1 2 4 27 3 CONTENTS Introduction What people want 6 30 The neighbourhoods The process behind this report 7 31 Living with ‘a reputation’ In Hangleton & Knoll 9 32 Arts engagement in East Brighton In East Brighton and Hangleton & Knoll 33 10 Get in touch Barriers to the arts 14 The Benefits of the Arts 17 Unspoken creative dreams and regrets 20 Arts attendance 22 Next generation 24 A piece of community-led research with Thoughts and Advice for Arts residents in Hangleton and Knoll and Organisations and Funders East Brighton, on their access to and experience of arts and culture. Brighton and Hove is a city famous for desire from them to connect and shape its arts and culture, but the persistent formal arts opportunities and to develop 4 INTRODUCTION inequalities in access to and participation community led arts activity in their in the arts are as alive here as they are in neighbourhoods. other parts of the country. The analysis of the interviews and data in We know that involvement in the arts this report has been done by the team at enriches people’s lives, has a positive Brighton People’s Theatre. We have done impact on health and improves quality our best to represent people’s views and of life. 1 We also know that not everyone experiences from the perspective has the same access to the arts and so of the people who have engaged it’s real and powerful benefits are not felt with this research. equally across our neighbourhoods and communities. We do not claim to speak for everyone who lives in East Brighton or Hangleton In 2019 Brighton People’s Theatre was and Knoll. Instead, we have tried to tell the commissioned by Brighton and Hove story of people’s relationship with the arts, City Council to work in partnership with where possible, in their own words. We community organisations in Hangleton have changed people’s names to protect and Knoll and in East Brighton, in order their identity. to gain a greater understanding of these inequalities and the desires of residents to At Brighton People’s Theatre, we are be creative. This work has been carried out committed to developing and deepening by, with and for local residents as part of our relationships with people in these the City Council’s Cultural Framework. 2 neighbourhoods and with people living in social housing in other parts of the city. The work grew out of our partnership with We will be actively fundraising to open up Brighton Festival, the Hangleton and Knoll arts opportunities for people to be creative Project and Due East, delivering Our Place, with us over the coming years. a weekend of co-created arts activity in each neighbourhood during the Festival in What will you do? May each year since 2017.
This report, Open Up Arts, summarises the key findings of this research. It shows, 1 Brighton and Hove City Council. (2017) Annual Report Director of Public Health 2017/2018, The Art of Good Health. [Online] Available through the voices of residents from at http://www.bhconnected.org.uk/sites/bhconnected/ files/181120%206477%20PH%20Annual%20Rep ort%20v10.1%20 both areas, the systemic failures, missed with%20links.pdf opportunities and barriers that create
2 Daring to be different: Brighton and Hove Cultural Framework. inequality in the arts. It also paints a clear [Online] Available at: picture of people who have high levels https://cultureinourcity.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/online- pdf-cultural-framework-final.pdf of creativity in their everyday lives and a We were in the final edits of this report that conversation and the priorities that when the Covid-19 crisis hit. As we pressed emerge from it. We ask that you take the 5 pause on finalising the document, we have stories that people have so generously watched as the true precarity of the arts shared with us into your planning for sector has been revealed. the future.
The whole cultural sector has been Many of you reading this report may affected, there have been redundancies recognise what is described here from and there will be more, many freelancers your own life experience. are facing their own financial instability Many of you may not. and those without financial safety nets may need to leave an industry they’ve Whatever your personal background, we worked hard to get into. hope that Open Up Arts will prove useful in thinking about why, how and what the arts Without a doubt, the new Covid-19 context sector can do differently in the future. we find ourselves in has highlighted and exacerbated the inequalities that are Naomi Alexander, Artistic Director, articulated in this report. Many of the Brighton People’s Theatre, June 2020 barriers to involvement in the arts that are expressed here, are due to complex, structural inequalities in society that the arts sector is not responsible for.
However, the way in which the arts sector operates and is funded frequently reinforces and recreates social inequalities. This report clearly articulates, in the words of people who feel most excluded from it, the reality of these inequalities.
So, as arts institutions fight to survive, there is an opportunity to pause and reflect on how they might change and adapt in this strange new world. It is clear that returning to business as usual will continue to fail many working-class people in this country.
It is within this context that we offer this report now. To inform and help shape East Brighton is a ward in Brighton show how big gaps in income within a and Hove and is home to nearly fifteen country has a negative impact on the 6 THE thousand people. Our work focused on health and wellbeing of everyone, even the the lives of people living in three specific richest. This work also shows, however, areas of the ward, the Whitehawk Estate, that it has a disproportionately negative NEIGHBOURHOODS Manor Farm and Bristol Estate, which impact on the lives and life chances of the combined have a population of nearly poorest. eight thousand. We cannot hide from the fact that people Hangleton and Knoll is a residential living in the poorest neighbourhoods in suburb of Hove with a population of just Britain are more likely to struggle to feed over fifteen thousand people. The areas their families, live with chronic stress, are different in many ways but they do have fewer educational qualifications, have some important similarities. have higher rates of physical and mental health issues and live fewer healthy years They are predominantly working- • than their more affluent counterparts. class areas with a high percentage of Recent figures from the Child Poverty households renting from social landlords. Action Group show that 30% of children • Both are under-served and amongst are now living in poverty in Britain. Poverty the least advantaged places in England does not exist because of the failure of (IMD, 2019). individuals to make the right choices. • Despite being only short bus rides Poverty exists in our society because of away from the city centre and all its deliberate political and policy choices. attractions, both neighbourhoods feel quite cut off from the rest of the city. It is incumbent on us to emphasise that people living in adverse circumstances There is a lot of data to show exactly how rarely think of themselves as victims difficult life can be for people living in the because they are busy getting on with neighbourhoods but we have chosen not their lives – working, taking the kids to to include the specifics here. Residents school, paying bills, seeing friends and told us repeatedly that they are fed up family and supporting each other. Contrary with their lives being reduced to a series to popular opinion, most show extreme of numbers that feed existing negative resilience as they juggle demands that stereotypes that further blame, stigmatise others with greater resources would find and marginalize them. difficult.
