Join us for…Your Town Jam
Your Town Jam: Join us to gather ingredients, cook up and taste different recipes!
Join a 3 month hybrid learning journey to collectively reimagine the future of your town, by growing & testing your ideas in real life.
Towns are places we buy and sell in, live in and move through, play and work in. What might happen if we put relationships at their heart? What if we made everyone truly feel welcome? Or put the circular economy into practice? Or centred future generations? What would these changes look and feel like? How can we usher them into the real world through collective imagination and experimentation?
In A Nutshell
This learning journey, part of Collective Imagination Practice, will create the space for you to bring your own imaginative enquiry about the future of your town to a supportive and creative peer group. Often overlooked or perceived as ‘left behind’, we believe the scale and governance of towns offer huge opportunity to challenge the status quo and collectively reimagine the way we live together.
Start Date: 15th July 2023
Application Deadline: 27th June 2023
Time commitment: Approx 2 hours a week, Mondays 7–8.30pm
Location: Hybrid, online with 2 in person meet ups in well connected Northern towns on 15th July in Shipley, 9th August (online) and 15th October (in person location TBC).
Application Form Link: https://forms.gle/NSqWD4yME76SUPrY9
Shipley Town Centre
Is it for me?
This Huddle is for you:
if you’re curious about towns and the role they play in our lives
if you’re interested in public space and its ability to influence how we connect with other people
if you’re interested in the potential of a collective of people within a place to tackle the uncertain challenges of tomorrow
if you live in a town and want to explore your relationship to where you live and those around you.
if you don’t currently feel welcome in your town
if you already have an active role in shaping your town either professionally or voluntarily and would be interested in space to explore this role with other people from a range of perspectives
if you have lots of ideas for your town but would like support to bring your ideas to life
if you’re new to a town and looking for ways to put down roots
Ok, but why should I do it?
Do it to (re)connect with where you live by bringing your ideas to life and nurturing a web of relationships in your local context. As part of this huddle you might find yourself putting down new roots (quite literally!) where you live, listening to your neighbours, starting conversations in public space, hosting walkabouts or exploring your connection to your town in new and curious ways.
Do it to explore your role as a citizen through real experiments and interventions in your town. You might host a street party, convene a public living room, collaboratively design playful new signage for your town centre, map & connect people & ideas with empty spaces, test opportunities for play in public space and grow a better understanding of the relational landscape for change.
Do it to grow local and national connections to people with similar interests in the power of place.
The journey in detail
Example of a typical Huddle journey
To apply fill in this google form by 27th June 2023…once we’ve assembled our huddle we plan to kick off on in person, in Shipley Town Centre on Saturday 15th July followed by online Monday meet ups (weekly between 7–8.30pm), our POWER UP (online) session on Wednesday 9th August followed by a break for the rest of August.
We’ll restart in September gathering online fortnightly on Mondays, 7–8.30pm before our in person SHOWCASE event on 15th October 2023. Our final in person meet up will take place in a well connected (by public transport) UK town in the North of England!
Meet your host, Phillippa! Credit Julia Forsman, Street Space.
About your Host
Your Town Jam will be hosted by Phillippa, Founder and Director of Street Space, a social enterprise working with people to reimagine their streets and spaces to make them feel safe, bring joy and social connection.
As an urban practitioner and facilitator of meaningful community engagement and place based collaborative design projects, Phillippa is enjoying rediscovering the power of place having recently moved to the town of Shipley, Bradford. She is excited to host a learning journey exploring a town’s potential to transform our relationships with land and each other for a just and thriving future.
“Phillippa’s integrity and commitment to community participation and shaping the future of places is inspiring. She is knowledgeable and passionate about the issues affecting the future of places and has a deep commitment to ensuring the voices of citizens are included. Her facilitation style weaves together brilliant creativity and gentle encouragement ensuring that all participants are included and feel open to new ways of working” Bethan Harris
Safer Snicket collaborative design workshop, credit Street Space.
Q&A
Do I need to live in a town to participate?
In a town or the immediate surrounding area, yes. This is so we can share our lived experience and find some synergy on the scale of opportunity and challenge in terms of collectively reimagining our different towns as opposed to villages or cities.
Do I need any professional experience?
No, we’re bringing together a range of peers from different perspectives of anyone interested in towns, you’re most welcome.
Do I need to live in the North?
No, this Huddle is relevant for towns everywhere, but in the spirit of Levelling Up we’re holding the offline elements in the North of England. All locations will be accessible via public transport.
Have I missed something, what’s a Huddle!?
Not at all! Huddles are purposeful, pop up peer groups. Huddlecraft is the practice of combining people to multiply potential. Find out more about Huddlecraft here. These Huddles are part of a series focussing on Collective Imagination Practice, funded and supported by the JRF Emerging Futures team, Canopy and Huddlecraft.
How will you approach equity, inclusion and accessibility?
We want to welcome and support anyone with a strong intention to take part in this Huddle, and aim to ensure that your identity or background will not be a barrier.
The Huddle format we’re using centres peer-to-peer learning which can be a really inclusive approach to education. The non-hierarchical relationships can create an environment that welcomes each of us to bring more of ourselves into the learning process, and you will likely be brought together with people with different perspectives, ideas, experiences and more.
On application we invite you to tell us about your access needs and preferences and we will also invite the group to share what they’d like to with one another, so that the group can co-create an inclusive space.
What next?
I’m interested, but I want to find out more?
Curious but not sure if you want to apply yet? Have some access (e.g. cost of travel to the in person events?) or other needs you’d like to chat through?
Book a 15 minute phone call with Phillippa on Friday 16th or 23rd June by emailing with a preferred date and time: phillippa@wearestreetspace.org
I want in, what’s next?
Fill out this google form by 27th June 2023 and we look forward to being in touch very soon!
