Menticulture Magazine X SPARK! Issue 5
In our regular Menticulture feature spotlighting Chelmsford’s creative youth, each issue we speak to Jaiden Buck-Auld from Spark! Chelmsford’s very own youth culture revolution.
SPARK! is a collective of young creatives shaping the city’s future through bold, exciting projects. With big plans in the pipeline, they’re set to make a lasting impact on Chelmsford’s cultural landscape in the months and years ahead…
Hello and were back again with another update from SPARK!
Since our last article, we’ve been keeping busy as always with plenty going on over the summer season.
We have recently welcomed Rachel Hopwood as our new Community Engagement and Programme Manager, and look forward to working more with her as we develop and deliver our programme in Chelmsford over the next two years.
Recently, some of the meet ups have been in less formal settings where more reflection and opportunities to learn more about the other members have been possible.
Last month some of the members were joined by Sharon, Maxine and Candy and took a trip down to the Young V&A Museum in Bethnal Green and then went down to Waterloo and viewed the Leake Street Art Tunnel. A nice day out it proved to be, more so to provide ideas and admire the fantastic artwork in the tunnel.
Earlier in the month, a couple of members from SPARK! took part in a radio interview on the Chelmsford Community Radio Show to talk more about the Young Cultural Change Makers programme with the three projects over the next two years.
September turned out to be a busy month full of birthdays, new ventures for some of the members starting university, and plenty of activities we worked on. These included heading down to BBC Radio 2 at Hylands Park on the 7th of September, a weekend trip to Portsmouth, and participation in the Heritage Open Day events.
On September 18th we hosted one of the days at Patch: “What does it mean to belong?” This event featured Heritage, Culture and Cuisine, as six people produced their national dish and shared its origins and why it was significant for them growing up.
The week prior, on the 11th of September, we held our annual SPARK! Takeover event at The Meadows, and enjoyed brilliant talks from the National Saturday Club and The Advocacy Academy.
Amidst all of this, our regular meetings continued, including workshops for our upcoming rebrand.
We had sessions with creative brand consultants Nick Hearne and Ben Stanbury as well as Claire Gevaux and Emma Barrow to discuss how we can develop a new brand for Spark! that will carry our ideas forward in the years to come. We’re excited to see the progress here, as we’ve been eager to get an updated brand in the works for a long while.
“Earlier in the month, a couple of members from Spark! took part in a radio interview on the Chelmsford Community Radio Show to talk more about the Young Cultural Change Makers programme with the three projects over the next two years.”
Stay tuned for more updates from Spark! soon.
To learn more about what we do at Spark! and to find out about joining us, please visit www.culturechelmsford.org.uk/spark-chelmsford
