ISSUE 1. APRIL 2010

What’s this all about?

On The Street is a new project that aims to workdirectly with young people, aged 11 to 17, on theregeneration issues facing the Anfield andBreckfield neighbourhood.

On The Street will be a positive project that shouldhave a visible presence within the Anfield andBreckfield neighbourhood. We want to engagewith young people living in the area in a positiveand practical way, and open our minds to thepossibilities that the area offers.

Through a series of artist and architect projects wewill encourage young people to think about whatmakes a successful neighbourhood, and enablethem to imagine temporary uses for unused spacesand buildings. In developing ideas the youngpeople will be required to consult with the widercommunity, and get their approval, if they wouldlike to see a physical project delivered. They willalso be supported to undertake any practical workrequired, gaining new skills and experience in the process.

This newspaper outlines work undertaken to date,including that of New York based artist Ed Purver,and includes details of the launch of the project onFriday 16 April and a Connecting CommunitiesDay on Saturday 24 April. We would love for you to come to these events and find out first handwhat we’re up to.

On The Street is brought to you by Liverpool Biennial and the On The StreetSteering Group, a sub group of the Housing and Physical Regenerationsteering group for Anfield and Breckfield.

See how this...

could become this

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SHAUN

Mollie

Rea KayleighJess

JAY

Jenna

Hi, I’m Jenna and I’m the Youth Participation manager for On the Street. I’ve been working with Shaun and Jay, the On the Street youth workers, to get young people from theAnfield and Breckfield area involved in all the activity we’vebeen organising. Over the next few pages you’ll be able tosee and read about where and what the group have beengetting up to and find out what’s coming up next. We’ve been working closely with youth services andcommunity bases in the area to coordinate activity. ABCCand BNENC have been providing valuable support andspaces for us to meet and work, most recently Ed Purver wasfilming at the Lighthouse Youth Connect Building (see page 5)to see what Ed has been filming for.

We hope you enjoy this newspaper as much as we have enjoyed making it!

JAY

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If you’d like to get involved contact:

Kerry at BNENC on 0151 288 8400

Becci at ABCC on 0151 260 0022

Matt at Youth Connect Building

on 0151 476 2342

Crocky TrailWe went to Chester where we spent the day atCrocky Trail, a large-scale open air adventureplay area over a mile long. It showed us how a piece of land has been made into a massiveplayground. We’re keen to make play a big part of our own plans for Anfield / Breckfield.

New IslingtonAt the heart of this project are the issues thatcome with the regeneration process. We went toManchester to see the Urban Splash development,New Islington, once known as one of the poorestareas of Manchester. The designers developedtheir plans with the local people. We looked athow the place had changed but we think wecould do better ourselves!

Activities and day tripsSince summer 2009 we’ve been going out on daytrips and doing activities to see how buildings andpieces of land have been given a new lease oflife through art and creativity. We’ve been inspiredto start thinking about interesting things that couldhappen in our own community.

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Ice SkatingWhen we heard there was a temporary ice rink in Williamson Square, we couldn’t resist! We wentskating and everyone fell over except Jess. We began thinking about different activities that we might want to do back in Anfield / Breckfield.

Go KartingWe went Go Karting at Kart World in Ormskirk and looked at all the things we would need to consider if we were to build and manage our own track in Anfield / Breckfield.

Canal dayWe visited some art and environment projects at St Winnies School in Bootle. We picked somehome grown organic veg then took a ride upand down the canal in swan pedalos. Some ofus made lanterns on a floating artwork.

Go karting was dead

exciting — the cars were

really fast, it was boss!

MusicWe went to the bombed out church in Liverpool(St Luke’s), to meet local musicians ‘UrbanStrawberry Lunch’. The group use found objectsto make their music — like the drum kit madefrom a kitchen sink! They ran a short drummingsession with us and then we crossed over theroad to ‘Rockscape’, an open air amphitheatrewhere we set up the Wii and had our very ownGuitar Hero gig!

Turning The Place OverWe visited Richard Wilson’s ‘Turning the Place Over’in the city centre. We went inside the buildingand looked at the mechanisms that power theartwork. We also looked at other Liverpool Biennialcommissions such as Villa Victoria and PricillaMonge’s football pitch to give us ideas about the kind of scale our project could take.

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Ed Purver’s ‘In Residence’ installation

We spent 2 days working with New York based artist Ed Purver on a video installation that will be projectedinto some of the derelict houses on Granton Road in April.

Ed filmed us jumping around on trampolines, posingand dancing in front of a blue screen. The footagewas made into a video and shown at the Bluecoat. We saw ourselves on a big screen and were part of a presentation of Ed’s work.