We do not wish to add to this burden, and so instead will point out that the UK has very high levels of income inequality compared to other developed countries. 3 Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2009). The Spirit Level: Why More The work of Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) 3 Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better. London: Allen Lane. Our work showed that many of our mum said to me ‘don’t take [name] participants faced adverse circumstances shoplifting, she doesn’t do that sort of 7 LIVING WITH when growing up. Some were young thing *laughs* and to be honest I was carers and cared for parents with chronic such a good girl and she was so not illnesses and siblings with severe *laughs* but the perception was you’re ‘A REPUTATION’ disabilities, others lived in homes with from where you’re from you’re going to parents struggling with addiction or be trouble. (Jane) mental illness whilst others experienced ” familial imprisonment. Circumstances As people moved into adulthood, this that often left them struggling to do much did not stop but followed them into their else apart from concentrate on surviving. work and professional lives as the area's reputation as ‘trouble’ negatively informs Zoe’s family struggled with parental other people’s, including employers and mental health, addiction and parental colleagues’ views, about who you are and imprisonment. She described what this what you can do. This, they said further felt like as a child. limited their opportunities. Mark, for example, applied for over fifty jobs before “When you grow up in a place where he removed the name of his area from his lots is happening and very little of it is CV and got the offer of four interviews in good, there’s no space. It’s like it sucks a week. Charlie was raised and continues out all of the air and you’re so focused to live in Whitehawk but has spent most on just getting through; it sucks out of his working life in accounting and sales all of the light and everything gets jobs in the city centre. He has had to continuously circumvent class prejudice in narrowed down to the basics. (Zoe) ” his life outside of the estate: But the impact of growing up in East Brighton and Hangleton & Knoll goes “What you’ve got to master when you’re beyond the daily challenge to keep one’s coming up to someone. You’ve got to head above the water. Participants told us go right, what prejudice are they going that the reputation their neighbourhood to have against me and how do I work had amongst other residents of Brighton my way around that? ” (Charlie) and Hove was an additional barrier that could make challenging lives even harder, even as children.
I went to [name of school] and I had a “good friend who I knew for a couple of years before we grew apart because we were just so different. I remember the first time I went to her house her Tammy, now in her early twenties, also they have but trying to make grew up in Whitehawk and still lives there. it better. (Jane) 8 She is a healthcare worker and mother ” of two young children but feels that the In the interviews, there was a strong sense reputation of the area continues to have a of frustration that people in Brighton and negative impact on her sense of self and Hove make uninformed judgements about her emotional wellbeing. how people live in these parts of the city and can do so with impunity because the “It kind of makes you feel like you areas are among the least advantaged. shouldn’t be able to do anything, you should just be this slob that sits at “Peo ple who have never been here but home that’s got no education, got listen to the news and read what they no brain, can’t function, get a job. want to read and forget about the (Tammy) ” stabbings that happen everywhere else and focus on Whitehawk because it’s While they are realistic about the less advantaged people. ” (Paul) challenges and difficulties experienced in their neighbourhoods, participants’ own views on the areas were, on the whole, positive. In their view the neighbourhoods have a strong sense of community, with extended family and friendship networks and forms of mutual help and support that make them feel safe and secure.
The thing about living in an area like “Hangleton is that you can get plenty of statistics to measure what we don’t have, but there is rarely any focus on what we do have. One of the key things we have is a sense of community - when things happen in Hangleton they usually happen because of local people working together. Hangleton is not just a geographical area on a map that can be summed up with statistics, it’s people, many of whom grew up in the area, who really care about the area, not just making the best of what When it comes to the arts, residents in anything creative these were informal East Brighton and Hangleton & Knoll are activities that they pursued at home. 9 ARTS some of the least likely to engage in the arts than the rest of the city. What our research showed was that there are significant barriers to leading ENGAGEMENT It was beyond the scope of this project to creative lives for our participants. They conduct a comprehensive neighbourhood also illustrated, however, that when IN EAST BRIGHTON arts survey. At the start of both projects opportunities were available, people love we conducted two small surveys with the formal arts and have the desire for residents who were i) involved in the both themselves and their children, to AND HANGLETON project or ii) had attended an arts or have access to creative opportunities. community event at a local venue. We did this as a scoping exercise and to recruit & KNOLL potential participants to the later stages of the projects.
Over half of the survey respondents in both neighbourhoods reported that they are doing something they consider creative or to be part of the arts (53% in Hangleton and Knoll and 51% in East Brighton) and around 75% of residents surveyed consider themselves to be creative. Whilst this helped guide our initial thinking we know, given the bias in the sample and small sample size, that this is an overestimate of formal arts engagement.
