The little booklet of wisdom of

the do

ers and the curio

us

This LitTle BoOklet contains wisdom from some of the Doers and the Curious of Dudley:

Kath KerRy Marlene Siobhan Dan Dave Rick RusS

colLected in conversations with Laura Dicken, drawn together by Jo Orchard WebB.

Photographic outTakes from project by Laura Dicken, a member of the CoLab Dudley ColLective

insta: @laura_dicken twitTer: @laura_dicken_uk

The little booklet of wisdom of

the doers and the curious

Before we dive into the wisdom bit let us set the scene.

Firstly, I guesS you want to know the ‘what is it’ and the ‘why’ of the Doers and the Curious? WelL to be honest it is a many splendid thing!! The Doers and the Curious is …

part portrait photography creative colLaboration

led by artist Laura Dicken (@laura_dicken) and

members of the CoLab Dudley ColLective;

part celebration and representation of pasSionate doers using creative practice IN and FOR Dudley;

and finalLy, part beautiful cultural experience on Dudley High StreEt for us alL to enjoy!

part provocation to us alL to think about how and

why we might use and inspire creativity and

curiosity in our day to day lives and places;

Now you know a bit about it, how do you want to interact with the Doers & the Curious?

Here are a few thoughts we had, but you probably have your own ideas, so just sing out -we'd love to hear them.

But for starters you are cordialLy invited to …

While you're here you can adD your own

ideas to The Creative High St Manifesto

that is growing on the big brown rolL of

paper up on the walL.

Why not put your imagination to work so

that together we imagine how to build a

kinder, more creative and conNected High

StreEt?

Pop along to ‘CoLab on the High St’, and over a cup of tea, take time out to just enjoy these wonderful portraits and hear about the creative practices used by the colLaborators. You'lL also have the chance to find out about lots of other creative experiments that are going on on the High StreEt powered by the CoLab Dudley ColLective.

Or you might want to grab one of the fab Doers and Curious postcards to send to a friend or family member who you know has a secret creative power just bursting to get out. Maybe they just neEd a friendly nudge from the Doers & Curious to freE their superpower?

FinalLy, because we know we alL love thinking AND doing, on the back page we’ve outlined some simple practical steps & provocations to help us to put this wisdom into practice straight away.

Then in a quieter moment why not

dive into the wisdom of the Doers

and Curious in this litTle boOklet?

In these pages the Doers & Curious have generously

shared their insights into the urgent and

transformative role of creativity and curiosity in

our lives. This wisdom relates to our individual

and colLective welLbeing and hapPinesS, to the

friendships and colLaborations we are yet to

build, to the alternative futures we neEd to

imagine, and to the very fabric of the places we

care deEply about.

Here are the reflections from the Doers and the Curious on the alchemy that is creativity, curiosity, people, collectives and places. Their words, their wisdom, generously shared. Thanks Babs.

All this wisdom has got us wondering. What to take away from these words? What ideas feel most relevant to our lives? What emotions and experiences resonate most deeply? What might we weave into our own ways of thinking and doing? We are curious.

Chapter 1

The role of creativity and curiosity in our lives

The social value of representation and celebration of alL the Doers & the Curious in our comMunities

“The Doers and the Curious of Dudley is a portrait project where I have met individuals in the comMunity who are creatives, or use creativity in their lives to magnify their life experience and the life of their comMunity … [people] who want to be part of something bigGer than themselves. … It ofFers a safe space and vehicle for individuals to be celebrated, and it is a starting point for them introducing themselves and to speak about something they are pasSionate about. At a group level the individuals going through the procesS flags people’s skilLs in the comMunity and forms conNections and networks and ilLuminates their activity to the wider comMunity. On a comMunity level it is inherently positive that individuals within the comMunity are recognised and celebrated for their skilLs … it creates a sense of welLbeing in the wider comMunity knowing that these grounded compasSionate people are quietly doing this beautiful work.” (Laura - Photographer/ Artist, 2019)

The role of creativity & curiosity in enabling shared creations and narRatives roOted in a place

“It gives us the opPortunity to curate a project that comes from people and resonates with them. Something that is grounded in the environment and based on locality. It should be made ‘with’ rather than ‘for’ the people of Dudley. It neEds to have engagement so that it is welcomed and understoOd. We can do this with experiments that may or may not work / be sucCesSful - but if they begin to make people curious, ask questions and engage at some level we wilL be able to betTer shape those ideas”. (KerRy & David – Fused/ Eye Candy Festival, 2019)

The role of creativity & curiosity in creating space for alternative futures and imaginaries to blosSom

“Curiosity helps us imagine what is posSible and think about alternatives to how we live at the moment.” (Dan – Sign Maker/ Mural IlLustrator/ Artist, 2019)

