Communities of Possibilities: Collective Radical Reimagination - the people-powered projects transforming South Tees communities
Communities of Possibilities: Creative Community Awards is a programme that will support both community groups and artists to realise creative ideas. Community groups and artists were invited to respond to the theme of Collective Radical Reimagination: to dream, reimagine, and consider a more hope-filled future for our people and our places.
Summary of Projects
Commemorating Don Revie, led by Dr Tosh Warwick and Andrew Pain (Middlesbrough)
This project aims to inspire the community of Newport through the telling of renowned footballer Don Revie's life story, who despite facing adversities young in life, went on to achieve great things. Working with pupils, parents, carers and staff at Archibald School, where Don attended as a boy, this project will harness a creative exploration of local history to inspire the next generation. Participants will work also with local mosaic artists to create a piece of art within the grounds of Archibald School, which will be visible to the public.
Community Songwriting, Saltburn Folk Festival (Redcar & Cleveland)
This project will connect songwriting folk musicians with groups of children and young people from Redcar and East Cleveland. Through a guided exploration of each community’s history, current lives and hopes for the futures, the musicians and participants will co-create original folk songs that reflect current issues and topics. Once created, these songs will be performed to older person’s groups in the same communities and developed further, before these are performed at Saltburn Folk Festival, at least one South Tees festival and during the Weekend of Dreaming.
East Cleveland Vision for the future, led by Lynne Lawson, Patrick Hollifield and Beth Simpson (Redcar & Cleveland)
East Cleveland: A Vision of Our Future is a video time capsule project, to be designed and co-created with the communities of East Cleveland. The Project explores our hopes and ambitions for the future our place. The project will consider our present, but enable us to collaboratively share, to “Radically Re-imagine” our future 20 years from now. Members of the community are invited to participate in a series of workshops and film making opportunities that will culminate in a final film and exhibition, presented in community spaces across East Cleveland, and archived by The North East Film Archive, allowing it to function as a time capsule.
Fired in Dreams: Sculpting the Future of Our Town, led by Clay Lyrical (Mia Williamson) (Redcar & Cleveland)
Fired in Dreams: Sculpting the Soul of our Town will be a collaborative ceramics project, using clay to immortalise local stories and to sculpt a collective, community vision of how the future of Saltburn may look. Using a mixture of locally foraged and commercial clay as a medium for storytelling, participants will explore themes of sustainability, inclusivity, and urban transformation, shaping a shared vision of what our community could become. Through collaborative ceramic-making, we will materialise these ideas into sculptural pieces, architectural models, and symbolic artefacts that express our collective hopes for the town’s future.
Futures in Play: A Radical Repowering, led by Middlesbrough Art Week (Middlesbrough)
Futures in Play: A Radical Repowering (FiP:ARR) is a collaboration between Middlesbrough Art Week & Furtherfield that aims to empower communities in Middlesbrough by fostering imaginative, participatory playful spaces where local voices can shape collective futures. By co-creating with local people, a speculative role-play game called Chamber LARPs (Live Action Role-Playing scenarios), FiP:ARR will amplify underrepresented voices, explore and experiment with alternative futures, and transform collective agency into pathways for radical reimaginations. The project will consist of a series of workshops, community visits, development of a new and unique LARP game, and public presentations at Middlesbrough Art Week and Borderlands Weekend of Dreaming.
Middlesbrough Uncovered, led by Robert Nichols (Middlesbrough)
Middlesbrough Uncovered is centred around Middlesbrough's shared heritage, offering a unique chance to explore the town's history, identity, and future through art and community engagement. This project invites attendees to rediscover the town via alternative tours, blending artistic interventions with historical narratives to create an immersive experience. Led by local artists who collaborate with community members, these tours offer fresh perspectives on familiar locations, unveiling hidden heritage and reinterpreting them through contemporary art.
