“I loved seeing how excited people were about being involved, how they felt a sense of belonging.”

Sara Davies is a Health and Wellbeing Coach. She works as the Carlton Community Connector for Active Notts, who empower people to be active in a way that works for them. Carlton is a town in Gedling, Nottinghamshire, just to the east of Nottingham City.

City Arts worked with Sara as part of our My Voice! My Place! project, which set out to connect the community of Carlton with an artist. Coming together for food and conversation, residents from Jigsaw Homes properties joined other local people, forming a focus group to shape a creative project about their area. They chose to work with a filmmaker to produce a short film about Carlton, celebrating its people and places.

Created by filmmaker Owen Davis, the film captured voices from and places in the Carlton community. It premiered at a special community event in the Richard Herrod Centre in Carlton. Performances by local groups preceded the screening, and local services had stalls promoting their work. Nearly 100 local people attended the premiere.

Sara spoke to us about the project:

I supported City Arts to get Carlton residents involved in the project. Both in terms of them contributing to the initial focus group; and being recorded for the film. I also encouraged local people to attend the premiere, and found performers for it like the Jigsaw Homes Singers and Simply Dance.

My Voice! My Place! was an incredible project. I loved seeing how excited people were about being involved in it: how they enjoyed being able to share their experience of living in Carlton with other people; how they felt a sense of belonging; that they were being listened to.

At the premiere, I saw people that I know hardly ever leave their homes, unless they’re going to go to the doctors or the hospital. The event helped to bring them out. I loved watching them engage. These are people that don’t always have a lot of joy in their life, or for whom life can be really hard. People were throwing themselves into singing along with the Jigsaw Home Singers. Whole faces lit up. That was just really, really wonderful to see. It was just like a great big street party really, and you could sense the pride that people felt in being a Carlton resident.

Watching the film was very emotional for me because I recognised about 95% of the voices featured in it. It was just lovely listening to what they were saying, finding out what was important to them, learning from them. I find it emotional and kind of well up every time I watch it. I’ve been telling people involved in the film about how many clicks they’ve had on YouTube and how the film will be shown at various leisure centres, and the Arnold festival. They’re quite excited about that.

The project has had a big impact. It made people feel proud to be a Carlton resident and part of the Carlton community. For the people who don’t normally come out, who attended the premiere, it’s made them think about other things they can do. And it’s sparked new ideas for the community. I’ve been talking to Alma at City Arts about a Carlton Arts Week, something that showcases all the talent that’s out there.

For this project, City Arts worked with Jigsaw Homes to try and get residents involved in the local community. I think there was some good learning about what enables people who are socially isolated to get involved in something: if they are listened to; if they feel part of the project; if the ideas come from them, rather than being imposed on them; if the sessions take place in a known safe place; if they come along with others. These things helped people to feel part of a community, which will then lead to them being able to do other things.

This story shows the effort City Arts, and people like Sara, invest into removing the barriers that prevent people taking part in creative projects. The care put into this means projects like My Voice! My Place! can make real and lasting impacts on a community, and its people.