Activity
Imaginative Spaces
Imaginative Spaces was an ‘artist in residence’ project which focused on a programme of work delivered in two libraries, to support storytelling as a medium to promote reading for pleasure and language development.
This project was part of a broader strategy to develop libraries as a beacon of excellence – a creative hub at the heart of the community.
Everybody’s Reading
Word Wednesdays
Imaginative Spaces 2015
In 2014/15, Jayne Williams (based at The Brite Centre) and Andy Reeves (Southfields Library) worked with library staff, schools, families and community groups to develop a programme of work that shows creative and innovative ways to use library spaces, books and other resources.
The end of Andy Reeves’s residency at Southfields Library has been marked by a project to celebrate the buildings history as it embarks on a new period after its renovation.
Written to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ‘Pork Pie’ library, which opened in 1939, this short piece features the voices of many local people who shared their memories of the building with Andy.
The poem was then transformed by illustrator and lettering artist Annie Rickard Straus, whose combination of beautiful lettering and imagery is on permanent display at the Pork Pie Library
Imaginative Spaces 2016
In 2014/15, Jayne Williams (based at In 2015/16 Andy moved to St Matthews Library and was joined by Manya Benenson at St Barnabas Library.
Maya developed ‘Mister Tootle’s Storychair’, and interactive story experience. The Storychair invited children to enter a secret, underground, woodland world. Once inside, the child would trigger a range of sound effects to enhance their imaginative response. Children interacted with parts of the chair and release a story from the roots of the Baobab tree.
