Out & About Weekenders
Out & About Weekenders
Out & About: Creative Weekends in the Cultural Industries Quarter
Curator David Mcleavy and I worked together to develop and deliver a series of four Weekender events in Sheffield’s Cultural Industries Quarter (CIQ) in the Summer of 2022. The programme of free, family friendly social and cultural activity was funded through Sheffield City Council’s economic and supported by Site Gallery alongside additional partners The Showroom Workstation, Yorkshire Artspace and Bloc Projects.
Out & About brought together cultural, community and hospitality businesses in the area, alongside community groups, local artists and creatives to revitalise the area and celebrate creativity and making in Sheffield.
Collaboration is Key:
Each of the four special Out & About Weekenders; 'Paint Jam’, Urban Futures’, ‘Freshly Squeezed’ and ‘Sustainability’ featured a programme of free, family-friendly activities including drop-in creative workshops with artists and community groups, exhibitions, newly-commissioned public artworks, performances and events.
From Wild Soda Pop and City Earth Medicine Workshops, live radio broadcasting with Montez Press Radio, architectural tours and new street art mural commissions, the weekenders intended to welcome individuals and families alike to get together and enjoy the Creative Industries Quarter.
The project also featured a modular, community table commission. The collaborative commission was been designed and developed by architectural duo McCloy + Muchemwa (Steven McCloy and Bongani Muchemwa) alongside Josef Shanley-Jackson and Finn Thompson of London based art and design studio Mitre&Mondays.
In their first collaborative project, McCloy + Muchemwa and Mitre&Mondays responded to a brief for a site-specific, multi-use piece of furniture which promotes community socialising and cultural activity.
Following the ‘Out & About’ programme of activity this summer, the table will be gifted to local creative and community businesses to be used in different configurations for their own public events.
Images courtesy and copyright of Joe Horner and the artists involved.
