New Team Member - Rick Bradbury

My name is Rick Bradbury, and I have just started working for Right Up Our Street in the role of community coordinator. I was born and bred in Doncaster and can’t believe my luck that I now have the opportunity to contribute to its cultural landscape.

Some of Donny’s own residents are often the first to disparage the town, but we do it a disservice. It is a wonderful town full of complexity, character, and quirk, and I am immensely proud to be from here.

The ongoing investments into Doncaster’s market, library, train station, high street, etc... are all very welcome, but no less than this town deserves. Its look is changing rapidly for the better, now our perception of the place that we call home needs to follow suit, and I believe that community art is a great place to start.

Don’t get me wrong, Doncaster is far from the cultural desert that it was once viewed as. Right Up Our Street is one of many fantastic organisations raising the artistic profile of the town and its population, and right now there is a real creative momentum. Together we need to make sure that we are not cresting this wave of creativity, but instead continue to nurture it into a full-blown tsunami that washes away any notion that Doncaster is not creative.

Right Up Our Street works with community groups and projects all around Doncaster that are doing just that – creating, performing, and facilitating excellent art in Doncaster – and now I am their primary contact for RUOS.

The projects, many of which have been operating for several years, are now experts in their particular creative fields. In my role as community coordinator, I hope to support these established projects in their stride toward self-sustainability – whether that be through helping with their fundraising, facilitating meetings, or even just offering administrative assistance. I think my professional background in communications will be vital in enhancing and extending the reach of the community groups’ own voice.

I expect each community group will have their own set of challenges to overcome and I can’t wait to get started in easing some of their pressures and, ultimately, helping Doncaster achieve its full potential.