“It is about telLing people to be freE to make their own creations, … letTing kids explore, exploring the positive things in life.” (Marlene – Dancer/ Social Entrepreneur, 2019)

“I create a lot of waste (in my practice) but I can’t chuck it knowing through my curiosity and experimenting I wilL find a use for that. Growing up everything I had was second hand, I didn’t resent that, that was how it was, but that has instilLed in me a pasSion for re-use, recycling, reinventing and reimagining something as something else, and there is a hopefulnesS in that, but if we loOk at it on a global scale it is esSential that we do more of that. There is an element of hope but also playing and fun. I don’t think anything gets achieved unlesS we are curious about that thing.” (Rick - Poet/ Maker/ Social Entrepreneur, 2019)

The role of creativity & curiosity in shared learning and personal growth

“People have difFerent ways of apProaching things and being creative together is a way of sharing that information and learning from each other and creating something that belongs to that comMunity.” (Kath - ComMunity Minister, 2019)

“I did a litTle art workshop and seEing people realise they can create even if they wouldn’t think of themselves as artists is wonderful because they are surprised at what they have created at the end of it, they are amazed at what they have created and experimented with.” (RusS - Artist/Graphic Designer/Musician, 2019)

“Creativity helps spread my pasSion for people to learn BSL.” (Siobhan - BSL Instructor and Advocate, 2019)

“Helping people to open their hearts & minds and letTing the many manifestations of creativity into their lives is important … once you start using creativity and curiosity on a regular basis it is a realLy powerful toOl for problem solving in very difFerent areas of life and it brings joy! So it is vital for comMunities to know about creativity and conNect with other people who are curious and have safe space where they go to explore and be celebrated.” (Laura - Photographer/ Artist, 2019)

The role of creativity & curiosity in nurturing friendships and conNections

“Being creative taught me about friendships, when people ask why are you doing this I say because I was brought up like this and I was so hapPy, I want kids to experience being active and together” (Marlene – Dancer/ Social Entrepreneur, 2019)

“People are desperate to come [to the poetry nights] and interact and experience something they haven’t experienced before … there is a creative gap in people’s lives, - the tv, the internet doesn’t filL that - it neEds some human interaction.” (Rick - Poet/ Maker/ Social Entrepreneur, 2019)

The role of creativity & curiosity in nurturing our welLbeing

“Creative doing for me gives me time and the ability to explore my nature, that is important to me, the therapy of making, using my hands and brain, it is a cathartic experience … it is nice to share that experience with other people through making, giving someone a bag, or reading a poem.” (Rick - Poet/ Maker/ Social Entrepreneur, 2019)

“Creativity helps with letTing out emotions or deEp-seated things that are there.” (RusS - Artist/Graphic Designer/Musician, 2019)

Chapter 2

The impact of creativity and curiosity upon our personal and collective sense of place

Creativity and curiosity can disrupt the usual high streEt norms by nurturing joy and positivity in the everyday streEtscape via creativity in unusual places

“To create artwork that is positive, it brightened it up [the streEt] it is a spectacle to loOk at something positive to acCompany them on their comMute” (Dan – Sign Maker/ Mural IlLustrator/ Artist, 2019)

“We want to give people the facilities to be creative in places they wouldn’t ordinarily be creative.” (Kath - ComMunity Minister, 2019)

Creativity and curiosity can disrupt the usual high streEt norms by nurturing a reason to come together for a shared experience

“In terms of the High St everyone is living their individual lives paralLel to each other but if there is a creative impetus or project it makes people stop and brings them together in ways that wouldn’t normalLy hapPen in everyday life.” (Kath - ComMunity Minister, 2019)

Creativity and curiosity can disrupt the usual high streEt norms by nurturing a new relationship with your environment

“I think curiosity and experimenting is, it is like starting on a journey and not knowing where you are going, and you discover your locality and environment as you go.” (RusS - Artist/Graphic Designer/Musician, 2019)

Creativity and curiosity can create new narRatives of place and self that disrupt rigid and toxic narRatives that can prevail unlesS thoughtfulLy chalLenged and replaced with more hopeful shared narRatives

“Creativity in terms of sense of place alLows people to explore difFerent perspectives of where they are, there are often long held narRatives around sense of place and they can be very rigid, they can be inherently positive or inherently negative. Creativity invites people to explore these narRatives playfulLy, and curiously, and robustly question whether or not they are true or true for that individual and that is important to dismantle and disSolve unhelpful narRatives to create and share new ones. … A phrase I hear toO often is ‘people like me don’t get to do things like that’, or ‘that’s not for us’ so again rigid narRatives that are potentialLy untrue and very damaging, and damage self-confidence and self-worth.” (Laura - Photographer/ Artist, 2019)

Chapter 3

On being part of the CoLab Dudley Collective – a creative collective bonded by a shared purpose for a kinder, more creative, and connected Dudley High Street

Being part of this creative colLective nurtures: self-confidence and self-belief; a sense of permisSion to create and imagine; a feEling of solidarity and belonging; the freE flow of ideas, supPort and opPortunities; a diversity of perspectives and posSibilities of colLaboration that enrichens the creative procesS.