Our qualitative work found that involvement in arts-based activity was very limited, although there were some variations across and within the areas. Residents in Whitehawk, for example, were more likely to report no current involvement in the arts than those we spoke to who live on the Manor and Bristol Estate. What we can say is that those who took part in our research reported a limited level of involvement with formal arts-based activities and if they did do “Human beings have an innate need keep it up. And it’s only now I realise 10 BARRIERS to be creative, but I think that notion what a struggle that was for them and is denied to some people and people what a waste of money because I went growing up in council estates are one to secondary school and the people TO THE ARTS of those groups of people.” (Zoe) who were involved in things that cost money, extra classes and that sort of Many of our participants described thing and they owned decent violins growing up in large, busy households and that go way ahead of people like where money was tight. In these me who are just doing it half an hour a circumstances, parents either struggled week at school. (Jane) to provide creative opportunities for ” their children or it was not even Community-based opportunities were considered an option. limited. For example, for those growing up in the 1980s and 1990s these primarily “At home there were no opportunities involved attending local youth clubs to do anything [creative], because no where some arts and craft activities were one I knew did anything like it. No available but didn’t extend much beyond one went to see a show even or that. This absence of things to do meant went to the theatre, no one drew, or that many participants, although not all, painted or really even read. My mum spent the majority of their leisure time on read a bit, but it wasn’t like ‘Oh I’ve the streets. read this thing, you read it...... There wasn’t anyone at home asking me “I remember once down the pier, there ‘what do you like to do? What are the must have been four hundred of us, all things that you really enjoy?’ We were just looking for something to do and basically left to get on with it really. that’s Hangleton who got nothing to (Zoe) ” do, Mile Oakers got nothing to do and Whitehawkers searching for something Even in the homes where parents to do. There just was nothing to do in were attuned to the need for creative our local communities. (Mark) opportunities for their children, making ” this happen involved difficult choices. Children growing up in the 2000s In Jane’s primary school, children were reported a different experience. For them, able to take music lessons to learn an additional government investment in instrument. activities for children and young people expanded the arts available to them and “There were four of us [children] and for about seven years (between 2000 and my parents got it into their heads 2007) provision was more consistent. that I might be able to do it and might Tammy spent all her time at The Crew Club in Whitehawk. Here she and her friends What this shows is that access to the arts had the opportunity to do drama, has changed over time. Organisations 11 filmmaking, writing, singing and arts providing an arts offer cannot undertake and crafts. long-term planning of provision because they are vulnerable to the vagaries of As an adult, Tammy feels privileged to political decision making and changes in have had this experience because it had funding priorities. a profoundly positive impact on her growing up. This was not confined to community provision, however, in our research, “It [drama] was good for me. I was primary schools came out as a key always quite overweight as a kid and it provider of arts-based opportunities for gained me a lot of confidence because children and participants recalled being you can act as a different person in school plays, choirs, taking part in city and I just had a lot of confidence. It wide initiatives such as the Children’s Parade and Let’s Dance. was fitness as well, not thinking it as fitness, so it did change me really. This did not continue into secondary It’s made me who I am today really, school in East Brighton. Here participants doing little things like that because reported a narrowing of their options and it has given me a lot of confidence no encouragement to take part, or little throughout. With my job I need provision of, creative activities and arts- confidence, talking to people daily you based opportunities. Hayley, who was need confidence and little things like actively involved in the arts at primary that, doing shows and re-enacting school found that her sports orientated things is a confidence thing so it has secondary school had nothing to offer her. made a big impact on my life really. Others pursued arts-based GCSEs but (Tammy) ” were kicked out or excluded from lessons before they had the opportunity to take Children growing up now have fewer their exams. opportunities than Tammy and her friends. Reductions in youth provision and in There was some concern expressed investment for activities for children and amongst parents that the arts- young people have hit local community opportunities available to their children organisations hard. Many are working to are more limited than what was on offer to them. This position is supported by recent provide what they can on much tighter 4 budgets and this impacts on the scope research by the Fabien Society (2019) and scale of the arts-based activities open which found there has been a ‘dramatic 4 Cooper, Ben. Primary Colours: The decline of arts education to children and young people. decline’ in both quality and quantity of in primary schools and how it can be reversed (2019). [Online] arts provision in primary schools. This Available at: https://fabians.org.uk/publication/primary-colours/ should be of concern to all parents but will have a disproportionately negative impact Instead, the focus for most people was on on children in the poorest households earning money and providing for oneself 12 whose families are not able to make up and careers in the arts felt like a flight this provision. of the imagination, something which happens to other people who have the It wasn’t only that provision of the arts means to support them to take this risk. was thin at secondary school in East Charlie likens going home and telling your Brighton for many of the participants of parents you are going to be an actor to this research. It was felt by participants saying, 'I want to be a footballer when I that teachers lacked aspiration for them grow up'. because they were from poorer areas of the city and this meant they not only “Because everyone is hustling for prevented access to the arts by default money all the time and you’ve grown they stopped young people even knowing up in an environment where money is that a career in the arts was a possibility. short, everything becomes about being Instead they recalled being pushed down able to support yourself financially and stereotypical and very limited paths. not having to rely on anyone because there's no one you can rely on. All The emphasis on ‘getting a job’ didn’t just come from school. It was also ingrained of your decisions are based around into neighbourhood life. In the interview, practicality and what has to happen Mark put it very powerfully. rather than what you would like to happen or what you think could be “You were told you would be useless good for your soul.” (Zoe) if you don’t get any work. The pressure of having to get money and work As adults, practical concerns were still was pummeled into you. And those very live for participants. Like the families they were raised in, many participants little things, over time, cage your had children and busy lives where they aspirations. (Mark) ” are juggling multiple responsibilities, including having children with extended Pressure to earn a living left many needs, with very limited resources. participants struggling to justify any involvement with the arts. It was, Zoe Unsurprisingly, money remains a huge "explained, ‘an indulgence’ people could barrier to accessing the arts. With a ill afford and the notion that you could reduction in the local opportunities make a living as an actor, writer or artist available people are forced to look further was almost nonexistent and, as Zoe put it, afield, particularly for their children, but 'how can you aspire to something that this comes with extra costs that many can you actually don’t know exists? '. ill afford. In addition to this, participants expressed some concerns about how welcome their children would be in other “[Interviewer] That theme, anxious parts of the city. Paul is in his late thirties people, anxious lives. Would you like 13 and was very dismissive of the arts as a to explore that? Write about it? young person, where he grew up it just Yeah. I’m not great at spelling. You wasn’t ‘cool.’ His experience as a youth know I can spell but I haven’t got much worker changed his mind and he now confidence with wording things in a encourages all his children to pursue correct way but if I was to sit there the things they are interested in, which and talk to somebody about even how includes the arts. Paul gave up work to look after his wife who is disabled so the I feel, and they helped me write it.” family live on a low income, but it’s how (Tammy) his children would be treated by others that concerns him. Julie found reading really hard and didn’t like drama classes as she hated standing I would personally travel anywhere in front of people reading from a script. “ As an adult she reads, keeps a diary and to give them what they wanted but writes stories with her children, but her then it’s whether they’d feel welcomed experience at school really affected her elsewhere because it’s in the us and confidence. you, are from Whitehawk, what are you doing here sort of thing? I am I’d give [drama classes] a go but I think privileged I go to this school, blah “I’d worry about the reading... I think blah blah. My mum can afford to send I would definitely panic about the me on this theatre trip as part of my reading in case I didn’t know... probably course. I can afford these costumes don’t want to admit that you can’t do and I don’t want them to feel ostracized something.” (Julie) because we couldn’t necessarily do all of that for them. (Paul) For people who have had the privilege of ” access to a good education this may seem This shows that the emotional and not like a trivial concern, but not being sure just practical parts of people’s lives you can read, spell or write something and experiences must be considered if required to do so is deeply shaming. when thinking about the barriers to The fear it generates stops people from the arts. People who live in areas that taking part, doing things they really want are marginalized and stigmatized by to do and from expressing themselves others can lack confidence as a result of creatively. It must be taken seriously by growing up and living in an underserved arts organisations. neighbourhood. Analysis of our qualitative data showed us that many people were very conscious in particular about their ability to read and write. Those few lucky enough to be involved Julie spoke longingly of the ‘freedom’ she in arts activities reported that these felt when doing her art GCSE coursework. 14 THE BENEFITS experiences provided them with a great Charlie and Tammy both described the sense of happiness and freedom. They pleasure they found in being able to were a rare and exhilarating opportunity transform into someone else when acting, OF THE ARTS to be oneself, free from the anxieties and Jane got ‘lost’ in books as a child. responsibilities of daily life. They offered an outlet for the things that were going The research shows that the benefits of on at home, as well as a safe space to the arts were not just felt by individuals. simply have fun and play. People smiled Mark recalled a short period at secondary and laughed during the research as they school where a new teacher transformed recalled art and music lessons, drama access to the arts by putting on a musical, classes, school outings to the theatre, or a talent show and taking pupils to a creative writing exams. show in London and to see an Opera at Glyndebourne. An experience that he Lucy was brought up in Whitehawk ‘from said opened up his world, lifted the absolute newborn’. Her parents broke whole school and for a little while up when she was two and she became transformed what he and his friends a young carer to her mum, who was thought was possible. diagnosed with MS when she was four. Having to care for her mum had a ‘massive “[Interviewer] Can you remember the impact’ on her childhood. She couldn’t feeling in the school when that was go out a lot, had to stay in the vicinity of happening? Brilliant, everyone loved her house and be back in early to make it...I don’t know...every single person sure her mother took her medications. Her I know loved it and you know and I mother had a meeting with her support think a little bit of the fear...everyone teacher to discuss how they could help was...the pressures of their friends, her release the anger, anxieties and upset she was experiencing and eventually Lucy "oh yeah...why you doing that you prat" joined a dance class. and everything...there was none of that. Everyone was well supportive of “I forgot about [all the stuff going on everyone because they see how good at home and all the anxieties around it was and how funny it was.” (Sam) being in school] because I was... once Unfortunately, and like many of I got into something I was determined the opportunities described by our to do and I enjoyed, I wanted to do, I participants, this was short lived and didn’t think about that at home. [...] stopped when the teacher left to take up You’re not thinking about all the other... a role in a new school. The impact of what You’re just yourself, aren’t you?” (Lucy) she did continues to reverberate around Mark’s friendship group, however, who ‘still talk about the difference it made to us’ helping me with my social skills. I feel when he gets together with friends. like I can let go in a way you're free 15 to express different parts of yourself Our research shows that it is not just and not being judged. Like right now. accessing arts activities in childhood that I am about to run a lantern making makes a positive difference to people’s workshop dressed as an elf! I have lives. In both East Brighton and Hangleton never done this before. This comes and Knoll people reported the positive directly from building my confidence benefits of involvement in the arts. through arts at the Our Place.” (Sophie) I used to go to the art club at the “ But it’s important to acknowledge that Bristol Estate Community room the data shows this is not always so (Making Our Mark) on Monday straightforward and some who did, nights with my family. I remember through a chance encounter with an the day with a blue oil pastel. What I artform, discover a passion, found made made me fall in love with the themselves occupying a metaphorical abstract.” (Fazim) ‘no man’s land’ between two cultures. Charlie, for example, discovered a talent “When I do life drawing I lose track of and passion for acting when a theatre time, I become in the moment, which workshop was held at his primary school. is very calming. As somebody with a terminal illness this is very therapeutic “I just remember thinking yeah this for me. (Dawn) is brilliant. I just suppose it was ” completely different to anything I had For some, longer term involvement in experienced.” (Charlie) participation in the arts had a profound impact on levels of confidence and has He went on to attend a drama group been a really life changing experience. regularly in another area of the city but never felt comfortable in that space or “As a kid the last thing my like he could truly ‘be himself’. His family grandparents would have done is to considered sending him to stage school take me to any theatre show because but could not afford the fees. Charlie stopped acting when he was thirteen but they couldn't have afforded it. I have rediscovered it when he chose to study a stronger connection now. Since Our GCSE drama. By this time, Charlie was at a Place started in 2017 it's broadened my different school from the rest of his mates, horizons. I know the arts can engage away from the neighbourhood. He took you socially, spiritually, mentally in part in many performances and gained a positive way. Therefore, building an A grade in his exam but nonetheless stronger relationships with peers, felt that the difference in level of acting skill and experience between himself and because you’re not one of them.” his middle-class peers was too great