Our minds and bodies are like the blank pages of a new sketchbook; combined with the crisp whiteness of clean bed linen - each and every one of us has the ability to fill them both.
Our five senses, mind, and body are what we use to consume what the world throws at us.
Letting in the Light specialise in different ways of allowing those experiences to be explored and expressed. Society has so many different voices. Some are loud, but we aim to make audible voices that sometimes are not.
Letting in the Light are firm believers in the power of art - art as consultation, art as empowerment, art as learning, art as beauty, art as seduction, art as self-belief, art as communication.
Letting in the Light are a not for profit, socially engaged arts group. Established in 1997, by 2 artists
Anne Kinnaird and
Emily Campbell, the group has engaged with a multitude of different communities in many different forms. From creative consultation to hands on workshops,
Letting in the Light specialise in creative thinking and are ambitious in their multimedia installations. A valuable addition to the group has been
Sarah Bonam, whose experience in project development, community development and learning, business management, community consultation and working with communities at a grass-roots level strengthens
Letting in the Light's ability to work in the heart of communities. We are firm believers that the arts should and can be accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, cultural or social background, and to facilitate this accessibility we utilise many different art forms that are specific to the groups we work with and their individual needs.
Key to
Letting in the Light's success is creative collaboration with other artists. Where relevant we employ the skills of other artists, creative writers, dance practitioners and musicians and work in partnership with many local organisations.
The experiences of our participants range from full on artistic expression to simply trying something new - maybe something as simple as taking a photograph for the first time with a digital camera or just taking part. Fundamental to our projects is that they are relevant to the groups we work with, empower the participants, offer a sense of progression and development, and encourage collaboration.
An essential element of
Letting in the Light's work is to ensure that groups are offered the skills to develop their projects. We work with groups to enable them to apply for funding, set up management committees, seek out other artists and help to make the experiences that participants gain from working with
Letting in the Light relevant to them.
Working with local learning organisations,
Letting in the Light
also facilitates signposting to new or further learning. All this ensures that projects are not only sustainable, but can be developed to employ other artists, utilise other activities and aid in the capacity building of participants.
All of
Letting in the Light's
projects are multi-media often combining the contemporary with the more traditional. The techniques we use range from digital photography and video, projection making to drawing and wax resist.
One of our current areas of interest is how art and IT interact. We also have a strong interest and wide experience in creative community consultation, which has opened up new opportunities within major local regeneration projects such as
Fit for the Future - part of the North Staffs University Hospital re-build,
Love Ties - a public art commission sited in Hanley Park and more recently community consultation for a new build Health Centre in Shelton for
Prima 200, who are currently responsible for several new health centres being built locally.
To find out more about the work that
Letting in the Light
do, please contact:
Sarah Bonam - Project & Community Development
Tel: 01782 714776 / 07921 126692
Email:
info@lettinginthelight.org.uk
