- Canal Club: PublicWorks
- My Place
- Barking Metamorphosis
- Almost an Island?
- BS1
- Molten Festival 2008
- Write Now and Then
- Barking: A Model Town Centre
- Foundling Tales
- Molten Festival 2007
- Other Project Management and Consultancy
Canal Club: PublicWorks
Sarah Butler was commissioned by PublicWorks to write a new fiction for a stretch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal which formed the focus of Liverpool Biennial's 5 day conference, Urbanism 09.
The magical story aimed to explore the potential of a place which is frequently dismissed as a 'wasteland'. The story is called 'Fishing For Stars' (inspired by the star shaped lanterns attached to the 'Club'). It follows three characters, Caib, Rhaw and Bywell (their names are drawn from a mural of ancient tools painted on one of the canal's walls) who all discover their own routes into a magical parallel universe, where their wishes for the canal come true. Vinyl-cut extracts from the story were installed onto the Canal Club itself, copies were hung by the seating areas, and visitors were given copies to take away. You can download the story here.
The Canal Club was a temporary structure, created by PublicWorks as a conversation space for local people to explore the possibilities for change in the area.
My Place
During summer 2009, UrbanWords worked with All Change Arts, The Sorrell Foundation, VHH Architects and fourteen young advisors from Islington, on a creative consultation project. Sarah Butler headed up a team of 7 artists, who worked alongside the young advisors to explore the aspirations of young people in the borough for a new performing arts centre. The centre will be created on the site of Hornsey Road Baths, and is scheduled to open in spring 2010. The project is part of My Place, a government funded initiative to develop world class youth centres across the UK.
Barking Metamorphosis
In October-November 2008, UrbanWords worked with muf Architecture/Art, the writer, Yemisi Blake and product design students from the Royal College of Arts on a pilot project, Barking Metamorphosis. The project, funded by London Borough of Barking and Dagenham arts department, explored links between the Barking Learning Centre and a new public space, designed by muf.
Yemisi ran a series of workshops with local young people, and created his own work as part of a short residency. The RCA students created a writer's room for him within the learning centre, and responded to the workshops by creating 'props' and metamorphic furniture.
Find out more about the project on the Barking Metamorphosis blog.
Almost an Island?
UrbanWords worked with Spread the Word and Art on the Greenwich Peninsula on an Awards for All funded project, Almost An Island - a writing project based on the Greenwich Peninsula in East London.
Sarah Butler and Aoife Mannix were writers in residence on the peninsula, September - November 2008. They met with local groups, residents and visitors, and ran free drop-in workshops and activities.
Writing by Sarah, Aoife and workshop participants is showcased on the Almost an Island? blog.
Sarah and Aoife have created a sound piece, Almost an Island? soundscape, combining their own writing with the voices of those living on, working on, and visiting the Greenwich Peninsula. They presented the piece at the Artists Making Places conference organised by Art on the Greenwich Peninsula on 10th November. Advice on downloading and playing media files is available on the Urbanwords media advice page.
BS1
BS1 was a two year programme of creative interventions in response to the evolution of Cabot Circus in Bristol City Centre, from building site to retail centre
BS1 was set up by Neville Gabie and Insite Arts as part of Neville's own residency at Cabot Circus in Bristol. Six artists, of different disciplines, concerns and stages of their careers, were invited to participate in the BS1 programme. Each was selected to respond to different aspects of the site; which evolved on a daily basis. These commissions offered the opportunity to witness the dramatic transformation from inaccessible, hoarded-off building site to a highly visible, highly appealing public retail and leisure space. Equally though the remit for this project also invited the artists to consider the impact this development will have on the established communities of St Paul's, St Jude's and Old Market which surround the site.
UrbanWords worked with Neville and Insite Arts on the sixth and final commission for BS1. We appointed the novelist, Donna Daley-Clarke, to respond to the site and particularly to the stories of the myriad of different workers involved in creating the shopping centre. Visit the BS1 site to find out more. And visit Donna's BS1 blog to read her three stories, Dirt, Stone and Glass.
Molten Festival 2008
UrbanWords managed a weekend of participatory literature workshops and activities for Spread the Word as part of Barking and Dagenham's Molten Festival. There was a huge range of things going on, from blogging workshops, to poetry and origami, to storytelling for the whole family. Download the flyer or visit the festival Web site. The poets Aoife Mannix and Yemisi wrote new work inspired by the festival weekend, which is available to read and hear on Spread the Word's website.
Write Now and Then
Feb 2007 - Feb 2008 - UrbanWords managed a year long Heritage Lottery funded project, for the arts and social inclusion charity, All Change. The project paired a combination of writers, film makers, visual artists, musicians and performance artists with seven groups of Islington based young people to explore the borough's rich literary, cultural, social and architectural heritage. The young people explored literature written about Islington and by famous Islington writers such as Dickens, Orwell and Douglas Adams, and to create their own original work inspired by these writers and the area in which they live.
Visit the project website
To obtain a copy of the Write Now and Then digital book, please contact All Change on 020 7689 4646 or email all.change@virgin.net
Barking: A Model Town Centre
UrbanWords teamed up with muf Architecture/Art to deliver creative workshops around the opening of an exhibition celebrating the opening of Barking’s new Town Square and showcasing a range of urban regeneration projects in Barking Town Centre. Sarah Butler worked with performance poet Aoife Mannix to explore themes of regeneration and play, and generated creative text to accompany the architects’ models.
Foundling Tales
UrbanWords secured funding from Create KX to create the post of writer-in-residence at the Foundling Museum, a project that forms part of the Arrivals festival celebrating the opening of St Pancras International and the arrival of the first Eurostar. Throughout September-November 2007, the poet Subhadassi worked with three groups of young people in the area to create new work inspired by the stories of the Foundling Museum and the regeneration of King’s Cross.
The project culminated in a celebratory event on Thursday 22nd November at the Foundling Museum and an exhibition in the Museum gallery.
Visit the Foundling Museum Web site to read some of the writing produced as part of the residency.
Molten Festival 2007
UrbanWords worked with literature development agency, Spread the Word, and Arts Programme and Development at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, to deliver literature activities as part of the borough’s Molten diversity festival. The fabulous poets, Francesca Beard and Paul Lyalls, set up 'story stalls' at Barking and Dagenham markets in November 2007 to encourage local residents to share the stories of their area.
Other Project Management and Consultancy
Sarah Butler runs other literature-based projects in London, and takes on consultancy work across the UK, particularly around fundraising and organisational development. Please contact Sarah Butler for more information.