to (Charlie) 16 bridge. Unable to talk to his parents, who he felt would interpret his ambition to act Despite the risks, however, some as ‘lazy’ Charlie gave it up silently. Now participants in both areas expressed the in his mid-thirties, Charlie hasn’t acted view that not having access to the arts since. He feels quite angry at how his was not just neutral but was another way area and family circumstances were able in which they were denied a voice and to have such a profound impact on his opportunities to grow and develop opportunity to do something he loved and emotionally and psychologically. was good at. He believes strongly that his experience is not unique and that a lot of “I think that if you have spaces and the opposition or sarcasm he has seen places where you can express yourself from friends and family about pursuits creatively, I think there are other such as acting hide a bigger hurt. parts of the brain that need that like it feeds people. It’s like nourishment They’ve all got a story of what they “ for people. It’s a way that you can work could have been if circumstances had things out psychologically, it’s a way been different. So maybe, really, they’re that you can express yourself and who just all a bit broken hearted. And you you are as a person and what your can become quite cynical, quite bitter. views are, what your thoughts are and But there isn’t that understanding so how you see the world... I think having that person then just feels bad ‘oh ok, the opportunity to do something I’ll just go back in my box. (Charlie) ” creative gives expression to that, that uniqueness, those thoughts, During our conversation, we asked Charlie if he would take the opportunity to act those ideas, those dreams, those again if it was offered to him. He replied. aspirations, those fears, those... and I think if you don’t have access to that, “Bein g the only type of person like to those things you can carry a lot of it me it’s always a daunting and around with you.” (Zoe) uncomfortable place. You’re doing that all on your own and casting yourself aside from what is your identity to some people, a council estate person and we don’t do this sort of thing... To then going to a place where again you’re still feeling like you can’t really go and express yourself in that area Many participants said that this was the “[Interviewer] What would you do if first time in their lives that anyone had someone gave the opportunity to act 17 UNSPOKEN talked to them about this subject. And it now? I’d probably freak out at first. I’d was interesting that so many of the people probably think ‘oh shit, what would I we spoke to disclosed a dream or a regret do, and would I be able to do it’ and lot CREATIVE DREAMS they had held on to, often for many years, of it is anxiety. When it’s something about their relationship with the arts. For new and you think ‘oh I’m not going some, like Tammy and Zoe, this was a AND REGRETS to be able to do it’ you know its little dream they had kept silent from friends and family to have a career in the creative things that put you off doing things arts as an actor and writer. but I’d just love to do it. It will always be something that I’ve always wanted “Do you know what one of my dreams to do and I’d love to do it.” (Tammy) is always been, I’ve always wanted to be an actor. But I never ever known For Zoe the barriers are more psychological, and she struggles to anywhere to go to start it. I’ve always reconcile her identity and life as a loved doing it but I just never knew working-class woman with a dream where to start, where to go.” (Tammy) that extends so far beyond the realm of her experience. Taking time out away “I think there is that bit inside me that from family and work responsibilities, to would still really love to write for a focus on something which isn’t strictly living but I don’t ever really say it out necessary and solely for the benefit of loud because I feel embarrassed by it one’s well-being feels like an ‘insurrection’ to be honest, and I feel embarrassed and an ‘indulgence’. by it because it seems like such a fantasy (Zoe) “I look online, and I see writing retreats ” and writing courses and they're not Both women talked at length about how cheap and I think, ‘would I invest not knowing anyone in the industry and that in myself?’ It just seems quite not having the ‘first clue’ about where to an indulgent thing to do when there go or what to do had prevented them from are bills to pay and other things that following their ambition. Now, Tammy is a need to be prioritised. You would feel, mother herself and feels that the financial you know, ‘who do you think you are? pressure she is under privately renting in ” (Zoe) East Brighton and earning low wages as a health care assistant would mean this is absolutely out of reach, even though she would love the opportunity.
This informs a deeper lack of belief in the ‘everyone’ that she wants to be a designer right to feel worthy of creative pursuits and has made enquiries about how she 18 and the right to have them on an equal might start to achieve this but has yet footing to those from other socio- found a way that she can make it happen. economic backgrounds. Pursuing a career Courses and classes cost money and time in the arts requires a huge amount of that she cannot afford but despite this she confidence, whichever background one remains determined and optimistic. She is comes from. To do so with the financial keen to take any opportunities that come and social barriers faced by those living her way. in East Brighton and Hangleton and Knoll raises that amount tenfold. Others voiced regret at not learning to play a musical instrument, not writing as much “I think you have [to have] the as they had in childhood, not taking the confidence to say, well I’ve got no limited number of opportunities available background in it and I don’t know to them at different points in their lives anyone else that does it and I've never or not being able to provide as many seen anyone make money from this opportunities as they would like for their own children. but do you know what I’m willing to give it a go.” (Zoe) But not everyone was so reticent. Others talked about dreams they had had. They had the courage to share their dreams with their loved ones but were struggling to achieve it, like Faith who wants to be a clothes designer. “I love clothes *laughs* You can’t go wrong with clothes. I would love to make my own clothes one day that’s my dream and then yeah, that’s it.” (Faith)
Faith is originally from Nigeria. She moved to Britain twenty years ago for a better life and moved to East Brighton just over a decade ago with her husband and family. Faith and her husband both work in low paid insecure jobs and work hard to support their large family. She has told It is not just the individual stories that we Why wouldn’t someone look in East think merit attention. What is interesting Brighton or Hangleton and Knoll? To Mark 19 to us is the feeling in both areas that the answer is obvious, here you find these kinds of things, publishing a novel, working class people and working-class becoming an actor, just don’t happen here. people don’t act, they are builders. This A sentiment that is so accurately voiced by view may seem defeatist, but given the Mark in this extract below. recent concern expressed by Equity 5 in the bias shown against actors from “[Interviewer] And so of all of that working class actors in the industry it is massive group [of approx. 50 young a view shared widely. Indeed, what Mark people] that you told me about gives voice to here are the constraints and earlier, can you remember one limitations placed on working class lives person... Yeah and the leap of the imagination it takes to even consider something else. [Interviewer]... being involved in anything that was arts based, creative, music, writing, drama ...And considering I’m in touch with, I’d say probably more of my secondary school friends than anyone I know and that’s still the case to this day, twenty years after leaving school. [Interviewer] Ok, so no creative activities? No-one I know, no...bar obviously creative in terms of creative builders (both laugh). Nothing else. Got a really good joiner, he’s creative. But if you looking for the next Daniel Day Lewis you’d better not look here .” (Mark)
