Our Darnhill Stronger Communities Programme uses co-production and collaboration with local residents to ensure their voices and ideas are at the heart of the creative programme and curation of high-quality cultural experiences, such as the festivals that take place in Darnhill.
This model of co-production can be seen in our long history collaboration with the Darnhill Festival Association - a group of residents who have been raising funds for the annual Darnhill festival for almost 20 years - to co-create high-quality summer and winter community festival events on the estate.
In 2019 we delivered the Overspill Project - an 18-month collaboration with residents on the Darnhill and Langley estates, celebrating their history as "Overspill estates". A new steering group was formed by The Big Life Company and local residents and we joined to ensure community voice was heard and amplified during the project.
The steering group is an example of co-production in action, bringing community partners and residents together and collaborating to achieve shared aims, and following the retirement of the previous Chair Cartwheel Arts were chosen to chair the group on a bi-monthly basis.
The value and significance of our partnership working in Darnhill has been recognised by Guinness Partnership, the social landlord, who funds a portion of our Stronger Communities Coordinator's salary, specifically to support our work in Darnhill, which includes:
- Managing the steering group
- Co-producing annual summer and winter festivals with the Darnhill Festival Association and residents
- Supporting the Community Cafe
- Co-creating creative sessions for young and older people on the estate
- Supporting local volunteers
- Fundraising for activity on the estate