The aim of ‘In Residence’ is to re-animate some of the unused properties on Granton Road. The video ofthe group as giants jumping and resting in the houses,will be placed inside the properties and best viewedat night, 5pm til late, from the pavements outside.Come and see the launch on Friday 16 April(see page 7 for more info).

Me and Rea done an

Eastenders act and

dressed up, it was the

bit I enjoyed most.

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A word from Ed...Walking around these streets made me thinkabout what a city is without its people, what a building becomes without its inhabitants. The purpose of a house is to provide people with a home, and these houses have had theirpeople removed. Just like a person who’s losttheir purpose, these houses seemed to me to be shadows of their former selves. It’s like theywere only half there.

I wanted to see what happens if you put theenergy of the people into the shell of these houses.Not to create any kind of memorial, but rathersome sort of celebration, perhaps even some sortof resuscitation, breathing light into these structures.My work often uses video projection, because I’mfascinated by how light can temporarily transforma space utterly, filling it with alternative life, andthen, in an instant, disappear without trace.

About EdEd Purver is an artist based in Brooklyn. He worksprimarily with video and light to place humanvoices and faces into architecture, both physicaland virtual, bringing narrative and characterboth to the physical structures that shape oururban landscapes and also to the informationarchitecture that carves out our digital lives.

You can watch a video of Ed’s proposalat www.vimeo.com/7817288

We learned some jumps on thetrampoline and took pictures of usposing in the air. I liked the way wemodelled for the camera and did poses,it felt like we were proper models orsomething but it was AMAZING. I’m alsolooking forward to the installationbecause all the girls will see it!

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Rumours of a giant Ferris wheel on Granton Road are unconfirmed at this stage. Keep your eyes open.

Friday 16 April, 6—8pmOn The Street launchGranton Road, (near the Salisbury Pub).Come along to the launch of Ed Purver’s videoinstallation ‘In Residence’ (on show for 1 week only!).Food and refreshments will be available and you’llalso be able to meet the people involved.

Saturday 24 April, 12noon—4pmConnecting Commmunities Day Granton Road, (on the vacant landnear the Salisbury Pub).A Free Family Fun Day including fair rides, artistprojects, graffiti workshops, face painting, freerunning, food and much much more. Come alongand join in the fun. For your free fair rides and foodtokens for the family, please cut out the ticket on theopposite page and bring it to the New Beginningsstall on the day to exchange for the tokens.

Saturday 24 April, 6—8pmAnfield & Breckfield 2010 Talent Granton Road, (in the marquee on vacant land near the Salisbury Pub).We are hosting an exciting evening of performancesby local people, all aiming to become part of thefirst Anfield & Breckfield 2010 Talent music CD. For more information pick up a leaflet at BNENC or ABCC. Free food and refreshments!

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Hello. My name is Ros Groves and I have lived in theAnfield / Breckfield area for 31 years. I live in the SalisburyResidents area and I am chair of the Residents Associationthere. I am also chair of the Anfield / Breckfield Housingand Physical Regeneration Group and I am on theNewheartlands Housing Market Renewal Board.

Our area is currently undergoing a major upheaval withresidents being re-housed, properties boarded up andan ongoing demolition programme. The changes havebeen extensive and will continue for many years whilstour area is being transformed.

These changes are causing some residents to feel underpressure, and this is something we really are aware of.We are working closely with the local Council and ArenaHousing to make sure the communities’ views and needsare being heard and to alleviate these pressures. TheGovernment also recognises the challenges local peopleare facing and Anfield and Breckfield has been identifiedas an area for Connecting Communities funding. We wantto make sure that everyone is aware of all the ongoingactivities and that they are involved in making a bigdifference in their area.

Some of this funding is being used for the CommunityEvent on 24 April. We are trying something different and this event is aimed at local people in the Anfield /Breckfield area.

I really hope that everyone can attend and meet theirneighbours and most importantly enjoy themselves!

I hope to see you there.Ros.

Anfield / Breckfield needs you...

TICKET TO RIDEPlease fill in this ticket, cut it out, and bring it to the New Beginnings stall for FREE FAIR RIDES AND FOOD on Saturday 24 April.

Name:

Address:

Postcode:

Children’s names and ages:

This looks totally meffy –get it sorted.

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Breck Road, 1935... does anybody remember this?

Oakfield Road Cinema, 1961

Photo

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Liverpool based architect, Marianne worked with us on aseries of architecture and urban design workshops. Workingfrom the large to the small scale, the aim was to increaseour understanding of the design and construction processand how cities are made. It also gave us the chance to talkabout our local environment, inspiring us to take part inshaping our own neighbourhood in the future.

Architecture and urban designworkshops with Marianne Heaslip

We looked at the history and lots of old photographsof the area.

Through photography and map making we began tothink about how we move around the area, the placeswe visit, the routes we use most and local landmarks.

