Stimulating the Creative Industries

Report by Philip Oldershaw

This briefing note outlines the importance of the creative industries both nationally and in Chelmsford.

The creative industries are of major significance to both the national and local economy. They account for nearly two million jobs and as much of the UKs national output as the financial services industry. The creative industries are defined by DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) as:

Those industries that are based on individual creativity, skill and talent. They are also those that have the potential to create wealth and jobs through developing intellectual property. They are: advertising, architecture, art and antiques, crafts, design, designer fashion, film, video and digital media, interactive leisure software, music, performing arts, literature and publishing, software and computer service, television and radio. (DCMS)

Three themes are common to these diverse industries; the central importance of creativity for business success; the ability to communicate; and a focus on clients, customers, audiences and participants. The creative industries also do not operate in isolation. They sit at the centre of a web of connections with other industrial sectors, and are a source of innovation for the wider economy, particularly through design, branding and advertising. They also have an important role to play in urban regeneration and community cohesion. This wider web is often referred to as the creative economy.

The creative industries can offer highly-skilled and highly-paid employment and boost economic growth in their areas. The strong conclusion in a recent NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) report pointed to the Creative Industries and specifically the talent we have nurtured within it, becoming a key driver for the UK’s recovery from recession and that the industries will take centre-stage as a major, high growth contributor to the UK economy over the next 5 years. It is important to recognise however, that the industries’ view of value and success is not only economic, but also social, cultural, aesthetic and environmental.

The National Context

• There are an estimated 157,400 creative industry companies in the UK.
• The vast majority of companies are small with fewer than 10 people (77% in Creative Media and 90% in Creative and Cultural).
• In addition a further half a million people are sole-traders or freelance.
• Exports of services by the creative industries totalled £17.3 billion in 2008, equalling 4.1% of all goods and services exported.

Incredibly, the creative industries account for 7.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product, which is roughly comparable to the financial services sector.

The creative industries have, along with most industries, suffered in the recession, not least in terms of employment, but remain a significant employer across the UK. Including the half a million sole traders and freelancers there are 1,502,200 people employed in the creative industries and a further 551,100 are employed in creative occupations in other industries. Jan Figel, EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism, argues that:

“We do not know how long this crisis will last and how deep it will become. But when it is over, those who have invested in creativity and innovation will find themselves well ahead of the pack.”

In the north-east, there has been a culture-led transformation using culture as the engine of growth. Council leaders in this area spotted 20 years ago the growth potential of the creative industries and their contribution to economic regeneration. The Angel of the North, the Baltic and the Sage Gallery are all powerful symbols of a revitalised north-east creative economy.

Less visible, but of huge economic potential, is the high growth cluster of computer gaming and animation companies in the north-east.

But the creative economy not only provides economic prosperity, it builds social cohesion and defines lives. They have a much wider social importance – the buildings and architecture, cultural festivals and sports events, open spaces, museums and libraries – all shape an area’s identity.

The diagram below developed by the Work Foundation demonstrates how creative industries can serve to benefit the local and national economy. The manufacturing and service sectors particularly benefit and exploit the expressive outputs generated by the creative industries.

Creative businesses are able to work in unique ways with partners and/or suppliers, which can create new markets, productivity growth, ‘spillovers’ and improved efficiency.

The Local Context

The cultural industries make an important contribution to tourism and the visitor economy in the East of England. 63,750 people in this region work in the creative industries, which equates to 9% of the total creative and cultural industries’ UK workforce. The majority of this workforce is employed in the design sector.

Creative and cultural industries in the East of England average a GVA (Gross Value Added) per head of £28 690, compared to a UK creative and cultural industries average of £36,570. Prior to the recession, productivity in the creative and cultural industries in the East of England had increased by 10%; this is compared to a decline across the UK creative and cultural industries in general of 7%.

In addition, the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games presents both opportunities and challenges through the Cultural Olympiad, Cultural Programme and Legacy. The Games have a particular impact in the East of England due to its proximity to London. The National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural Skills being built in Thurrock will be a key resource for the 2012 Games, offering training facilities and rehearsal space for the opening and closing ceremonies and the Cultural Olympiad. This will greatly increase the profile of Thurrock nationally.

The creative economy is often interwoven with place:

• sailing with Cowes
• books with Hay-on-Wye
• music with Glastonbury
• theatre with Stratford-upon-Avon and
• football with Wembley.

