No. 72

Dan Thompson, an award-winning social artist, writer and speaker, talks about his experience at No. 72 - ‘a factory for making art’. Dan is working with B arts to explore how we use the building, and in this blog invites readers to visit B arts at our upcoming Open Day at No. 72, 72 Hartshill Road, Saturday 2nd April, 11am-4pm, and 7pm-late.

Author - Dan Thompson - 25 March 2022

Last week, I travelled up from Ramsgate for another week at B arts HQ, No.72. I'm a company member, and for the last year have been leading on a learning programme that dived deep into the company's history to help plan its future, but I sit slightly outside the company. Most of my working life is in Stoke, with B arts and as Lead Artist on Appetite's Newcastle Common project, but I Iive outside the city. Well outside, a four hour train journey away.

But despite that, when it comes to work, the B arts building No.72 is where I feel most at home. B arts has always been a welcoming place - it has a near-forty-year tradition of queerness, of working with refugees, of supporting people with learning difficulties, of helping people isolated in one way or another find the commonality at the the heart of community. It's a place where, with all my neurodivergent quirks and coming from outside a traditional arts background, I absolutely fit. When I arrived, Moontopia was in its production week. The building's regular contingent of no more than a dozen was boosted to almost fifty people - old, experienced dramaturgs and young costume designers, straightforward riggers and freethinking creatives. Every one of them was kind, gentle, and absolutely lovely.

And that wasn't all: a group of young producers met to discuss a heritage project, a group with learning disabilities held their regular takeover of the cafe's kitchens, people left the building to run workshops in the community, artists dropped in to discuss future projects, neighbours stopped for bread or to collect food parcels, and I ran my veterans' writing club with Company of Makers from the building, too.

And my current project for B arts continued among all this busy-ness. No.72 is huge - it really is a factory for making art. You could comfortably park half-a-dozen buses in the Middle Space, which is used for workshops and shows. And half as many again in the Workshop. It is a factory, not in a Warhol,ironic-comment-on-consumerism kind of way, but more in the spirit of William Morris. This is a place of learning, of sharing, of craft, and of tradition, even while making work of contemporary relevance. The skills in lantern-making, in giving people confidence, in costume design, in writing scripts with the community, in baking bread are held here and passed on. What was radical when B arts first started in 1983 - outdoor spectacle, fire and pyrotechnics, lanterns processing through dark streets - now feels familiar. Across England, it is a shared language of celebration and magical coming-together.

So the legacy of Gill Gill, of Hilary Hughes, of current Artistic Director Susan Clarke isn't really in the bricks and mortar of No.72, but No.72 is important. And on Saturday 2nd April, we're rolling up the shutters to hold an Open Day at No.72. We'll have the workshop open, and lantern-making going on, and lots of big lanterns on show. There will be a dragon. The cafe and bakery will be open, and Betty Buffer will be showing how to cook with food waste. There will be chances to explore the huge costume store, and a dressing-up box for selfies. There will be music, and poetry. The Potteries History Society will be leading walks of the neighbourhood, and we'll have displays about the area's tile-making history. There will be a cabaret stage running from 2-4pm.The cafe will be open. And in the evening, Clive Holland's production The Showman's Odyssey will get a scratch performance, a chance to share a rough script with an audience.

The Open Day is for two things: first, to let local people see what goes on inside No.72, and explore the corners that are usually off-limits. It'll be fun, and a bit chaotic, and there's plenty of space for children to run around and let off some steam, and for older people to sit and soak up some local history. Lots of the company's artists will be around, so it's a chance to meet them, too.

But it's also a chance to show people outside the city what B arts do, and how No.72 might be useful. London (1.5 hours away by train) or Manchester company rehearsing a new show? You could bring your whole company here, have space to rehearse, be fed every day - and it'll still cost less than hiring a hall where you're based. Community organiser wanting to learn about lantern-making and processions? Come and learn with people who really know, and where there's enough space to make something big. Scenic artist with an oversize commission? We've got space for you. Want a big space to film a music video? Middle Space is all yours - bring your own bus. Student researching co-creation and participatory arts? We've got forty years of archive material, publications, and access to all the key people who've made this stuff happen. And if you're coming from outside - we're having a meal on the Friday night, to welcome everyone, and a breakfast on the Saturday. Let Company Manager Georgia know if you're joining us.

Trust me - No.72 is a magical place and B arts are a beautiful bunch of misfits. So I do I hope you'll join us - I think you'll fit right in.

Open Day at No.72, 72 Hartshill Road, Saturday 2nd April, 11am-4pm.

The Showman's Odyssey, Saturday 2nd April, 7pm.

All events, free admission and free-of-charge.

Dan Thompson