collective made up of local freelance arts workers. Visual Arts Plymouth (VAP) is a group of independent artists and arts organisers in the city.

Members of CAMP and Flock recently visited the British Art Show in Manchester and were impressed by the way local artists were supported and made visible by arts organisations in the city. We then thought, hey, we want to make sure this happens in Plymouth too! So on the train back we got our heads together and came up with this proposal. We then invited Visual Art Plymouth (who organise the much missed and hopefully soon to return, Arts Weekender Plymouth ) to be the third partner in our collective.

A lot of the work done by the three organisations in this collective is done by voluntary labour. We all want great things for local artists, and by coming together in this way, we can support each other and be each other’s cheerleaders. As many of the organisations in POP will know, it’s hard to keep going when most of your work is done voluntarily. By working together collectively we hope to make more things happen than we could do on our own. We’re excited about our proposal and what it could bring to the city.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

HUB AND SPOKE – Like a bike wheel, one organisation holds things together at the centre, while other organisations perform specific tasks

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?

Core Funding / Time

Confidence Booster Workshops

Collaborators

● Art Craft & Giggles CIC

● Wellbeing Workshop Devon CIC

● All-Inclusive Textiles

● Kristina Coles Fashion & Textile Designer

Briefly describe your project

Together we plan to deliver 8 x 3 hour confidence boosting workshops over 8 weeks for women from low income households ( working or not). They will be held at the Art Craft & Laughter studio in St Budeaux. Free tea & biscuits will also be offered.

As we already have an established connection within the community, we asked them for suggestions on what issues they would like the workshops to tackle. Examples were:

• Learn new skills

• Make new friends

• Reduce stress and anxieties

• Build confidence

• Breathe without pressure

Also, with the current cost of living crisis we believe the participants will be able to save money by developing skills which will enable them to save money as they will be able to upcycle the clothes they already have.

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

From the feedback Kristina Coles decided to deliver 4 weeks of dress for confidence course (between week 1-4) aimed at boosting the confidence of women by teaching them how to enhance their natural beauty using fashion, discover personal style, discover body shapes and how to dress flatteringly, choosing right colour palette for one’s skin complexion and building a bespoke functional wardrobe. The feedback, from all previous workshops showed that the target of increasing confidence was achieved.

Within week 5 Wellbeing Workshops Devon CIC will deliver a one-off wellbeing workshop which aims to build the participants confidence, develop a growth mindset and acceptance of self. This workshop will look to marry the the dress for confidence workshop and practical sewing skills workshop together. With the aim to reinforce the understanding and acceptance of self, covered within the first 4 weeks and to provide a platform of a growth mindset for the participants to carry forward and to be able to try new and challenging skills.

Week 6-8 All Inclusive Textiles & Art Craft & Giggles CIC for these workshop we will teach ladies to use a sewing machine, understand & cut out a pattern & assemble & sew an easy stitch skirt. This will tie into the previous dress for confidence workshops by giving them the opportunity to create an item of clothing which they feel confident within. This will also give them the skills to be able to adjust their own garments in the future and be able to change their clothing to dress with confidence.

Our aims are to provide the participants who attend our workshops with the skills to be able to manage and maintain their own wellbeing in relation to understanding and accepting themselves for who they are and their personal appearance. Developing confidence, positive mindset, and practical skills which they can take forward and apply within their lives during and after the workshops. Giving them lifelong skills, which can help to support them throughout their lives.

In order to measure the impact of the workshops, we will ask the participants to complete a journal to track their journey. We will ask them things like what they have learnt, how the workshops have made them feel and what they are grateful for. This will provide us with qualitative feedback and enable us to look for themes within the data.

Describe how your Collective formed

Debbie at Art, Craft and Giggles CIC contacted the members of the collective to be able to form the group. Each member of the group has experience of delivering our specialities and we have all crossed over at some point and believed that we could a great project together. We have chosen to work together as each organisation has the same morals and values regarding wellbeing and improving within the community. We all have specific specialties that when bought together will have a positive impact on the communities we work within.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

RELAY TEAM – Like an athletics team, a collective where one team member works on the project then passes the baton

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent?

