GATHER & CREATE DINNER #2 DETECTORISM - COLAB DUDLEY

Gather & Create
   Dinner #2
  Detectorism

During 2019 CoLab Dudley is hosting a series of
gatherings. They bring together local doers,
creatives, makers and all kinds of people who care
about the future of Dudley and our High Street.

Dinner #2
The second Gather & Create Dinner took place on 28 February 2019.
It bought together doers, designers, artists and encouragers. A focus of
the evening was an animated dectectorism session which invited sharing
of experiences and ideas in relation to festivals.

Memories and experiences of festivals
We shared experiences of different types of festivals. Why people take part
and what drives people to convene them.

How festivals contribute to our culture
We discussed what signals festivals send and why that matters.

Designing a festival together
What type of change could a festival in Dudley provoke, start or make
possible? What would we design in, and what would we design out?

Detectorism
If you haven’t taken part before, detectorism is our way of learning
together, out in the open.

We do this by paying attention to the patterns in what we witness,
feel, experience, say and do as a community.

We think about how those patterns relate to the spaces we shape
and inhabit, and the wider systems that we interact with.

So the purpose of our festival detectorism was to help us to be
really intentional in using our collective wisdom to co-design our
Summer festival and the Spring festivities that lead up to it.

Memories and experiences of festivals
We talked about different types of          With all these different types of
festivals we could think of - reaching      festivals surfaced we began to dig
back into our memories of childhood         into our different collective festival
festivals.                                  experiences and memories.

Thinking about those that are               Here we were trying to pay attention
familiar to us and those that aren’t,       to the purpose of those festivals. To
both big and little, close by and far       think about how they touch people’s
away.                                       lives in different ways, why people
                                            take part, and what drives people to
This in itself was so illuminating - for    convene them.
some of us our first thought was
festivals are about popular culture         We noticed patterns around
(music, poetry, literature, film); for      • a suspension of usual behaviours
others festivals are often rooted in          and social norms
faith (like Diwali, or Harvest festival);   • a feeling of being on holiday,
while for some there was a really           • feelings of freedom, perhaps a
strong part of their memories                 liberty from the usual ways in
attached to place based festivals in          which we feel knowingly or
the local town where they grew up.            unknowingly compelled to behave.

We also spoke about the cultural            The noise, the smells, the pace, the
potency of identity based festivals         crowds of strangers you smile at, the
(like Pride and Notting Hill Carnival)      exciting new experiences you pay
and seasonal festivals that feed local      attention to, the anticipation of going
traditions and mark the passage of          with all your family and friends.
time (like May Day).

How festivals contribute to our culture
We explored together how these           The temporary emergence from our
collective experiences, and even the     usual closed behaviours & hyper-
very presence of these festivals         paced modern lives in order to spend
weave into and inform our cultures.      time in the joyful building of shared
                                         collective memories was a really very
We reflected upon the signals they        powerful theme.
emit and why that matters in the
design of our own festival here on       By occupying public space through
Dudley High Street.                      our collective creativity there is a
                                         clear acknowledgement of
Here the capacity for festivals to       citizenship through a visibility that
introduce us to new ideas, new           might usually feel unavailable to
people, new experiences, new stories     some.
and new perspectives was key.
                                         We reflected upon how festivals act
As was the pride, thought and            as an unpressured and open
investment of time and creativity that   invitation to take part - even if that
marks the preparation for festivals:     means observing with curiosity from
here we can see that there ARE people    afar.
that care, that believe, and that have
the courage to make things happen.       This informality creates moments
                                         and spaces of interaction amongst
                                         strangers that is often missing from
                                         our public spaces. It brings energy,
                                         light and creative intent to an area
                                         that might often feel grey, sad and
                                         lifeless.

Designing a festival together
Based on reflections upon festival       Through the sprinkling of a variety of
signals we all agreed we want to        thoughtful creative spaces and
design in this sense of joy,            happenings we signal we are
playfulness and informality so those    rejecting what can feel like the
happy connections might happen          identikit commercialised and
more often on Dudley High Street.       privatised homogeneity of so many of
                                        our High Streets.
By creating signals that give us
permission to suspend our usual         Imagine if our High Street was about
behaviours we are encouraged to         more than being on our own whilst
pause, look up, and share space         shopping, driving and parking.
differently. In this way we are more
likely to connect with new people,      What if our High Street meant
new ideas and new experiences.          spending relaxed time with our
                                        children, grand parents, and
For example, by designing in an         neighbours laughing and chatting?
openness to spaces like open gardens    What if it meant meeting new friends
there is an unlocking of resources      as we experience new foods, music,
and inspiration as well as an           arts, poetry, stories, dance and lots of
expression of trust and welcome.        other creative stuff together?

We all talked about how much we         What if our High Street was a place
love how our horizons are expanded      where as a collective we create joyful
in those magical festival moments,      moments and memories to weave into
and spaces. We definitely want and      the social traditions of our
need more of that on our High Street.   community that are built on and
                                        celebrated for generations to come?

A collective of local doers, creatives and makers is
growing. We share an aspiration to cultivate a culture
of curiosity in Dudley town centre.

Dinner #3 | Wednesday 20 March 6pm-8pm

During Dinner #3 the collective will dive deeper into the signals that their
work and projects supported by CoLab Dudley send out into the world.

We’ll consider niches constructed which subtly or overtly alter the
environment of the High Street or town centre.

This will inform the open organising of a summer festival seeded by
activity which has already taken hold or is planned for the spring.

From Dinners to Design!
Following Dinner #3 we’ll move into a more focused Festival Design phase,

Gather & Create Dinners will continue to be a connecting point for the
collective, perhaps every two to three months.

The Detectorism session this document is based on was led and written
up by CoLab Dudley Team members Jo Orchard Webb and Daniel Blyden.