Attention Young Visionaries of Croydon!
Are you passionate about the spaces you live, learn, and play in? Do you find yourself thinking about how public spaces can be more inclusive, greener, and truly serve the community?
If you're aged between U14-21 and ready to turn those thoughts into actions, join us for a workshop all about giving you—the young people of Croydon—the tools and platform to shape the future of our town centre.
Led by local artist and architecture student Melody Akanji, you’ll get:
- A peek into Croydon’s most forgotten spaces
- Hands-on exploration of public spaces, green initiatives, and how what we build can include or exclude people.
- Creative insight into collaborative planning: Together, we will create a large-scale multimedia pop-up collage that maps out your collective vision for some of Croydon’s most overlooked spaces. Starting with the town’s existing layout, we invite you to overlay your ideas, hopes, and dreams, crafting realistic plans that truly reflect the community’s aspirations.
Whether you’re an artist, thinker, planner, or dreamer, your voice is crucial in shaping the future of our shared spaces.
Free and open to all; please click through to the Eventbrite page to book a free space so we know how many people to expect!
Croydon Council is creating a new strategy to underpin the regeneration being planned for the town centre. A series of creative activities provide opportunities for the community, businesses and partners to get involved. This workshops is facilitated by local arts charity Turf Projects who are part of a multi-disciplinary team led by We Made That, working with Croydon Council in partnership with the GLA. The engagement is taking place from November 2023 into Autumn 2024.
Find out more about the Strategy using the Easy Read available in print at the Urban Room, or online here.
Sign up to the Urban Room Newsletter for future updates, and you can also email us any queries or comments at info@croydonurbanroom.com.
ABOUT TURF:
Founded in 2013 by Croydon locals, Turf is Croydon’s homegrown artist space and the first entirely artist-run contemporary art space in the borough. Based in Croydon’s Whitgift Shopping Centre, we put on free exhibitions & workshops, provide affordable artist studios, run a free creative project space for locals & host a number of other local creative organisations and collectives. A registered charity, Turf aims to provide paid opportunities for artists and creatives who might otherwise be undersupported.
KEY ACCESS INFO:
- To help us support you best, please let us know if you have any access needs when booking.
- This workshop will involve some reading and writing. If you need support, just let us know.
- For access info about getting to Turf and the Turf space, click here.
WORKSHOP CODE:
Turf aims to be a space where all are welcomed & respected. We ask all attendees to align with this spirit when booking and support us in creating a welcoming & collaborative atmosphere together. We ask that everyone is;
- Kind and respectful in our language and behaviour towards others. Turf is a space which is anti racism, sexism, homophobia and ableism.
- Considerate of others' time; allowing others room to speak & engage.
- Respectful of the space itself as belonging to many people, treating the space & objects with care.
- Attend wherever possible: In 2023, around 30% of people booking free tickets didn't turn up! Our free tickets are limited and in high demand. Every person who doesn't turn up means someone else can't attend, so please let us know if you can't make it to free up a space. If you don’t attend twice or more without letting us know, you may be restricted from booking again.