5 Performers’ Alliance APPG inquiry: Breaking the Class Ceiling in the Arts: an inquiry into social mobility in the creative sector [Online] https://www.equity.org.uk/media/2289/appg- inquiry-on-social-mobility-inquiry-outline.pdf A small number of participants in our When residents consider attending arts research do attend some formal arts events events they do so as a treat for the whole 20 ARTS ATTENDANCE in the city but the majority do not. The family and will seek out musicals, pantos difference between these two groups was and theatre shows which are mostly found often, but not always, having spent some in London. The cost of attending such an time in their lives living away from the event as a family is prohibitive for most. area before moving back or having done further study. Most of the people who took “You know my kid might go, ‘Oh, I want part in our research had attended a city to go watch... ’ ok so that show is on in venue at least once, usually as children, London for the next three weeks, I ain’t but had little or no engagement with them got money til the next eight weeks so in adulthood. Similar social and financial that’s an opportunity gone, that show barriers which prevent residents in East might not be coming back and that’s Brighton and Hangleton and Knoll from one thing that he’s really interested in, realising creative dreams also prevent them from attending formal arts events. that might have sparked something in him that I can’t get to, as much as I The sense that the arts are ‘not something want to because if I did that they won’t we would do’ translates to a feeling that be eating for the next seven days.” what is available for consumption ‘is not for (Mark ) us’. People who have grown up and live in our areas rarely find themselves represented When residents consider attending arts in books, plays or television shows. When organisations in the city or elsewhere, they they are, the focus is often on negative and fear they will not be welcome. marginal aspects of the community and rarely put their voices centre-stage. “[Interviewer] Ok do you think some of the other mums that you know would Activities and shows are rarely advertised have the confidence to just walk in in those neighbourhoods. As we move away [to an art gallery in town]? Nah...not from print advertisement, only large, often from the estate I don’t think...I don’t London based, productions are advertised know if that’s because of the way on billboards and public transport. While like...when you talk about art galleries most people know about most art venues and art places you think of straight in Brighton, and understand what might take place there, most wouldn’t know away don’t you...people with money... what’s showing that week, and many arts bit more...dressed a bit more posher... organisations remain unknown to them. bit more snootier...you probably think oh got a load of Whitehawk mums “I’d have thought the fringe was a new here, what are they coming in for...not thing and I’ve lived here my whole life.” just to show their kids around...what (Mark) if they went to college and university and did all art, this is what they could when they attended classes or workshops do...yeah. [Interviewer] So it would outside of their neighbourhood. But when 21 be other people’s reactions? Yeah residents get past the many hurdles I think that’s what I think a lot of it lined up before them and make it to and is. [Interviewer] So you think other through a show, they walk away with a people would make judgements sense of awe and wonder. Similarly to the way the arts based activities they about... I think we probably think partook in as children gave them a sense they would, they probably wouldn’t, of freedom, escapism and joy, attending they probably wouldn’t even look at shows, going to a musical or a play us...they probably think oh well just a opens up a bubble in which they can lose load of really...probably wouldn’t even themselves away from the challenges of realise where we’re from but I think a day to day life. lot of people over here do think of we can’t do that because of what we’re “T here’s so much there isn’t there, you tarnished with, I don’t know.” (Julie) don’t know where to look, there’s so much going on at once it’s amazing When they do attend, they often feel out but you just... you zone out and you of place. Participation in the arts instils just stare don’t you... It’s just amazing, in you a set of behaviours and a shared the atmosphere is brilliant...It’s like an language which is often exclusive. adrenaline rush with just happiness, seeing everyone just like there’s not It makes me sound pathetic but you “ a care in the world, it’s just so nice. know there are rules to these things, ” (Lucy) there are rules to how you are in the theatre like being able to pre-order Oh it was amazing, I just loved it... a drink at the bar and have it in the “ probably the best thing I’ve ever seen... interval, the fact that it’s called an I wanted to somehow be a part of it. interval. The woman next to me started ” (Julie) talking to me, she did it often and she knew where the loos were and what it People in both areas were asked how meant when the lights flashed twice. connected they felt to Brighton and Hove It’s like code, it’s like a language and as a city of arts and culture. Unsurprisingly if you don’t know it, people just think people who expressed a greater feeling of you do and if you don’t then you just connectedness reported attending and feel out of place, you just feel like you being more aware of local events. Most of shouldn’t be here. (Zoe) the people involved in our projects said ” they felt little or no connection to the city. It’s the same feeling of discomfort and not fitting in people had as children, Residents are acutely aware that the “It’s only the Crew Club really and you same barriers which got in the way of know with the money issues they may 22 NEXT GENERATION them leading creative lives persist to this not be able to do as much as what day, affecting their children’s access to they used to. What they used to do opportunities and personal growth. All was amazing and now money wise are eager for their children to take part and with other financial situations in creative and arts-based activities and now they’re not able to. There’s just actively encourage them at home. nothing around here anymore which is a shame because you want them I do write a little diary and I do it with “ to start young - socialising and doing the kids, like Milly’s always writing things like that but it just isn’t at all stories...Milly loves writing, she’s around at the moment. (Tammy) always making little stories up and ” stuff... I think I probably try to do more The pressures of time and money affect with my kids now because my mum people’s ability to encourage their didn’t do it with us so I think... I need children’s creativity and many resent not to do it with them more and I think being able to do more for them in that because I struggled with school and regard. As shown earlier in this report my English and reading and I don’t parents can worry that their children want them to do the same, so I just try might not fit in. a little harder. Because I didn’t do it as much, I want them to do like...not all the things I didn’t do but yeah, I want them to do loads.” (Julie) Opportunities for children to engage in the arts within their neighbourhoods remain extremely limited. Schools often retain a strict curriculum which doesn’t encourage creativity in children, and the youth and other community spaces remain the main provider for most. As it was when they were growing up, funding cuts and a lack of consistent, thoughtful planning for the area means those opportunities remain short lived for many. For many, opportunities to explore “So it was that opportunity that in the creativity and follow a career in the arts end led to him going into the creative 23 remain unattainable for their children. industries. It was completely by When they do those opportunities arise chance, totally flukey, not planned for, by chance and are difficult to sustain for designed or thought about but that parents without the disposable income to opportunity has changed so much for support their children beyond school. our family and so much about what I now think is possible. But I’m aware Zoe’s oldest son Joey used to go to the Crew club to make short films. Darren, who that despite the fact that we’ve made used to run these sessions, heard