To mark the end of the project, artists from Teen Chill youth club were invited by MarketPlace for a celebration buffet at Newmarket’s Abbeycroft Leisure Centre to celebrate The Human Race mural. The co-created mural is part of the Newmarket in Colour project by Discover Newmarket and is now displayed in the leisure centre’s foyer where it can be enjoyed by the public.
Lead artist – Hilary Cox Condron – also attended along with the young artist’s family members to celebrate their achievement and hard work. The mural was inspired by the Mutiny in Colour exhibition at the National Horse Racing Museum. As part of the project, MarketPlace took members of Teen Chill to the exhibition where they were particularly inspired by artists Banksy, KAWS and My Dog Sighs, and were keen to have their voices heard in the piece. Over the course of several sessions with the young people, their voices came forwards and we discussed and experimented with ideas, themes and visuals.
MarketPlace Programme Director Susie Batchelor says: “We were delighted at how deeply committed the young artists at Teen Chill were to the project, and at the thoughtfulness of their creative responses. Hilary and everyone at the MarketPlace team loved their energy and enthusiasm. We are very proud that they have now formed an arts collective and look forward to working with them again on other initiatives including the Rivers of Light lantern parade which will take place in Newmarket in February 2024”.
The ‘Rivers of Light’ Lantern Parade in Newmarket, Forest Heath, was a co-delivered event in partnership with Newmarket Community Arts, Newmarket Community Nature Reserve and Newmarket Town Council.
Residents walked the route of the chalk stream carrying their handmade lanterns before experiencing a finale of local musicians, choirs and dance performances.
(This case study was prepared by We Are Frilly as part of our Phase 3 Year 1 Evaluation Report.)
‘Absolutely brilliant event from start to finish. The parade led by the samba band was awesome, the lanterns and crowd were brilliant, and so was Coventina. Newmarket choir were spot on with a great rendition of the Rivers of Light song‘ – Audience feedback
We were joined by the public at Brandon Country Park to celebrate the opening of the new performance space – the FireCrest Theatre. The space was made possible through a collaboration between Brandon Creative Forum, Brandon Country Park and MarketPlace, working alongside an incredible team of volunteers led by Mike Willett who worked to bring this vision to life.
We all celebrated the new space in style in the afternoon sun, with live music, poetry, storytelling and singing.
Local artist Flaming June, (led by marvellous our Creative Producer Louise Eatock) kicked off the afternoon. They performed a number of original songs which resonated beautifully within the space, showcasing the impressive acoustics that the venue offers.
Claire Sawford, Programme Manager at MarketPlace, opened up the rest of the performances by saying a few words. She spoke about MarketPlace’s work with local communities in Forest Heath (and Fenland) to help develop and support innovative and fun creative experiences.
She went on to give a big thanks to everyone involved in creating the FireCrest Theatre including: Jill, Mike, members and volunteers at Brandon Creative Forum; Head Ranger Sarah Austin and Jackie, Paula and Malcolm and their volunteer helpers at the Country Park; West Suffolk Council for permission to create this space; and Louise Eatock AKA Flaming June, MarketPlace lead on this project.
Claire said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of this great project which encourages people to come to such a beautiful spot and get creative in nature.”
Brandon Poetry Group stepped into the performance space next. They read from ‘Lovely as a Tree: Poems of the Forest‘ which was created from a recent poetry writing workshop with Melinda Appleby earlier this year. One poem ‘Plum Tree’ was written about the poet’s neighbour, who spent hours stewing the fruit from a plum tree while her husband was recovering from illness.
Celtic Essence performed by Diane Jackman Plum Tree performed by Rosemary Appleton
The mic was handed back to Louise who wrapped up the day by thanking everyone involved, the performers and the members of the public who came to give their support.
What a great addition for the Brandon community. We look forward to witnessing the performances and experiences that will take place in this remarkable space in the future!
Newmarket’s community lantern parade ‘Rivers of Light’ took place in February 2023, bringing some cheer to the winter nights for almost 600 local residents. The community gathered to celebrate the origins of Newmarket, the chalk streams that run through the town, and the local community groups. Inspired by ancient light festivals and the history of the Newmarket, residents paraded along The Yellow Brick Road with beautiful handmade lanterns.
Newmarket Community Arts and Newmarket Community Nature Reserve looked at previous research about the Newmarket Watercourse. Through investigation and talking to ecologist Kevin Hand, it became clear that Newmarket has chalk streams running through the town. Chalk streams are now listed as a priority habitat by the Environment Agency. Newmarket had a lantern parade a few years ago which was very popular, so Newmarket Community Arts and Newmarket Community Nature Reserve felt that another lantern parade would work well to bring people together and raise awareness about this unique habitat in Newmarket.