Chelmsford boasts a wide range of creative activity that includes over 30 choral groups, over 60 orchestral groups, over 90 musical societies, 45 drama groups, over 30 dance companies and dance schools providing public performances, 10 live band promoters, plus at least 4 state of the art recording studios.

Add to that list a wide range of Festivals ranging from ‘Essex Streetdiversions’ to the internationally renowned ‘V Festival’.

Performance venues in the Borough include the Council’s own two professional theatres, as well as the Old Court Theatre run by Chelmsford Theatre Workshop.

Chelmsford Borough Council has acted to support the creative industries. In November 2010, Leisure and Cultural Services undertook a survey with stakeholders that they work with from the sports and arts fields. In the table below are some of the comments the Council received by those stakeholders from the arts side.

Name	Description	Feedback
Snapbox	Local film makers	“The Council’s Cultural Events Team regularly helps us to meet clients wanting our services and network with other artists in the area who are interested in collaboration projects”
Mike Dodsworth	Freelance storyteller	“Working with the Council creates opportunities to work in new and innovative ways, connect with a wider network of arts and cultural groups and reach wider audiences”
Panic	Local listings magazine	“The council provide us with knowledgeable support and through their involvement we gain a more professional appearance”
RSA Chelmsford	The Chelmsford branch of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce	“CBC planning officers provide essential professional expertise. Other Council employees are involved in developing our creative policies and initiatives: notably the events and town centre marketing managers”
Just Imagine	Storytelling centre/children’s bookshop	“By working with the Cultural Events Team the Council has helped us to network with other organisations and reach a wider audience”

The above is just a small snapshot of the organisations the Council works with. It is evident from reading through stakeholder’s comments that a wide variety of teams at Chelmsford Borough Council support the creative industries, whether that is through direct support or by facilitating networking opportunities between like-minded organisations.

Why local authorities should continue to invest in the creative industries

Despite the support the Council provides to the creative industries in the borough, much more could be done.

The recession is having an impact – most recently, Dance Digital, one of the few significant arts enterprises in Chelmsford, lost its funding and we must actively explore ways of keeping this business in the town. Dance Digital explores uses technology to express artistic visions – they do this through performance, discussion, ongoing artistic support and advocacy, working as a hub organisation to facilitate artists in their exploration of the genre, developing audiences and building new partnerships. To lose this group would have a negative impact on the town as a whole.

Dance Digital is not the only group suffering. Local artists, for example, do not have the requisite studio facilities required to practice their art as there has been a distinct lack of investment in creative infrastructure.

The case for local organisations and networks to play a stronger local role in supporting the creative industries as an engine of economic growth and development is based on four principal arguments:

Arguments	Description
A. There is a significant local dimension to the creative economy	The creative economy is highly clustered with sub-sectors strongly represented in particular areas: the computer gaming and animation cluster in Gateshead; the emerging film industry in Leicester – the British Bollywood and television and radio production in Manchester. Each of these industrial clusters has different skills requirements and require investment in different types of cultural infrastructure.
B. Local know-how, relationships and networks	Local relationships, markets and audiences remain critically important, and local business groups and councils are more sensitive to the local creative entrepreneurs emerging in their areas, and their needs for training, support, mentoring, workspace and business advice.
C. Local councils and third sector bodies through their cultural services provide the foundation blocks of the creative economy	Councils and third sector organisations provide many of the services that connect with the support of the creative economy – councils manage the museums, community centres and other public spaces where people might look for inspiration; councils and independent groups provide the youth services where many young people often find the freedom to express themselves.
D. The council’s and the university’s brokering role in community partnerships enables role for the creative economy	For example, through building cultural links into their planning, enterprise and education functions, they can enable cultural development.

There are six ways of investing in the creative industries. These are outlined in the diagram below:

1. Money (financial capital): e.g. funding, information about funding Access to finance helps creative businesses develop and grow. This is particularly relevant during the current credit crunch but even during the boom, lack of commercial skills within the creative sector was identified as a barrier to accessing equity and debt finance.

2. People (human capital): e.g. skills programmes, enterprise support Individuals with the appropriate skills and capacity within organisations is essential for business development. There is a shortage of industry-specific skills in some creative industries, as well as knowledge about how to commercialise ideas and manage businesses.

3. Things (physical capital): e.g. creative workspace
It is important to provide appropriate premises in which creative businesses can work and network. The presence of physical infrastructure, where this responds to genuine business demand, can also have a significant impact upon a local area.

4. Know-how (intellectual capital): e.g. links with universities
Having access to new ideas can form the basis of comparative advantage for creative industries, so working closely with universities and other important sources of knowledge is useful.

