What do you miss about home?

I have been lucky enough to spend the last week in San Francisco in California attending the Performance Studies International Conference (PSi) where I was presenting a performance. Being so far away from lovely England brought with it a new perspective to home and what it means to belong. When you travel, you experience new things, hotter climates, cooler climates, different traditions and rituals, unusual geography and whilst this is (usually) a good and interesting experience, it can also make you realise what is special about where you live and the sometimes unexpected things that you miss. In my case, it was cups of tea, a more equable climate and, of course, people, particularly my family. I spent quite a bit of time out there driving on the wide expansive roads where surprisingly there are no roundabouts! Thats was something I did miss, since they allow a much freer flowing traffic than regular crossroads.

I am looking forward to returning to Burnley in the next few days, and talking with everyone about their families, homes and what they would miss if they travelled away.

Caroline 

Belonging in Burnley

I am writing this from the first floor window of a property near Scott Park. The window is open and the birdsong is loud and insistent. The Park is beautifully kept and has been a great source of people for me to meet and talk to.

Forays along the paths and through the trees have led to intriguing conversations around the importance of the green spaces in Burnley to the town's people, for dog walking, pushing crying babies in pushchairs until they settle, exercise, attending concerts, getting away from things. I have noticed the pride and care people take in their gardens here, the acid soil allowing plants such as rhododendron, azalea and pieris to flourish.

All this has set me wondering what it is to belong. Whatever life throws at you, being a part of something can make things bearable - what is it that makes a place home, and comfortable, what do people do to create the strong bonds that I am experiencing when I meet the people of Burnley? Is it landscape, geography, community, openness, neighbourliness, care? Or is it genetic, a family trait passed on from generation to generation, a way of life?

Caroline

Lots of ideas...

Had a great time walking the streets of SW Burnley, which for me are filled with memories. The physical area I grew-up in has changed considerably and is now marked by many absences - streets and schools have fallen silent or vanished completely. Change on this scale inevitably brings memory to the fore.
Memory is about loss, but it's also about continuity, the need to knit together a sense of past and present; it's about making meanings which help to hold us together, as an individual, a family and as communities. Memory is the point where time and place merge.
SW Burnley is awash with memories. I spent time at The Orchard on Stoops Estate, a sheltered housing community, and listened to residents Irene, Joan, Ray and Mick (all great grandparents) talk about their parents and grandparents. I visited Coal Clough Library and listened to Susan talk about the libraries she worked in (some now gone). I spent the following day at Hargher Clough Community Centre, which is a repository of memories, all lovingly cherished by Chris, a community worker of 30 years. Active commemoration is an important aspect of the centre. I was struck by the banners, one made with the help of Ground Up's Cath Ford, and marking the work of local people who marched against the cuts threatening their community space. Next to this was a banner marking the death of local boy Adam Rickwood - at age 14 he was the youngest person to die in custody. This banner accompanied Adam's family and friends to the inquest into his death. The name of Margaret, Adam's grandmother, takes pride of place on the Centre's honours board.
An interest in 'the past' can often be dismissed as nostalgia - a longing for a place, idealized, imagined. Nostalgia furnishes a dream of belonging - often to a place and time more imagined than real. SW Burnley is not awash with nostalgia, quite the opposite. Memory is active, it's lived. The act of remembering can be a form of resistance - 'this happened'.
Memories are personal, local - part of oral culture and family histories. Memories are the vital currency of everyday life, treasured, stored, exchanged, passed-on, but this fabric of memory is also fragile because it often goes unrecorded.
SW Burnley is often reduced to a statistical soundbite or quick headline in national systems of recording - all negative. Thankfully, in all the conversations I've had with residents these 'headlines' were the most significant absence.
Local memory can linger, despite impositions and change to the landscape. This photo by Robert Wade shows the Shepherds Arms at the bottom of Cog Lane - although closed for years it remains a landmark, known locally as The Peeps (Peeping Toms). The name change, imposed by the brewery, never caught on.
Kelly

A basin of strong community bonds

Funny really, after such a short visit, but I was sad to leave Burnley earlier this week, even though I will be back in a few days time. The landscape of Suffolk was brought into sharp relief after living amongst the hills of Lancashire. Burnley is in a basin, surrounded, by hills including the famous Pendle Hill - but then all you 'Burnleyites' will know that. It seems to me, that the geography there connects with the nature of the people, theirs is an openness that can only come from a security borne through being held together in a basin of a strong community bonds.

On another note, I am looking forward to seeing a copy of The Clarion, published by Burnley school children and containing their hopes for the future. I think it might throw some light on the wonderful nature of the people. Thanks to Chris Keene for alerting me to it.

