At last, it’s here ! SEED’s pop-up shop lifted its shutters with a flourish this morning. Townspeople, creatives and councillors including the Mayor, Jacqui Solomon, poured into the space.Even the BBC’s Points West were there, so expect to see it on your screens in the next couple of days. It’s located in the corner of the Angel Centre,next to Iceland,the former fruit and veg shop, has been reincarnated as a creative location, open for all, whether working on a project or exhibiting.

Bridgwater Town Council spokesperson for Culture, heritage and the Arts,Cllr  Irena Hubble (Labour, Fairfax West) said “SEED have worked hard to find the space in the town centre and with an option to stay for a year, it’s an excellent way of promoting their creative initiatives and bringing more opportunities for people to experience art in the town centre. Today, the first exhibition of creative individuality fills the space. The artist, Bridget Hemmings, has been able to display the terracotta figurines she helped local people to make over the last year. It’s Sedgemoor’s very own Terracotta Army, multiplying in size due to the mirror effect on the displays. The work of all age groups is on show – from children to pensioners proving that creativity is in all of us. Whether it’s way of displaying our fears, our hopes or just what we feel in the moment. There will be more workshops with Bridget over the coming months. Congratulations to all the SEED team for getting the shop open today and setting out their stall in the heart of Bridgwater.”

Mayor’s Speech

Mayor of Bridgwater Cllr Jacqui Solomon (Labour, Eastover) said “Good morning all and welcome to this exciting new opportunity for Bridgwater. We are so lucky to be homebase for Seed, the first Creative People and Places project funded by Arts Council England and the National Lottery in the South West, for their work across Sedgemoor Having started up just a month before the pandemic struck in 2020, Seed have done some remarkable things in the district across that time, including creating events that have now become annual including the not to be missed Clashmob on the streets of Bridgwater every February, and the Front Garden Music Festival that takes place in June.  In the four and a half years they have been operating Seed have delivered 65 projects with the support of over 8,500 volunteer hours.  These activities have produced a total of almost 350,000 audience engagements and engaged around 6,000 participants.”

Community Led

Cllr Solomon continued “One of the remarkable things about Seed is the way in which it is led by the community.   At a strategic and governance level the organistion is made up by a number of community-based organisations: Homes in Sedgemoor, Community Council for Somerset, Young Somerset, Somerset Film, the Bridgwater Senior Citizens forum and of course Bridgwater Town Council.   In planning its activities Seed is also led by the community with projects such as this one being developed in direct response to what people in Bridgwater have said they would like to see.  

This popup shop was created in response to people saying there was a need for more opportunities to be creative, and to encounter the arts on the high street, a need for something to be created that truly reflects the people of Bridgwater today, and a desire to recreate spaces in the town centre where people can meet and connect. Seed would also not be able to operate without the skills and expertise of the many artists they work with, some of whom are here this morning, and their army of volunteers, known as sowers and growers, who are also represented here today.”

Town Council Partnership

The Mayor stressed the partnership of Bridgwater Town Council, “As a partner on the Town Deal, we are very pleased to be part of the funding support that has made this project possible, along with other funding support that has come via the Hinkley Point C Community Fund, Magnox, the Fairfield Trust and the generous support of Angel Place who have provided this shop space for the next twelve months. It is fitting that the Individuality Project exhibition is the opening event for the Seed Creative Popup. Conceived and led by Bridget Hemmings, this project has brought together almost 1500 Sedgemoor residents across the past 18 months or so to create the totally unique clay figures that appear in the exhibition. The most recent workshops took place in Bridgwater and they have been a remarkable way for people, including people experiencing loneliness and social isolation to express themselves and in a very tangible way connect with the community around them. “

Opportunity

The Mayor continued ” I had the opportunity to be part of the project and I produced this little woman. I found it a very therapeutic process, although for me it was centred around the fact I couldn’t produce a satisfactory face and whether the hair would be sufficiently well stuck on to survive the firing. However for others in my group they produced some very meaningful pieces one reflecting her father and how she remembered him before dementia has impacted their relationship. Another creating a figure who was immediately recognisable as young refugee, an issue that the individual was affected by as a carer for refugees in our community. We all found the process quietly moving, so thank you SEED and Bridget. I know you are going to enjoy looking at the very individual pieces that make up the Individuality Project and perhaps trying to work out the story behind them In conclusion I would like to thank you for being here today, and I now declare the Seed Creative Popup at Angel Place, and the Individuality Exhibition, open!”

For more information visit the SEED website:
https://seedsedgemoor.com