Core Funding / Time

BuryTheGiant.Club

Collaborators

Art & Energy
Fotonow
Plymouth Energy Community
Plymouth Culture

Briefly describe your project

We want to create an online community space which inspires creativity and leads to steps to help the environment… a space to hold conversations, share ideas and celebrate successes.

BuryTheGiant.Club is a free social/learning platform for anyone who wants to be creative and respond to the climate emergency. Carbon looms large; the giant of our times. Inspiring creative prompts and resources will bring people together to find courage to co-create a brighter, greener future. Through collaboration with creative partners across the city, the club will benefit people all over Plymouth. The platform will support creatives and POP members to make content that reaches people and overcomes barriers to participation. It will become self-sustaining into the future. This funding will help us to set up the partnership and infrastructure.

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

How can being creative make a difference? Members of our club can contribute to research and work together to share knowledge and find answers to bring about a brighter, greener future.

Everyone can be creative and everyone has their own unique way of doing things! Let’s celebrate each other’s efforts and brilliant differences as we face the future together.

The club will offer:

Online and in-person events that bring people together to explore energy issues in their lives through creativity
A Journey to being creative in response to the climate emergency
Prompts and resources
Challenges, quests and opportunities
Social online spaces to share
Ways to collaborate and co-design
Polls and quizzes to feed in to the development of the club

This funding will enable us to:

Draw up MOU with Partners / Steering group
Hold a consultation event to invite other POP members to join in
Develop Brand identity and guidelines
Develop invitations to join in and partners pack
Set up Mighty Networks (Art and Energy have secured £2k from Cosmic for this)
Prepare content including:
- Welcome pages and video
- Data collection and analysis system
- Initial ice-breaker questions
- A creative surprise as a welcome gift
Deliver monthly content (Art and Energy have secured £25k from Arts Council for this)

Describe how your Collective formed

The Art and Energy Collective and Plymouth Energy Community have collaborated on creative engagement projects since 2018 and many of these have been documented by FotoNow.

The BuryTheGiant.Club project follows our MothsToAFlame mass-participation art installation for COP26 which involved 58,000 people from Plymouth and beyond.

Together, we have learnt how to develop and deliver enjoyable creative prompts online for people to do at home or with their groups.

This project will build on what we’ve learned bringing together even more people and new Collective Members Plymouth Culture and the University of Plymouth to create an even richer and more sustainable offer for our city.

This project will bring together people from across the city, sharing expertise, new ideas and hope. It will put Plymouth on the map, celebrating our pioneering heritage and looking forward to a sustainable future.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

PLATFORM –An organisation, supported by others, that generates opportunities for self-expression by individuals or organisations.

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?

Research / Pilot

A.R.E HOME

Collaborators

Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support
Livewell Southwest
PATH
Provide Devon
Migrant Legal Project

Briefly describe your project

The purpose is to assist asylum seekers who have lost their accommodation and financial support from the Home Office to re-enter the asylum process to gain refugee or humanitarian status. The project will pay for a 5-bedroom HMO property’s lease and management giving the destitute person accommodation andstabilisation whilst we work to fix their claim.

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

We aim to get 10 people through and back into Home Office support within a year.

For those with no opportunity of a fresh claim, with the help of the mental health team, we will discuss options and support around voluntary returns to country of origin. The client will then make their own educated decision as to their next steps.

There are 25 people recorded in the city that require this support so we are hoping to prove the project’s efficacy to support as many people as we can.

Describe how your Collective formed

Alex Vessis previously worked at PATH, moved across to DCRS and then took on management of the charity in December.

His experience working across both sectors allowed this idea to form and with each organisation using their expertise we can make it a reality. PATH will manage the property including the lease agreement with the landlord. DCRS will unpick the failed claims and repackage them ready for a solicitor. Livewell Southwest will provide 1to1 mental health support for each person. Provide Devon will provide food support to the property and Migrant Legal Project will represent each case once ready.

All organisations identified the need in the city and the important role this project plays in supporting Appeal Rights Exhausted asylum seekers.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

HUB AND SPOKE – Like a bike wheel, one organisation holds things together at the centre, while other organisations perform specific tasks.

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?

