Here’s a selection of  projects (I have fond feelings for)…
Click on the title for more information.

The Vodka Project 2008-2011
Cultural critique or obsession? Chronicles of journeys through Poland. Hard to tell. In a serious world, we need let our hair down… It doesn’t get the regular loving care and attention it deserves but visit the web site and read the meandering blog…

Intercultural Dialogue 2008-2010
This project with the Borderland Foundation and the New Culture Foundation consisted of three creative laboratories, (based in Birmingham & Black Country in England, Bela Rečhka in Bulgaria, Sejny in Poland) and the development of wondering/travelling workshops. The project culminated in the UK with an international symposium ‘Interchat’ in April 2010, hosted by Birmingham City Council, and was followed by the publication of a book ‘We No Longer Talk’ in the autumn.  For more background to the project click here… Significantly more information and updates can be found by browsing through the project web site at www.interculturaldialogue.net.

Community Snapshot 2010
A short documentary film was made for ABCD New Deal Community Regeneration Team in Wolverhampton, working with Geoff Broadway. It featured a few of the local community groups who have grown with ABCD’s support (some of whom we connected with during the above project) -  All Saints Junior Football Club, Guldasta Group, St George’s Municipal and Allotments Association, Akaal, Duke Street Youth Centre and the Seventh Day Adventist Community Centre, Oxford Street. The film was launched at a special event at The Workspace in All Saints in June, 2010, with 200 copies specially made for all the local groups who had participated in the Community Chest programme between 2003 and 2010.

In Living Memory 2010
Curation of an exhibition of 111 photographs selected from the archives of the Express & Star newspaper, Jubilee Arts and Sandwell Council. The Express & Star was founded in 1880 and is still one of the biggest selling regional dailies. Jubilee Arts was a community arts organisation, founded in West Bromwich in 1974, the same year Sandwell Council came into being. The images in the show were a small personal selection from browsing through these archives, found in boxes and basements, images from West Bromwich and slightly further afield, in liaison with West Bromwich Local History Society.  Though there are a few photographs from the very beginning on the 20th century, the majority were within my living memory or that of my parents. The work was first exhibited at The Public. Here’s a pdf of the exhibition panels to view (3MB). We  held ‘collecting sessions’, inviting local people to bring in new material to add to the archive. Here’s an example…

“I was the drummer in a dance band. This is me with the Arthur Rowberry Band in 1941, just before I went into the Royal Air Force. I played thousands of concerts, even in Karachi when I played with a services dance band.” – Stan Wilkins

Caribbee Island Medley 2007-08
Based on oral history material, photographs and memorabilia (and with the assistance of my lovely colleagues in Laundry) we made a small publication and exhibition  based on interviews and workshops undertaken with people of Irish heritage in the West Midlands. The title comes from the name of a notorious slum area in Wolverhampton in the 1840s, home to the new Irish migrants.

The Wonders of Warsaw/Cuda Warsawy 2007-2008
As part of a larger cultural animation project (called Animator), The Wonders of Warsaw was a collaboration with the Institute of Polish Culture at Warsaw University, storytelling group Studnia O, arts group Katedra Kultury and the School of Architecture. Extending a model of practice I developed with Jubilee Arts in the Black Country, I worked with a group of young artists and community groups, to create an alternative guide to the city, identifying and celebrating local wonders with performances, installations and artworks in several locations. The work was gathered into an exhibition and publication in April 2008.

Bosnian Triptych 2005-06
Artists working with young people from Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sejny in Poland and Birmingham, England.

Me & My Flag 2005
So what does it mean to be English? A short intervention at a St. George’s Day Parade.

Piddle Valley Requiem 2002-
Some documentation and reflections on the Piddle Valley in Dorset, England.

Animus 2001-04
A three year programme of learning for new artists in community arts and cultural animation across Europe.

Wonders of West Bromwich & Warley 2001 – 03
A programme of artist commissions across the Black Country, West Midlands, exploring the history, myths and reality of a powerful sense of place.

Bedtime Stories 2002
A comic book made with young homeless about their lives.

Crossing Borders 2002
A project with the Anglo-Polish Society of the West Midlands, photographs, stories, personal histories.

Reference
Reflections on creative practice – Artists working in the context of community consultation (2007)
This essay describes a number of arts projects undertaken throughout the 1990’s, by community artists in the UK, which addressed issues of community consultation. It was commissioned by Nirex, previously the national UK agency responsible for the disposal of intermediate and low level radioactive waste. In April 2007, Nirex was incorporated into the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). It formed part of a series of reports intended for a broad audience in the UK, including elected members/politicians, civil servants, board members and senior staff of key agencies concerned with issues of community engagement. (Nirex were interested in examining creative means for getting people involved in consultation processes, particularly those who are traditionally hard to reach and those who would not attend public meetings.) Hope you find it useful. Here it is…  creativeconsultation.pdf