I'll be back early next week. if any one would like to meet up for a chat, please let me know!

Caroline

Craft Session, New People and Fresh Energy

We had the first art and craft session at the Cabin this week. There were seven of us in total, which is probably about all that the room can manage comfortably, but more people are planning to come next time so we will find a way (even if a little uncomfortably).  Caroline, one of the two artists starting her residency with Ground UP, was able to join us for the session, which was lovely as she was able to chat to new people, follow up some areas of interest and join the fun. She was telling us how friendly she found SW Burnley on her initial walkabout and how open people have been, which was great to hear.

As one of the Ground UP core team of three I have been inspired and re-invigorated by my first couple of meet ups with Caroline and Kelly. They are bringing a new energy and fresh perspectives to the project and it feels like  the development work over the past few months is now feeding into positive activity and already there is a cross-fertilisation of ideas happening.

Today we also interviewed six people/organisations for the documentation commission. We haven't made a decision yet, but the process itself has encouraged more questions and ideas about how and what we want to document and what role the documenter will play. Each of the interviews was so completely different and each proposed process would bring something unique to Ground UP and the local community. Again, it was good to hear from each of the artists and discover why they had applied for the commission. Most told us that the opportunity to work with a project that is founded on a solid and 'Ground UP' process linked to the open brief had inspired them to submit a proposal. We must make a decision tomorrow so that the successful artists can get going and continue to build on the developing programme and energy around the project.

Oh, and tomorrow we are going on a photo walk with local photographer Andy Ford to photograph some of the people and places of South West Burnley.

Cath

First Days Are Exciting

First days are exciting, and today - my first working on the groundUP residency, was no exception. Much of my time was spent talking to the lovely people of Burnley, such an open welcoming bunch of people. I have drunk a lot of tea, joined ladies in Scott Park on outdoor fitness equipment, chatted over the garden fence to a family on Rosehill Road and struck up a conversation with an elderly gentleman on the bus. I met with Denzel, who is a working horse and talked to Kelly, the other residency artist about her work and her background as a historian. Not many projects start with such a fascinating set of experiences - my notebook is already filling up nicely...

Hello From Kelly

I'm really happy to have the opportunity to work with the communities of SW Burnley and look forward to starting the project. I think it's a really exciting opportunity.

My father grew up on Melrose Avenue, and raised his family there. I spent the first 20 years of my life there, attending Myrtle Bank then Hargher Clough schools - and attended Ivy Bank when they had the annex at Rosegrove.

My practice involves the creative use of artefacts, census data and forms of commemoration to explore memory, connections and place. In a community context this can become the basis for a process of 'collective remembering' - piecing together the connective tissues which have been severed through economic decline, physical changes in the environment and population movement. 

I'm interested in the metaphor of fabric - the fabric of a community (patterns, threads) which is quite appropriate in a former textile town. I've been thinking about the image of fabric produced through an industrial process, and the way a standard piece of cloth always has unique features, ideosyncracies or flaws depending on how you look at it. A piece of fabric can be durable, change over time as it's put to different uses, altered, embellished, worked upon in different ways. This durability allows it to carry memories, mediate connections and tie generation together: when a wedding dress is re-used to make a Christening gown; when treasured items of baby clothing are passed on. 

In a similar way we pass stories and memories through the generations - stories of family, community and place. Like the piece of fabric, these threads change over time, are put to different uses, altered and embellished. 

In my experience, a story is often the oldest thing we have. As a child I recall my grandmother explaining why a small area of SW Burnley was called 'little Cornwall'. Cornish workers were brought here during a strike and this is where they were housed. As an adult I researched this story, and discovered that the events took place before my grandmother was even born. The story was passed to her by her father, a coal miner involved in the 1873 strike. I never knew my great-grandfather, but this story came to me across the generations and became part of the fabric of my life and my connection to a particular place. 

And the artists selected for the commissions are..........

..........Kelly Loughlin and Caroline Wright.

We are incredibly excited at the prospect of working with them over the coming months. As part of the shortlisting process we created synopses of each of the applications for the community panel and thought you might be interested to read about the selected artists, their ideas and why they were inspired to apply for the commission.

Kelly Loughlin
The focus of my practice revolves around the use of found objects, collage and installation, and strives to create works that embody ‘frozen social relations’. However, as my work is driven by exploration of a specific site or context the process is necessarily fluid and responsive.

Family history is the single, most popular point of engagement with official recording practices. Rich data sets, such as the UK census, can be easily accessed online via a PC, mobile device or through gaming consoles linked to digital televisions.

As a form of engagement, family history appeals at a primary, personal level; beginning with an individual’s name, plotting a kinship network and its relationship over time to a locality. As a practice it speaks to a sense of history as attachment and lived experience; the fundamental process is one of ‘making connections’.