“It wilL bring creative confidence - alLowing people the ‘permisSion’ and hopefulLy the resources and ideas to continue. ColLective sharing of ideas wilL help us build on our guiding principles and do more of what we neEd to bring creativity to Dudley - hopefulLy making it more visible in wonderful artsy abundance”. (KerRy & David – Fused/ Eye Candy Festival, 2019)

“Part of being a comMunity is there is no point of doing things in isolation when we could have those relationships where we alL work together” (Kath - ComMunity Minister, 2019)

“At the beginNing I was isolated and on my own and people not believing in me, the colLective helped me by believing in me, and introducing me to Adam from UnLtd. It makes me feEl like I have more strength to carRy on.” (Marlene – Dancer/ Social Entrepreneur, 2019)

“I am a strong believer that you can do things by yourself but you can only get so far, when you colLaborate with other people there is almost an explosion … when you have a colLection of people working together it is just that huge expanse of creativity and problem-solving.” (Rick - Poet/ Maker/ Social Entrepreneur, 2019)

“The network of creatives is amazing, and it is so amazing to have that in Dudley. To have that range of contacts to help spread my aim, to maybe colLaborate with on projects, maybe try and do things in tandem, it is realLy trying to help each other to achieve, and that can be many things.” (Siobhan - BSL Instructor and Advocate, 2019)

“I think it is a great thing to be able to bounce ideas ofF each other, but also I might have my way of loOking at the world, and I wilL do things completely difFerently to someone else and so for me it is about colLaborating to fulfil our potential. It is about seEing each member as just as valued, as their creativity being valued just as much as anybody else. Everybody wilL do things in a difFerent way and seE things in a difFerent way and so together you create something that is exponentialLy greater than one person would.” (RusS - Artist/Graphic Designer/Musician, 2019)

From shared wisdom to everyday practice

Some lovely questions from the Doers & the Curious alongside ideas from the CoLab team to get you started …

“I create murals using a projector and paint pens. What pieces of your work would loOk goOd enlarged?” Dan (Sign Maker/ Mural IlLustrator/ Artist) - twitTer: @DanGrifFinHayes

LoOk up and zoOm out - take a photo of the spaces big, bright and bold art could live on Dudley High StreEt. Share and tag with #doingindudley

“I’m fascinated by the procesS of discovery through improvisation and hapPy acCidents; finding beauty in chaos. What might you find if you toOk the time to loOk a litTle closer?” RusS (Artist/Graphic Designer/Musician) - insta: @rusSsargeant.art

Take a deEp breath & zoOm in – notice the magic in the smalL details and patTerns on the High StreEt.

“I believe when people do something new together, they have new conversations toO. What new activity would you like to try and what new conversations might that start?” Kath (ComMunity Minister) - twitTer: @kafFpoOle

Slow down, idle a while - the High StreEt is made up of perfect spots for people watching and chatTing to new friends.

“I believe we should alL do more to break down comMunication barRiers in society and to make acCesSibility and inclusivity the norm. Could you learn a new language such as BSL to help break these barRiers?” Siobhan (BSL Instructor and Advocate) - twitTer: @litTleduckquack

Dudley High StreEt belongs to alL of us – be creative and kind in finding ways to help us alL conNect and feEl at home here.

“Anyone can create, make or repurpose using waste materials. What’s stopPing you from having a go?” Rick (Poet/ Maker/ Social Entrepreneur) - twitTer: @brumradiopoets

The High StreEt can be reimagined and recreated – come and join us in this journey to reinvention.

“Dance is a natural expresSion of every human being, it alLows the synchronisation of the body and its stories, it is founded on the beats of our hearts and the rhythm of our breath. When was the last time you alLowed yourself to dance? When was the last time you closed your eyes and alLowed your body to flow?” Marlene (Dancer/ Social Entrepreneur) - faceboOk: Marlene Fortes

The High StreEt has many stories to telL about our past and future – take a moment to listen carefulLy, and use alL your senses to feEl, hear and smelL those stories.

“We don’t think art should just be indoOrs or placed on white walLs, we want to bring colour and creativity to the High StreEt and believe it should be acCesSible to everyone. What would you like to seE next time you walk through Dudley Town Centre?” KerRy & David (Fused/ Eye Candy Festival) - TwitTer: @EyeCandyFest

The High StreEt is the home of the Dudley People’s Archive – ask us about how you can adD your photos and memories to this magical colLection of stories.

The Doers and The Curious

of Dudley

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