Creative Colleagues - May 2025

MAY 2025

CREATIVE COLLEAGUES Creative Lives’ in-house magazine

GLASGOW AWAY DAY

This year’s Away Day took place on Wednesday 14 & Thursday 15 May at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow - a well-loved arts centre bustling with creative groups, exhibitions and more.

As well as being a chance for staff and board members to meet, share what we’ve been up to, and plan for the future, we were also joined by guest Juliana de Penha: the founder of Migrant Women Press, a Glasgow-based independent media organisation.

Reflecting on the event, Gavin said: “I heard a desire to simplify and amplify, to reassert our leadership role in championing everyday creativity, to recognise a more radical view of the centrality of creativity as essential to being human.”

THE QUICK CATCH-UP SO LONG, FAREWELL . . .

April saw us make some difficult but necessary changes to our staff team, in order to face the future on a more secure financial footing.

We wish Emily Sherwood, David McDonald and Phoenix Archer all the very best for the future, and are grateful for their time and care. We also said goodbye to Donna Sibley, whose work with us in Reading has come to an end.

RAISE MONEY FOR CREATIVE LIVES AS YOU SHOP! If you shop online at Amazon, Trainline, John Lewis, Argos, Ticketmaster (or any of the other 8,000 companies linked to this scheme) then visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/creative to activate an automatic payment to Creative Lives as you shop.

We’re already seeing payments come in after a few purchases by three staff members (buying travel insurance, train tickets etc).

Also, if we encourage other groups to sign up using this link we get 20% of whatever they raise, too!

POETRY EXHIBITION INSTALLED AT STATION A collection of poems, created during creative writing workshops we ran in Reading, has been installed at Reading Green Park Station.

We hope train travellers will be inspired to look at nature differently and perhaps create their own written responses. Read all about it here.

ROTHERHAM GROUPS RECEIVE MICRO-GRANTS We recently distributed 24 micro-grants to creative and sports groups in Rotherham - including this adorable group of mini Morris Dancers (pictured).

The £250 grants will help the groups take part in activities celebrating Rotherham’s year as Children’s Capital of Culture. You can read about the groups here.

ON THE HORIZON A DEEP DIVE INTO SOCIAL MEDIA Following in the footsteps of Amy, Anna, Luke & Annamae, and Alana we are fortunate to have another PhD intern joining us, funded once again by the Scottish Graduate School of Arts & Humanities.

Nicola Wilson-Torch started with us on 14 April, and will be working part-time for the next six months. During that time, she’ll explore how local creative groups use social media, capturing good examples, pitfalls to avoid, and horizon scanning for what’s coming up next.

EDINBURGH RIVER CELEBRATED IN SONG If you’ve ever visited Edinburgh, chances are you took a walk along the Water of Leith - a beautiful 23-mile river that runs through the city.

Our ‘Mouth of the River’ project saw us commission a song about this well-loved waterway, which you can watch on the Creative Lives YouTube channel now. We’re also running a ‘come and sing’ session at Leith Festival on 14 June, where participants can learn and perform the song.

NEW REPORTS COMING SOON A number of our Place Team initiatives will be available to read about soon, including ‘Creative Health in Tendring’, and reports documenting our work in Reading and Glasgow.

An overview of the Know Your Neighbourhood grants scheme is also in the pipeline, and we’re busy designing an England-specific version of our popular ‘Cash for Culture’ publication, which will be ready by the end of May.

CREATIVE NETWORKS COME TO A CLOSE It served us well during the pandemic, and continued to help Creative Lives bring people together and explore interesting topics - but it’s time for our Creative Network sessions to retire.

We may bring it back for one-off topics, but the themed sessions are stopping.

The last one is due to be held on 9 June, when we’ll once again partner with the Little Theatre Guild to deliver, Creative Network: Theatre. Out topic will be how to create a culture of support and respect, and deal with the ‘difficult behaviours’ groups sometimes encounter!

GETTING TO KNOW...

LINDSEY JACKSON, FINANCE & HR DIRECTOR What’s your first memory of being creative?

I have never been super creative, but I did organise my school class to produce a magazine with stories, poems, puzzles etc and then sell it to the rest of the school. I was 11 and stapled every issue together myself. I recently found a copy at my parents and most of the ink has faded.

If you could click your fingers and be proficient at any art/craft form, what would it be?

Painting, in any form.

Which do you prefer: river walk, beachside stroll or hill climb?

Beach - nothing calms my mind more than being by the sea. And while I do love a nice sunny day at the beach, nothing beats a windswept walk by the sea to make me feel connected to nature and I always take a dip!

You’re planning a day of live music and can book any 5 artists – who’s on the bill?

I agonised over this one and changed my mind so many times! But John Denver, Tracy Chapman, Ashley McBride, Tina Turner and Bon Jovi. I am also going to cheat slightly and have Eminem as my host (as he may throw in a quick off-the-cuff rap while introducing them!)

What inanimate object in your home most sums you up?

My collection of sea glass and hag stones from beach walks, one day I will do something creative with them.

What’s your favourite quality in a person?

Self-depreciation, I love people who can laugh at themselves. I come from a family that teases each other constantly, so I try to get the joke in about myself before they do.

Which do you prefer – chocolate bar, slice of cake or biscuit?

Always cake, lemon sponge is my favourite.

If you could choose any work of art to hang in your home, what would it be?

Going to the Match (1953) by LS Lowry - it makes me feel nostalgic but I am not sure what for. Or the original Comrades, by Alexander Millar, which inspires the same feeling and would have the benefit of being significantly cheaper.

Which country have you never visited but would love to?

New Zealand, but as a very nervous flyer I doubt I could ever manage the flight!

Tell us one thing your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you I really like playing chess. I was in the chess club throughout school and have beaten my friends and family so decisively they will no longer play with me. It could also be my winner’s dance that puts them off!

PHOTO FINISH Each month, we ask a colleague to capture an aspect of their life, at home, or out and about.

“My favourite event from running the Maltings was the annual cake decorating festival. Proper everyday creativity with amateur makers coming from across the country. The blue ribbon event is the flower room. This photo is of a cake! The watering can is the actual cake and the flowers are made of sugar (I have other photos for the curious).

When I mentioned the endeavour to the Crafts Council, they looked at me with goggle eyes!” Gavin Stride, Chair