5.  Global positioning/catalysts (market capital): e.g. festivals, events Promoting a cluster of industries to help position them in the wider marketplace is important and helps generate intangible benefits for them (e.g. networks, contacts, profile) as well as having more tangible benefits for local areas (e.g. enhancing the visitor economy).

6.   Growth of networks (social capital): e.g. supporting networks Collaborative networks have long been key to the production process in creative industries. Supporting the co-ordination of these networks can enable these businesses to innovate more effectively and access new business opportunities.

The above shows that Interventions do not need to be costly: for example, they could take the form of a simple website or facilitating informal networking of creative individuals/businesses within a local area.

However, any investments made should not be considered in isolation, but as aspects of a holistic approach aimed at developing the creative industries.

Most projects that local authorities have undertaken to invest in, for example, physical infrastructure, have been most successful when undertaken in conjunction with investment in networks or associated events.

Working in partnership to benefit the creative industries in vital. Local creative industries groups need to consider how they can work in partnership with other organisations in this area. This includes working in partnership with council planning, economic development and theatres staff, with further and higher education institutions, with the Chamber of Commerce, with existing architecture, design, music production, IT and PR companies, as well as working in partnership with the Arts Council.

Supporting the Creative Industries in Chelmsford

Listed below are a range of ideas and projects that can help invigorate the current creative industries in Chelmsford, as well as attracting new ones.

1.   Anglia Ruskin University wish to share the use of their kiln and printing facilities in the Teachers Education Department with local artists as a business development initiative for the creative sector.

A practical, simple initiative to help raise the importance of small scale creative business in the town. To optimise the opportunities for creative industry growth, there is a need for bespoke workspace and technical resource which is clustered to provide networked, high energy hubs of creative business activity. If this scheme proves successful it is possible that Anglia Ruskin could become a sub-regional creative hub, similar to the Writers Centre in Norwich.

Action List:

• Encourage ARU to consult Metropolitan Works. London Met University (formerly London College of Furniture) pursued the same idea of under-utilised facilities for designers and makers and developed a new business network that has now led to substantial new investment,
• Offer support to ARU in developing this shared use.

2.   Develop a Creative Industries Strategy 

Consider devising a sector-led strategy specifically focused on the creative industries. It would help create common frames of reference for talking about the creative industries. This could be proposed to add to the Borough Council’s new arts strategy.

As part of developing a new strategy a mapping project would raise awareness of the economic value of the creative industries and make it easier to assess the value of the creative industries to Chelmsford. In addition, understanding where you are now is essential to being able to plan sensibly. The creative industries often face particular challenges, such as finding affordable workspace, getting access to high-speed broadband services, and access to skilled labour. Mapping can help identify the needs of the creative industries and suggest ways in which they might be addressed.

Listed below are links to a number of creative industries’ strategies produced by local authorities. These help us to envision how such a strategy should be structured and what kind of information it should contain.

Cornwall’s Creative Industries Strategy 2008-2012

http://createsomerset.co.uk/documents/Regional/CornwallsCreativeIndustriesStrategy-2008-2012.pdf

Derby and Derbyshire Creative Industries Strategy 2008-ongoing

http://www.diploma-support.org/system/files/derby-and-derbyshire-creative-industries-strategy1.pdf

Creative Hackney – A Cultural Policy Framework for Hackney

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/creative_hackney_policy_framework.pdf

Action List:

• Consider the development of a creative industries strategy.

3.    Create Affordable Studio Space for Artists

In Essex, Acme Studios was recently commissioned to undertake a study to look at the demand for and feasibility of creating affordable, purpose-built artists’ studios as part of the Royal Opera House Production Park in Thurrock. The creation of studio space helps encourage more artists to a particular region and, in turn, bolsters the local creative economy.

Sector members should look towards promoting Chelmsford as a place for arts and culture, targeting property companies who manage (and even develop) artists space – such as Acava, Acme.

Action List:

• The Portal Artists Collective is surveying members to establish demand for studio space.
• Changing Chelmsford is supporting the artist’s group initiative for studio and gallery space, and the exploitation of ‘meanwhile spaces’.