of a that progress, you then come up bursary opportunity for young filmmakers against another set of barriers which who come from backgrounds under- even for us feels difficult to negotiate... represented in the industry and rang her Even though they’ve got their foot to suggest he signed up. Her husband in the door they’re not on the same helped him fill the application and Joey starting line as other people (Zoe) got one of the five bursaries available. ” It’s frustrating for parents like Zoe, Mark, Tammy, Paul and Julie, to find themselves in the same situation as their parents did. In light of the new Covid-19 context arts Supporting People to be Creative Leaders organisations find themselves in, we have 24 THOUGHTS AND drawn together some recommendations Residents have a wealth of experience and for what practical steps we could all local knowledge to bring to the table about take to do things differently. These what works, what doesn’t and why when ADVICE FOR ARTS recommendations are a blend of ideas it comes to arts engagement. People need and principles that emerged from the to be supported and invested in to take a ORGANISATIONS interviews and knowledge that the team at lead in arts engagement in their local area. Brighton People’s Theatre bring, including There is also a need for opportunities to that gained in recent weeks whilst Co- work in all aspects of the arts sector to be AND FUNDERS Chairing the local What Next? chapter. opened up to young people and adults with an interest in earning a living in the arts. The sector has an opportunity to change Around 35% of people we spoke to in as it re-opens. It can reinvent itself so • both Hangleton and Knoll and East that it is not business as usual. Brighton have creative skills they feel Organisations can engage afresh with confident enough to share with others. the communities they are a part of, How can local talent and delivery models and it is important to recognise that be supported? communities are not homogeneous. They are diverse. Full of people with • Work in Hangleton and Knoll showed diverse and complex needs and barriers. that a neighbourhood level Fun Palace,6 Arts organisations need to pay particular organised by local people, was extremely attention to the additional barriers faced successful in engaging people in fun, by people from Black and minority ethnic accessible arts activities. This approach communities, people with disabilities should be recognised and nurtured or health conditions, people with caring across the City. How can this model be responsibilities, children and young shared to enable more opportunities people, older people, LGBTQI+ people. like this? • Places and spaces in neighbourhoods need to be developed where arts activity can flourish and people can express themselves creatively. Local people can manage these initiatives but some time needs to be spent understanding what adjustments and enhancements can be made at a hyper-local level. • Creative leaders in communities can 6 Fun Palaces is a global movement that puts communities create long term plans for the arts in at the heart of culture. Conceived by Joan Littlewood of Theatre Royal Stratford East in the 1950s, they have been their neighbourhood but they need to created by communities since 2014. be encouraged and empowered to do For more info: https://funpalaces.co.uk this and supported to raise resources Meeting people’s desire for a formal arts to enable the delivery of these plans. offer in their neighbourhood 25 How can community leaders be supported and meaningfully included There is also a desire for a more formal in arts sector planning? arts offer in both areas. This could range from weekly workshops in a range Arts organisations need to provide • of art forms, to long-term co-created opportunities and pathways into all participatory projects where artists areas of creative work opportunities and residents work together to create for young people and adults. Paid something that neither of them could have apprenticeships and more paid generated on their own. There is a need internships would remove an element for arts organisations to collaborate with of risk and open up awareness of work eachother and with communities before that exists within the sector. even contemplating delivering a short- Maintaining employment levels is going term project in a community. to be challenging for many in the sector but we need to ensure we don’t shut We recommend these principles for arts the door to others to protect ourselves. organisations thinking about working with What can the sector do to create new communities in Hangleton and Knoll or opportunities for young people and East Brighton. adults from working class communities? 1. It needs to be fun, with no pressure. “You need to find a way to get people to think it’s something they could do for fun, something they could just enjoy and it’s okay to just enjoy stuff, not everything has to have a purpose, have a reason. You can do it just because you’re a human being and human beings have an innate need to be creative.” (Zoe) 2. It needs to be family friendly. People want their children to have the opportunities they didn’t have. “And also for a lot of people they have to have places where families can go, not just individuals because it’s like I can’t give up that time, I’ve got they’re coming from and thinking that my kids or my partner or whatever where they’re coming from might not 26 and even giving up the time is some be anything like where you come from kind of revolutionary, some kind of [...] I think often they – for people who insurrection. So just doing something are so creative, for people who are so where people can bring their kids educated and know so much about the along, or it can be a part of their world – they actually know very little family life is quite important.” (Zoe) about what it means to have not had their upbringing or to not be like them.” 3. It needs to be relevant and accessible (Zoe) to people with extended needs. 6. Change takes time. You don’t build a “If you offered like a writing group and social movement in a day. it was local, I’m like, who does that? Who do I think I am? Does that mean “So you need to do it where the first I want to try and be a writer then? few bits include everyone and keep Does that that mean I want to be them coming back cause the minute Shakespeare? *laughs* Why don’t you you’ve got that bug in someone, it say, ‘Do you like crime novels?’, you’d only takes one or two doesn’t it, one be mobbed!” (Zoe) or two to get that bug. Whether it’s one or two out a thousand or out a 4. It needs to be long term. hundred, it’s irrelevant the first two or three times because two becomes “There’s no point parachuting in, doing four, four becomes eight and soon as a project and parachuting back out you got a hundred, when you double again, because that changes nothing. them numbers you know. a hundred You might as well not bother unless becomes two hundred and then it’s it’s going to be consistent, unless it’s four hundred then all of a sudden going to be over time, unless there are without thinking we’re in thousands, going to be arts organisations active in which is a massive change, thousands the community even on those Tuesday could be a whole town...now if that’s a evenings when no-one turns up.” (Zoe) whole town changed what does that do for the towns around them or when 5. Don’t judge and be open to learning. all them people grow up and move to other towns you know...that...that is “Not making negative judgements about easily...one thing could change...I think people when [they don’t turn up] and it’s so fucking easy really innit? (Mark) instead trying to understand where ” We commissioned a local artist to create In Hangleton we talked to 30 people in 27 WHAT PEOPLE WANT: a board that depicted all the different art the following settings; The Hangleton forms that people in the steering groups and Knoll Multi-Cultural Women's Group, could think of. The steering groups then Befriending Group, Step Out Group, Boxing IN HANGLETON took these to a variety of community Group, Hangleton & West Blatchington settings and asked local people they met Foodbank and the Parent Carer Coffee to vote for the top 3 art forms that they Morning. This is what people we spoke to & KNOLL would most like to participate in, in their are most interested in participating in. neighbourhood.
