Connect Dudley Online Exhibition Launch, 7.30pm on Wed 24 February. An evening of poetry responding to letters written in lockdown by local people. An invitation from local poet and CoLab Dudley Time Rebel, Rick Sanders.

During 2020 artist Laura Dicken spoke to 4 creatives for her Creative Connections Commissioned project Turning Points to find out more about creativity in the Black Country and how people view the places they live and the opportunities that are around them. We’ve chosen a few extracts from the conversations to share below.

Luke Perry’s Corridor of Colour was a beautiful outdoor gallery of bunting made by Luke, with the help of his neighbours, that lined his street and the High Street in Wollaston.

Poster Positivity is designed to increase unity and wellbeing in Sandwell by sharing images of hope and happiness around the community. The project is run by Foka Wolf, a satirical artist who uses posters in his work to tackle serious issues with humour.

Deaf stand-up comedian and theatremaker, Rinkoo Barpaga, focuses on his intersectionality as a Deaf brown man and the double discrimination Deaf people of colour face. For this project he will be retelling the stories of the Deaf community during lockdown.

Luke Perry’s Corridor of Colour is now LIVE to see in Stourbridge. It’s a beautiful outdoor gallery of bunting made by Luke with the help of his neighbours that lines his street and the High Street in Wollaston.

Black Country Arts Council’s project aimed to bridge the gap between creative projects and community-focused outreach by offering free art packs that were distributed with the help of CBC’s Arts Advisors to groups and communities around the Black Country to help support children to overcome barriers to learning.

Milcote Assembled is a project focusing on making connections on one road in Bearwood. This road is Milcote Road. The project aims to get people to connect with one another through a series of small ‘operations’ over the course of a few weeks. This will be done through anonymous communications.

LearnPlay Foundation launched a hub tasking the local community to design their own fantasy characters.

Sarah brings the joy of group drumming and sound relaxation to people across the UK. Playing drums is uplifting, stimulating for mind and body, and a wonderful way to connect with others.

Finn is a Deafblind visual artist currently working on mixing digital art with Haptic technology to create the sensation of touch to augment 3D animation.

Saz’s Ceramics & Crafts is a successful studio in the heart of the Black Country. Since the lockdown began, the studio has been closed so they have developed Rainbow kits, suitable for adults and children and delivered to particpant’s doors.

MotherShip is an arts organisation that connects communities through culture and creativity. Championing women, particularly mothers and those who are newly arrived.

Billy is a Deaf performing artist who specialises in Hip Hop theatre and street dance. With Ariel Fung, a deaf dancer from Hong Kong, Billy will be creating a series of street dance tutorial videos on YouTube in BSL, for Deaf kids to enjoy, and gain inspiration from, and learn new skills, during lockdown.

Caitriona Dunnett is an Irish artist based in the West Midlands. She investigates memory and its subjective, personal and forgotten narratives through nineteenth century photographic techniques. CBC Sun prints will engage 20 families from the Black Country in one of the earliest forms of photography.

Walsall Creative Factory develops projects in Community and School settings in Walsall by fostering partnership and working with a variety of groups, neighbourhoods and organisations. The team provide life enriching experiences through the delivery of creative activities and events to support community cohesion.

100 Years Ago and 10 Yards Away is a new project led by Jack and Harry Trow. It will be a short film chronicling West Bromwich Albion’s League championship-winning season of 1919/20. Made with and for the people of the Black Country, as well as people further afield for whom the Black Country and/or football is close to their heart.

Andre Reid is a designer, Maker and Researcher who is actively working towards reimagining Walsall as a town of full of creative practice and home of innovation. The Abundance in Walsall project aims to profile the wealth of arts and cultural activities available in Walsall town, through the creation of an online interactive, arts map & directory.

Connect Dudley is an online writing workshop for connecting people during lockdown. Designed by Rick Sanders, a poet and artist living in Lye, the workshop aims to bring people together through writing, asking them to reflect on what lockdown means to them and those around them during extraordinary times…

Stay up your own end’ was an online platform for creating and sharing new pieces of creative writing about different areas of the Black Country, with the chance to be a paid feature act in an online showcase event.

Corridor of Colour invites residents to design artwork, text or shoutouts that Luke will turn into creative fabric bunting over nearly 750m of street and High Street for the benefit of all, commuters, leisure walkers and locals.

For their Creative Connection commission Fizzog Community Trust worked with 5 groups within the Black Country to create a 5 updated and hilarious versions of well-known fairytales.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, those who are identified at risk of severe illness were sent an official government NHS letter which states that the safest course of action is; ‘To stay at home at all times and avoid all face-face contact for at least twelve weeks from today.’ Fragments is an artistic response to this letter.