Other / Unsure

Messages from the HeARTlands

Collaborators

· Hope in the Heart CIC

· The Intersection

· Real Ideas Organisation

Briefly describe your project

The recent Messages from the Heart pilot exhibition and events gave a voice to people with lived experience of mental health and associated issues, empowering many and informing, educating and moving more.

Building on this, our project will bring marginalised people together to share their stories, and messages they’d like to express to people in power. As well as utilising the wonderful venues offered by Real Ideas, we’ll take workshops, exhibitions and events to specific areas of Plymouth, working with marginalised individuals, community groups and local leaders to amplify local voices and ensure that they are heard and validated.

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

Our collective aims to employ a sessional worker (*Zoe Copeland – see below) to build upon the positive achievements of our pilot earlier this year (http://www.hopeintheheart.org/lived-experience-messages-from-the-heart.html).

Participants requested we continue a project wherein they felt heard, valued, and part of a community working towards something vital.

This will be an “offshoot” of the Messages from the HeART exhibition project that launched in Plymouth in May and finished in June, although it is continuing in different parts of the UK. It will allow us to continue the momentum built locally and connect Plymouth participants with others across the UK.

Taking place over approximately nine months, diverse community workshops will lead to three exhibitions, each including a performance evening and a “gathering” for lived experience participants and people in power (service-providers, commissioners, leaders etc.) to communicate in equity and empathy.

We’ll collaborate with diverse local organisations and leaders, many of whom engaged with our pilot project and are keen to support/benefit from this next stage.

Previous project participants will attend workshops and be involved in the planning, organisation and/or facilitation of workshops/courses that engage new members, inspiring them to share and celebrate their lived experience in an safe, respectful, compassionate environment. Once confidence has been raised and a sense of belonging nurtured, participants will identify messages they would like to send to people in power and create pieces of art/writing/performance that express these. Participants will be invited/supported to take part in the organisation/facilitation of exhibitions and events and encouraged to learn new skills including creative techniques, curation, co-facilitation, public speaking, performance, interviewing, administration, digital skills, photography and film-making.

Some volunteers will be paid as sessional workers from a previous pot of funding.

Intended achievements:

1 Participants will have improved confidence, a sense of community and belonging, and a new skillset to improve employment and education prospects. They will experience themselves as “social activists”, empowered by the immediate positive responses to their actions.

2 Participants will broaden their horizons through online workshops with other LEx artists and performers in other parts of the UK, creating lasting friendships and feeling part of a broader community of like-minded people experiencing similar issues and feelings. They will be encouraged to visit and perform at exhibitions in other areas.

3 Powerful messages from participating artists and performers will be heard and heeded by the services /leaders/communities to whom they are aimed. Those receiving and hearing the messages will be informed, educated and motivated towards positive change as a result.

4 Participants, relevant services and leaders will have a unique opportunity to unite in empathy, respect and common humanity, exploring the content of the featured messages and considering together how positive change can take place in Plymouth.

5 Organisations and local leaders will form lasting connections and collaborations through networking opportunities and events that bring them together in a unique way.

5 We will amass a valuable resource of deeply meaningful art and writing to be used for many years to come.

Describe how your Collective formed

Hope in the Heart (www.hopeintheheart.org) and Real Ideas (www.realideas.org) have collaborated for several years, becoming partners for the Messages from the Heart launch in May. (Hope in the Heart is leading an ongoing project – see earlier link – funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, and was initially intending the pilot to be a stand-alone in Plymouth, subsequently moving on to other areas of the UK.)

Real Ideas provided (and will continue to provide) mentoring, hosting, marketing, venue space, equipment/resources and practical support for workshops leading up to the exhibition and during the exhibition and associated events.

This partnership was strengthened as both organisations worked more closely throughout the build-up and during the exhibition itself, and the very clear need for a continuing project in Plymouth emerged, becoming the driving force behind this bid.

Zoe Copeland, founder of The Intersection (www.theintersection.org.uk), was a committed and essential contributor to the pilot project, initially leading courses to encourage and inspire artist-participants through Devon Mind (also a HITH partner) for whom they worked at that time, and later additionally contributing new diversity-related services, creative skills and vision (to be built upon during this project) while developing The Intersection.

