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New year, new ideas, new developments.
Check out our Facebook group and Twitter @ideas4Ordsall
We are pleased to announce that the four cultural intermediaries working with us on this project have found a fabulous collection of people with ideas they want to develop. This stage of the project has taken six months to come into fruition so a moment’s reflection is worthwhile.
When I started on the project in May 2014, my brief was to put together a panel of people in Ordsall and provide funding for them to commission some artworks. As an anthropologist, I did my research by going into the Ordsall communities, chatting to people, visiting the cafes and cultural spots, asking questions and looking around me. I spent some time with ‘community researchers’ from Ordsall Community Arts who were looking into cultural activities in the area as part of the same project.
After a while it became obvious that people within the community had plenty of ideas, thank you very much, about what they wanted to happen in their community and what they really needed was some support and funding to help make them happen. So in October we asked the cultural intermediaries to gather these ideas people together into The Cohort (said with deep voice – the Apprentice was on TV at the time…).
Three months later, we are about to get together the members of The Cohort for the first time and find out about the ideas they are developing. I’m hearing whispers of a bee observation hive, bike co-op, dog walking, the longest washing line in Ordsall, a foraging game/app, WW1 uniforms display, even a whole festival.
And I’m the lucky researcher who gets to follow the development of these ideas and see how they take shape. I’m interested in what and how organisational structures support or obstruct the creative process in making these ideas happen. Watch this space…
