YOU HEARD US

6 Nov

2024

‘You Heard Us’ is a public art project that demonstrates the power of community engagement and collaboration. Developed over an extended period of time, it involved more than 100 participants who contributed their voices and stories. The project took place at two key locations: the Quaking Houses Community Centre and the Greenhills Centre in Wheatley Hill.

Artists Lizzie Klotz and Luca Rutherford led the initiative, fostering a creative environment that encouraged participants to share their experiences and perspectives. This process not only aimed to enhance the local artistic landscape but also to foster connections within the community to be heard in sharing their lives with a strong sense of regional pride. The project highlights the significance of collective expression and serves as a testament to the impactful outcomes of participatory art practices.

This project was a response to one of our Let’s Create Commission open calls developed by the Community Panel and focussed on safeguarding future moments of collective power and joy following the first challenging winter post-Covid in 2022, the cost of living crisis and responding to the prompt ‘Radical Acts of Joy’.

“The project as a whole has brought about loads of conversations about Quaking Houses and it’s history and residents that live here. People like to say ‘small towns, small minds’ but I think what this project has done has brought people together who wouldn’t necessarily sit at the same table and now they’re all coming in and enjoying the photos together.”

— Sam from Quaking Houses

The Artists

Lizzie Klotz is an independent dance maker, performer, facilitator and creative producer based in Blaydon, whose work is rooted in dance, prioritising care and a sense of joy for all those who make and encounter it.

Luca Rutherford is a Newcastle based writer, performer, dramaturg and creative producer that asks big questions with playfulness, making new socially engaged work that sparks conversations inside and outside of theatre spaces.

“We did not helicopter in and out, but instead we were able to consistently show up and do so in a way that was bespoke to each community centre. Our approach was guided by ongoing conversations with Vicky from Quaking Houses Village Hall and Tammy and Greenhills Centre, which were centred around their priorities for their community.

As a result, we were really able to meet the participant’s wants and needs, providing spaces of joy, connection, comfort and entertainment.

We have been working together for over 6 years, developing work as an interdisciplinary duo spanning dance theatre, theatre, public art, installation and community engagement, that creates playful, vibrant, responsive work rooted in joy and community within rigorous dramaturgical structures.”

— Lizzie & Luca

Photo credit: Amelia Read, 2024

The Process

We believe that the craft of the work is not only in the final artwork, but in the process of developing this work, and in this case, how we engaged with communities throughout this process.

Our priority was to embed ourselves in the communities of Quaking Houses and Wheatley Hill. We formed relationships with the people who use the community centres, creating a new Storytime session at Greenhills Centre for new parents and their babies, and joining existing sessions at Quaking Houses including Toddler Group, Card Trading, Gym Buddies Youth Group, Walking Group, and Roller Skating.

We provided food and hot beverages for each participant at Greenhills Centre, and shared lots of pots of tea and packets of biscuits with the team at Quaking Houses.

The sessions were rooted in creating spaces for listening, where we focused on building relationships with participants by inviting them to take part in activities that were of interest of them. Once we had developed trust with participants we brought in conversations around the final artwork, collectively deciding upon theme, style, content, and location. This meant that the artwork at both Quaking Houses Village Hall and Greenhills Centre was responsive to the participants who use that specific community centre, reflecting a sense of joy and pride for themselves within their community.

We worked with photographer Amelia Read to lead photoshoots with participants from each community centre.

At Quaking Houses Village Hall we organised a number of individual photoshoots with nominated members of the community, as well as ad hoc portrait and landscape photos taken of people and places throughout the village. These photos were printed onto large aluminium frames and installed on the outside of the building as a reflection of the people who make up the community inside and outside of Quaking Houses Village Hall.

At Greenhills Centre we took photos of the new parents and their children, which were translated into line drawings by graphic designer Sally Poore, who created a large scale 1m x 9m design that was installed on a wall running along the car park of Greenhills Centre. Additionally, Sally created a 1m x 4m design including the quote ‘Follow Your Feet’ which was collectively decided by the group, as well as A1 and A2 framed designs that were mounted inside of the community centre.
To mark the end of the project, we hosted launch events at each community centre, which involved eating together, screen printing together, soft play and an open mic night.
One of the positives of the Let’s Create commission was its extended timeframe, where we had the time to meet, get to know and build relationships with these communities.
We did not helicopter in and out, but instead we were able to consistently show up and do so in a way that bespoke to each community centre. Our approach was guided by ongoing conversations with Vicky from Quaking Houses Village Hall and Tammy and Greenhills Centre, which were centred around their priorities for their community.

As a result, we were really able to meet the participant’s wants and needs, providing spaces of joy, connection, comfort and entertainment.

We felt that most of the challenges during the Let’s Create commission presented an opportunity to be responsive, and change with the changing demands of the project. This was experienced in the process of developing the final artworks, where there were some concerns about use of certain photos of participants. In responding to this feedback, we made decisions that were different to what we had originally planned but that ultimately being a positive thing.

The Let’s Create commission has given us the opportunity to deepen our collaborative practice. We more clearly recognise our strengths within our collaboration and how to use those strengths within the context of communities, which ranges from our skillsets as artists to our personalities and ways of connecting with others.

It has also drawn our attention to the value in even the smallest of interactions within a process, and in doing so has reaffirmed that this is as important as the quality of the final outcome.

Vicky from Quaking Houses Village Hall shared how important it was for them to receive positive feedback from us, giving them a sense of value and recognition of the work that they are doing.
Additionally, we were pleased to hear from Tammy that Greenhills Centre have continued to provide food and hot beverages before their baby and toddler sessions, recognising the value in looking after their participants beyond the session itself.
— Lizzie & Luca