In your own words, how would you describe your work?

I am an artist and artistic director of Strange Cargo, which has been making our work since 1995. Participation is at the heart of all of my work and a desire to actively create opportunities for people to engage in high quality arts on their doorstep. I think extraordinary cultural experiences should happen on your doorstep, how else can new audiences be attracted for the arts?  Our work can take many forms - from a small workshop, through to large events such as carnivals or light festivals. We regularly engage large groups of people in creating significant public artworks and have won awards for our innovative approach to making public art for unusual places. We once made a piece of public artwork for Folkestone that had a presence in every single street in the town, 540 pieces, which won us numerous national and international awards. We also create people’s guidebooks with communities and have just embarked on our 5th version which is for Dover on the south east coast in Kent.

How did the project idea come about?

The installation for this year’s Gravesend Light Festival was a response to the festival theme of Water and Light.  Strange Cargo curated the pilot Gravesend light festival in January 2022, following a years’ delay due to Covid. Some terrific artworks were commissioned for the event from a range of very talented artists and lots of people came out to enjoy the work in the Heritage Quarter. This year we are making a piece called Rolling Down the River which is a celebration of Gravesend’s connection to the River Thames. We wanted to capture the essence of the Thames and our installation in St George’s Gardens pays homage to Gravesend’s famous river barges, the swans which are always visible on the river, and Old Father Thames; and all this is enveloped in a soundscape of sea shanty music floating through the gardens in the chilly evening air.

What’s your creative process?

It is important to us that the artwork we make has something relevant to bring to the event. Every town has its own unique fingerprint and Gravesend is no different; we wanted to make a piece of work that people could see and understand its relevance to the town; a bit like holding a mirror up to somewhere to reflect it back for townsfolk to engage with.

What does a typical day look like to you?

Our working year is very varied and includes lots of admin and fundraising, but so far in 2023, we are curating an exhibition for the anticipated reopening of an historic water lift; planning a summer carnival in partnership with Museum of Colour; casting six bronze sculptures for our ongoing artist in residence programme at Folkestone West train station, which has been created to share our participatory skills with other artists. Three of the bronzes are made by professional artists and the other three with people from the local community. Our new people’s guidebook for Dover too and it’s still only the first week in January!

What have you learned most about yourself in recent times?

My motto has always been Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today. An old saying, but very helpful in keeping on top of your workload.

Do you have any wisdom you can share with others who are thinking of launching a creative business?

Enjoy your successes and don’t let the disappointments get you down.  Believe in yourself and don’t spread yourself too thin, you only have so much energy.

What is on your mind right now?

Making sure I have a big enough van booked to transport Old Father Thames to Gravesend  ; )

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