Arts Development

Dee Park Arts Plan

Project overview

Reading Borough Council has signed up to the comprehensive regeneration of the Dee Park estate in West Reading.  Over the next few years work will be taking place to create a lively central area, provide new housing, estate wide environmental improvements, and new community and shopping facilities. The Arts team has been contributing to this initiative by running a programme of arts activities with local people.

Participants

Young people aged between 7 and 21

Teenage parents

Adults with learning difficulties

Dee Park residents

Creative practitioners/Artists

Katherine Belcher

Nick Garnett

Lisa-Marie Gibbs

Real Time www.real-time.org.uk

Jessica Rost

Partners and funders

Reading Borough Council

Arts Council England South east

Dee Park Community Regeneration Action Group

Dee Park Residents Association

Dee Park Youth Club

Open Door Café

Ranikhet Primary School

Strathy Close Day Centre

Teenage Parents Support Group

Description

As part of the Dee Park Regeneration project a number of artists have been working on the estate over the past 3 years. Kat Belcher, Nick Garnett, Lisa-Marie Gibbs, Real Time and Jessica Rost have worked with different community groups and run projects in photography, animation, video, glass, graphics, sculpture and collage. The projects have been very different but the common theme has been looking at different aspects of Dee Park, its residents and its environment. Projects so far have included:

·        An Eye on Dee Park - Katherine Belcher devised this project and invited all Dee Park residents to photograph the estate using disposable cameras. Residents were issued with a pack containing their camera and a brief from the artist, and the results were displayed as an exhibition and a set of outdoor banners. The images show different aspects of Dee Park — green, urban, people, buildings — and are as varied as the people who live and work here.  

·        Being Mum - Lisa-Marie Gibbs worked on this project with members of the Teenage Parents Support Group which meets regularly at Dee Park. Lisa-Marie says “A group of 7 young women, their children and myself met over a period of 5 weeks. We started with the very loose idea of exploring the issues of being young mums personally and in society. We explored our ideas through painting, collage and photography using a wide range of materials.”

·        The Birthday Bash - Jessica Rost worked with pupils from Ranikhet Primary School who devised storyboards, wrote scripts, made props and created the “The Birthday Bash”, a stopframe animation set entirely in Dee Park.

 ·        Myths, Legends and Lies - Nick Garnett worked with members of the Dee Park Youth Club on a project which resulted in comic book images, 2D and 3D, depicting the young people and their lives.

·        Smash n Grab – Nick Garnett worked with members of the Dee Park Youth Club on a glass project which resulted in a series of sculptures. Nick said “These 4 pieces are the conclusion of Adventures in Glass, a project which allowed me to work with the Youth Club for the first time and give us a chance to get to know each other. The 2 exploding tear drops are called Smash and Grab.  They are fragile and visually illusive. In their glass cases they are undoubtedly at risk, under threat and yet powerful. Like trust, these pieces have not been easy to build and would be so easy to break!”

·        Video documentaries - Real Time worked with various groups on the estate to produce 2 documentary films. “Too Young to be Mum” was made by the Teenage Parents Group and explores the experiences and perspectives of young mothers. “What We Want” captures the views of local young people and documents their wishes for the future of Dee Park. In each film the planning, camera work and editing were carried out by the groups with the support of Real Time.