Each month, Nikki Wilson interviews an Ignite Member, asking five simple questions, to find out what creativity means to them, and how they see culture and creativity, and its potential, in Chelmsford.

This month Nikki talks to Katie Deverell.

How would you describe what you do? 

I find that so difficult, and I think that’s partly because I’ve done a lot of different things, and my work is always evolving so I’m still figuring it out and I don’t find it very easy to summarise in a few words. It’s something I’ve been reflecting on recently so I can update my website and bios. A friend said I was like a creative catalyst. I think that maybe sounds a bit pretentious, but maybe there is something in it. 

In terms of threads at the moment, and probably threads that weave back to other things I’ve done. There’s definitely a big theme about partnerships, bringing people together, creating events and experiences, and connecting people and ideas.  I recently did a knowledge exchange event with the University of Essex, and I didn’t really think about it at the time, but looking back, that’s the third conference like that that I’ve initiated, bringing together practitioners and academics because I really love interdisciplinary working, exploring themes and sharing experiences and  ideas. I think that mixing people up and sparking conversations is something that I really enjoy.  

There’s another strong theme, which is about enabling and encouraging other people. So, when I was doing the cultural partnership role, you know, I guess that was a bit like what we started with the Ignite hub, wasn’t it? Helping people who were putting on events and activities, with funding and whatever they needed to make stuff happen. I guess I just like being helpful and collaborating. 

There’s definitely a thread in my work where I end up getting involved in different things because I just like helping other people out and helping to create change. As a person I’m quite hands on.  I love working in the realm of ideas, strategy and trends, but I also like to be able to translate that to get things happening in the real world. I like innovating things. I’m much more of a big picture, pioneer type person, I’m not so great at refining the details, making the systems run perfectly, all of that. That’s really not my skill set. 

I did something recently where I was invited to the London School of Architecture to talk to their students who were doing a project about reimagining the High Street. I really love doing things like that, working in a collaborative studio type environment where you are almost going as a peer rather than an expert and helping to build ideas. Because we’ve done a lot of things related to that theme in Chelmsford, and it’s just nice to say, “Well, we tried these projects and these things in Chelmsford”, and then they were sharing their ideas, and  we were able to have conversations about, what obstacles might there be, or, what things they might not have thought about and just learn from and encourage each other. I find co-creating and designing things as a team really rewarding.

So I don’t really know exactly what it is I do but I definitely think, you know, connecting people and ideas and creating new things is a big part of it. In fact Gaia was a bit like that, building the programme with other people around, bringing Gaia to Chelmsford, and thinking about the different activities we were going to put around the installation. I really enjoyed doing that as well, and I was proud of the number of different people and elements we were able to bring to that programme by thinking about the purpose and creating so many different partnerships.

I have a research background and, again in those roles there was a lot about helping people articulate their needs and desires. Whether that was in Unilever around new cleaning products and how people wanted their homes to be,and then going back to the technical team and saying, “Right, we need to make these kinds of products, because people’s kitchens are really different to how they used to be, and they need to clean different types of things. Or the kitchen is now the heart of the home, and people want bottles that match their kitchen decor”.  Or when I was doing HIV work it was a lot of participant observation and interviewing with people around sexual health issues, and how you translate that back in terms of either better campaigns or services based on understanding people’s needs.  That was around safer sex, but it really  translated into the wider aspects of people’s lives and what would enable them to make healthier choices.  It’s often not about just having materials to hand, it’s fixing all kinds of other deeper problems.

And who, or what gives you creative inspiration?

Anything and everything! I think that comes back to my anthropology training and also my natural inclination to be quite a curious person.  When I was a celebrant I was interviewed by The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at University of Bristol for their interdisciplinary module on creativity and it made me realise I do a lot of listening and observing, getting out and experiencing different things.  So sometimes walking in nature, where I will always see or experience something interesting and the movement itself can also help unblock ideas. I definitely get a lot of inspiration from that,  but sometimes also in the city.  I love travelling, or just even going up to London or another town, and walking around, like, with no purpose, just finding stuff as well as going to exhibitions and concerts. 

And then, I am a very visual person and I love colours, so my poor family, they always hear me pointing things out saying, “Oh, look at that. Look at the redness of that Earth or the angle of that building”. Or, clothes on the end of the bed sometimes give me ideas for colour combinations, because a couple of things might be randomly hanging next to each other and I’m like, “Oh, that actually works quite well”. 

I listen to the radio quite a lot, and read things, but definitely, getting out of my usual environment is one of the main things for me, and then I get interested in something, and I will follow a little trail, I suppose, and just be open to stuff. So sometimes I’m on the tube and I see a strap line on a poster, and a couple of words will really jump out at me which I will note down. I am often scribbling in a notebook, picking things up  or taking photos. 

