Connecting Our Communities?

After all the protesting, petitioning and even trying to work with the council to find solutions, Summer 2017 saw the implementation of connecting communities phase 2 on the youth service, the council closed its youth clubs and ceased providing an open access youth service.  This is the end of an era and I couldn't just let it be forgotten without acknowledging the valuable work the service and the city's youth workers have done over the years for Coventry's young people and for me personally.

As a young person I never went to youth club, I was too busy vandalising stuff and getting into mischief. The council decided to crack down on graffiti, it was a matter of time till the police were at the door and I was getting prosecuted for being a public nuisance.

After being prosecuted and before I had set up Bring Colour, I didn't really have any direction and was a bit lost. One day I floated into Yardley St youth club in Hillfields and met a youth worker called Nina Mankoo. Nina must of seen something in me as she gave me my first opportunity to deliver a graffiti workshop with the young people at her centre. This was where my journey with the youth service started.

Its been over twelve years since that first session. When I started I didn't really know what goes on at a youth club, what a youth worker did or what youth work even was.


Over the years I've worked at a lot of different centres and seen a lot a different approaches to youth work. I've grown up as an artist with the youth service, I've learnt a lot from youth workers and young people and I've seen first hand what youth work is all about. Youth Club isn't just about playing pool and table tennis, youth clubs provide a safe space for young people, a place where they can learn new skills and build confidence. Youth workers build trusted relationships and through their work deal with health and social issues that effect young people. Youth work is important.

In recent times of austerity, central government cut the amount of money for local councils. Coventry Councils answer to these cuts was called "Connecting Communities" where they proposed to end universal provision in 16 locations across the city. 

The councils proposals went out to public consultation. Young people wanted to respond and youth workers had their hands tied so I offered my support to the youth forum in their quest to save the service.

The youth forum included young people from different youth clubs working together collectively. Bailey set up a petition, Zara composed a letter to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, and the youth forum organised a protest against the councils proposed cuts.

As part of the consultation the council had asked for organisations to express an interest in delivering youth services in the city. I was asked by the young people at Peoples Place in Stoke Aldermoor to try and save their centre, so whilst supporting the youth forum in trying to save the whole service, I began working on a viable solution to save the one centre, Peoples Place.
The council decided to go ahead with the proposed cuts and I submitted a business case to keep Peoples Place open. Sadly it wasn't what the council were after and it got turned down.

So its the end of summer 2017 and its also the end of 16 youth clubs and the universal youth service.

I cant help but feel sad at the dismantling of something that has helped and supported so many young people and has been such a crucial part of my development as an artist and person. A massive thank you to Nina, Dave, Tracey, Tammy, Sonia, Karen, all of the workers and young people that have played a part in making the youth service something special. 

We'll have to wait and see what effect these cuts will have and hope for the best.
At least no one can say we didn't put up a fight!


John Mckeown

Coventry Canvas

We were contacted by a local DJ who wanted us to paint a Canvas for his house. We asked him what sort of thing he was after and he was very vague, "Something Cov" and colour wise "Any", the only sure thing was the size it had to be. So we got in the studio and had a stab in the dark with a canvas of the Coventry skyline with a bunch of colours and texture. 

Luckily we hit the nail right on the head and he loved it! We have another canvas in the pipeline only this time he know's what he wants and we've been given a bit more direction.

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

Bring Colour presents Handsome Gentlemen

 

Throughout last summer we worked with Paul Taylor from the Fargo Team at trying to bring some colour to Far Gosford Street and the soon to be Fargo Village. We had mentioned to Paul that we had been planning an empty shop project, transforming a run down, empty shop into a gallery space for a pop-up exhibition showcasing the work of Coventry artists.

Paul liked the sound of our project and suggested we use an empty unit in the village, he showed us around unit 7,  previously Backbeat rehearsal rooms. Unit 7 had been damaged by fire, Fargo had the roof replaced, the electrics sorted out and new strip lights fitted. The toilets and water supply didn't work and the place was full of rubbish, pallets and dirt. 

We didn't commit to anything right there and then, although the space at Fargo had fantastic potential it also had a lot of work that needed doing to bring it up-to scratch for us to open up to the public as a gallery. We came away from unit 7 excited with the space but slightly overwhelmed with the workload and decided that it wasn't something we could tackle alone.

 

We had previously contacted Coventry council's Arts Development Service seeking some help, advise and information on possible funding sources for our pop-up gallery project, but we were unsuccessful and were just left waiting. Fed up of waiting we decided that the opportunity at unit 7 was too good to let slip through our fingers so arranged a meeting between Bring Colour and the Hearts Gang.

We asked the Hearts Gang lads if they wanted to work together on the project and put on a Hearts Gang group exhibition, everyone liked the idea and seemed keen. We explained that we'll be doing it on a budget of £0.00 and the response was "who cares?"

We got the keys to Unit 7 and things got hectic. Dedicated volunteers, the HG lads and Bring Colour all rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in.

  

We emptied the unit of rubbish and started on the walls, brushing off the flakey paint and cleaning them up ready for white washing.  We boxed in the electrics, hung a new toilet door, even had a plumber come in and fix the "un-fixable" toilet.  After a good few layers of white emulsion and the building of a counter the gallery was taking shape and was ready for Artwork to be brought in and hung on the walls. 

    

The Handsome Gentlemen exhibition included artworks from HG members, Abel, Andrew John Smith, Body Odour, James Mewett, Kevin Donnelly, Pecks and Vel.

To celebrate the launch of the Exhibition and the completed transformation from a grotty warehouse to a white gallery, we threw a party. We invited everyone to come down, check out the artwork, listen to some tunes and have a drink with the gang. The launch party featured a live performance from HG members Idyllic and Ricta as well as a super selection of tunes from Eddie Goodtimes, KI Groover and Saul. The launch party was a success and the gallery was well and truly open for business.

The Exhibition ran for a 11 days and we had over 543 visitors to gallery, the feedback that we had from visitors was fantastic, a few of our favourite comments in the guest book were:

"Not enough of this in Coventry - A must see"    Johnny

"Excellent show of local artists with a unique style"    Joel

"Brilliant effort, very welcoming. Hope you are working on the next one!"   Ellie

"G ♥ ♥ D !"  Fred

When we closed the door to the public for the final time the work hadnt finished, we wanted to leave the unit in a much better state than it was in when we first entered. After taking down the artwork, touching up the white and clearing all of our belongings we were ready to hand back the keys.

 

If you would like to purchase a Handsome Gentlemen T-Shirt, a limited number are available from the Bring Colour shop.

Thank You to everyone that came to the gallery and supported the Handsome Gentlemen exhibition.

Special Thanks to Paul Taylor, Andrew Smith, Body Odour, Amelia Cook, Fredrock, Batch O'Neill, Russel Bristow, Joe Marshall, Abel, Tanith Smith, Zeth Johnson, Ricky Wyeth, Vel, James Mewett, Pecks, Idyllic, Andy Slattery, Ricta, Kevin Donnelly, Imogen Cook, Hipp Dogg, Eliza Cook, Jake Montgomery, Jessica Pinson, Saul Adams, Eddie Goodtimes, KI Groover, Auto Bodyworx, Tandy, The Baginton Oak, Fargo and everyone else that helped to make Handsome Gentlemen possible.