‘This is more than just a building, This is The Spring’
Aheartfelt and poignant poem has been written to mark the anniversary of an arts centre’s enforced closure due to the pandemic. But the poem, The Story of a Building, also celebrates those who make The Spring Arts Centre in Havant more than just bricks and mortar – and also looks to a ‘bigger and bolder and stronger and taller’ future.
Poet and performer Arji Manuelpillai, from south London, was commissioned to write the piece. He says: ‘We've done a lot of work with The Spring in different capacities, so even though we're far away, we're quite connected to them. It's really exciting to be part of what The Spring’s doing, and have a relationship with an arts centre that's making change locally.
‘My partner is a visual artist, she's done outdoor games with them and trails for children, we also run a theatre company so we've been there a lot with shows.’
As A Line Art, Arji and his partner Anna Bruder have previously worked with
The Spring on projects including Fold
Our Town, Ready Steady Lift Off and the Climate Challenge board games in local libraries. At Christmas Arji did a project with The Spring in which he wrote personalised poems for the centre’s supporters and then delivered them on the phone. The idea for this poem grew from there with centre director Sophie Fullerlove.
‘Sophie suggested we try this little thing, and it's turned into something quite big now. Initially it was just an idea to raise some awareness that they were going to reopen and that they're excited about it.’
While the poem relates specifically to The Spring, it also speaks to the wider struggles which the arts world has faced in the past year.
‘It's been a difficult time because there's uncertainty surrounding the theatre industry and the arts in general,’ adds Arji. ‘Then at the same time it's been a year of innovation and creativity because we had to innovate to find work.
‘I've found a way of working on Zoom that I never thought was possible from last year to now – we did an online series funded by The Arts Council, I did a series of workshops funded by the Corn Exchange in Newbury, I've written about 50 poems over the phone for people in Stockton and Havant and in Suffolk,
‘We've found ways of working, so it made me realise we put brackets on ourselves saying: “I'm a poet,” or “I'm a whatever,” but at the end of the day, if you're able to respond creatively to the challenges that you face, then you can do whatever you want.
‘It's the act of being creative that's important.’
He also believes that smaller, independent centres have been able to react quicker to the pandemic than the big organisations: ‘Places like The Spring have really blossomed because they've been able to react and be responsive to the challenges they've faced.’ One thing Arji has discovered over the past year is that working online has given him access to a wider, global audience, something he hopes won’t be lost when we return to ‘normal’.
‘I hope that time and money is put into evaluating and understanding the stuff we've learnt, and how we can take the online aspect of the work into the sphere of being in real life and the coming together of those two worlds.’
It's the act of being creative that's important