Making Space in Poplar

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Image 2 of 1

Funded on
11 May 2021

We want people off their mobile phones and to start creating, whether glassmaking, ceramics, food or mask-making, working safely together indoors and out at a newly refurbished bespoke Covid-era space

£36,003 Raised of £35,646

100 Backers

101%

Our Delivery Report

Funded on 11 May 2021 | Delivered on 19 December 2021

£36,003

RAISED

100

BACKERS

91

DAYS TO FUND

BIGGEST PLEDGE

£20,000

From Mayor of London

£5

MOST POPULAR PLEDGE AMOUNT

19/12/21 - 23/12/21

The People's Chandelier

420 Artworks created

Project Image

Sarah Buck donated £20

London Borough of Tower Hamlets donated £5,000

The Tommy Flowers Foundation

The Tommy Flowers Foundation donated £50

Breathing Space donated £20

m<sup>2</sup> of public or community space created

40 m² of public or community space created

London Borough of Tower Hamlets donated £5,000

Days volunteering opportunities

4 Days volunteering opportunities

Emma Mulholland donated £30

2 Community buildings or spaces saved

Breathing Space donated £20

Breathing Space

Breathing Space donated £40

4 Festivals created

13 Exhibitions created

Mary C Elizabeth Stout donated £20

2 Vacant units revived

kg of material recycled

50 kg of material recycled

The Tommy Flowers Foundation donated £30

More about our impact

The environment

We opened up an underused and long empty post office as well as utilising garage and parking spaces at the rear of 48 Aberfeldy Street for our making sessions, re-energising the high street.

The local economy

We timed our event/exhibition opening hours to match those of The Tommy Flowers next door, a Community Pub we established in 2018 and handed over to local residents for them to run, a year ago.This has not only created employment but pioneered the rejuvenation of Aberfeldy Street.

Volunteering, jobs & education

We expanded our volunteer base, but this time found that people approached us, instead of us having to find them ! We gave opportunities to young people, to learn new skills and build their confidence.

Arts, culture & heritage

This project has unearthed a lot of lost histories, from, the personal in the Traces project where local residents presented their own stories of migration to ShumGhostJohn who presented a much needed and very well attended project (300 participants in six days) looking at Chinese heritage of Poplar and Limehouse, upcycling waste paper into a large scale origami installation https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/about/blog/first-thursdays-may-2021/

Activity, health and leisure

We got people together after lockdown ended, not only to reconnect with old acquaintances but to make new friends. The collaborative work especially fostered social cohesion and support between groups. families and isolated individuals.

https://vimeo.com/148330720

Fitzrovia Noir came together in 2008 to document the end of the iconic Middlesex Hospital, creating artworks from medical ephemera and inviting former staff and patients to be photographed in the as it was slowly being demolished. We have since produced more than 100 site responsive installations, from a 13th Century chateau, to a Tyneside pithead, an Edinburgh chapel, a masonic temple in Luxembourg to many locations across London. Now we have been given a long-empty former post office on the Aberfeldy Estate, which we can convert into a new Making Space.

We have invited a number of artists from countries as diverse as Brazil, Morocco and New Zealand to work with us, building up reciprocity, where London-based artists travel to make work in those countries too. Most recently we hosted multinational arts group Young Blood Initiative, who delivered a huge ranage of activities mid-Sept-mid-Oct 2020, prior to our planned refurbishment of 48 Aberfeldy Street https://youngbloodinitiative.com/Wake-Up-Smell-the-Tear-Gas-Agenda

In October 2020, between lockdowns, we trialled ideas outlined here, using loaned equipment, which was incrediblty well received locally. Due to social distancing requirements we held these glass casting sessions outdoors in the car parking area behind 48 Aberfeldy Street, avoiding the sharing of glassblowing pipes, to reduce to zero any chance of infections being passed on. We have other options should it be necessary to continue Covid safety measures, including flat glass 'sandwich' workshops that only require a kiln to fire overnight. Our aim will still be to source waste materials both for the making of our own furnace (necessary for blowing glass) and to melt down eg., cathode TV screens for reshaping.

We'll involve a group of local youths to help with this, as well as general refurbishment of the space, from which they can have practical 'on the job training' as well as gaining useful planning experience and improving social skills, useful for future employment.

While not covering any spend on activities, we have seed funding from Power To Change to incoroprate and establish a new educational foundation working from Poplar, with a further small grant from City Bridge Trust to mentor three locally-rooted organisations who also wish to champion social change. We feel this added activity and capital investment programme that we are crowdfunding for here, can only enhance the development of creative practice and Outreach locally.

Project Owner: Fitzrovia Noir Community Interest Company The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.

Contractors : Picture Utopia Community Interest Company,Rejuvinate Upcycling Co-op The team responsible for building or installing the project.