Helix Arts: Town Common

Historically, towns in England were provided with common lands; places of recreation and entertainment, where cultural and natural resources could be shared by all members of a community.

In February 2020 Helix Arts transformed a patch of astroturf in the main atrium of The Beacon Shopping Centre, North Shields into a new ‘town common’ for the residents of North Shields and surrounding areas. Through an ambitious programme of arts, cultural and community activities, collectively North Shields was reimagined through a series of questions and works exploring the role and function of public space in the town.

Big questions - What are your views? Feed into [email protected]

How do the community feel about North Shields?
What do residents normally do in North Shields and where?
Where are residents from?
Why have residents attended - come the event/ ‘ community conversation’ today?
Why is making better use of local spaces important for their community?
What new things would residents would like to see in North Shields?
Ways to work with community partners (maybe be follow up work canvasing same questions to partners and businesses)

During half term, Helix Arts hosted a series of workshops with artists, performers and community groups. All workshops were free and accessible for a range of different age groups and abilities. Workshops took place within a busy public shopping centre appropriate to this setting.

What’s on programme

This a week long series of events ran from Monday 17th February until Saturday 22 February 2020, and was supported by a team of committed and enthusiastic volunteers.

Click here to download a copy of the programme.

Volunteer

Helix Arts are always on the hunt for volunteers. Get in touch if you are interested in our activities and want to be involved in future work.

Town Common volunteers worked in different roles from stewarding, supporting workshops, chatting to people and so on…

Please contact Yvonne at Helix Arts 0191 241 4931 [email protected] if you are interested in this role with your availability and interests. We ask all our volunteers to complete a registration and equality forms:

Register here: https://forms.gle/nNVYGck25gGH6uH5A
Equality: https://forms.gle/Tr9tqwu7tAV6uoeZ8

These forms can be completed before or after contacting us.

Join our Mailing List

If this kind of thing is not quite right for you now, do join our mailing list for future opportunities and news https://www.helixarts.com/opportunities.php