About Peterborough 
 Presents 

In Short

Peterborough Presents works with communities and artists to create great art across the city. By great, we mean art that is fun, diverse, and most importantly, relevant to local residents.

Our community-led commissioning process places our audiences at the heart of the decision making process. We focus on areas of the city where arts engagement is particularly low and working with our community panels we commission new work specific to that area. Our approach enables our communities to actively guide the programme whilst providing regular opportunities for artists to create new work in Peterborough.

 

Our Values

1

We are responsive, exciting and experimental

2

We continue to be relevant and welcoming for community members

3

We recognise and celebrate the skills & knowledge within our communities

4

We take the time to listen and respond to the communities we work with

5

Programmes are built on trust and respect for participants

6

We reflect and openly share our learning

Our History

We focus on areas of the city where arts engagement is particularly low. We know that this is often not because people aren’t interested in the arts, but due to confidence, ease of access, and what is on offer is not always relevant to them.

In each area we work with groups of community representatives (called panels) to commission new work specific to that area. This is often referred to as ‘community-led commissioning’. We get to know an area and its people, stories, and hidden gems. We work together to actively guide the programme, whilst providing regular opportunities for artists to create new work in Peterborough. As such, we are always seeking artists who have this approach at the heart of what they do.

 The programme started in 2015 with a focus on city-wide projects. Since 2017 we have focused on working more intensively with specific areas / townships e.g. Millfield and more recently Ortons. In our next phase (2021-24) we will focus on Millfield, Ortons, Eye, Westwood and one other new area.

 We have been working closely with communities to create festivals, virtual reality games, filmmaking courses and screenings, performances, cabaret nights, music workshops, den-building and murals. Together we have created alternate histories, through theatre, reimagined green spaces and more.

Our Programmes

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Millfield Festival and Events Programme
We will continue to work with the communities and businesses in Millfield to deliver the annual Millfield Festival and develop a year-round programme of arts and cultural events.

#1000 Moments
We will take inspiration from our #1000 Moments programme to create a series of events that recreate or take inspiration from people’s favourite events and activities in Peterborough. Examples of this can be seen at Bretton Royalty and Millfield Link

Grow

Creative Programmes In New Areas
We will work with communities and organisations in new townships to create new, fun and exciting creative programmes. These programmes are built on what people in these communities tell us is needed and will result in new artists commissions and residencies. We will be working in the Ortons, Eye, Westwood and one other township over the next 3 years.

Small Commissions
We will be able to support community groups and local artists to deliver creative activities that help involve new groups and individuals who haven’t perhaps taken part in the arts before. Or it will help to test out a creative idea.

Share + Enable

Online resources
We will create online resources (films, PDFs etc) that help artists and community groups to independently continue developing their own creative programmes.

Continue to learn and share
We will share our learning with communities, artists, cultural and non-cultural providers in the City and beyond. We will do this through a range of events and Big Discussions which bring together different voices, perspectives and life experiences and help us share and contextualise our learning