Why 'essential' charity arts group Creative Crawley is so important to the town - artists have their say

The charity arts group supports creative people and makes surprising art works happen in Crawley. They have an open day at their new makerspace in West Green on June 12 (12pm-2pm and 3.30pm-5.30pm).

They have had a packed spring programme this year with events for everyone in the town including a spectacular dance show in County Mall and a fashion show.

Creative Crawley has also commissioned murals around in the town centre and around the neighbourhoods among many other projects, exhibitions and performances. You can see what’s on and find out more about Creative Crawley at https://creativecrawley.com/.

We caught up with resident artists at the makerspace in Town Barn Road and asked them why Creative Crawley is so important to the town?

Lonny Chauhan, artist based in Three Bridges: “I think it's brilliant, I think towns like Crawley need these companies that are organisations that are doing these things for the community and really boosting the art scene.

“As an artist, I'm really grateful for it, having the space to make all this stuff but also then that feeds back into the community because all these little things, each artist's work, all comes together to fill this community which increasingly is thriving thanks to the efforts of places like Creative Crawley.

“You've probably seen the murals around town that they've done and I think just each little thing that they do I think helps brighten up and make it a nicer place to live so I think it's beautiful.”

Architect and artist Karl Singporewala: “Creative Crawley is massive, I mean they've built on what people have tried to do for many, many years but it's not just them creating the community here, it's them creating the opportunities here as well.

“The first time I found out about Creative Crawley was just after the pandemic and they did a call-out for a mural in the children's part of the Crawley Library. There was a brief, there was a budget and there was a program and, okay, this is all professionally put together and so forth, but it's in my hometown. I've worked on projects around the UK and around the world and it's like ‘oh no this is a five minute walk from where I live’ and it's such a silly thing to be surprised about.

“Then there's been this consistency and this new maker space and the links with Theatre Centre have been wonderful that they've created this community and it will evolve and it will grow and it will change and, people will come and people will go and maybe come back again, but it's it's wonderful to be part of that you know at this stage in my career to be able to not only support that but benefit and contribute to that it's wonderful.”

Fashion designer Beth Williams: “Creative Crawley is so important. I knew Crawley was a creative place and I knew lots of people in Crawley were creative but being able to link up with them and work together, not just on our personal projects, but also projects that benefit the local community is so important.

"It's not just doing jobs but it's also helping people's well-being. That's the best thing about the arts, it’s showing people new things and getting to think about things in new ways but also in a way which is really rewarding for them being involved. It doesn't always have to be like financial sometimes it can literally just be like this is a new thing that made them smile.”

Fashion and bridal wear designer Sophie Merriner: ”For a lot of creatives, before I went to uni, there wasn't any sort of culture I suppose, well, there probably was it was just hidden. I think Creative Crawley has definitely brought that creative culture to the surface now and when I came back from uni it was ‘oh my gosh’ this is an incredible organization, this is an incredible network of people doing creative things. It's actually just been amazing to actually be able to stay in my hometown and work on my practice. It's just this incredible community and we've met so many people through Creative Crawley, it's just an incredible network really, there's so much collaboration.”

Theatre Centre artistic director Eleanor Manners: ““I think it's so important. I think Crawley has got such a brilliant hub of all kinds of different people who can bring lots of brilliant stuff for Crawley and I think what's really sad is there hasn't really been a space where artists can make work and Creative Crawley are making that possible. Hopefully now we can show the nation what Crawley can do and what we can make.”

Louise Blackwell, creative director of Creative Crawley: “Well obviously I'm biased, I'm the creative director. It's totally essential. We're led by creativity, that's our bag but what we're trying to do is change the town for the better for the people here and we believe, and I believe, that arts and culture and creativity can do that.

“It crosses into health and well-being, it helps people get more confident and be more skilled and therefore get better jobs. There's such a range of things that arts and culture and creativity can do for you and some people will never do it as a career and that's fine but creativity is across everything. Pretty much everyone I know watches telly, people listen to music, read books and so on.

“Imagine a world where that didn't exist and for me it just crosses into everything so it helps people feel better and this amazing town deserves it because it doesn't have the infrastructure at the moment that can support it properly so that's why I think Creative Crawley is important.”

You can find out more information about Creative Crawley’s open days at the West Green space at https://creativecrawley.com/event/resident-associate-artists-in-west-green/.