Local people and artists were invited to come together to share their dreams, celebrate community spirit and imagine a more sustainable future. 2021 was the year where we took the innovative approach of pairing local artists with walk leaders, making the walks more interactive, with talks and artist-led activities en-route, rather that just at the end of the walks. Due to the pandemic, we also created downloadable activity packs so that people could get involved at home too.
Local artists included Sadie Hasler – who led themed workshops with young people, Rebecca Brewer – who shared dreams for the town while we planted wildflower seeds in Ockendon children’s centre, Selena Chandler – who led dream-catcher workshops in Langdon Hills’ EWT Visitor Centre community garden and Saira Niazi of Living London who led ‘dreaming’ activities in Purfleet-on-Thames.
Alongside this we worked with Sarah and Lisa from Kinetika to create flags with 20 community groups and businesses in Grays to celebrate how they belong in Grays, which ended in July with a flag parade with artists and flag-makers to Grays beach.
Along with inspiration sessions for artists and creative workshops for community groups, we provided mentoring support for 4 new walk leaders from diverse communities in partnership with Active Essex, Essex Cultural Diversity Project & Living London.
In 2021 we created new song ‘Tilbury is the Place for Me’, written by Anthony Joseph and Ruben Fox with Kinetika Bloco and local young people from the Gateway Learning Community and Tilbury Youth Services, inspired by the calypso of the Windrush generation ‘London is the Place for Me’ referencing history as well as ideas from young people.
‘Tilbury is the Place for Me’ was part of Shout Out Loud, English Heritage’s national youth engagement programme. Shout Out Loud is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Kick the Dust programme.
T100 SONG
T100 SOUNDSCAPE & GALLERY