POP TO THE SHOPS: SHOP KEEPERS' STORIES COMMISSIONED BY HACKNEY HERITAGE & SERVICES & HACKNEY MUSEUM : FEBRUARY 2015

POP TO THE SHOPS: SHOP KEEPERS' STORIES
COMMISSIONED BY HACKNEY HERITAGE & SERVICES & HACKNEY MUSEUM : FEBRUARY 2015

The independent long-standing local shopkeepers of Hackney Central tell their stories about family business, immigration, community and changing times. A series of audio portraits commissioned by Hackney Council Regeneration as a 6 month exhibition at the Hackney Museum.

Brief and Objectives

Heritage is intrinsically valued, yet people often find they are disconnected with their local heritage either through migration or lack of time to learn about the stories of a place.  When the opportunity arises to discover more about the place were people live, work and shop people they are keen to engage and share their stories and experiences; often resulting in an increased feeling of pride and greater sense of place and cohesion. 

 

The Narrow way should be identifiable as a community space as well as place of commerce; people will visit a place where they feel a sense of community and connection.  Loyalty to the high street can be a powerful contributor to economic stability.  It is hoped that this programme will work towards strengthening the Narrow Way and its sense of place for local residents.

Proposal and Outcome

The recording and editing of six in depth audio interviews with the owners of local long-standing shops and businesses located on or near the Narrow Way in Hackney in order to create a series of 'audio portraits'. These are to be accompanied by photographic portraits to create an complete picture of who these local shop keepers really are, how they got there and what the future holds. Curation of an exhibition installation dedicated to celebrating these local shop keepers at the Hackney Museum literally over the road from the Narrow Way. 

After several months of persuasion and persistence, six shop owners agreed to be interviewed on location in their shop. Some of these interviews were long quite emotional conversations about family history, economic hardship and accomplishments, migration and their role in the local community. The challenge was to depict a true representation of each person through sound in just a few minutes and enable the public to feel like they had got to know the story behind some of these long standing shops they have probably walked past everyday without a second glance. Curating an exhibition at a museum with limited resources and strict presentation regulations introduced some interesting challenges but this simply meant the installation needed to be simple and effective for a universal audience. 

Pop to shops: Meet the Shop Keepers was exhibited at The Hackney Museum from 12 Feb to 30 July 2015 and is now part of the museum's permanent collection. 

Exhibition curation, audio production, sound design: Lucia Scazzocchio
Photography: Kuba Nowak 

AUDIO ROUTES : BOOTSTRAP STORIES INITIATED BY CULTIVATERS MAY 2013 - MAY 2014

AUDIO ROUTES : BOOTSTRAP STORIES
INITIATED BY CULTIVATERS
MAY 2013 - MAY 2014

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What makes people decide to start their own business, work free-lance an be their own boss? This is a collection of condensed interviews with a cross-section of working residents renting a desk, office or studio on the Co-working environment 'The Bootstrap Building'. These short audio portraits give us an insight into the route or root of these professional journeys.  Ranging from graphic design to bicycle repairs, they all have one thing in common, they have made a committed choice to do the work they do.

Brief and objectives

Cultivaters had just been launched and it was time to move from the dining room table and cafes to somewhere more sociable full of like-minded people, where else but one of the many emerging co-working spaces in East London. Curiosity and chance led me to the Bootstrap building and more precisely to The Print House. Very quickly it emerged that the anticipated friendly social environment, potential collaboration and connections would take a bit of work. Who were all these people, how did they get here doing what they do? 

Outcome

Knowing that in order for these audio interviews to more engaging they would need visual accompaniment, I began to look for a photographer in the building, as luck had it my desk neighbour Kuba Nowak was the perfect collaborator and Audio Routes as a format was born. We Combined a photographic slide shows and short edited interviews to create shareable video portraits of 16 diverse residents in the building. 

Audio interviews and production: Lucia Scazzocchio
Photography and video production: Kuba Nowak
 

POP TO THE SHOPS! COMMISSIONED BY HACKNEY HERITAGE SERVICES JULY 2014

POP TO THE SHOPS!
COMMISSIONED BY HACKNEY HERITAGE SERVICES
JULY 2014

A live radio broadcast in collaboration with The Decorators, commissioned by Hackney Heritage Services. Using The Decorators 'On Air' mobile radio stall set up on The Narrow Way in Hackney, local residents were invited to participate in an afternoon of conversation and memory sharing about how the local area has changed over the years. 