In the lead up to the event, Newmarket Community Arts worked with arts educator and illustrator Penny Sobr to deliver willow lantern making workshops to local groups including the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides, and the International Women’s Group organised by Sharing Parenting. There were six workshops in total with almost 200 people taking part. This included two free public drop-in workshops at The Racing Centre, to support the community in making their own willow lanterns for the parade.
Willow Lantern created at a worskshop
“Brilliant, fun, great community spirit and turnout”
There was almost 80 people performing, including musicians, dancers, and singers. With performances from Newmarket School of Dance and Slack McGirdle Morris Dancers, there was lots of entertainment along the way. A new song was also performed which was especially commissioned for the project.
The route started on the green on the Yellow Brick Road behind Frampton Close, where it took around 40 minutes for the parade to complete the journey. A shorter route of 20 minutes was also available for those who wished to join part way through. The parade then culminated at Studlands Park Social Club where there was food and live music to enjoy.
“Next year please!“
Rivers of Light was presented by Newmarket Community Arts in partnership with MarketPlace – Creative People and Places and Newmarket Community Nature Reserve.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for Phase 2.
In 2020 Michelle Brace was commissioned by MarketPlace and the Creative Collective to pilot an objects-inspired oral storytelling project, ‘Mantlepiece’ to connect and celebrate communities. This project has since tested and developed it’s distance engagement methods as an intergenerational project between a school and a care home. In this latest testing phase the model trials democratised delivery and archiving potential within community organisations and by community advocates.
The first iteration of the project tested the model of remote recording and artwork production with groups during lockdown over Zoom. The first iteration saw the collective share objects and stories over Zoom and send their content to Michelle to create a SoundCloud library of their stories and a group portrait of objects to represent the group.
The sharing and intergenerational potential of the project, due to the nostalgia of items shared by people, resulted in a second commission testing a distance delivery model between a care home and a school group. This enabled sharing of heritage and learning about past generations whilst increasing the wellbeing and feelings of value felt by care home residents. This delivery model provided resources and instructions to staff to deliver the activity to safeguard against COVID-19 transmission. This resulted in an exhibition of the stories and objects including the responses of the children to the experience.
When MarketPlace was approached by Suffolk Libraries to partner on their Let’s Get Creative programme and platform development, Michelle’s project was a natural fit for working across multiple locations to create a sense of ownership and belonging of libraries with its existing users and new audiences. Objects and Stories is the latest iteration of this concept, testing a new devolved delivery approach.
MarketPlace has a specified geographical area for delivery and so Michelle delivered the project in Brandon, and Community Producer Louise led delivery in Newmarket, with mentoring from Michelle. A training day was held in order to reach the wider West Suffolk Libraries to support the staff through the experience and to explore the potential for delivering activity directly with their service users.
“When we did the CPD session with library staff I came away feeling overjoyed and convinced that this is a great idea and works with everyone. They all came with a story, some thought out, others grabbed on the go, but they each told a compelling story of who they are. The objects provide a lovely way to connect people and enable them to be vulnerable and share, as it’s an insight into who they are. They become not just a person in a library but a guy who had a fine art degree.’ – Michelle Brace, artist
Casson & Friends, an award-winning dance company based in London spent early Summer 2021 bringing their own unique style of dance and ‘people powered performance’ to our area. The goal? To speak to as many people as possible to create a dance inspired by what people love about where they live.
Dancers engaging with community members, especially young people, to create a bespoke dance for their towns and districts resulting in a Collaborative Choreography
The Community Producer POV
We asked Jodie Hicks, our Community Producer, to give her point of view about her summer worling with Casson & Friends.
Events in March, Wisbech, Brandon and Newmarket
Across four events in Fenland and West Suffolk two teams of dancers had the chance to engage with people of all ages, to dig deep and mine their thoughts and memories for choreography ideas and inspiration. It was a real joy to observe someone, with great animation, describe a cherished memory about their town or a certain place within it, and then to see the dancers transform these words into fluid movements.
Casson & Friends brought their dance moves to Forest Heath in Brandon and Newmarket in August 2021, inspiring choreography moves with creative people in their creative places. Photography credit: Malachy Luckie.
A moment which stood out for me was at National Play Day at The Spinney Adventure Playground in Wisbech. Not only did the parents and children speak to the dancers, but they actually got involved physically to help create these moves alongside them.
On a couple of occasions, some of the children would correct the dancers and suggest their own alterations to more accurately capture what they loved about their hometown. The connections and collaborative process was a truly wonderful watch after we have all spent the past two years keeping distance from each other.
