29 Apr 2024
We have recently had fun working on a community project with No More Nowt (Formerly East Durham Creates), Artists Luca Rutherford and Lizzie Klotz and photographer Amelia Read. We started out not being completely sure of what we wanted or how we could include the wide range of people and groups that access and support the village hall, however Luca and Lizzie spent an intensive couple of weeks with us, speaking to people from every group who visited the hall and they came up with a plan!
The final product of the project is a huge gallery of photographs mounted on the outside walls of the village hall featuring adults, children, animals and scenery, giving a picturesque view of what Quakies is and what it means to be part of village life here.
To celebrate the installation of the artwork we held a free, family friendly launch party. Alongside being able to view the actual display, there was a display of postcard sized images and a projected display of all of the photos that were taken. Visitors enjoyed free food and drinks, craft activities for children and screen-printing where people could create a tea towel featuring an image of the Quaking Houses pit wheel, followed by an evening of live entertainment from Dan Graham and some very talented local people taking part in the buskers event.
If anyone missed the event but would like to have a look please pop in to the hall as we have a small number of photo books here featuring more of the pictures that were taken but did not make it onto the wall.
As a result of the great collaboration between ourselves and No More Nowt we have been asked to become one of their cultural hubs, which entails being a local venue to experience various creative activities and trying out new ideas. We look forward to working with them Ellen, Vonni and more of the team as the project develops.