About
Our Creative Communities project grew out of a four-year Paul Hamlyn Foundation funded project called ‘Above and Beyond‘. This project develops local creativity and community power in partnership with local people, local artists, community groups and the public sector.
Local people can take part in workshops, learn new skills, create performances, and get involved in shaping decisions about things that affect their lives. We are currently working in South Sefton (Bootle and Netherton), Birkenhead, Speke, North Liverpool and Kirkby.
If you live in one of these areas or are part of an organisation in them, get in touch with Abi to find out how you can get involved.
Partners and Supporters
Creative Communities is currently supported by PH Holt Foundation and Hemby Charitable Trust
We work in partnership with grassroots community groups, libraries, local schools, health centres, arts venues, and other public and voluntary sector organisations. Some of our current partners include:
- St James Centre, Birkenhead
- Make It Happen, Birkenhead
- Open Door, Birkenhead
- Wirral COP (Community of Practice)
- St Leonard’s Youth and Community Centre, Bootle
- Kindfulness Coffee Club, Bootle
- MYA Space, Bootle
- Netherton Park Neighbourhood Centre
- At The Library, Sefton Libraries
- Regenerus
- Sefton CVS
- Sefton Performers Network
- South Liverpool Homes
- Liverpool Family Hubs
- PSS
- Culture Liverpool Creative Neighbourhoods
- Mental Health Research and Innovation Centre
- Liverpool Lighthouse
- Make CIC
A Love Letter to Speke
Speke
It’s the people who make it.
Loving the people,
There are trees, shops
The library, the leisure centre, Lisa’s chippy, Speke Hall.
It’s home,
rough and ready
Neighbours do know neighbours
And a handful of people help out.
The wonderful volunteers.
We don’t want for much
Just something for our kids to do.
Bring back the market,
Host community events – summer fair, May Day, Bommie Night.
A secondary School.
Speke at 5pm it’s
Back to our burrows.
A common theme.
There’s No pub – bar one
No hub or mixing place
Not able to afford to go into town,
Only rare occasions
No restaurants or cafes.
If you go out, you go out out.
Make plans, put on your glad rags.
They’re building new houses without infrastructure
Little boxes
Shut doors.
Then
Night times become wild times
The kids come out – at a loose end
Fireworks, finding their own entertainment
Anti-social, because there is no social
No youth clubs- meeting hubs
No framework or supervision
No role models or examples
Streets empty of adults
Disconnected
Assumptions, perceptions.
The youth are up to no good.
Judgement based on little or no information.
Self-fulfilling
They are just making their own fun with no resources.
Speke
It’s the people who make it.
Rough and ready
It’s home.
By the people in Speke Find Your Creative Voice workshops
“our participants face challenges in unfamiliar environments, so Collective Encounters brought their workshops to us. This approach allowed full participation, with attendees enjoying a variety of creative sessions, including group poetry writing, Haiku, and exploring their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. For many, this type of creative expression was entirely new, yet the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.”
“Abi has been a regular, familiar presence at St Leonard’s and has been able to develop positive relationships with our community. She is well liked by all and everyone who has attended any one of her sessions / courses have offered very positive feedback which includes increased confidence, improved literacy, reduced isolation and new social connections”
“some of our participants struggle with literacy or articulating feedback about our services. Abi introduced creative methods to help gather this essential input in an accessible and inclusive way.”
