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Launched in 2018 with funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Global Streets Ambassadors programme brings together people with different skills, experience, abilities and ambitions from across the country. The programme enables these Ambassadors to make connections within their communities, using international outdoor performing arts as the starting point for deepening their engagement in local civic life.
Scroll down to meet some of our fantastic Ambassadors, and find out what it means to be part of Global Streets.
Meet Niki
Niki is a Children’s Services Manager and Global Streets Ambassador based in Doncaster. Using the human rights themes of Arka, a Global Streets production presented in the town in 2018, Niki has opened up a discussion with young people from Doncaster’s LGBTQ+ community. Through a series of workshops running up to and at Doncaster Pride, 110 young people created pieces of art that celebrated the positives of being LGBTQ+ and captured what they would like to improve. Their artwork was then sewn together to create a quilt that was unveiled at a community reception before the Arka performance.
Niki’s project has enabled open and honest conversations about the lives of young LGBTQ+ people in the town. The quilt has been displayed at various locations since Arka, initiating further conversations, and plans are being developed to tour it to libraries and youth centres.
“When you’re one person stood in front of a big problem, you sometimes don’t know where to start. What [LGBTQ+ young people have] done through their artwork is give me a clear message about where I need to start, and the people that I need to be talking to… Thank you for the wonderful opportunity which has meant so much.”
Meet Jane
Inspired by Rise!, the Global Streets production presented in Woolwich in 2018, Jane, a Community Centre Manager, worked with three other local residents to celebrate the contributions of the town’s women and non-binary people. Together they organised an exhibition of placards that celebrated these Woolwich stories, displaying them across a range of community-based sites in the week leading up to Remembrance Day, which in 2018 had a particular focus on the Suffragette Movement. The exhibition was supported by a digital booklet, social media activity and a website where members of the public continue to nominate more extraordinary women from Woolwich.
As a result of her involvement with Global Streets Ambassadors, Jane is working to bring more arts opportunities to Woolwich Common Community Centre. The Woolwich Ambassadors continue to meet as a group and have already made initial plans to collaborate with Rise! nominee and award-winning author Bernardine Evaristo.
“I feel proud to be involved and to work with the other Ambassadors. I’ve never really had much to do with the arts but since working with the group last year it has inspired me to bring more art-based activities to the centre.”
