Looking back at 2024

It’s been an exciting 2024 at Multistory! As we wind down for the year and look forward to the festive break, we’re looking back at some highlights from the past year.

We Are Wednesbury

First up, is the We Are Wednesbury Cultural Programme which celebrated the town’s community life from October 2020 to February 2024. Over the four-year programme, residents were invited to participate in a free programme of creative projects and activities, with performances, community walks and celebrations, street festivals, processions and art workshops taking place on the streets and in community spaces of Wednesbury.

Over the course of the project we commissioned videographer, Michael Ellis, to capture the spirit of the We Are Wednesbury programme and this year we celebrated the launch of the ‘highlights’ film that’s jam packed with interviews and footage. To watch the film click the embedded YouTube video on the right.

In February, we launched the final issue of the We Are Wednesbury community magazine. Across three, annual editions, the magazine celebrates the activities that took place in the town and shares local voices and stories. In the final issue, we reflect on our journey and on the importance of coming together to celebrate the place where we live.

The brilliant collective of Citizen Journalists: Aliza Uddin, Jasandeep Kaur Gill, Joi Foote, Shazeda Begum and Tilly Holland responded to the programme of performances, community exhibitions and artist workshops and there’s a feature on the innovative Splinter Studios based in the Old Post Office and an Agony Aunt section involving the mysterious disappearance of the Clock Tower … This final issue spotlights members of the Wednesbury community for their commitment to the power of art and craft and bringing people together!

All three issues were produced by Multistory; project co-ordinated by Gabriella Songui; feature photographs by Phillip Parnell; and were designed by Sharonjit Sutton.

To read a copy of the final issue click here.

To read past issues click here.

Although the We Are Wednesbury Cultural Programme has now come to a close we have continued to work closely with the We Are Wednesbury community consortium which is made up of members representing community groups in the town. The group advises Multistory on our Green Roots in Wednesbury programme, provides feedback and insight and also gets involved in our events and activities. We have worked with them on our People and Planters project and our celebratory Wednesbury Community Lantern Procession that, for the last three years, has joined in with the Christmas Lights switch-on festivities. In November, some of the We Art Wednesbury community consortium members did an interview with West Midlands Radio about the Lantern Procession and its impact on the town. We’re looking forward to more collaborations with the consortium next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRVJc9Ibv-8

Green Roots

In September, as part of our Green Roots programme in West Bromwich and, despite the rain, we held Green Roots on the Meadow, a family-friendly event celebrating the first annual cutting of the wildflower meadow that we planted in September 2023. The meadow is located on Bull Street, behind Primark at New Square shopping centre.

The Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust kicked off the day with a scything demonstration, showing us how traditional methods can still play a role in preserving natural habitats. We were then treated to a live rendition of Lee Mackenzie’s Sounding the West Bromwich Way, a poetry and sound map that explores the stories woven into our urban and natural spaces, followed by Open Theatre’s newly commissioned performance Wandering Wild, a heartwarming and humorous exploration into how communities can care for the landscape and each other.

Alongside these brilliant performances, we loved seeing so many of you enjoying the creative activities on offer, from tabletop planting sessions with Zoey Sibanda to nature monoprinting with Ruby Lewis from Bostin' Arts. We also had Bostin' Brass bringing the good vibes with their music and delicious food provided by Percy’s Hotdogs.

Also, happening on Bull Street in West Bromwich, as part of our Green Roots programme, is our project in Pocket Park that is supporting Sandwell Council’s current transformation of the space. This innovative project launched in September and brings to life designs that have been produced by Sandwell College students, with the vision to further grow the Pocket Park into a communal space with greenery and creative elements for communities to enjoy.

The students, alongside artist facilitator Ruby from Bostin’ Arts, have been working hard and have been busy surveying and taking measurements of the site; foraging existing plant life to make nature monoprinting; and designing and creating mosaics inspired by those monoprints. The mosaics will be installed on the site next year when the project resumes after the winter break. We can’t wait to reveal them.

We’re looking forward to developing this project further and watching the transformation unfold. Watch this space!

From May to October, as part of our Green Roots programme, we worked with artist, Dale Hipkiss, and the students of Albright Education Centre (a secondary school in Tipton) to create Albright’s Declaration for the Future. Through creative workshops centred on climate change and the environment, the students explored how they feel about their local environment and shared their ideas for a brighter future. Their ideas were then developed into a manifesto, which called for the change the students would like to see.

Drawing inspiration from artist Bob and Roberta Smith’s manifesto and sign writing, these creative workshops included making calls to action, poster-making, making paint and building an outdoor structure. Dale encouraged the students to discuss how – as a collective – we can share the importance of caring for our community and our environment, culminating in the form of an outdoor seating structure.

The seating structure is made up of wood panels designed and hand-painted by the students that feature manifesto statements and calls to action, envisioning the future they want for society. Some of the manifesto statements include, ‘Everybody is equal’, ‘We should all talk openly about mental health’, ‘Don’t ruin the beauty’ and ‘Respect nature’. The new seating area at Albright not only provides a practical communal space but also reflects the vibrant, hopeful visions of Albright’s students and staff.

