SexUpStoke

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Comment by culturing stuff on June 5, 2009 at 2:26pm

I'll keep my eyes open for that :) mark.

cheers everyone

Comment by Mark Brereton on June 3, 2009 at 10:43am

Hi,

Have anyone seen the new Virgin train advert? When the train goes through Stoke-on-Trent train station the sign in the station changes to Snog-on-Sofa instead of S-O-T. Seems like they were already thinking about sexing-up-stoke.

Comment by Laura Hyde on June 3, 2009 at 9:56am

Excellent...well keep me posted on how you are getting on and if I can help in anyway...!

Also...I've heard rumour that an event might be organised around this - not sure how or where yet, but I'll keep you posted :)

Comment by clarewhite on June 3, 2009 at 7:48am

count me in!

Comment by culturing stuff on June 3, 2009 at 2:28am

that's class Laura Thank You x

I think I need to research this a little and see if we can't get some kind of steering committee going for the Stoke massive :)

Comment by Laura Hyde on June 2, 2009 at 2:42pm

Hey Culturing Stuff,

I have had a chat with Jess Steele of DTA (currently seconded to CLG) about the Caretaker Project / Sex Up Stoke idea of shop sharing as per the Stronger Communities meeting

Apparrently, DTA and CLG are looking to work with organisations at local, regional and national level, and this early phase is all about making those connections and building a bigger network.

They have just started an ning themselves www.meanwhilespace.ning.com to connect these organisations.

At the moment CLG are trying to make things happen where they can...as more people get involved and it goes past the pilot phase they will be applying a formal application process - probably a good idea to get in touch with them now!

There's approx £3m funding earmarked, although there are no distribution channels just yet. Arts Council England have £500k available for artists use of empty shops – see their website http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ . DIUS have recently announced a £20m Learning Revolution fund which specifically mentions use of empty shops for informal learning http://www.dius.gov.uk/skills/engaging_learners/informal_adult_learning/transformation_fund

The other people you might want to link up with for sharing best practice for shop sharing are

www.artistsandmakers.com
www.spacemakers.ning.com

I hope this is of use!

I’ve also posted this on the Chain Reaction ning www.chain-reaction.ning.com

Laura

Comment by culturing stuff on May 29, 2009 at 2:56am

You mentioned Julian from new start magazine earlier...

Comment by culturing stuff on May 29, 2009 at 2:54am

are there any discussions online Clare?

Comment by culturing stuff on May 28, 2009 at 2:27am

I see what you mean about the url :)

For me, sexing up stoke is about generating the right image but the right image must first be created. What I mean is, maybe we need to encourage the value of litterally cleaning up our city. Maybe a campaign to jet wash, paint and generally tidy up our 6 towns and the streets in between.
I have a personal obsession with trees. I think trees and grass can do so much to any space.

We could gather all the groovy good parts of Stoke together for tourists to gaze at but I'd feel like I was lying if I didn't show the mess. We need to clean up and wash up our environment. The spaces between the attractions needs to be nice too.
This would of course involve the council and would probably mean training up an army of jet washers and painters and decorators. It all depends on the thinkers behind the money.
If they could see the value of cleaning up our environment as a basic start, then we could work on providing a softer feeling environment. I've got loads of ideas but I need to get them out of my head and onto a page where they could be discussed and hopefully this will start a few things off. I've been collecting images of the degeneration of mainly Hanley but I do get about. This I'll use as a shaming tool. When you pull it all together it makes shocking viewing. Sometimes the only way to create change.

I don't like showing the mess but it needs to be shown how this effects the people. Its only fair to show both sides. In some places, great things have happened but we need to get all of it to a reasonable standard. By celebrating the good and shaming the bad, we'll prove its better to care, in both community and business.

I'll stop there and go and work on it :)

If you've got any ideas, throw em in and hopefully we'll get the beginnings of a master plan.

Comment by culturing stuff on May 27, 2009 at 9:30pm

hi guys glad a little something is begining to happen.

we've been putting loads of vids and tunes up at culturingstuff and we're trying to show evrything we've seen or heard about. In a way this could be a source for future sexing up :)

As Mark said it is about the people and they're starting to respond. We've got a SexUpStoke group up there too and eventually it all be brought together and shared. I'll check out that link and get back shortly :)

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