WHAT IS FOURTH WALL FOLKESTONE?
Fourth Wall Folkestone is a Community Interest Company focused on art, research and mental health. With a particular interest in issues around women’s health.
We programme accessible events in and around Folkestone. These invite the local community to reimagine the role of art in society as a tool to effect change.
OUR VISION, MISSION & VALUES
VISION
– Fourth Wall is a conduit between our community and the healthcare system.
– Creative processes, and gentle activism, are used as tools to solve problems and create change.
– People with lived experience are empowered to use their voice to influence systemic change resulting in a person centred approach to healthcare.
MISSION
Our core community is composed of those with lived experience of mental illness, long term health conditions, people who feel underrepresented or othered. We play, make, research, learn and experiment using creative approaches to problem solving. Creativity is reimagined as a tool to research, communicate and effect change, particularly in the healthcare system.
Using a variety of spaces in the area, we are able to reach additional people who might not ordinarily engage in arts or mental health conversation, but are curious about what’s going on through the window, creating a central point for people to converge in that moment in time. We help redefine what research is, building confidence, experience and skills in creative research, and share how people can be involved. Our work involves an element of gentle social activism.
Fourth Wall Folkestone is a conduit between our community and the healthcare system, well placed within a network of university and healthcare research. We amplify the voices of our community, especially those with lived experience. We aim to explore under-researched, under-funded and under-discussed, stigmatised and taboo subjects, co-produced with those that are impacted by these issues. We share research findings through our partnerships.
VALUES
– Equity
– Accessibility
– Transparency
– Innovation
– Activism
WHAT IS A COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY (CIC)?
A community interest company is a business focussing on social objectives. All profits made go back into the community rather than to the owners.
WHAT IS AN OPEN STUDIO?
An open studio is simply an invitation for others to visit the space that you work in and see your processes, methods, and work in progress.
Through my practice, I’ve learned that there are other ways to be an artist in the world without focusing on commerce and selling artwork as investment.
The work that I do is a form of social activism: engaging with the public to try to contribute to wider society through art.
As I’m fortunate to do this, I want to show people publicly that there are multiple ways to earn a living through being a creative. I do this very literally by opening up my studio.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY INFORMAL GALLERY?
As every human has the capacity for creative thinking, I feel it’s important for everyone to have access to the arts.
Having only formal spaces to share artwork can make it seem elusive and exclusive. It can make people feel scared to engage with art, both looking at it and / or creating it.
I call the space an informal gallery in the hope to take away some of the pressures put on both the audience and the artists and make access to the arts more inclusive.
In my early career I spent a long time feeling very uncomfortable with the pressure to follow a certain etiquette and attend formal events such as private views. This was compounded by my mental illness, making me feel more like an outsider in the world of art.
I’ve been told that if something doesn’t work for you, you should find a way to make it work, and that’s what I’m doing with the space. It’s an experiment to see what the art world could look like and what a gallery could look like in a more informal setting.
I encourage suggestions about how to create the most comfortable, accessible space possible so really “informal Gallery” can mean whatever you want it to mean.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN “RESEARCH SPACE”?
Learning through making and doing. Experimentation: working with different materials and processes to see what different outcomes are possible.
Creative thinking: Problem solving using artistic approaches to imagine new scenarios and solutions.
Creative thinking is a human trait therefore we are all creatives which is why my work invites others into the process and why I believe the art world needs to be more inclusive and accessible.
WHY THE NAME?
Fourth Wall Founder Sarah Lloyd studied theatre directing at university. The term used in theatre for the front of the stage is ‘the fourth wall’. During a play, the actors pretend that there’s a wall there to keep up the illusion, but the audience can see in. Sarah is interested in “breaking the fourth wall” meaning that the actors acknowledge the audience and build a stronger relationship with them. By programming accessible activities and events open to all, Sarah hopes to demystify the work of an artist and build a strong relationship with the local community by inviting them into the process behind the finished product.