The Intersection will further enrich this project by supporting the wellness and spirituality of people who face disadvantages and want to become empowered in their lives.

Our three organisations worked well together, and we were all excited by the extremely positive outcomes of the pilot. Feedback from participating artists showed an often remarkable improvement in self-worth, social connection, community

engagement and sense of purpose and 100% said they wanted the Plymouth part of the project to continue.

Feedback from visitors and collaborators in associated events reported they were moved, often experiencing a shift in themselves regarding their own challenges.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

HUB AND SPOKE – Like a bike wheel, one organisation holds things together at the centre, while other organisations perform specific tasks

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent?

Core Funding / Time

New4You Youth

Collaborators

New4You Youth
Ivybridge Youth for Christ
The Oasis Project

Briefly describe your project

At New4You Youth we facilitate a safe space for young people from Plymouth to gather and have fun. We are located near drake’s circus in the city centre. We currently run two youth groups one aimed at years 7-9, including structured activities run by our leaders. The other is for years 10+, which is an unstructured group that allows them to spend time with their friends in a safe and fully equipped youth area. Another key part of our mission we want young people to be able to experience time away with their friends to encourage solid friendships and memories.

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

As a collective we work together to produce quality activities and residentials for young people from Plymouth and surrounding areas. At New4you we have been running these activities, or similar as over time we have adapted to meet the needs of young people, for over a decade. We aim to run at least 4 residentials a year, taking young people to the likes of Woodlands theme park in Devon and beach weekends away in Cornwall. Through this we can provide memorable times away with their friends that some of which wouldn’t be able to afford. We are passionate about making young people feel valued and giving them the space to explore who they are and who they are made to be through many different activities. These residentials prove to be a time of amazing personal growth and independence for all the young people that attend. One of our key values is that we want to keep the price for young people as low as possible to make it accessible for all young people no matter what their financial constraints may be.

Therefore, as an organisation we try to cover all costs for equipment and travel. However, due to the current rise in running costs we have been struggling to keep these prices down. Therefore, what we would like to achieve as a collective is to see these trips continue into the future by updating our equipment some of which is coming to the end of its usable life. To keep costs low for young people attending we do all our own catering and camp setup on the trips. In addition to this we want to aim to keep these trips as accessible with transport and booking fees. Therefore, as an organisation we aim to seek support from other organisations or seek funding these costs.

Describe how your Collective formed

Our collective has formed quite naturally over the past few years due to the links between our organisations, through the way we support and encourage young people. Through our weekly groups at New4You Youth we have good links with the team at Ivybridge Youth for Christ, as we do a lot of similar work across different areas of Plymouth and surroundings. At New4You Youth we also have a strong link with the Oasis Centre, home of the Plymouth Foodbank, due to many personal links with the team. However, we have also found it so encouraging to work together to make young people aware of what the Foodbank does through collecting donations but also visiting the centre. This is for the young people to know where support can be found if they ever should need it but also ways that they can personally support the charitable work.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

PLATFORM –An organisation, supported by others, that generates opportunities for self-expression by individuals or organisations.

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?

Equipment Upgrades

During the first round, POP members will be asked to advise you. What advice would be most helpful?

We are currently in need of updating our camping resources, so if anyone has any advice of shops that can offer charity discounts for these resources that would be useful for us to look into.

It is also becoming more challenging for us to source mini buses to be able to use for these trips at affordable prices, therefore, we would also apricate contact details of any organisations that may be able to help us in this.
Also any other general advice that you feel would support us in running our weekly youth groups or residential would be greatly appreciated

Keyham Green Places Food Bank

Collaborators

Keyham Green Places
Horticultural Therapy Trust
Onward Community Group Ltd

Briefly describe your project

This project will help us continue to provide a foodbank service to those in financial difficulty (i.e. cannot afford to buy food) to those in Keyham and the surrounding areas of Plymouth. Pick up can be made from our centre by anyone in need. We can deliver in extreme cases – e.g. person cannot get out of the house due to illness or disability.
We supply several days food at no cost, inclusive of staple items like bread, milk, cereal, tins and frozen food. Currently supporting over 120 people a month we are very busy and low on stock!