4.   Run a Creative Apprenticeships Scheme

Creative & Cultural Skills is working in close partnership with Arts Council England East to roll out Creative Apprenticeships in the region. The first Apprentices started in Autumn 2009. Theatres, arts centres and festivals are among the employers taking on a Creative Apprentice in partnership with a local training provider. There are a number of education providers supporting delivery of the Creative Apprenticeship in the East region, including West Suffolk College, Oaklands College, Norwich City College and South East Essex College. There is an opportunity for both the Council and Anglia Ruskin to offer and support creative apprenticeships. The Council already operates a generic apprenticeship scheme, but could offer creative apprenticeships in its theatres. For more information and details of how to get involved in creative apprenticeships, the contact e-mail is: apprenticeships@ccskills.org.uk

Action List:

• Investigate the possibility of taking on creative apprentices.

5.   Invest in Creative Infrastructure

Investment is needed in physical infrastructure for creative industries. For example, the Leicester Creative Business Depot provides a creative workspace, networking hub in Leicester’s cultural quarter, mentoring training and seminars. The depot is a space where creative entrepreneurs can develop skills, share ideas and nurture their business. The depot in Leicester is not an isolated example – Lancaster City Council has converted the iconic Storey Institute into a centre for the Creative Industries. The centre offers small businesses (within the creative industries sector), local communities, and visitors to the city the following facilities:

·       Quality creative industry workspace/ offices

·       A state of the art auditorium space and conference venue

·       Workshops & training space

·       Meeting rooms

·       Restored galleries and exhibition spaces

·       A community café/bar complex

·       A new Visitor Information Centre

More information about the project can be found by following the link below:

http://www.lancaster.gov.uk/planning-environment/regeneration/storey-creative-industries-project-scic/

Shire Hall in Chelmsford could be used in such a way once the law courts move to their new location. An investment of this type could serve to benefit the whole creative industries base in Chelmsford by helping build their profile and encouraging innovation.

Action List:

• Investigate the possibility of creating a centre for the Creative Industries.

6.   Establish a Creative Industries Working Group

On 13 July 2011 the newly formed Creative Industries Council met for the first time. Set up by Central Government this group aims to give the creative industries a voice and help to find ways to make the sector grow. The Council, chaired by Business Secretary Vince Cable, consists of leading figures from across the sector and Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey. It will form working groups which will look in detail at a select number of issues including skills and training, access to finance and intellectual property. It is expected to present its findings and recommendations in January 2012.

A Chelmsford Creative Industries Working Group, could carry out the same job as the Creative Industries Council, but on a local level.

Partners and practitioners in this group will help identify which sectors of the industry are struggling and how best to support them.

Action List:

• Continue to identify who the creative industries working group should comprise of – a chair for the group must also be identified.
• Set up Creative Industries Working Group.

A brighter and better Boarded Barns

Philip Oldershaw reports:

King Penguins have waddled their way from Antarctica on to Kings Road in Chelmsford via a community funded initiative to help revitalise the public realm. By using colourful display boards the dilapidated shop fronts on the Kings Road parade in Boarded Barns have been transformed into a community information point, which lists the wide range of events taking place in the area, including cookery workshops, martial arts classes and yoga sessions. Children attending ‘Our Playce,’ the local youth group, voted for which display board design they liked the best. After a fun-filled discussion they chose the King Penguin design to represent Kings Road. This project was made possible by the Kings Road Action Group (KRAG) who have proved that by acting on one simple idea you can benefit an entire community.

Before

After

The King Penguins Display Board

Animating the Public Realm

Roger Estop, urban designer for Chelmsford Borough Council

The Streetdiversions street arts festival in Chelmsford has over the years demonstrated the power of performance to transform perceptions of urban space. This event has a deep and lasting effect on the people – some spaces gradually become associated with an experience – being engaged in conversatation with an orange ostrich or an egghead in the High Street become part of the place.

Another example is offered by Nantes, in Brittany where a my perception of a derelict dockyard is based on the memory of a mechanical elephant which walks around the area.

But of course it need not be eggheads or elephants – many kinds of activity animate space and stimulate enjoyment, from market stalls and buskers, to parades and people watching.

As a planner I am interested in the relationship between architectural space – the stage – and the life it contains. How the inanimate stimulates animation whether it is planned or unplanned: simple, spontaneous things that animate space. I am interested in the everyday as well as the every-year and our planned environment always has to allow for the spontaneous.

My role is to help transform the physical quality of spaces in the central area. So I am interested in bottling the essence of animation and sprinkling it onto the streets: can the buzz that comes from event somehow be built into the physical configuration of spaces?

Can humour be built into street design? Can we get people to come to Chelmsford to have a good laugh, and not only during street diversions? Jokes on signposts, winking buildings and unusual sights – like Tim Hunkin did on Southwold Pier.

