2020 Retrospective

Desert Island DN

July 6th - July 12th 2020

Desert Island DN was created by the team at Right Up Our Street, when we realised that our programme we had planned was no longer fit for purpose. Desert Island DN is a week-long showcase of the Research and Development (R&D) work, shared with our audience in collaboration with Sine FM.

By giving the chosen artists (shortlisted after application by our community partners) the funding, it would allow each artist the time and space to adapt their practice to meet the challenges that the global pandemic had set.

We're so pleased to be able to say that the outcomes of the Research and Development period have far exceeded our expectations, with many of the projects reaching into new communities and capturing the thoughts and feelings of the many individuals living in Doncaster during these unprecedented times.

Keeley Lane, Buglight Theatre: What's your story?

“The R&D has allowed us to research ways to work digitally during the pandemic, watch lots of digital work, test ways of collecting stories & producing two pilot audio plays. We've loved hearing from you and gathering your stories and working with writers Kat Martin and Chris O'Connor on the two plays”.

Sweet Treats - written by Kat Rose Martin and was performed by Julie Higginson and Keeley Lane based on the memoirs of Hannah Shekle from Dreambakes.

In The Dark - written by Chris O'Connor was performed by Anna Healy Dow and Susan Elizabeth Quammie.

Wayne Sables - Quarantine Creates

“Through the Right Up Our Street project I was able to connect with a wide range of Doncaster’s communities. The aim was to capture the positive aspects of the lockdown Through a series of self recorded audio interviews.

The recorded audio was then edited by myself to create a sound score detailing the positives of life in lockdown. Once the audio score was edited it then formed the basis to create a bespoke projection map digital installation using the audio to interact with the digital animations.”

The New Fringe - Text Art - Sacha Gray

“The project is about experimenting with ways The New Fringe can help stimulate creativity within the community, in our homes during the isolation of Covid 19.

How we can reach and engage people who don’t normally engage with art or creative activity and get a message across to the Doncaster public that ‘art’ is actually accessible and worth getting involved with.”

Sharon Richards, Richard Hurford and Andrew Loretto - DONCTOPIA

Sharon Richards, Richard Hurford and Andrew Loretto, received funding from Right Up Our Street to work on this pilot research and development project during June 2020.

DONCTOPIA is inspired by the idea of Utopia – an imaginary perfect society – focusing on the concept of ‘Concrete Utopias’, not fantasies but blueprints for a better future. It aims to unlock the hopes and dreams of Doncaster residents and invent ways to make them a practical reality.

James Lockey - Thoughts Formed

“Thoughts Formed is an R&D project funded by Right Up Our Street, which gave me the opportunity to explore new ways of collaborating with people and the chance to push myself creatively in a new way, this resulted in the creation of new work.  Two short vignettes that captured a moment within a conversation.

From the start I was interested in getting the thoughts on the current situation from people that I thought to be underrepresented in the media, notably the voice of asylum seekers, refugees and the elderly.”

James Blakey - Lockdown Affinity

The Lockdown Affinity, led by a Yorkshire based theatre director who has been working closely with Doncaster community groups over the last two years, James Blakey, brought together an intergenerational group of citizen artists from a range of Doncaster’s communities to stay connected, creative and hopeful during the lockdown and beyond.

“Staying connected with the group members has really kept me feeling positive throughout lockdown. Living alone it's easy to feel isolated and being able to be with other members on zoom feels like belonging. I don’t always understand the things we do but I enjoy it so much and feel it stretches my mind. I have so enjoyed being involved. Who would have thought at 72 I would start writing poetry! I’m not sure what I will do when the project ends.”

Charlotte Felters - All Eyes on Culture

Charlotte teamed up with local Doncaster artists: August Charles, Kiziah & the Kings and the incredible Doncaster charity b:friend. August and Kiziah & the Kings delivered a musical performance, covering a song chosen for them by the b:friend older neighbours. Both artists sent their own original tracks to the b:friend neighbours which was then sent out in their monthly care packages as a mixtape!

Utterance

November to December 2020

Utterance is about giving a platform to those who have not always been heard during lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic. Artists Helen Mort and James Lockey worked across the South Yorkshire with the support of Age UK Doncaster, older people and carers out in the community and in residential care.

Participants were invited to send in letters or take part in workshops that allowed them to express their experience of this time, their words then formed a verbatim poem created by poet Helen Mort and a moving image response produced by James Lockey.

The work was commissioned by Off the Shelf Festival and was premiered across various digital platforms to mark the start of England's second lockdown on November 5th.

The project was developed in partnership between WE Great Place, Right Up Our Street and Barnsley Museum.

Depictions of DN

October 2020 - Present

DepictionsDN has been a great way to celebrate our local heroes, who have gone above and beyond for our communities during the pandemic.

This is a social media campaign where we ask people to send in nominations of people who they think deserve a depiction, along with an image and a few sentences as to why they have nominated them. We then posted them on social media weekly. We hope for this campaign to go move through the year until June.

As this is an ongoing project we have not seen the end product of this yet, however we hope to showcase the amazing nominees in our 2021 Light Show in November. With a committee choosing ten nominee’s, they will be photographed by James Lockey and celebrated at the light event.