Kendal

During the co-design sessions in Kendal, there was a particular interest in theatre and building a network of young creatives there. The young people were keen to work with Kendal based theatre company The Knotted Project (TKP). This resulted in a collaboration during lockdown in which The FOLD supported TKP to realise a piece with young people, Forge the Future. The FOLD in Kendal also saw the birth of Folded - an online zine led by some of the co-designers, populated by work, articles, words, sounds, visual art and more, by young creatives in the South Lakes. Folded continues to release quarterly issues online - a space to share, connect and uplift, created by and for young people in the rural North. You can read more about Folded on our website here, or visit the zine here.

Bentham

In Bentham we met with the co-designers on multiple occasions, whether during the pre-scheduled sessions or for catch-ups in the local chippy or at the Playing Fields. The young people impressed upon us how important the Playing Fields were to them as a place to hang-out and use the skatepark. After lockdown cancelled the festival we had planned with the young people, we thought about other, more permanent ways to enliven the skate park for the young people. This resulted in a 2 day event including a flag painting workshop with Jive Prints, and the painting of a mural on the skatepark by artist Charlie Kondras, the design of which was selected by the young people through Instagram Stories. You can read more about this here. 

We also wanted to provide an area that the young people could have ownership over - a space designed for them to sit and watch friends on the skatepark. Socially engaged architect Baxendale Studio was commissioned to create a sculpture which would serve the double purpose as providing seating for the young people. Local young craftsman Billy Walden was drafted in to build the structure, bringing Baxendale’s designs to life.

Settle

Respect for the heritage of the town whilst also craving new creative opportunities for young people was the main strand of conversation during the Settle co-design sessions. Pre-pandemic, a series of workshops, talks and events chosen by the young people was scheduled to take place over 3 weeks in Settle. When this was cancelled, we worked very closely with one co-designer in particular to reimagine what The FOLD could be in Settle. 

Each of the co-designers in Settle had been enthusiastic about the idea of a mural, so we commissioned traditional Signwriter Signs by Umberto to paint a mural featuring words and a colour scheme chosen by young people. You can read more about this here. 

Alongside this, we also developed workshop kits full of materials for a free online workshop with Yorkshire based textile artist Robyn Nichol, as well as producing 100 bags full of materials and a booklet containing 5 artist led materials which we distributed through a local charity and foodbank. We worked with artist and graphic designer Molly Bland to design some of the printed elements.