The project will develop through the recruitment of mentors, local residents already interested in family history. I will work alongside these mentors to facilitate access to online records in community settings e.g. The Orchard sheltered housing facility on Stoops Estate. Local residents will be encouraged to attend workshops and begin their ‘family tree’. Workshops will be inclusive i.e. participation is not dependent on set literacy, ICT skills.

Family history necessitates inter-generational discourse; the common starting point is conversation, asking family elders for names, dates, documents, and findings could then find expression across a variety of media: film; collage; installation; text; performance; event.

Running alongside this, my own practice will shape a broader community history; manipulating census data from South West Burnley as a whole to facilitate the creation of stories, artefacts and events, which celebrate the distinctive character of this locality and its people.

Caroline Wright

I believe in taking conversations to people, using existing groups, meetings, gatherings to raise awareness and start to build momentum. To balance this approach I would like to take advantage of being a stranger in the midst of the SW Burnley community. I would like to learn about people’s stories of the place where they live, uncovering information that would not be read in tourist guides/attractions or in the local paper, in order to understand the specifity of the town.

I will do this by partaking in chance encounters: the fortuitous chat over the garden fence; the conversation on the street corner or at the bus stop; by taking part in everyday routines and patterns of life; helping out at the corner shop.

Taking the advice of the Creative Collaborators, I would like to run interactive workshops (based on themes emerging from the locality – maybe cooking, gardening, a market stalls, a community led walk around the town, etc.) and possibly a local newspaper/ radio campaign to generate views and involvement. All these strategies will be based around the idea of ‘sharing’ and ‘giving’ which is central to my approach – a gift of information in exchange for a physical gift from the artist. The latter ‘artist’s gift’ could be a multiple made especially for the project to recognise people’s contribution and the entire collection of gifts might be relevant to the South West Streets Museum.

After the consultation outlined above, I will bring the gathered knowledge together with ideas from my own practice to either make participatory/interactive works and/or co-create works with the public, leading towards a final work if this is an appropriate outcome to the residency. It might be that there is a public vote on the most interesting and popular gift, this could be done through an event – maybe a clapometer might decide the winner! I am reluctant to offer specific suggestions as to what further actual works might result as they are dependent on the wishes and gifts of the community of SW Burnley and so the process by its nature should remain open at this stage. 

We Want Everyone!

Yesterday we had the community shortlisting panel for the two residencies. The panel was made up of local residents, people who work in the local area and the Ground Up team (including Helen from Burnley Borough Council). We had initially longlisted from 50 to 25, and this process took us from 25 to 8.

When we had been planning the session we had been conscious of how to make it interesting, how to stop us all losing energy and keep focused during the Big Task. We didn't need to wory. The level of enthusiasm, insight and input from everyone was great and most people even stayed behind for an extra half hour to make sure we were finished. Even our youngest panel member stayed focused for almost the whole session!

I think the input from the community was crucial to finding the right artists. They were able to pick up on things that we, as we just get to know the people and places of South West Burnley, would never have picked up on. It must be said that 'We want everyone' was a cry that went out a one point. All of the longlisted proposals were viewed favourably and each had its own potential, but the final 8 for interview stood out and each for different reasons.

I think Helen is going to contact everyone today to let them know the outcome. If you have been shortlisted for interview, we really look forward to meeting you. To those who didn't make the final stages, thank you so much for your proposals and your enthusiasm for the project. We really were blown away by the quality and diversity of the proposals we received. None of us had experienced anything like this before.

So, next stage is to set up interviews which will be in the next couple of weeks.

Progress update from the Ground UP team!

On Tuesday 26 March, Steph, Cath, Iain and Helen Jones from Burnley Borough Council got together at The Fold on Venice Avenue, to look at the terrific response to the briefs for the Ground UP residencies and documentation project. Fifty eight proposals were narrowed down and shortlisting will take place in the community with a panel of local representatives on Wednesday 24 April.

The Fold, Centre for Integrated Health and Wellbeing image courtesy of http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2613041

The prospect of shortlisting in collaboration with the community is at once exciting and daunting. We anticipate each individual will come to the process with different levels of knowledge and understanding of participatory arts in practice. If people construct their understanding of something new based around what they already know, then the kinds of arts experiences ourselves and our community panel have had in the past will influence the way we interpret the proposals.

This however, is where the Ground UP project demonstrates ambition. Our aims are for everyone involved to develop their understanding about commissioning and developing socially engaged art, so that each one of us has gained from the experience. We’ll be using approaches that allow the panel to support one another as they consider each idea.

See you on the other side!