New Middlesbrough Cardboard Town, led by Whippet Up CIC (Middlesbrough, and Redcar & Cleveland)
The 'New Middlesbrough' will be a 3D fantasy model town of the future, designed and built with South Tees residents. This will be a large-scale construction, built to ceiling height, and will feature community buildings, gardens, and transport systems that meet the needs and fulfil the dreams of the South Tees residents who create it. Created via a number of Creative Health sessions as well as several open building sessions for the community, the model town will then form a major display in the touring gallery space at Dorman's Museum.
Parking Day, led by Will Hughes and Bobby Bailey (Middlesbrough)
Parking Day will transform parking space on Albert Road, into a vibrant, multi-functional parklet as part of the global Park(ing) Day movement in September. This intervention will challenge the dominant use of urban space for cars by temporarily reclaiming it for people-centred activity. The parklet will serve as a place for community connection, relaxation, and cultural engagement, featuring activity such as live music, interactive games, artistic installations, and greenery. Engaging local businesses, artists, and community groups in the design and making process, the project will foster a sense of shared ownership, demonstrating the potential of small-scale urban interventions to create lasting impact and improve public space.
Pop-Up Hand Made Cardboard Touring Museum of National History, led by Aaron Bowman, Hollie Notman and Kat Lynas (Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland).
This project invites communities across South Tees to collectively reimagine nature, question human impact and imagine alternative futures. Created with and for local families, this project will work with community groups to build immersive exhibits that preserve lost species and reframe what conservation means - in an ultimately half performed and half-facilitated installation. The Pop-Up Museum will then tour community spaces across South Tees.
Project Antioch, led by Friends of Skelton Community Orchard (Redcar & Cleveland)
This project aims to connect the villages of Skelton and Brotton through a series of creative activities that celebrate the local area. Glass work will be the main creative form of this project, and through workshops delivered in schools and community spaces across the two villages, participants will explore local history, develop glass work skills and create shared public artwork.
Re-imagining Middlesbrough, led by Health & Arts (Middlesbrough)
Reimagining Middlesbrough brings together people from various backgrounds, ethnicities and faiths to explore the shared spaces of the town, to map personal memories connected to various locations, to tell the stories of our streets, and celebrate the rich diversity of Middlesbrough. Community visual arts and poetry workshops will result in an anthology of mixed media that weaves together visions of Middlesbrough's past, present and future and reflect the multi-cultural traditions that co-exist and enrich one another.
Re-storying, led by Guisborough Arts (Redcar & Cleveland)
Re-storying aims to provide local people in Guisborough the opportunity to creatively consider the future and the pathways it may take to get there. Through recordings of oral history, the creation of a soundtrack and an audio trail across Guisborough, and an immersive experience at local venue. The soundtrack which will share local stories, hopes and dreams will be documented by the Teesside Archives, and a digital version of the trail will be accessible online, reaching more people and lasting forever.
Roll on to Reimagine, led by Rumana Yasmin and Sofia Barton (Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland)
Roll on to Reimagine will involve local school children and educators from across South Tees through a series of creative exploration and games design workshops. The workshops will provide a space for participants to share their experiences, discuss issues such as racism and bias, and co-create a game that explores these themes. Once completed, the Roll to Reimagine game will be utilised during workshops, community events and training sessions as a resource in classrooms and beyond.
Tomorrow Street, led by Stellar Creates (Middlesbrough)
Tomorrow Street is a vibrant, uplifting space designed to spark joy, creativity and future-thinking. In collaboration with three community groups in Middlesbrough, Stellar Projects will co-create an evolving installation that invites residents to reimagine a brighter tomorrow. This space will be a key feature of their Happy Rooms project in Summer 2025, continuously transforming as visitors from across the borough interact with the space and contribute to the artwork. Tomorrow Street encourages participants to look 100 years ahead, envisioning a future where Middlesbrough thrives. Through this act of collective radical reimagination, we will explore what needs to change today to shape a more joyful, equitable and dynamic future.
