Reverberations

Since 2019 Take A Part have been working in the East End of Plymouth on a Heritage Lottery Funded project Reverberations. In the lead up to city-wide reflections on the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower to North America, Take A Part has been developing and delivering a programme of activity working with the local community and several partner organisations to share contemporary and historic stories of migration. Our programme has been developed and driven forward by the Coxside Arts Action Group, a group of residents and key stakeholders in Coxside who want to bring the community together through art. We have also worked with other community organisations including Prince Rock Primary School, Nomony Children's Centre Multicultural Parents and Toddlers Group, Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council Women’s Group, PRIME Skatepark Youth Forum, and with partner organisations The Box, Plymouth Community Homes, Active Neighbourhoods at Plymouth City Council, and the National Marine Aquarium.

Key project highlights include creating stories of local myths and publishing them in a zine with artists Crab and Bee; making music and movement about histories of the sea with Far Flung Dance Theatre (an integrated company of disabled and non-disabled dancers); performing with Beyond Face (a theatre company championing the work of performers of colour in the far South West) in the Teats Hill amphitheatre and sharing stories of home; creating photo and map weavings based on Chitimacha basket designs led by indigenous North American artist Sarah Sense; watching a film about histories of migration and their relation to ocean biodiversity by artist Laura Hopes in the National Marine Aquarium, which featured underwater recordings that we made; visiting an artist forge to see our co-designed planter and bench being made with our drawings showing our personal, local, and international histories on.

Our second year programme was developed by the Coxside Arts Action Group (later they became known as 'CRAB' Coxside Residents Art Board). They commissioned artists Joanna Brinton and Bridgette Ashton to create work which creatively maps Coxside’s histories and relation to colonial histories. Bridgette and Jo focussed on Coxside’s histories of china clay, tea, and sugar to explore this with the community. The Arts Action Group also commissioning an artist to look at the histories and myths of Coxside Carnival. The project was reframed in response to COVID-19 but was still able to deliver (with safe measures in place) on many aspects of the intended programme for year 2 including a socially distanced Coxside Carnival.

• Delivered 42 events and workshops
• Engaged with 732 participants
• Commissioned 20 artists
• Worked with 9 project partners
• Commissioned local residents as artists and writers - supporting local talent
• Provided training opportunities for artists, producers, and residents across our programme - promoting life-long learning
• Provided more engagement opportunities with the green and blue spaces in the Coxside community - promoting environmental care
• Introduced different communities of identity and communities of interest to each other - promoting community togetherness and support, and cultural exchange
• Supported the development of incorporated community group CRAB

Through the development of the Coxside Residents Art Board (CRAB) we are continuing to collaborate with the Coxside and Teats Hill community to continue responding to the ideas and energy of the community to develop creative projects.