Hello, Welcome, and Excuse The Mess!

Hello there!

(I am praying I am not the only one who thinks of Ewan McGregor or Sir Alec Guiness' voices when saying that - if you know, you know!)

A big warm welcome to Patchwork Arts. I would tell you an awful lot more here, but the basic gist of what we're about, is that work to devise original performances with children and young people in Rossendale, offering experiences in performance skills from trained professionals and facilitators. But we also wish to offer a little more - such as opportunities backstage or with technical aspects; maybe being on stage isn't one's forte, or it is, but one wants to learn and gain experience in doing even more. Aside from these, we, as an organisation, work in producing public arts projects for the communities in and around Rossendale, Lancashire. Comissioning/Programming artists and creatives, with a healthy mix of local and some further afield to bring some extra cultural vibrance to Rossendale.

Why Rossendale? The Valley will always hold a special place for me, growing up around here. When I got to my college/university years or so, a young adult - I got it. Why we came here, and why we live here. The beautiful rolling hills and open countryside views. The friendly faces and community spirit. The travel routes to a myriad of surrounding areas - other areas of East Lancashire are easy to get to if we fancy a stroll up Pendle Hill or to Darwen Tower, and the same in Greater Manchester with the likes of Holcombe Hill to name but a few. Of course, then there's the big city. too.

But the Valley, and all within - all have so much talent, creativity, and resiliecne to offer and show everyone - which is exactly what Patchwork exists to showcase. Its past history is rich, its current times inspiring, and its future inspiring; all of them are also incredibly exciting to think about.

Already in only my lifetime, the town of Rawtenstall has gone from a largely boarded-up town centre - see BBC's 'Survivors' (2008-10) - to Bank Street, Bury Road, Kay Street and more in town brimming with delightful independant cafes and bakeries, bars and microbreweries, clothing and gift shops and more; the market is a massive hotspot within the valley, and indeed, the immediate area. The Whitaker Museum, host to local history of Rossendale has also seen investment and contiues to grow as a valuable resource. Bacup has also started to see growth with some well deserved investment and a strong community offering similarly excellent businesses for food and drink, as well as community assets like the ABD centre and creative recreational businesses like Brush and Pencil. More crucially, Bacup has begun leading the way for repurposing of heritage buildings - see the former Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank in the restored form of the Alliance coworking space, or The Circle - a restored church used as an eatery and entertainment venue. More of that, please! Bacup, and areas of Haslingden feature currently in Sky's Brassic, as well as other recent shows such as Peaky Blinders - which is always inspiring to think about.

The latter town also hosts the iconic Halo - I would love one who was completely unaware to as what it is to see it lit up. They would be forgiven for thinking it to be a UFO! Nearby Helmshore also similarly preserves history with the Textile Museum - which not long back, was almost lost to time. The village hosts some of my personal favourite views too - you might find me clambering to the top of Musbury Tor quite a few times!

Waterfoot - home to the legendary Horse and Bamboo - which helps light up the town with its electic and diverse seasonal programmes of theatre, music and more.

Honestly, I'll stop here with all that for now - before it sounds too much like a tour guide or business plug. Though perhaps all of these wonderful organisations, businesses and sites ought to be featured in project blogs when the time comes!

A few of these - and it is far, far from all - already demonstrate the creative potential in Rossendale.

With regards to working with local youth - in my time growing up here, there was some sentiment that there wasn't much for us to do. I've since heard the same with regards to todays young people; sometimes more generally, others in some form of justification for anti-social behaviour (which, whilst sometimes this may very well be the case, I often see the assumption that such behaviour must first be attributed to young people or how all are 'tarred with the same brush', which is troubling to me). Since university, (or possibly even college age) there was also this sense that - especially for particular industries - people ought pack up and leave homeplaces like Rossendale for pastures new in bigger, competitive large towns and cities (not that there is inherently anything wrong with this, of course - many flourish in doing so. But suggestions that we 'have' to do this, is usually what frustrated me).

But whatever the case in terms of this argument - Patchwork wishes to help change and dispel that narrative. Local creators, producers, performers, tech whizzes and event co-ordinators, marketing teams, content creators - young people can be all of that through us in Rossendale. All of these different elements - or perhaps more suitably, maybe "Patches"... sorry - can come together, weaving through the valley and helping connect all areas of the community's "cultural fabric".

Rossendale, has also been identified as a place for Levelling Up Culture by the DCMS and Arts Council England, with typically low arts and cultural engagement in comparison to some other areas that may be better served provisionally. We look forward to aid in whatever way we can in helping developing a continued cultural presence in Rossendale. I'm going to pinch something I came up with as a mantra in my Business Strategies for the Arts module at university;

Access to creativity and cultural engagement should not be defined by place; rather, it is my belief that creativity and cultural engagement should define place.

(Is that technically self-plagarising? Probably not. Maybe I'm just stuck in academic mode!)

But, I believe I have babbled on for long enough, for now at least. Honestly, I was never very good at word counts at university - probably because I could go on and on and on! I will still be here with my own inputs in the future, but I also look forward to potentially hearing some other voices (young folk we work with, team members, artists, and so on) in this feed going forward - no less what may materialise on it - and in all other realms of the organisation and its work moving forward.

I hope you are as excited as I am to see what's in store at Patchwork Arts. Please also bear with me if some areas of this site look like they're still under maintenance - because chances are, many parts may still very well be. We're getting there though!

Until the next time, and with the very best wishes,

Lew Gallagher

Director, Patchwork Arts CIC