Author: admin

Our new community map!Our new community map!

Informed by participants’ contributions, Sarah created an expressive community map, visualising people’s perceptions about their neighbourhood. We absolutely love all the details!

©SarahSpencer

A Community Celebration – Film Launch!A Community Celebration – Film Launch!

Our #ProudToBe film launch was a real community celebration! Local residents, families and children, friends, artists and supporters all joined us for an evening of celebrating. We are so pleased that the fabulous Jim Causley could join us to present our new wassail song written by local creatives Sumea and The Dilly Boys. We honoured the winners of our colouring competition and marvelled at the new community map… but more about that in the next post!

Film Launch – You’re invited!Film Launch – You’re invited!

We are launching our film and you are invited! We’ve been out and about in the last two months filming amazing places, talking to inspiring people and learning about what makes us proud of our neighbourhood and why.  The community has shared incredible stories and told us what they most value about where they live – and you’re invited to share in this, too.

27th April, 6pm, doors 5:30pm at The Beacon Centre

Let us know you are coming and sign up for free here!

What to expect:
Film launch of our co-created short film “Proud to Be”
To celebrate our film and community, we will have a display ready for you with people’s contributions, photos, a community map, and picture postcard designs of Mincinglake and Whipton.
We will take this occasion to announce the winners of our postcard competition, so families and children are most welcome. There will also be a couple of activities for you to tell us what you thought of the film.
Excitingly, we’ll also introduce you to our new community song, produced specially for the film, with music written and recorded by The Dilly Boys!
We look forward to welcoming you to a relaxed evening celebrating community and friendships.

St Kat’s – The Other PriorySt Kat’s – The Other Priory

Now, it is no secret that we have been responsible for the creative programme at St Nicholas Priory in Exeter’s medieval city centre for the last few years. But now we are at “the other priory” – and very delighted to finally get to meet and chat with the fabulous volunteers at St Katherine’s Priory in Polsloe. Such inspirational work – food larder, community open days, and of course the model railway. What fun!

Postcard CompetitionPostcard Competition

Our postcard competition is under way! Pick up a postcard from the Beacon Centre, draw or write what you love about your community, and post it through our special postbox. Competition ends 5th April and we will announce the winner on 27th April!

Postcards from Mincinglake and WhiptonPostcards from Mincinglake and Whipton

Yesterday evening our study turned into something akin to Father Christmas’ workshop – paints, pots, bits of wood and glue… All because we are starting our postcard competition soon. And Sarah wanted to build our own postbox for it. We think it looks great – see below 🙂 We’ll post more details soon but the idea is to grab one of our empty postcards and draw on it your favourite thing about your neighbourhood. For those who rather use words, write a message on the card to let us know what you love most about where you live. And check back here for news!

Community Mapping at The BeaconCommunity Mapping at The Beacon

Our film is all about Pride of Place. We want to show what people love about their neighbourhood. But how do we establish what makes people proud of where they live? How do we know where they go to have fun? Well, Sarah spends a lot of time chatting with people, getting to know them, and together we map the community. Quite literally – look at the images below: participants draw their favourite spots on the map, and leave commments to tell us more. Fancy having your say? Sign up here and join us

Planetarium at Whipton HallPlanetarium at Whipton Hall

Ben and Sarah had a fabulous time talking to visitors at the Space Odyssey Planetarium – an exploration of space right here in Whipton! The organisers welcomed them warmly and it was fabulous to see so many people eager to learn more about space and all its mysteries! For those interested, here’s the link to the Space Odyssey project.

International EveningInternational Evening

We had the pleasure of talking to Brian and John at their International Evening at Beacon Heath Church, and connect with so many fascinating people from all over the world. Some were new to Exeter and it was heart-warming to see how they were welcomed into the community. Excellent food and so much to celebrate!

Filming at the Mincinglake WassailFilming at the Mincinglake Wassail

It’s begun! The film project is under way and we had a fabulous time at the Mincinglake Valley Park community orchard, toasting the trees and filming the community at the wassail. Many thanks to Gill for this opportunity to capture how important our connection to nature is. A big thank you also to Ibhade, who joined us from the Co-op, and Devon Wildlife Trust volunteer Stephen, who contributed with interviews to our first day of filming! Fancy getting involved? Get in touch here!
  

Success!Success!

We have been successful in securing a creative commission from Creative Arc at the University of Exeter and Exeter City Council, hurrah! We’ll be producing a community film all about pride of place. Click here for more info and sign up for our newsletter here.