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

As a foodbank that has been running since the beginning of the pandemic back in March 2020 we still continue this service because we have only seen a growing need in our community and beyond. As a charity we believe in helping others and that is about ‘seeing the need and meeting the need’. Our foodbank has over 400 people on its list and from this we help over 120 people a month of all ages. These people might be on benefits but they might also be in work, we only ask that they have a financial need i.e. they cannot afford to buy food. We have had many people that are awaiting an outcome on Universal Credits and have no money for food – we have and continue to help people like this as needed.
This money will help to provide some management staffing time that includes: overseeing the food bank volunteers, ensuring the chef and all food preparation and storage keeps within Health and Hygiene laws and recommendations. We already have a 4 rating for Health and Hygiene in this respect for the work we do connected with the food bank. We have 3 large freezers that are used by the foodbank, cupboards and other storage space sometimes we need to buy low cost food for the food bank when we have not had enough donations for the food bank e.g. bread and milk.
This money will also help pay for food containers, volunteer expenses, towards certain costs like insurance, electric, phone, internet, building security and safety. We could also buy some people slow cookers (those that have no cooking facilities) they only cost about £16 each. This could particularly help those living in bed and breakfast that might only have a kettle and not even a microwave. This funding will help support the foodbank for about four to six months.
Horticultural Therapy Trust (one of our collective partners) will support us with excess food from their community allotments and we can support them back by helping any of their vulnerable clients that are struggling with finance with help from our food bank. The same is true with another collective partner -Onward community group LTD – we will support with frozen meals as needed by their clients that are most in need. They also provide a foodbank but not frozen ready meals. This could be a good solution with easily defrosted and warmed up meals in a microwave instead of having to store more perishable goods onsite. These meals are high in protein and while in a freezer can be stored for at least 3 months. Keyham Green Places will, hold major responsibility and distribute the food from the food bank. Both the Horticultural Therapy Trust and Onward community group LTD can also be hubs to holding food from us meaning they could distribute it to more clients saving us time and resources instead of us distributing to their clients individually.

Describe how your Collective formed

CROPS (Known as Keyham Green Places) has been a long standing member of POP. We are aware of the groups mentioned like Horticultural Therapy Trust and have worked with them for years on gardening projects. We will continue to do this and make available our ready cooked frozen meals and food bank service as needed to their clients most in need.
We have worked with The Horticultural Therapy Trust for many years but more to do with gardening. Now that we have a food bank we have looked at helping their vulnerable clients that might also be struggling financially while they will be donating extra vegetables to the food bank when they have surplus.
We have not worked with Onward community group LTD much and this is a new collaboration, but we both collect food from the Ark for our food banks and can share across our organisations should any of us have a surplus or greater need. Their can be a client crossover across all our groups and this can mean a greater support for all of our clients. It must be stressed that the help we offer stretches beyond the collective formed here. Should we have the resources we will help anyone in need that asks us, inclusive of other POP members.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

PLATFORM –An organisation, supported by others, that generates opportunities for self-expression by individuals or organisations.

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?

Core Funding / Time

During the first round, POP members will be asked to advise you. What advice would be most helpful?

Client need – what type of help their clients might have if needing help from our foodbank e.g. we have some people living in bed and breakfast that only have a kettle. This can limit the types of food we can give.
What type of food is needed most e.g. milk or eggs?
Sharing of information across foodbanks and knowing that groups like ours have freezers should any food be donated close to its best before date.

Culture Connectors Collective

Collaborators

● Fotonow CIC

● Plymouth City Council

● Plymouth Arts Cinema

Briefly describe your project

The Culture Connectors Collective will welcome young people engaged with youth services in Plymouth to try out creative and cultural venues and activities in the city. Connectors will work with young people referred through Youth Justice Services to build connections with Fotonow CIC and Plymouth Arts Cinema. Digital media outputs will share young people’s thoughts and opinions about these spaces and activities so others can learn from this.

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

The Collective would like to support young people and those they work with to build new connections and networks, to share information and skills to enable confidence to engage with new activities. We will encourage young people from Plymouth City Council Youth Justice Services to try out Fotonow’s creative media workshops and other planned Plymouth Arts Cinema screen activities via a Connector, who will mediate and support young people to settle into a new space, activity or group. We are carefully considering the activities and approaches we take with the group, as we capture the voices of young people and seek out a range of opportunities to get involved in.