The space of Chelmsford’s High Street is brilliant – you can see the historic street plan as a lower-case y -  the High Street has this marvellous curve into Moulsham Street.

We have now embarked on a programme of public realm improvements to the busiest public spaces in Chelmsford town centre, to support retail investment and make the most of Chelmsford’s assets. This is the area with the greatest footfall, where public realm improvements will support retail and transport investment and create a consistent image.

Chelmsford may have a great reputation for street performance but it has not been brilliant at public realm improvement. Station Place and Tindal Square are two city spaces that are frankly a mess, and present a dispiriting impression. Yet to our credit the council has a great record in generating good spaces in new development.

Why improve spaces – why not get street diversions every month instead?

Partly it comes from traffic management and safety needs. Parly it is to attract investment, and stimulate business. Partly it is creating image, celebrating the city’s sense of itself. Partly it is drawing out the culture of the place. And mainly it is loving and caring for the place, making people feel welcome and stay awhile.

The quality of Chelmsford’s busiest streets is critical to the image and economy of the emerging city. Chelmsford’s shops attract people from a very wide area. Those retailers now expect a highly attractive public environment; customers choose between Chelmsford, Lakeside, Bluewater, Colchester and Cambridge, partly on the basis of the experience and ambience of the centre. The public realm asserts Chelmsford’s sense of itself as County Town, city of Essex, technology hotbed, the market place in the countryside.

The sense of place comes first from space – enclosing buildings, purpose, appearance and the sense of location. That is animated by moving people coming and going, The key is activity – what people are there for and what they choose to do. That is the key to making a place.

We know that the success of a space depends on through-movement.

But this is a planner’s view. There is one overriding quality of our experience of public space – it is personal, being here now, having an interaction with place, and choosing if you are staying or getting the hell out of here. It is about feeling good here now.

And it is about being in Chelmsford. Not Bath, Barcelona or Brentwood.

And the other interesting factor is that movement comes first from our own journey as we move through streets, look around, stop and start and create our own personal dynamic. This is the core idea behind Gordon Cullen’s townscape – the serial vision of walking through and creating a personal drama.

Another influential thinker is Jan Gehl who pioneered designing spaces for pedestrians – such that a busy street became a performance space. The free pedestrian flows and eddies like dance.

Bob Jarvis of South bank University says urban design is choreography.

Our vision for the High Street is to reveal the space, to stimulate diverse activity, to be a place to enjoy here now, and come back to.

We have been looking at concepts: ideas which will reveal neglected qualities, add specialness, enable activity.

Canvas

Treating the High Street as a carpet for motifs. Different patterns for specific uses of the space.

Daisy chain

A sequence of the main spaces along and around the High Street where the public meet and interact. Easily identifiable, strong character.

Happening

Spaces which inspire activity from individuals and collectives. Adaptable to any kind of event and expression. Providing a backdrop, scenario or platform (metaphoricaly speaking) for activities. Encourage improvisation, spontaneity. Three-dimensional spaces.

Oasis

Creating areas rich with water and greenery for contemplation and rest within the fast moving shopping environment.

Space personalities

3 spaces, 3 shapes, 3 characters, 3 qualities. All different.

 Streets restored

Streets reflecting historic linearity, textures and functions.

Light

Light gives form, reveals unseen space, changes throughout the day and night, is live.

There are some practical questions relevant to all this:

Who owns controls and regulates space? Mainly the highway authority, but a lot of public realm is owned by private interests – shop forecourts and the covered shopping centres that get locked at night.

What is public? If you can get to it it is public; hence colonisation or dumping. How can we claim equivocal private space for public animation?

Is it only the ground surface? Look above and see the balconies, roof terraces – reclaiming these kinds of spaces is what the Southbank Centre explored last summer.

Final point: plan fixed physical change in a way that brings out all kinds of activity, event and spontaneity.

Live space	Dead space	Overlooked space
Street stallsAd hoc performance Cross paths Sitting and watching Outdoor cafes Meeting Shopfronts Notices about events	No frontageNo way through Service routes and yards Quiet roads	Unclear ownershipBetween buildings Casual parking Upper terraces Balconies Alleys

Wikihouse Live Build

The Wikihouse live-build team

As part of Changing Chelmsford’s Festival of Ideas, students at Anglia Ruskin University and Writtle College are participating in an open source house design and construction workshop:

http://www.wikihouse.cc/

Come and watch the live assembly of prefabricated components this Saturday morning 5th November in Market Square Chelmsford.

