Making Our Place has been a journey; both physically and creatively. A project created to unite artists, organisations and participants across the East Midlands, Our Place really does showcase the best the region has to offer through art and through the spirit of the communities it touches.

I was commissioned by Junction Arts to be the lead filmmaker on Our Place back in June 2021 and at the outset I could feel the excitement and anticipation from everyone involved. My earliest meetings with the seven partners gave me the chance to get to know them and find out about their residency projects, each one focusing on a different art form and working with diverse participants.

I was able to work on four out of the seven showcase films produced, and at the same time capture behind the scenes material from all seven places. This gave me a really unique insight into the development processes being undertaken across the region. Surtal Arts in Derby performed a dance fusion piece at the Museum of Making, a celebration of diverse communities and their contribution to the city’s industrial history. The making of film captures just some of the rehearsal process as the groups of Bhangra and Cossack dancers work together to blend styles and create a cohesive piece. Jumping across to Swadlincote, young people worked with People Express to generate a music video for Grandma’s House, a song they had written and recorded through workshops about their local area and importance of relatives, particularly grandparents. I had the opportunity to generate ideas for the video with the group, building props, creating light and shadow scenes and visiting locations in the area.

These are just two of the thoughtful and creative pieces developed, and working with them to turn these into films for the broadcast in September 2021 was a rewarding experience. Going behind the scenes with City Arts filmmakers as they created work on themes of rebellion in Nottingham, and watching participants from Derbyshire LGBT+ write and star in their own film about their place in the city of Chesterfield, there is so much to talk about. I won’t go into detail about each project here as Making Our Place and the full Our Place film speak for themselves, but it’s worth recognising how everyone connected to each of the seven residencies gave this project their everything, and I hope the films go some way to showing the talents of the brilliant people of the East Midlands.

Over 2 and half hours of interviews were recorded and condensed down into a 25-minute Making Of film. This is accompanied by new footage of each partner’s workshops and rehearsals. I hope this piece sits alongside the feature length collection of Our Place films and acts as a strong companion piece for anyone wanting to find out more about how it all came together.

Thanks has to go to Amy, Paul and the Junction Arts team for spearheading the Our Place project and I really hope that the concept continues to grow in the coming years. Working on Our Place has been such a tremendous experience and I’m grateful to have had the chance to help showcase the hard work of the many partners, artists and participants involved. Please watch and enjoy!

Christopher Bevan
Filmmaker and Creative Director of YSP Media
www.yspmedia.co.uk