A pair of Ipswich history projects will receive thousands of pounds to tell the stories of underrepresented voices thanks to Historic England funding.
The Ipswich Caribbean Centre Project by SPILL Festival and Tooley’s Almshouses by the Red Rose Chain Theatre Company in Ipswich are among the three projects in Suffolk to receive the money.
The Red Rose Chain received just under £10,000 towards its work to collaborate with a professional playwright and historian and tell the story of merchant Henry Tooley who in 1552 established the Ipswich almshouses.
SPILL Festival will also receive £10,000 for its Caribbean centre project, which will celebrate the former Ipswich Caribbean Association building and its role in the town for four decades.
Festival artistic director Robin Deacon, whose mother emigrated to the UK from Trinidad and Tobago in the 1960s, has brought together a steering group of local community leaders to drive the project forward.
Deacon said: "The story of the Ipswich Caribbean Association building is fascinating – of music, food, conversation and people coming together across cultures. It is also a story of loss, with the Woodbridge Road building having been demolished in 2012.
"With our funding from Historic England, SPILL Festival will commission artists to connect with local communities to activate memories of this space, and also think about their needs for the future. I hope going forward that SPILL Festival can build on this kind of approach, where the input of Ipswich communities through their stories and interests can help us shape what we do."
From 380 applications nationally, 56 community-led projects were selected to receive part of £875,000 awarded as part of the Everyday Heritage grants programme, five of which were in the East of England.
The Lantern project at The Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft is one of them, exploring a 1970s local paranormal activity magazine and the working-class people behind it.
Mark Finbow, Youth Opportunities Coordinator at The Seagull Theatre, said: “This is a new way into the working-class part of history and we hope we will attract a lot of new people into the history of the town.
“This funding is really important. We operate in quite a deprived area of Suffolk and the project is really unique.”
Working with local historian Ivan Bunn, the group will examine the historic Lantern magazines, speaking to the original paranormal investigators and exploring the buildings and stories that featured.
It is hoped that the participants, who range from from 17 up to 70 years old, will produce a new theatre production from their findings.
Tony Calladine, East of England Regional Director, Historic England, said: “Every community has a story to tell and we want to hear them. This is the strength of our Everyday Heritage grant programme, which funds projects that are community-led and really engage with local people by empowering them to research and tell their own stories.
“I’m excited to learn more about these fascinating projects as they shine an important light on our working class heritage.”
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