Brief and objectives

Heritage is intrinsically valued, yet people often find they are disconnected to their local heritage either through migration or lack of time to learn about the stories of a place.  When the opportunity arises to discover more about the place were people live, work and shop people they are keen to engage and share their stories and experiences; often resulting in an increased feeling of pride and greater sense of place and cohesion. The Narrow Way should be identifiable as a community space as well as place of commerce; people will visit a place where they feel a sense of community and connection.  Loyalty to the high street can be a powerful contributor to economic stability.  It is hoped that this programme will work towards strengthening the Narrow Way and its sense of place for local residents. 

Proposal and Outcome

A programme designed to bring people together by sharing their stories of the Narrow Way.  Experienced Heritage facilitators will encourage shoppers to share and record their stories of the High Street using historic photographs from Hackney Archives as prompts to conversations. Stories will be recorded in the mobile recording studio. The content will be edited enabling it to be used within Hackney museum and Hackney Library as oral history archives. The use of a live radio show framework and format creates a 'public' event for those in the area, an entertaining radio show and means of engagement for those who choose to listen online as well as oral history archives from the recording. 

This totally improvised day long radio show relied on the fact that people would engage and share their stories and once the ball was rolling they did. This really demonstrated how by creating the right framework, total strangers begin to tell their stories and once they are locked into a conversation its always incredible how open people become. This was a public shopping street where all the interviews where amplified via speakers to the whole area, yet people did talk and memories where shared. That is is the power of creating the right framework for a Social Broadcast.  As these recordings are now only accessible via Hackney Library archives we created a Hackney Voices radio to broadcast some of the interviews captured that day. 

Radio stall design and fabrication: The Decorators
Radio show production: Lucia Scazzocchio
Radio show hosts: Lucia Scazzocchio, Ana Xavier, Martha Mc Alpine, Carla Thomas

CHRISP STREET ON AIR COMMISSIONED BY THE DECORATORS APRIL 2014

CHRISP STREET ON AIR
COMMISSIONED BY THE DECORATORS
APRIL 2014

Cultivaters was commissioned by The Decorators to turn their mobile radio stall into a vehicle for powerful, lively and effective programming with a view to engage with communities and enable discussions around the future of Chrisp Street Market, an area struggling in the face of rapid regeneration. The radio stall was set up in the market square on three consecutive Saturdays and was central to a series of events to encourage unity and engagement amongst business and residents in the area. The live radio shows ranged from light entertainment to serious discussion programmes with local leaders and politicians. 

Brief and objectives

The research project based on a series of actions at Chrisp Street Market in Poplar to emphasise the market's relevance as a public and civic space at the heart of community life was already underway. The Decorators built a mobile radio station inspired by the local market stalls with the idea to create a series of radio shows spanning three consecutive Saturdays from 11am to 5pm. The brief was to curate, coordinate and produce these shows as entertainment in the market square for the local residents but also as a way to engage and empower both residents and businesses by literally giving them a voice.  

Proposal and Outcome

Here the role of Cultivaters was more production and execution based as the brief was already underway and The Decorators had a clear idea of what they wanted to do and had already spent several months doing the ground work. Here the task was finding technical and practical solutions for live radio broadcasting from a busy market and programme three days of interesting and entertaining content featuring local residents and talent. 

Each day was divided into a schedule of 1 or 2 hour slots ranging from light entertainment quiz shows to serious discussion shows about the future of Chrisp Street Market.

This project was the catalyst for Social Broadcasting as it became clear that a framework built around the physical structure of a radio studio and the format of a live radio show encouraged candid and open discussion and insights rarely attainable through more linear platforms such as forums and meetings. It seemed that the microphone empowered participants to speak and actively listen rather than induce shyness or over-talking! 
It was evident that more insight was gained about what local residents and businesses owners really thought through these live radio discussions than in countless residential meetings. 

Radio programme production and post production: Lucia Scazzocchio
Radio hosts: The Decorators, Nia Charpentier, Martha Mc Alpine, Ana Xavier,
Lucia Scazzocchio
Sound Engineer: Michele Bianchin