Slowly but surely, as each day would draw to a close, singular movements would grow into short sequences and in turn develop into a dance performance lasting a few minutes long. Alongside this, MarketPlace was on hand to invite people to also write down thoughts, feelings and also provide some suggestions for filming locations for the final stage of the project, producing a dance film.
Casson & Friends dancers performing their finished #TinyDance in Fenland for the final film. Filming day photography: Jodie Hicks.
Bringing the moves together…
After our days in March, Wisbech, Brandon and Newmarket the dance teams went away and explored all of the information they’d gathered, narrowed down the filming locations to just three in each town, (no easy task) and put all of the choreographed motions together to create two distinct dances for Fenland and Forest Heath.
Casson & Friends dancers performing their finished #TinyDance in Forest Heath for the final film. Filming day photography: Jodie Hicks.
All that was left to do was film it. Our travels took us to all sorts of places from racetracks to mausoleums, and even a castle. The #TinyDance teams accomplished the astonishing feat of filming in 6 locations per day and performing the Tiny Dances a staggering 18 times over the course of each day!
It was exhausting just watching them! Not only this, but in true East Anglia fashion, the dancers and filmmakers had to compete with weather ranging from sunshine to wind and rain and back again and often in the space of an hour (which could be a little detail to look out for in the Forest Heath film).
Clips from the Casson & Friends performers creating the final video on location in Brandon, Suffolk (Forest Heath).
What was never lost was the sense of fun and wonder from the Casson & Friends team. They had the chance to visit all of these little gems we have in our towns, and really experience for themselves; what we are proud of and what is distinctively unique about living in Fenland and Forest Heath.
The #TinyDance films will be ready very soon so be sure to keep an out on our social media pages or sign up for our newsletter to have it sent direct to your inbox.
With all that said, where’s my popcorn…?
Written by MarketPlace Young Producer, Jodie Hicks.
In Summer 2021, Creative People and Places launched a project called 60 Second Stories. A series of mini films from each of the 30 CPP projects. Giving insight into how we co-create with individuals and communities and explore creative activity.
We contributed two videos for the series sharing the Local Voice of community members, artists and performers and what creativity means to them.
Sometimes it’s the small moments that matter, finding a new way to express your thoughts, the act of doing something creative, coming together to share and feeling safe enough to do so. A group of Mildenhall residents met up regularly for Meet Up Mondays cuppa and chat at the Barleycorn Café, brought together by owner Shelby Foord. Together we tried out creative activities including Art Journaling led by artist Marian Savill. We saw the positive effects of art in small moments and we think Susan Feary’s words sum it up nicely.
Film: Colin Stevens, Creative Agent. With thanks to: Susan Feary (speaking), Barleycorn Cafe, Shelby Foord, Marian Savill, Meet Up Mondays, Arts Council, CPP
Space to Create
https://youtu.be/Ld6GyLP50gY
Why does art matter? We asked some of our creative collaborators what they thought. Filmed at St George’s Fayre and Christmas Market in March, Fenland.
Filming of March Market (1st half): David Johnson (Dmj Imagery Ltd) Filming of St Georges Day (2nd half): Rydian Cook and Mariana Vaz
Edited by Creative Agent, Colin Stevens
With thanks to: Marian Savill, Hilary Cox Condron, Dan Donovan, Caitlin Howells, Dan Walsingham & Richard Alan, March Town Council, Fenland District Council, CPP and Arts Council England.
On Thursday 10th and Friday 11th June 2021, I had the pleasure of accompanying the team behind the immersive theatre game Escape from Fort Lagoon, by Adam McGuigan (Wake the Beast) and Jude Jagger (Submersion Productions), around several towns in West Suffolk and Fenland. They were scouting out possible locations where they could produce their water-based immersive theatre game experience as part of their Research & Development. Alongside this, they were testing out an app which audience members would use during the performance, experimenting with original songs with a choir and meeting lots of local people who would be able to advise and assist them on this journey.
We started in Brandon and were guided around the town and their local riverside walk by members of Brandon Creative Forum who had some valuable insights into the town and the people who populate it. As the company would need access to a body of water to perform in, they could specify which places of the river were safe to swim in and where performers and audiences could enter the river. We discovered a series of jetty’s which could be ideal for little pockets of performance spaces.
Members of Brandon Creative Forum, the MarketPlace team and Submersion Productions gather together in Brandon to discuss the plan of the day.
