Walking with Ghosts: Community Partners

Working together with 10+ community partners to create new art and explore the legacy of war in Folkestone

Walking with Ghosts was co-created by the Gateways team and more than 10 community partners. We were also supported by Equity (Kent branch), Voicecall agency, Gurkha Security Services, and the technicians in the School of Arts, University of Kent.

We were grateful to our wonderful cast of vocal actors, including Folkestone actress Jessica Hynes, local and emerging talent, and Ukrainian and Nepalese actors.

Community & Creative Partners

Imperial War Museums

Walking with Ghosts is part of the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund, a national programme of 22 artist commissions inspired by the heritage of conflict and created in partnership with Imperial War Museums and 14-18 NOW, the official UK arts programme for the First World War centenary.

Community & Creative Partners

Folkestone Nepalese Community UK

The Folkestone Nepalese Community played a central role in the development of the artwork. Through oral history workshops with members of all generations, we surfaced themes which shaped the development of the artwork and in particular the sections 'Loss' and 'Folkestone'. The Folkestone Nepalese Community (FNC) was established in 2005 in Folkestone in response to increaseing numbers of Nepalese settling in the town and nearby areas. The Community provides for the education, training, relief, recreation and health needs of the Community as well as preserving Nepalese culture, tradition, ethos and identity.

Community & Creative Partners

Fourth Wall Folkestone

Fourth Wall Folkestone was a key community partner in 2022 and hosted our walkshops. The space is an experiment / creative project, run by Sarah Carpenter, an artist researcher with a particular interest in public engagement and mental health.

Community & Creative Partners

Palm Deaf BSL Training

Palm Deaf BSL Training are a local organisation that supports and teaches British Sign Language and provides Deaf Awareness training. They advised on embedding accessibility into the artwork and programme of activities and produced the BSL interpretation which was part of the artwork.
A group of children sat in a classroom around a desk.

Community & Creative Partners

Schools

In 2022 pupils at Folkestone School for Girls and Turner Schools took part in digital archival workshops and then used their skills to research local histories and shape the content of the artwork. Pupils at Folkestone Academy worked at Fourth Wall Folkestone on 11 November 2022, using poetry to create a Scriptorium that maps ideas about the legacy of war.

Community & Creative Partners

East Kent Mencap

East Kent Mencap enables and empowers individuals with a learning disability in East Kent to achieve the things they want out of life, through choice, support and opportunity.  
The generosity and support of our local community is very important to us. For Walking with Ghosts 2022, members of East Kent Mencap led our walkshop on Monday 14 November 2022, using pacer beads as we walk from Fourth Wall Folkestone to the Harbour Arm Station.

Community & Creative Partners

Virginia Fitch

Virginia has worked with Thread and Word on walking projects and with the Thanet T.S. Eliot reading group. In 2018 she was a member of the Marlowe Theatre's Return of the Unknown company and the research group which curated the exhibition Journeys with 'The Waste Land' at Turner Contemporary. For Walking with Ghosts 2022, she read extracts from The Waste Land in the Timeless walkshop on Monday 14th November 2022.

Community & Creative Partners

Michał Kamil Piotrowski

Michał Kamil Piotrowski is the creator and curator of @artblab.london. He is an experimental poet who grew up in Poland and is really interested in bringing different types of artists together. In 2022 Michał led our walkshops on Sunday 13 November.