(no subject)

V*

Karen, this is a very exciting project we are working on & I'm glad of your
interest. I am the Co-ordinator (freelance from today, but until last week
working for a local charity) for the project (Bankside Open Spaces
Programme)- we are setting up a trust which will have a nursery, provide
grant schemes, put on a yearly flower festival, do local events, provide
informal and accredited training with the local college and support the
different gardens groups and local people with their gardening projects. (9
sites are being improved through local government funding over this next
year and we are aiming towards sustainable and local ownership and
management) The NYC community gardens were very inspiring for me & I was
very impressed with the American support structures for the gardens.

Also - The Tate Modern is due to open in May - it has a completely new and
very stylised landscape in the main. But there is a walled area which has
been designated as a 'Community Resource Area'. This is partly because the
Tate are very interested in working with the local community and perhaps
partly a far-sighted experiment. There is a Steering Group for this
project - 5 local residents (one from the Residents Forum), a local council
officer, myself and 2 representatives from the Tate. We are working up a
consultation process for the space which will involve working with 10
children who we have already trained and worked with as expert consultants
(who have given their top priorities and recommendations for open space and
gardens in the area). We will team them up with a group of elderly residents
and support them through a process of gathering pictoral representations of
gardens (maybe photos, postcards, magazine cut outs and art on gardens (ie
from Tate Britain & other museums)). Then we will hold an event later on
this year in the space with all these pictures and invite the wider
community to come and do some visioning around what this space could be. The
Tate are very open as to what may happen - it will be very interesting to
see whether we can create something which is community owned which is
actually part of a major art gallery. Big learning curve. All the best,
Vicky Lawrence

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