Barton Hill Festival Success for Local Residents
A ‘Lively, vibrant community atmosphere’ are the words one person used to sum up the first Barton Hill Festival.
The free event saw over 1000 residents in the area come together to celebrate the diverse and creative community they live in.
Central to the event was Barton Hill Settlement – a vital community resource and hub which played host to free activities from theatre performances, craft, art, music, inclusive spaces and food.
Those living in Barton Hill and the Lawrence Hill area and ward live in one of the highest areas of deprivation in the country. A 2017 study found that just 55 per cent of Lawrence Hill residents thought that people from different backgrounds got on well together.
Network Coordinator for Barton Hill Settlement, Sarah Dailly said: “We are just beginning to look through the feedback from the day, but one comment already sticks out: ‘today changed my perception of this area and its people.’ Free community celebrations like Barton Hill Festival offer a brilliant day out for everyone to enjoy together, create meaningful memories and build new relationships between organisations and residents, they also change how a community views itself and we were proud to be a part of that positive change.”
As well as Barton Hill Settlement, there are other organisations in the area aiming to provide opportunities and drive improvement for the area.
Resident led charity Up Our Street, strives to deliver community developed projects in the Easton and Lawrence Hill areas ‘one street at a time.’
Barton Hill Settlement based Travelling Light also emphasised the need for community cohesion. “Barton Hill is a place to be proud of, over 70 different nationalities have chosen to make it their home and we wanted to create a day that reflected that,” Jo Woodcock, Production Manager at Travelling Light said.
“There’s so much fantastic activity going on in the area, but often the organisations and community groups don’t know about each other and neither do the residents. Barton Hill Festival was about bringing everyone together to be a part of something fun and new: a day where residents could get involved, enjoy themselves and see the area through their neighbour’s eyes.”
www.travellinglighttheatre.org.uk
http://bartonhillsettlement.org.uk