A Little Patch of Ground

There is a unique community project taking place at the moment and it is called ‘A Little Patch of Ground’ led by participatory arts group, Encounters. Since April 2011 two community vegetable gardens based on permaculture principles have been established and two culturally diverse and intergenerational groups have been formed.

One garden is in an urban setting, situated at Artsadmin’s Toynbee Studios in the heart of the east end of London, and the second garden is in a rural environment, at Dartington Hall Trust, South Devon.

From May until the end of September each group of 25 people aged between 5 and 87 have been meeting weekly to take part in vegetable growing and weekly creative activities. The gardening and creative threads of the project intertwine and feed off each other. The participants explore through creative writing, story-telling, photography and drama the relationships they have with where they live and the wider natural world around them.

The groups share ideas and thoughts about food, resources, climate change, and inter-dependence. They carry out essential jobs in the garden, harvest produce that is ready to be eaten, they cook and eat together. In the final stages of the project these experiences, stories, and ideas are shared with the wider public in a multi-media performance and exhibition presented by the participants.

Here are what some of the participants have said about why they are involved : ‘Grow and learn how to make the biggest carrots’ from Jenny, aged 7; ‘Meet new people and grow veg so as not to buy from the supermarket’ from Leonie, aged 24; ‘I came to meet people and grow a sense of community – and I seem to be doing that’ David, aged 63.

A Little Patch of Ground was created by Encounters’ creative director, Ruth Ben-Tovim, and associate artist Anne-Marie Culhane. They developed the project, now in its third year, because of their desire to ‘respond creatively to the challenges of climate change and to develop new ways for communities to live by that are interconnected and sustainable’. The vegetable gardens are created according to permaculture principles and this is embedded throughout the project as too is the work of eco-philosopher Joanna Macy.

Both of the physical sites involved are also partners to the project, which is funded by the Arts Council. For Artsadmin, an organisation that produces ground breaking arts projects, the Patch project, set in an unloved space – the courtyard – gave the organisation ‘an opportunity to take the value of what goes on inside their building and express it outside’. Dartington Hall Trust wanted to support this project because they could see that ‘Patch is an example of art and sustainability combined with social justice, which is an exemplar project for Dartington’.

In the early stages of setting up the project, in order to recruit a wide and diverse group of participants, Encounters and their two host partners worked with the race equality unit, local schools, youth service, children centres, care homes, local farms, and environmental campaign groups in both locations to promote involvement in this food growing and performance making project.

At the end of the project the urban and rural groups will take a coach trip to visit each others’ Little Patches of Ground and see each others’ performances. For some, especially the children involved, it will be the first time they have left their own rural/urban setting and will no doubt be a highlight of the project.

Encounters specialise in designing and delivering creative projects, workshops and events that inspire creativity, dialogue and exchange between people of all ages and cultures. In arts, community, environmental and regeneration contexts across the UK they seek to reconnect people to their own instinctive and imaginative power to shift how they see the world and their place within it.

• A Little Patch of Ground has spread from Liverpool to Doncaster, and now to Devon and London. If you would like it in your community contact Encounters – info@encounters-arts.org.uk

• To visit the performances : Toynbee Studios, London E1 6AB, Wed 21and Fri 23 September – Booking: 020 7650 2350 / www.artsadmin.co.uk
• Dartington Space, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Fri 7, Sat 8 and Tues 11 October – Booking : 01803 847070

• Photo by Sarah Hopfinger