23% 20% 13% 30% 30% Graffiti Art Film Making 40% Films, Comedy Drama & Creative & Theatre Performing Writing/Poetry Singing 17% 13% 30% 27% 23% Crafting Music Photography 7% Drawing Sensory Art 17% Puppetry 33% Design Technology
3% Needlecraft & Knitting Digital Art 30% 27% 23% 17% & Animation Painting Pottery and Dance Other Ceramics In East Brighton we talked to 93 children and young people in the following 28 WHAT PEOPLE WANT: settings; Safe Start, St Cuthmans Youth Church, Crew Club Girls Group, and Crew YOUNG PEOPLE Club Youth Drop-In. This is what people we spoke to are most interested in IN EAST BRIGHTON participating in. 39% 27% 20% 35% Singing Animation Music/Songwriting 70% Pottery 26% 20% Sculpture Film Making Graffiti Art 37% 34% 17% Painting/Drawing 24% Creative Dance Writing Comedy 9% 47% 35% 29% 24% Storytelling 5% Band Film Night Photography Craft Drama In East Brighton we talked to 98 adults in the following settings; Whitehawk 29 WHAT PEOPLE WANT: Inn, St Cuthmans Church, Hawks Cafe, Whitehawk Library, Robert Lodge, Manor ADULTS IN EAST Gym, ABC Boxing, and Wellsbourne Health Centre. This is what people we spoke to BRIGHTON are most interested in participating in. 22%
37% Sculpture 31% 17% Photography 50% Animation Painting/Drawing Pottery 47% 21% Comedy 7% Film Making Singing 35% 30% Craft Graffiti Art 18% 4% Creative 49% Band Writing 40% 32% Film Night 23% 17%
Dance Drama Music/Songwriting Storytelling What we did East Brighton and Hangleton and Knoll, 30 THE PROCESS including: Wellsbourne CIC, St Cuthman’s From April 2019 – March 2020 we worked Church, The Crew Club, Robert Lodge, The in Hangleton and Knoll and in East Manor Gym, Bristol Estate Community BEHIND Brighton with steering groups of local Rooms, Hangleton Parent Carers, residents who shaped and led the process Hangleton Youth Groups, Multi-Cultural of research. Women’s Group, Hangleton 50+ Group. THIS REPORT You can find the results of this at the Both steering groups end of this report. • Designed a survey about the arts which Each steering group also took a different was used to engage with over 240 people approach to what they did, Hangleton at a wide variety of community events in and Knoll took an action learning Hangleton and Knoll and East Brighton approach, while East Brighton took a over the spring and summer of 2019. multi-method research approach. • Attended the Co-Creating Change Conference run by Battersea Arts Centre in Bristol in autumn 2019 • Involved local people in prioritising what arts activities they want to see on offer in each neighbourhood by visiting community spaces across The Hangleton and Knoll Project secured In October the steering group organised 31 IN HANGLETON funding through Ignite to partner with the a Fun Palace at St Richards Community University of Brighton. Dr Helen Johnson Centre with 18 local makers attended by trained 6 residents in her Collaborative 120 residents. & KNOLL Poetics methodology, using the arts as a method of research with people in The steering group have also run a craft Hangleton and Knoll. session at a local food bank and have begun negotiations around securing a In July 2019 the Hangleton steering dedicated arts venue. group held a Sharing of Learning event to feedback findings to the local community Thanks to the community development and stakeholders. Discussions were held infrastructure provided by the about some key research findings. Hangleton and Knoll Project there is a more developed arts offer in the local 1. What is a Fun Palace and how might community with regular activities being people like to be involved? run for young people by AudioActive, at the multi-cultural women’s group and by 2. What could be done to support local the 50+ Action group. Local residents also people to participate in creative expressed positivity towards the arts offer activities? provided by both local secondary schools, Hove Park and Blatchington Mill. 3. What is our vision for a dedicated arts space in the community?
4. How could we organise things so that local people are able to share their creative skills with each other?
5. What could you/your organisation bring to the development of an arts action plan for the community?
Community researchers went on to present findings at a Community Psychology Festival with Brighton University in the summer of 2019 and steering group members were represented at Hove Park Arts Festival. A group of East Brighton residents working Whitehawk, Manor Farm and 32 IN EAST BRIGHTON collaboratively with Brighton People’s Bristol Estate. Theatre and Dr Carlie Goldsmith, a social • Completed a review of existing data on researcher who grew up in Whitehawk, arts participation and consumption in designed and conducted research that East Brighton. aimed to: All participants involved in the interviews • Understand how local people felt about and community conversations were the arts and how the arts featured in provided with an information sheet that their lives across the life course. set out exactly what the research was • Understand what factors made the for and how the findings would be used. arts accessible and what acted as Informed consent was negotiated with barriers to the arts to people living in all participants prior to interview and this part of the city. community conversations. • Explore what arts activities local people would like to try and the most accessible ways of delivering a programme of taster sessions. The research took a mixed methodological approach and used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Resident members of the project were trained as community researchers and were actively involved in the research process. Carlie produced the initial project design, which was approved by all project members, and conducted some of the research strands. She also supported the project team as they were researching. Between November 2019 and February 2020 project members: • Conducted ten depth qualitative interviews with residents of Whitehawk and Manor Farm. • Conducted 16 shorter Community Conversations with people living in If you want to find out more about anything Maggie Anderson 33 GET IN TOUCH in this report, including opportunities for Dave Bailey partnership working in response to these Christine El-Shabba findings, please contact: Sarah Griffiths Azza Haleeb Naomi Alexander, Artistic Director, Brighton Ian Leaver People’s Theatre via her email: Linda Miller [email protected] Richard Moteane Ricky Perrin If you want to get in touch with the Hangleton Lorraine Snow and Knoll Community Arts Steering group please contact Nicole Monney via email: Thanks to our funders [email protected]
If you want to get in touch with the East Brighton Community Arts Steering group please contact Naomi Alexander via email: [email protected] Arts Commission Community Partner and she will put you in touch with the best person for you to talk to there.
Thanks to the steering groups
Hangleton and Knoll Community Arts Steering Group Thanks to our community partners Monir Amiri Bristol Estate Community Room Sara Gregory Crew Club Jasmine Higgs Due East Takako Higgs Hangleton and Knoll Project Anthony May Manor Gym Nicole Monney (Hangleton and Knoll Robert Lodge Project) Serendipity Anna Muten St Cuthman’s Church Gemma Powell Wellsbourne GP Surgery Rhianydd Somerset Open Up Arts brand identity and East Brighton Steering Group report design by Baxter & Bailey Graham Allen (Serendipity)