This event has been organised by Primary, Nottingham, as part of the Kaleidoscope Network.
“The archive is a living, moving thing.” — Nell Painter
This practical and dynamic workshop will explore what it means to work creatively from archives (and the gaps within), inspired by a recent community theatre project in Bristol and the publication of Haunting Ashton Court: A Creative Handbook for Collective History-Making. Led by participatory artist and writer Jack Young, the workshop invites participants to think differently about history beyond the historically whitewashed narratives of dominant society. It will ask which stories make the cut, who is given permission to tell them, and how we might re-shape them through collective artmaking.
The session will be an opportunity to find out more about Jack’s participatory practice, try out activities drawn from the ‘toolkit’ of the Haunting Ashton Court book, and reflect on how you might adapt some of these techniques to your own practice and context. You can find out more about the Haunting Ashton Court book and project here.
This session will be held on Zoom. Otter.ai will be active for anyone wishing to use live transcript or closed captions functions. There will be a scheduled break. Please get in touch with colette@weareprimary.org any other access needs in advance. This event will not be recorded.
About Jack Young Jack is a writer and participatory artist living in Bristol. He writes experimental work with a focus on queer ecologies and land justice, and his hybrid chapbook URTH was published by Big White Shed in 2022. He co-hosts the literary podcast Tender Buttons in partnership with Storysmith bookshop. As an educator, he works with young people using arts-based critical pedagogy, with a particular emphasis on multilingual filmmaking, applied theatre and creative writing, to explore themes ranging from reanimating the gaps and silences in historical archives, to queer ecologies and speculative fiction. He has worked with schools, institutions and community spaces in Barcelona, London and Bristol including MACBA, Institut Broggi, the Royal Academy, Horniman Museum, Tate, Gasworks, Spike Island, UWE Bristol, Acta Theatre and Artspace Lifespace.
About the Kaleidoscope Network If you are an EOP Member you are also automatically a Kaleidoscope Network Member. The Kaleidoscope Network is a collaboration between Spike Island (Bristol) Eastside Projects (Birmingham), Primary (Nottingham) and The NewBridge Project (Newcastle). Formed in response to a need for mutual support, the network has come together as a way to share resources, increase what each partner is able to offer and create new connections between communities of artists.