The ‘Connectors’ will play a key role in this project: building relationships with Fotonow and PAC staff and gaining knowledge before introducing the young person(s). This process will also support skills and knowledge exchange between professionals from different sectors and might identify some barriers to participation in cultural opportunities. As a collective we understand that professionals across the sectors often struggle with resources to make the time to build new connections and reach out to new groups and opportunities, which can result in gaps in mutual knowledge and confidence.

We would like to test this approach and we will work with young people to create a ‘toolkit’ with tips and suggestions to help venues and other professionals to consider what is helpful for younger and audiences new to viewing. The toolkit will share what young people find out about visiting venues and joining a new group. Looking ahead to British Art Show 9 (BAS9) we would like to use learning from this collaboration to inform how the Collective can continue to work together, work with young people and other youth partners and cultural venues in Plymouth to support young people to enjoy this major city-wide cultural event. We hope that a resource created by young people with our support will help make new connections and bridge some gaps in knowledge and information.

Describe how your Collective formed

This collaboration started during a two-year action research study in 2020 and 2021 initially over zoom, during which we had discussions about how to best support young people and realised we were aligned on some key issues. We all recognise that social connections are important to young people as are safe supportive spaces to try new things. We think sharing learning across sectors is key to creating opportunities for young people and we hope a resource made by young people can bridge some gaps in knowledge and information.

The Culture Connectors Collective deciced to work together to bring the ideas from these conversations into action, recognising that pooling our resources, time and knowledge will help us support young and explore the issues and share the learning from this pilot much more effectively. Deciding to work together as a collective has helped us shape our plans and focus on the practical details of how we propose to work together. Fotonow CIC is a media social enterprise media committed to amplifying underrepresented voices and stories through digital media. Plymouth Arts Cinema are passionate about films and aims to create a space where everyone can develop a passion for film. Youth Justice Services brings skills and expertise in relationship and trust-based work with young people experiencing challenging times in their lives, and experience of introducing young people to arts spaces in Plymouth.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

MURMURATION – Like a flock of birds flying together, all the organisations of the collective work closely together on all aspects of the project.

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?

Research / Pilot

Freedom Community Festival Group

Collaborators

● Freedom Community Festival Group

● Clean Our Patch

● Wonder Zoo

Briefly describe your project

Freedom community festival began back in 2000 and run by some local resident’s and supporters. This ran out of steam around 2004 so due to a lot of people asking if the festival was going to be on? At the time I was running the community cafe in the park on behalf of what was “Plymouth and District Mind” now known as “Devon Mind”. I was able to put on a small fun day event and from that it grew to what it is today. We have steered the event to be as community focused and family friendly as possible. The event only happens with a lot of goodwill and voluntary support.

Describe what you hope your Collective will achieve

We would hope to sustain the annual festival but also to put on further linked events in the community with the collective members and other community minded groups. Although this is seen mainly as a music festival, we see it as more widespread in that it brings various community groups and organizations together who also offer support services such as Barnardo’s as an example.

Describe how your Collective formed

We have close links in supporting each of our projects and both of our collective partners take part in the festival but also take part in other community events. The festival only happens as a collaborative of many groups and individuals.

Which collaboration “shape” do you expect will best describe your project?

HUB AND SPOKE – Like a bike wheel, one organization holds things together at the centre while other organizations perform specific tasks

In which areas would you expect most of your grant to be spent on?

More community events including an environmental low impact gathering in a local park. A public celebration event that brings together all those who take part and contribute to the main festival. This event would focus on old and new as we want to combine street dance and other related performance with more traditional folk music via the Freedom Fields ceilidh band. This is planned to take place at the Street factory venue.

We would also like to be able to pay a sessional worker to help with media and admin tasks. The application process to hold an event on Council land has become a much harder process as had been in the past. It includes needing to put an application in to the council at least three months prior to the event! To have someone to help pull the admin aspect together would be of such a great help. We also would like to do a survey to see what other events people would like to see happen in our local and surrounding areas.