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About MarianneMarianne Heaslip is an architect based in Liverpool.She has a long-standing interest in participativedesign processes, having worked as a trainer for The GlassHouse (www.theglasshouse.org.uk) forseveral years. She has been involved in projects from large scale community masterplanning exercises to building small ‘outdoor classrooms’ with the collaboration of primary school children. She is currently studying for the MSc Architecture:Advanced Environment and Energy Studies at theCentre for Alternative Technology in Wales.

We looked at numerous buildings and architecturalstyles from across the world then researched theexisting buildings in Anfield. We made our owncollages, maps and drawings with some weird and wonderful results.

We are looking forward to the next phase of theproject were other artists and professionals will help us bring some of our ideas to life.

Jay’s vision for Anfield

Mollie’s super community

Rea’s ideal street scene

We looked at pictures of

what our community used to

look like. We also did a map

of the places we like to go

or visit the most.

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Digital ideas factory with Steve LeechSteve Leech is a media practitioner and teacherspecialising in web design and animation ofsound and video.

His workshops have encouraged and inspired us to experiment with new ways of expressingourselves using digital media, whilst developingour computer skills on the way — further developingconfidence in our own abilities and worth ascontent creators.

As a group we will create a website that willdocument the project process as well asshowcasing our creations and ideas.

The work and ideas will inform what we are doing with the other artists on the project.

Left:Incorporating the young people on the project with local landmarks. Produced by Jay.

Right:Playing with ideas to fill currently derelict space.

Apparently there used to be aswimming pool in Granton Road.Perhaps we could bring it back...

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Right:Mollie wants to build a maze with a water tower andwater slide on the wasteland where the school used to be on Granton Road.

Below:Mollie and Rea’s proposed nightclub ‘Fudge’ onGranton Road. Jay has offered to run the doors!

The sessions we do are good

because we always take pictures

of each other and get to meet lots

of new people. I liked it when we

learned how to use Photoshop on

the computers in the BNENC.

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Liverpool based graphic designer and artist,Mike Carney has been helping us to produce this newspaper, getting us thinking about theeveryday design that surrounds us, and showingus some funky new tricks on the computer.

We looked at punk graphics from the 70s and80s — a cut and paste, DIY, sketchbook style.Our interpretation of the punk look brings it up todate and makes it relevant to Anfield / Breckfieldby employing jagged, decayed imagery andfound typography from the derelict buildings andstreets in the community. It’s all about transformingbad to good — dereliction and graffiti canbecome beautiful.

The overall effect is gritty and edgy but thesplashes of colour help to contrast this, providinga youthful and positive tone. We hope you like it.

Newspaper Workshop

The next phase of On The Street

is gonna’ be boss. I can’t wait.

Discussing ideas for thenewspaper with Mike.

The letters we used in the headlines are all from photos we took of local signs and graffiti. Can you spot where they’re from?

Nicki McCubbing will be working with theyoung people to create a 3D model-villagestyle fantasy map of the area as it is today.The group will build a floor map of their ownneighbourhood, using ideas relating toregeneration, history, memories andtransformation of community. This distinctivemap will grow with each participant’s ideasand will be made from small domestic itemscommonly found in the home.

Nicki is an artist from Liverpool, based at the Bluecoat in the City Centre. She makessculptures and installations out of cheap,brightly coloured items bought fromPoundland, car boot sales, ebay and jokeshops. Her work is funny and familiar butoften weird and creepy too.

Have a look at Nicki’s work atwww.nickimccubbing.com

Look out for more activityOn The Street...

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We are working closely with Liverpool CityCouncil and Arena Housing on this projectand are supported by a steering groupcomprising members of the community and representatives from Anfield & BrecksideCommunity Council (ABCC) and Breckfield & North Everton Neighbourhood Council(BNENC). Their support is greatly appreciated.

On The Street is funded by Find Your Talent,the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the PaulHamlyn Foundation. Liverpool City Counciland Arena Housing have funded theConnecting Communities Day.

Sarah Jane Dooley, Grants Officer at PaulHamlyn Foundation, said “We are delighted to be supporting On The Street, which offers a valuable opportunity for young people toparticipate in an exciting arts activity. TheFoundation’s Arts Open Grants scheme aimsto enable organisations to experiment withand develop new ways of engaging withaudiences and participants.”

For more information about On The Streetplease email franny@biennial.comor visit www.biennial.com

Liverpool Biennial is supported by

Design by www.mikesstudio.co.uk with assistance from

Mollie, Jess, Rea, Kayleigh, Jay, Jenna, Shaun and Jay.

On The Street is supported by

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Show some love — stick this poster up in your window if you like On The Streets. We’ll be doing a street survey to see who’s been turned on.