Changing Chelmsford Festival of Ideas

‘Chelmsford Learns’ is the focus of the Changing Chelmsford ‘Festival of Ideas’ scheduled for Autumn 2011. We have planned a number of fun activities and events in temporary venues around the town – and invite you to join in by contacting us at changingchelmsford@yahoo.co.uk – or download the programme below:

CC ideas festival programme v3

30 September: Animating the Public Realm: Arts and people in public space. This is focus workshop for practitioners and performers exploring the role of the arts in enlivening and enhancing the public realm. It coincides with Essexstreetdiversions – an international outdoor arts festival held in Chelmsford on 01 October 2011. Pre-registration required. Free event.

21 October: One day ‘Work-a-Thon’ for the self-employed. Work from home? Bring your laptops and creativity to Mouslham Mill for a 9-5pm day of working, socialising and ‘watercooler’ moments you don’t normally get when working alone. Meet like-minded people and experience an alternative office environment. Free event. Pre-registration required: http://changingchelmsfordworkathon.eventbrite.com/

Join us on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chelmsford-Work-a-thon/286643338016169

22 October: Technology will Save Us workshops. Have you ever wanted to know when your plants are thirsty? Wouldn’t it be grand if they would turn a little light on to tell you when they were dry? Pitch up for one of two workshops in High Chelmer on Saturday (10-11 and 12 – 1pm) to make your own thirst detectors. Fee payable but sponsored places also available.

22 October: Youth Radio Station. Are you a budding broadcaster aged 8-18? Want to join in writing and broadcasting a drama? Conduct interviews? Stop by and have a chat about your neighbourhood? Let us know – or drop by on the day where we will have a pop-up radio station in High Chelmer from 9-5pm.

20-22 October: Young Apprentice Challenge. We are looking to pit two teams of young entrepreneurs aged 16-19 against each other in a fun, three day challenge with the final in High Chelmer.  THIS IS POSTPONED, but please contact us if of interest – we have an exciting work placement as the prize!

22 October: Resilience Walk. Come on a two hour ‘talk-walk’ (2-4pm) and learn about Chelmsford’s rivers, flooding risks, potential for growing food, foraging and renewable energy possibilities. PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS POSTPONED. Watch for further details.

22 October: Civic Economy Talks: Join us (4-6.30pm) in St Cedd’s Hall, Chelmsford Cathedral Chapter House for a series of short, inspirational talks by changemakers on ‘meanwhile’ uses in empty spaces, supporting grassroots initiatives and creating innovative alternative work environments. The evening will conclude with a screening of the Chelmsford Voices film festival winners. Free event open to the public. Want more details? Contact us.

24 October: Changing Chelmsford Town Commons. A day long ‘place-making’ session in Shire Hall focussing on Chelmsford’s Heritage Triangle and public realm. Pre-registration required.

05 November: WikiHouse Live Build. Market Square. Come and join the students of Anglia Ruskin University and Writtle College as they adapt and assemble the world’s first house made of parts designed and produced through open-source contributions! http://wikihouse.cc/

Changing Chelmsford in the RSA Journal

Photo: Stephanie Mills

Changing Chelmsford and the Young Urban Explorers project are both featured in the Autumn 2011 edition of the RSA Journal, which is sent to 27,000 RSA Fellows across the world.

If you’re here for the first time having read the Journal, here are few things you might find interesting:

• The Changing Chelmsford 2010 report explains how the project developed, and records the contributions of over 120 people who participated in the series of workshops and pledged to take forward their initiatives for improving the town
• The Young Urban Explorers project, which helped young people map and redesign under-used spaces in their town

Changing Chelmsford is organising a ‘festival of ideas’ in the town on 21-23 October to help shape the programme’s future work. The focus of the weekend will be a programme of events on Saturday 22nd October, so if you’re able to visit Chelmsford that day do mark the date in your diary, and check back here for details over the coming weeks.

Finally, if you have any questions about how to get involved in the project, please contact changingchelmsford@yahoo.com.

Altogether Now

Visit Altogether Now - a brand new fringe format festival running from the 10-25th September celebrating the diversity and quality of culture produced in Chelmsford – from music to visual art, from comedy to theatre, from film to food.

The format is something akin to the Edinburgh Fringe festival, with events happening in venues all over town. Altogether Now takes in the Chelmsford Arts Trail and the brand new First Page Film Festival under its umbrella. The Arts Trail will run from the 10th to the 18th of September and the First Page Film Festival from the 18th to the 25th.

For the programme of events, see:

http://www.altogether-now.co.uk/