‘Woolwich Speaks’ is a community-led project celebrating the area’s street life and exploring its past, present and future through poetry, film and public art. The work was created through a programme of community and local partner engagement and the new commissions were launched to the public in August 2021.

Where is the project located?
Woolwich Town Centre
 
Who is the developer/client of the project?
Royal Borough of Greenwich

‘Woolwich Speaks’ is a community-led project celebrating the area’s street life and exploring its past, present and future through poetry, film and public art. The work was created through a programme of community and local partner engagement and the new commissions were launched to the public in August 2021.The project was delivered by Poet in the City and Royal Borough Greenwich as part of the Woolwich High Street Heritage Action Zone Programme, supported by Historic England.

Initiated as a creative response to the high street, the project connected local artists with Woolwich residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rasheeda Page-Muir wrote ‘The Woolwich Epic’ poem after conducting life story interviews with locals ranging from community leaders and young people to business owners.

The poem personifies the town as a woman who has seen the many diverse stories, experiences, and lives that have contributed to the area’s identity. Residents and visitors were invited to experience the poem, trail and film (in Woolwich Town Centre or online) and to share their thoughts on Woolwich’s future using #WoolwichSpeaks on social media.

The project reflected on Woolwich’s heritage and community during a particularly challenging time, encouraging discussion and exploration of the town centre and creating moments to reflect and connect with others during its creation and in the built environment.
 
Tell us what you did, and how you did it. What was your approach in talking to the community

3 locally embedded artists co-designed their work with the community. A partnership with RevolYOUtion, a youth-led social enterprise, supported deeper community engagement and connections, gathering community stories and delivering targeted engagement, participation and promotion. The project also created 2 mentee roles for local filmmakers.Rasheeda Page-Muir wrote a new poem for Woolwich after conducting life story interviews with locals ranging from community leaders and young people to business owners.

A film of the poem was created by Joe Watkins (Crixus Productions), working with two local filmmakers and in consultation with community members. It stars poet Rasheeda Page-Muir and Woolwich secondary school students. The film features local landmarks as well as archive footage, bringing together themes of community pride, challenges and activism.

The poetry trail was created by R.M. Sánchez-Camus with Rebecca Thomson for Applied Live Art Studios in collaboration with local participants. It took the form of speech bubbles featuring fragments of the poem, their bright colours contrasting with the brick, stone and concrete of the urban environment. Large speech bubbles, up to two metres long, were installed at different heights and scales across 12 sites in Woolwich. They suggest that the surrounding buildings are sharing their secrets, while also mimicking smart phone text conversations.

Participants were invited to the public launch of the project in August 2021 and a marketing and communications plan supported the promotion and engagement of ‘Woolwich Speaks’ to the community, encouraging further conversation via social media.

The film can be viewed here:

www.poetinthecity.co.uk/woolwich-speaks-film
 
How were the results of the community engagement incorporated into decision making? Have you continued the conversation? Will the community stay involved?

9 life-story interviews were led by the commissioned poet with young people, community workers, activists, cultural workers, local business owners, residents and market traders. These interviews, alongside stories gathered through an online campaign, formed the basis for the creation of ‘The Woolwich Epic’ poem.2 workshops were held with 7 members of the community, who signed-up as ‘community collaborators’ to co-design the film and public art with the artists. These sessions shaped the creative content for the film and design concept for the art trail. 2 local filmmakers, mentored by Crixus Productions, assisted with the film production and local young people also starred in the film. The physical poetry trail was developed with local partners and the poem was displayed across 12 partner sites, with the printed trail map hosted by 10 local partners. The trail included a hashtag and QR code to encourage further engagement with the project and conversation. In total, 51 local partnerships were established during the project. A number of local partners including the Clockhouse Community Centre, Tesco and Greenwich + Docklands International festival expressed interest in continuing to work in partnership on similar projects in the future.

The commissioned artist, poet and filmmaker continue to stay connected and discuss further collaborations. The Council is continuing to engage with the community participants and artists as stakeholders on new creative and community projects.

The poem and film will continue to be available and will be used to engage the community at future events in Woolwich.
 
Please provide any evidence or data that highlight your environmental or social impacts and your sustainability approach. 

The project had a digital focus, ensuring all assets were available online, with a physical trail and map supporting access and engagement in the built environment.592 people engaged with the trail digitally and an estimated 4,250 residents as passers-by, during August 2021. The physical poem and map was hosted by 10 local partners and children attending the ‘All Kids Can’ Plumcroft Primary summer camp, a poetry trail partner, received their own copy to take home.

The film has been viewed over 650 times on YouTube and an estimated 4,250 residents saw the film in Woolwich, in General Gordon Square, where it was shown twice a day in August 2021. Woolwich Centre Library screened the film during their National Poetry Day programme. Following the project one of the local filmmakers has been hired for further work by Crixus Productions.

51 local partnerships were developed across the project, including community organisations, businesses, young people, public services, arts centres and artists. All of the ‘community collaborators’ said they would attend further co-design workshops for public art. The project provided a significant platform for a young local poet to engage with the local community and write an honest, and moving, reflection of Woolwich.

23 local partners promoted the project to their networks via social media, newsletters and physical flyers including artFix, MP Matthew Pennycook, Woolwich Works, Outdoor Arts UK, Bathway Theatre, Better and Woolwich Common Community Centre. Social media reached an audience of approximately 200k and #woolwichspeaks was used 74 times.