THE TEAM
Sarah Lloyd, Founder
Sarah Lloyd (Carpenter) is an artist, researcher and designer with a specialism in public engagement. Her work focuses mainly on the subject of mental health . She has worked in this field for over 12 years.
Sarah has worked with and continues to work with institutions and organisations who are leaders in this field such as the Bethlem Gallery, Shape Arts, Outside In, Artistic UK, King’s College London (specifically the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience), The Biomedical Research Centre and Maudsley Charity. Over 100 pieces of Sarah’s work can be found in the Wellcome Collection archive, she has had work published with The Psychologist, The British Medical Journal and the Lancet Journal of Psychiatry and was the cover artist for 2018.
Through Fourth Wall Folkestone Sarah seeks to reimagine the art world as a more inclusive and accessible place, where an artist’s role is to inspire and facilitate creative thinking.
www.SarahCarpenterCreative.co.uk
Philippa Wall, Director
Philippa has worked within the creative and cultural sector for over 10 years. In this time, securing and managing large bids alongside curating, programming and managing exciting activity for her own organisation, other organisations and international festivals.
Philippa currently works as Social Enterprise Advisor at Social Enterprise Kent and previously as Kent co-ordinator for South East Creatives, an ERDF grants and business support programme across the south east.
Philippa’s creative practice has included exhibiting and artist residencies across the UK. Working across time based media such as sound, performance and film.
Philippa has a particular interest in peer-led activity, audience development and measuring social impact. Philippa also enjoys sea swimming and looking after (too many) house plants.
Lauren Willis, Support Worker
Lauren Willis is co-director of The Beer Shop Folkestone and has been running her own business since 2014.
Previously based in London, she studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins and then went on to manage the Children & Families’ Outreach Programme at The South London Gallery in Peckham for eight years.
Now based in Folkestone, alongside the day to day running of the The Beer Shop, she organises creative and social events in the space and loves collaborating with other small businesses and creative folk in the area.
www.thebeershopfolkestone.co.uk
Karen Pamplin Browne, Support Worker
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Karen is an Arts Project Management and Evaluation Consultant supporting the creative and heritage industries.
Karen has spent 30 years working in the art, heritage and education sectors with a current focus on the evaluation of participatory arts projects. She also coaches small businesses and sole traders. She is a qualified teacher with experience in secondary and special needs schools. Karen’s personal interests include creative evaluation, participatory arts, social practice, collecting, photography and curating.
Shazia Ginai, Board Member
Shazia Ginai is a business transformation and growth specialist. With a strong career of almost 20 years in consumer insight, marketing, behavioural science and neuroscience based research, Shazia has driven growth across client and agency businesses. She is creative and curious in her strategic approach and is deeply passionate about people and leadership. Shazia has also championed equity and inclusion across multiple initiatives including her time on the Market research society’s ED&I council, chairing CORe (Colour of research) and as an advisory board member for WIRe (Women in research). Shazia is also a trained breathwork facilitator and yoga teacher, and utilises these techniques alongside her very vocal activism to drive awareness and action for better diagnosis and treatment of women suffering with Endometriosis.
CONNECTING WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY…
We programme events in spaces where we are able to reach people who might not ordinarily engage in arts or mental health, but are curious about what’s going on and the themes we are exploring.
Now in this new nomadic approach, we are connecting with the local community by using a variety of existing spaces and collaborating with other organisations in many different ways.
Fourth Wall Folkestone will still be programming events but in a more considered, meaningful way. We will focus on a few projects per year which will be as wide ranging as when we had our own space and may involve talks, workshops, festivals, podcasts and pop up exhibitions.
Members of the local community are still involved in what is happening, and we look to collaborate and co-producing activities wherever possible. Fourth Wall Folkestone has connected with and become involved with many other local community groups over the years, so our reach extends quite far.
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
Fourth Wall Folkestone has a mailing list, providing information on any upcoming events, exhibitions and opportunities. You can sign up to that here
PARTNERSHIPS / COLLABORATIONS …
