Enabling the Community Through Art: Arts in the Yard
Arts in the Yard started as a grass roots community organisation, and now, with over a decade of experience, it is a resident-led charity; working with trustees, workers, and volunteers from the neighbourhoods it serves.
The charity’s mission is simple: working together to ensure that neighbourhoods are vibrant, inclusive, and welcoming. Arts In The Yard do this through facilitating art in its broadest sense… supporting any activity that expresses creativity.
At Tyseley Energy Park, we’re proud to support a venture that contributes so much to the West Midlands community.
What does Arts In The Yard do?
The organisation’s work reaches across communities in the constituency area of Yardley, working across East Birmingham – where Tyseley Energy Park is based – and into Solihull.
Arts in the Yard run a number of programmes for local residents.
‘Women of Yardley Unite’, for example, is an empowerment programme, using art as a vehicle for change. Through this, the charity hosts free art sessions led by a professional artist where attendees can create something of ‘take-home quality’, meaning that they walk away with something that can proudly be displayed in the home or gifted to a loved one.
Participants in these workshops range from those with disabilities to carers, people who are new to the area, to those who have moved here from overseas – all of whom are united through art.
Bringing art to Tyseley Energy Park
Arts in the Yard has worked in the Hay Mills area for a number of years, with a deep-rooted connection to the community of Tyseley.
During Covid-19 restrictions, the charity worked safely alongside the local community to refurbish and decorate rusting planters alongside the Coventry Road.
Another programme it offers to residents is seated yoga: for those who are returning to exercise, working out for the first time, or are unable to attend traditional yoga classes.
Arts in the Yard lost their venue for this activity and turned to Tyseley Energy Park for support. We now proudly host these sessions in our 19th century School Room, part of St Cyprian’s Church at the entrance to our site.
Nicola Toms, Chief Executive Officer, Arts in the Yard, said of our collaboration: “They asked what they could do to help us, and they’ve done that. Tyseley Energy Park have really stepped up for us.”
“Our new venue onsite at Tyseley Energy Park, the school room, is carpeted and warm, with lovely natural light and acoustics that compliment yoga instruction. It’s a very welcoming space for our attendees.”
Looking to the future
It might be hard to imagine what the relationship between an energy park and an arts organisation would look like, but a strong connect between the two does exist: community.
Fostering collaboration within our ecosystem is important, but so is supporting the wider world that exists outside of it too.
Nicola reflects, “There is scope to do more in the future. Building local relationships is hard, but we know Tyseley Energy Park really well and so the foundation for growth is there.”
David Horsfall, Director of Property and Sustainability, Tyseley Energy Park, added: “We’re immensely proud of the work that Arts in the Yard achieves within our local community. We look forward to the ways in which we can continue working with them and support their mission of improving the lives of local residents.”
If you’d like to get involved with Arts in the Yard, contact the charity here. And, if you’d like to keep updated with news from Tyseley Energy Park, subscribe to our quarterly newsletter by clicking this link or keep up to date on our blogs and LinkedIn.