U&C in partnership with residents in the Houlton Events Association have been working with Live & Local, who support voluntary organisations who bring their communities together to enjoy activities linked to the Arts, for the past two years to host exciting cultural events in The Barn at Dollman Farm. Starting with a performance of The Odyssey in 2022 and more recently live music and a children’s theatre performance – the events have been going from strength to strength and demonstrating the appetite for a rich offer of entertaining and affordable live theatre on your doorstep. For U&C it is a great expression of the versatility of our community spaces and how you can transform a space that works for baby and toddler sessions and Pilates and turn it into a performance space.
Live & Local work with community organisations across the country to host high quality drama, theatre, storytelling, music and dance in accessible, community settings for a fraction of the cost of travelling to regional theatres. They rely on residents to support on the sourcing of ideas, event planning, promotion and set-up – so whilst the acts are sourced by Live & Local, the emphasis is on the community leaders to run the event and raise funds through the sale of tickets.
The success of the events held at Houlton and the variety of our offer and participation has led Houlton to be recognised as an “Inclusion” case study for the National organisation – testament to our ambition, breadth and support from the community.
With two events already set in stone to be hosted in Houlton during 2025, chosen by residents themselves, we are certainly excited to watch how our collaboration evolves further.
We are so pleased to be working in partnership with Urban & Civic and to have the team at Houlton as our Inclusivity Ambassadors. Together we will assess how we can further expand and improve our work to be accessible and inclusive for all our diverse communities.
Kristie Naimo, Company Manager at Live & Local