Can Culture Re-Wire This City?

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There is no denying that Peterborough is passionate about arts and culture. 

Exhibit 1: The turnout for the June Peterborough Culture Forum was a busy and rich mix of artists, arts organisations, community leaders and activists, with not a spare seat in the packed Gladstone Connect community hall on Gladstone Street. 

Exhibit 2: There was joy in coming together, and a shared commitment to collective action throughout.  This positive mood carried through from the ice-breaker task (tower building from varied materials like skewers and blu-tac, tape and paper, and Lego) to the plenary between groups, sharing the connections they had made through thoughtful talking and listening. 

Exhibit 3: The lively conversation as everyone got stuck into exploring culture, leadership and communities.  These discussion points were succinctly introduced by our two speakers, Eva Woods and Hana Sayeed, who shared their personal perspectives.  These ideas were then taken up in earnest as the large group of 35+ participants discussed in small groups their own personal viewpoints. 

So, what did the great turnout tells us, and what were the points of mutual connection and the collective priorities in the room? 

  1. The full, diverse and rich story of Peterborough’s culture needs to be told and celebrated, and it is more complex and more interesting than “this community is doing this thing, and that community is doing that”, the interesting stuff is where communities and people overlap. We have more in common than divides us. 

  2. We are, excitingly, not “male, pale and stale” but have diverse voices and diverse participation to tell a new story for Peterborough.  When there are “More people who look and sound like me” more people feel invited in, and community cohesion is built, plus many other benefits.  We can rewire this city with culture. 

  3. Cultural events do happen in Peterborough, but it can be hard for people who are new to the city to tap into the many platforms, from networks to newsletters to websites. Understanding that lots is happening makes you feel more positive about Peterborough. 

  4. It takes personal and emotional confidence to engage with arts and culture, and everyone is in a different place on that journey, and we need safe spaces, like the Culture Forum, the Cultural Alliance, and in venues, to do this.  And arts and culture is not a luxury, but a human essential. 

ACTION to be taken by everyone who attended, and everyone who reads this blog (yes, you), and to be revisited at future Culture Forum sessions: 

  • Be an advocate for arts and culture, for your own events and for others – sharing others’ information online, via personal recommendation and social media.  Use these events, and the Culture Forum, to connect with others. 

  • Attend others’ events and take someone new with you - it takes confidence to try something new, but new voices bring new perspectives, energies and solutions. 

  • Send information about your events to local BBC Reporter, Shariqua Ahmed    The BBC are piloting a local news hub model in Peterborough and are looking for content for their website, to be picked up by regional and national radio and TV broadcasters. 

  • Support the Cultural Alliance, led by Sughra Ahmed, who are tasked with raising appreciation of the value that arts and heritage can bring to the city, delivering change – especially for young people and the city’s underserved communities – and much more. Sign up to be kept in touch: https://peterboroughculturalstrategy.org.uk/about/ 

The session finished with a final provocation: If arts and culture is a human right (as the forum collectively agreed it was), where can we go to flex our creativity? We have places where you can improve your physical health (gyms, fitness studios, swimming pools, sports clubs) but can Peterborough have an “Arts Gym”? 

Maybe we will start to address this, and the other actions listed above in the next Culture Forum:  12pm-2pm, Tuesday 16 July at Metal @ Chauffeurs’ Cottage (behind the Town Hall), where we will be mapping out upcoming events and building partnerships for projects (see the Jumped Up website for more info.)  

Everyone welcome, whenever you can drop by. 

 

The Culture Forum is sometimes a place to develop skills or pick up knowledge, but June’s session reflected the Forum’s role in bringing people together, to connect, to be inspired and be energised.   

This networking function started with the Culture Forum’s first session in April 2020, as an antidote to the collective despair and isolation brought about in the arts and community sectors by lockdown. Now, with so many meetings online and working-from-home, making personal connections is just as important. 

Big thanks to all the participants (listed below) for making the effort to come and for their positive and friendly engagement, to Eva, Hana and Sughra for speaking, Gladstone Connect for providing the venue and Tim for doing all the washing up! 

More information about future sessions, including where to sign up for the Culture Forum mailing list, is available on the Jumped Up website. 

 

Attendees:

  • Shariqua Ahmed - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

  • Zain Awan - DHGA

  • Jim Brown - Pearce Hire

  • Mike Morse - Artist

  • Jeni Cairns - Artist

  • Faiza Rehman - Raham Project

  • Louise Thirlwell - Nene Park

  • Hilary Stede - Poet

  • Sameena Aziz - Islah

  • Gillian Beasley - Community Champions Alliance

  • Pranav Aggarwall - PCC

  • Sophie Grindley - Artist

  • Del Singh - PP

  • Yasmin Gibson - ISenseBadTheatre

  • Tom Davies - Photographer

  • Kelly Joiner - Thomas Deacon Academy

  • Keely mills - Eastern Angles & Syntax

  • Louise Garwood - Artist

  • Gauri Chaudhary - Peterborough Friends Group

  • Ranji Reddy - Peterborough Diwali Festival

  • Martyna Baxter - Polish usic Centre

  • Ajra Ali - Individual

  • Danielle Daboh - PCC

  • Jan Armitage - Peterborough Cathedral

  • Mehuash Ahmed - Individual

  • Jason Mitchell - Small Nose

  • Sarah saxby - YMCA / Sticks Theatre

  • Anna hosh - Bengali Sanskriti Club

  • An Bellamy - Artist

  • Rae Nase - I Sense Bad Theatre

  • Seyyed Nagvi - Individual

  • Kate Hall - Creative Producer, Jumped Up Theatre

  • Tim Keogh - Marketing Officer, Jumped Up Theatre

  • Sughra Ahmed - Managing Director, Peterborough Cultural Alliance

  • Eva Woods - Young Creative & Youth Campaigner

  • Hana Sayeed - Spoken Word Poet & Community Producer

  • Rose Croft - Artist

  • Ekta Patel - Bharat Hindu Samaj

  • Lauren Kendrick - Artist / Flourish / Peterborough Food Partnership / Poet Laureate

  • Atul Nahata - Individual

  • Kat Beeton - University Centre Peterborough/ Fluid Lines

  • Precious Graham - Culture Community

  • Harrison Fuller - 11 o'Clock Number

  • Monisha Roberts - Individual

  • Ben Haslam - University Centre Peterborough

  • Bernadetta - Individual

  • Rae - Individual