Next, it was onto Mildenhall where the team met Imogen Radford, a regular ‘wild swimmer’ in the River Lark. She went into great depth about the different safety considerations for swimming in rivers. Safety tips such as wearing waterproof protective footwear and getting into the water slowly to ease your body in gently to the sudden change in temperature and prevent performers and audience members losing their breath.
Jude and Adam from Submersion Productions, and digital artist & app designer Jack get ready for wild swimming in the River Lark in Mildenhall.
Finally, we arrived in March and I helped Godfrey Smith show the team around the area surrounding the River Nene before meeting up with the March Can’t Sing Choir. I have lived and grown up in March my whole life and it was interesting to see it through the theatre company’s eyes. I think I forget to appreciate how green it is and how many open spaces we have on our doorstep. Coming from Manchester and London, they were amazed at just how far you can see and how many wide-open spaces we have.
When we met up with the choir, we split into two groups; one group was trialling the app which Jack Hardiker had designed to test if the choir members could learn some short phrases to sing from their mobile devices, and one group to be taught these singing parts by the choir master Sally Rose. Speaking with Jude and Jack who led the app group, I think they found this exercise especially enlightening as they realised that learning these short songs from an app was no replacement for a choir master who could correct things as she went along, and practise blending these different parts together to make a really beautiful sound.
The groups join together on the green for singing with Sally Rose and March Can’t Sing Choir in March.
On the second day, we met with David Johnson at the Empress Pool in Chatteris where the team experimented with the acoustics of indoor pools and used the time to reflect on what they had learned and brainstorm new ideas for how the show would need to adapt to what they now know. After this, David gave us a walking tour of Chatteris town centre. He provided the team with information on his experiences of how to organise events and arts projects in Chatteris.
From there we drove to Gildenburgh Water in Whittlesey where the team swam in the lake and learnt about the different safety measures that the owners would insist upon should performers and audience members need to go into the water. We walked around the area and found some quite interesting little patches of field which could be suitable for performance spaces.
The groups explore suitable performance areas in Chatteris and Whittlsey, including the local pool and green spaces.
At all of the places that we visited, the team were taking pictures of everything and making notes on what would work and what wouldn’t work at each location. They were taking into consideration factors like how accessible it would be for members of the public, how far people would have to walk, how loud the noise in the surrounding area would be, how enclosed it is and what (if any) access they would have to the water. I believe that actually trying out wild swimming for themselves and learning how they would need to adapt the show to take into consideration what they now know has been a crucial step towards putting on a show here.
Jodie, Colin and Buster the dog from MarketPlace stand together for a photo in Chatteris town centrewith David Johnson, a film maker based in Chatteris, Jude and Adam from Submersion Productions, digital artist & app designer Jack and theatre designer & costume maker Abby.
Also, testing the capabilities of the app they are developing with members of the public and learning what tweaks would need to be made, would not have been achievable without this Research and Development stage, supported by the Arts Council of England with National Lottery funding.
The project has the potential to be unlike anything Fenland and Suffolk have seen before, so now more than ever I have learnt how important this stage in the creative process is, and how it will now go on to inform so many decisions – both creatively and logistically in the future when Submersion Productions take the plunge and perform it.
Written by MarketPlace Young Producer, Jodie Hicks.
Across Summer 2021, MarketPlace teamed up with Casson and Friends to make Tiny Dance – short dance films inspired by conversations with communities in Fenland and Forest Heath. Collaborative Choreography you might say.
The dancers visited 4 market towns around Fenland and West Suffolk (Forest Heath) and chatted to residents about what they loved about where they live. They also encouraged people to collaborate on some moves – watching the dancers and helping to shape choreography.
Casson and Friends are a record-breaking dance theatre company that aims to always be accessible, interactive and joyful. The company believes in ‘people powered performance’ – dance that is co-created with the help of the public.
Tiny Dances are short dance films inspired by the shared conversations, stories and anecdotes, plus choreography ideas. Choreographer Tim and his team of dancers use the information shared to create a bespoke dance reflecting our unique rural landscape.
View the finished videos below and let us knowwhat you think.
Casson & Friends brought their dance moves to Wisbech Play Day at The Spinney Adventure Playground on Wednesday 4th August and March Market on Saturday 7th August, inspiring choreography moves with creative people in their creative places. Take a look at the final #TinyDance below and view the full album of photos here (credit Malacky Luckie).
Casson & Friends dancers performing their finished #TinyDance in Fenland for the final film. Filming day photography: Jodie Hicks.
Casson & Friends dancers spent a week focusing on Newmarket Memorial Gardens Earth Arts Festival (19th August) and Brandon Festival (21st August). Talking with local people helped them create a unique West Suffolk dance.