Blast Creative Network

In July, at Lightwoods House in Smethwick, we celebrated the launch of From Where I Speak, the first issue of our art writing journal The Printing Room that’s published as part of our artist development programme, the Blast Creative Network (BCN), and is home to art writing from Sandwell and the Black Country. It is a yearly journal which aims to support the publishing of new experimental and creative writing outside of academic contexts.

Thank you to everyone who attended the launch event and a big thank you to the artists who contributed to this inaugural issue: Marley Starskey Butler, Polly Brant, Amelia Fox, Neoliberalizard, Rupinder Kaur Waraich, Rachel Magdeburg and Leah Hickey. The writers explored Sandwell and the Black Country’s stories and socio-political conditions and their own experiences of forging an arts practice within an area that has historically been underfunded.

You can still buy a copy of The Printing Room / From Where I Speak via our online shop. The price is £5 plus P&P (UK second class); please note that any orders purchased after 12 December will be processed week commencing 6 January. Click the link below to buy your copy: http://multistory.local/product/the-printing-room-issue-1/

Our second issue of The Printing Room is well underway. Be sure to stay tuned for the launch of the journal and celebratory event in Spring next year.

Through September to November, we were delighted to announce the 13 talented local artists commissioned for the next iteration of: the Residency Programme; Assembly; and The Printing Room. This year we were pleased to invite BCN programme alumni Alex Billingham and Leah Hickey as guest panellists when selecting artists.

The Printing Room Issue 2 writers are: Abigail Villarroel, Billy Haynes, Exodus Crooks, Laura Onions and Lorna Rose. For this second edition, we’ve invited guest mentor, artist, writer and educator, Cathy Wade. To read more about the writers click here.

Our Residency Programme is held in partnership with Wolverhampton School of Art and provides five artists based in Sandwell and the wider Black Country support, advice, guidance and resources for development, research, testing out ideas and making new work. Each artist’s residency is for three weeks and the 2023/24 Artists-in-Residence were: Dale Hipkiss, Quennie Lim, Sarah Byrne, Shannel James and Zara Masood. To look back at our 2023/24 Residency Programme exhibition click here.

The 2024/25 Artists-in-Residence are: Chantal Pitts, Courtenay Welcome, Daya Bhatti, Molly Thompson and Satinder Parhar and to check out the artists’ work click here. We can’t wait for the current Residency Programme’s year-end exhibition in May and we hope that you can join us!

The three artists selected for the 2024/25 Assembly exhibition are: Mia Banks, Mandeep Dillon and Tegen Kimbley and you can see their work here and we’re excited to be continuing our partnership with The New Art Gallery Walsall. The artists selected for Communion, the 2023/24 Assembly exhibition that has recently finished, were Leah Hickey, Jamal Lloyd Davis, Tomilola Olumide; more information on that here.

One Hundred and Twenty Minutes

In October we travelled to Bristol Photo Festival to celebrate the premiere of artist Amak Mahmoodian’s long-term project One Hundred & Twenty Minutes. It was a great opportunity to connect with new and old friends and to share this important body of work more widely across the UK with audiences at an internationally acclaimed photography festival.

The project, in progress since 2019, explores the dreams experienced by those living in exile. Amak developed this project with 16 collaborators, all of whom are exiled from their native countries. Amak uses photography, poetry, drawing and video to explore the new lives created through dreams, as well as the ways in which dreaming enables individuals to return to a past that cannot be reached while awake. The title, One Hundred and Twenty Minutes, refers to the average time a person spends dreaming each night. Amak’s journey through themes of displacement resonates deeply with our time and it's been an absolute privilege to collaborate on this project over the past two years.

One Hundred and Twenty Minutes was supported and commissioned by Multistory and D6: Culture in Transit. You can find out more about the project via our website, click here, and via Amak’s website, click here.

A bit more …

In April, we took a staff research trip to London to visit the Women In Revolt!

Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990 exhibition at Tate Britain. This powerful exhibition was packed with artworks by women artists who have used their lived experience to create art and fight against injustice. We saw paintings, prints, photography, textile works, banners and performance works by a variety of artists whose work helped fuel the women’s liberation movement during a period of significant social, economic and political change. We left feeling inspired and excited to take this research forward for our future programming.

There’s been so much more including Tools Use Training with Sandwell College and The Birmingham and the Black Country Wildlife Trust; screen printing workshops with artist Laura Onions in August; and workshops with young people in Sandwell with author and spoken word artist, Polarbear. To view our full programme click here.

We’re looking forward to 2025! A warm thank you to the artists, collaborators, partners and communities we’ve worked with over the past year and to our funders. To keep up to date with our programme and what we’re working on, you can sign up to our newsletter, click here, visit our social media channels (Instagram / Facebook) and look out for the news page on our website.

Take care everyone

Multistory