I don’t have a particular person, I would say that inspires me, but just people generally. I love having conversations with all kinds of different people. I was part of, I guess it was almost like a little collective called Rough Paper Salon up in London for a while that I really loved.  It was a small group, and we just met every so often.  One of the people involved was an architect, and she let us use her studio. Everyone there was from different backgrounds and sectors which I really liked. Each time one person would just share some work in progress, or talk about a project that they’d done, but  it wasn’t a presentation,it was much more conversational. Or they’d say, “I’ve been thinking about this, and I’m not quite sure”, and then we’d all have a conversation about it and have something to drink, maybe, and some nibbles and it would evolve into lots of interesting chats. I used to find that so inspiring, every time I would come back feeling so enriched. I think it was having an open, collaborative environment where different people were just being honest, encouraging and supportive with each other with no set goal, and that was always really helpful to me. 

I also really love cooking, and there my inspiration often comes from thinking about one or two ingredients and just creating something by thinking “Hmm, what’s going to go well with that?” And I will be imagining different flavours, or I’ll maybe just combine different things I feel will go together and just try it. Or I’ll be thinking, “What’s the weather like? What mood’s everybody in? What atmosphere do we want, how quickly do I need to make it?” All of those things come into it as well. 

In my house too the way one of the rooms is decorated is because we were on a walk, and I was looking at the combination of boats against the water, and then there was a bright orange buoy that stood out, and I was just like, “Oh, that’s interesting”.  I didn’t exactly replicate it, but the colour palette, definitely,  came to me from that walk. So yes, being open and getting out exploring and just experiencing the world is a big part of it for me.

If you could try any new creative or cultural experience or practice, what would it be?

Well, I don’t know if this really counts, but if I was younger one thing I’ve always thought I would have loved to have done is Parkour. I think it’s partly because I am someone who loves freedom and movement, but I also feel there’s something about it that would really give you a different worldview.  I know a few people who are into it, and I love to watch them. I just feel like you must walk around the city and experience it in a really different way, because you’re looking at where you can leap to, how you can use the buildings and furniture. I think it actually fits a little bit with street art, because, again some of the best Street Art that I’ve seen really connects with what’s around it. Artists are looking for spaces where they can paint stuff, and it probably just gets you looking at places in a different way. 

But in terms of a creative practice, I did a garden sculpture course with Billie Bond, it must have been last year now, and I loved that. She was just fantastic as a teacher, and I just really enjoyed being with her, and we had lots  of lovely conversations. But I think I also really enjoyed the physical, hands on nature of it. There was an idea to start with, but what she was really teaching me was just having a go, and feeling the materials and being able to adjust things and I do think that’s maybe something that I would like to try a bit more of.  There’s something about working on a bigger scale that I liked, and something 3D, that’s quite different to anything that I’d ever done before. And I did really enjoy that. So, maybe a bit more sculpture, that might be good.

What excites you about creativity and culture in Chelmsford?

I always struggle with the word culture because being an anthropologist, I think my understanding of culture is quite different to the “arts and culture” version, but generally, what excites me is the people. The creative community in Chelmsford, is sometimes hard to find and break into, but once you’ve found it, I feel people are generally really friendly and supportive and encouraging of each other.  I’ve been lucky to have been part of several different events and projects and also witnessed many things happening, which have started because people have shared stuff or just come together to make something happen. I think that’s one benefit of living in a smaller place, because actually it is quite well networked. So sometimes I’ve even had an idea and thought “Oh, I’d really love to do this, but I just don’t know how to make it happen”. And then you have a conversation with someone and they pipe up like, “Oh, well, my friend’s a DJ or, my cousin has this equipment or so and so I went to school with has this company and we know we can borrow that off them”, so there’s something that I really, really appreciate about that, working together to get stuff going.  

I guess it’s a more entrepreneurial approach in some ways, and that’s quite interesting with Chelmsford as well. I don’t think we have a lot of cultural infrastructure, still, and so it almost forces you to do things in a slightly different way. I think Patch has been quite important with the Ignite relationship, being able to use Patch’s space to have the meetings has been good and they have enabled quite a few other creative and cultural events. 

On the 5th September I’m going to be doing a new event called, “Gather Chelmsford” with Kellie Jones and we’re working with Fete to use their upstairs space. That event is all about bringing people together, and trying to encourage more offline connections and conversations. We were talking about how we were missing in person connection and how we had both found it helpful to carve out time away from digital distractions and demands. The idea is for people to come and hand in their electronic devices and just create time to switch off and connect with themselves and their interests and be in a welcoming space where they can chat and connect with others. We both feel the world needs a bit more joy at the moment! 

So being able to work with local businesses, pop-up spaces, different sectors. I would like to push it even further and see how we could connect venture capital to cultural and community work. I think partnerships and collaborations feel really key to making things happen in Chelmsford. My experience of Gaia was that, and also Essex 2020 was a really good example of just bringing different kinds of people and organisations together to make things happen. So, I think that’s probably the bit that excites me the most, the people and community.

What would you like to see in Chelmsford that isn’t here yet?

More beauty! I think a lot of our green spaces are really lovely but a lot of Chelmsford is quite functional and practical. It’s a really great place to live in lots of ways, lots of things you need are here, but I feel there’s a focus on functionality and not so much about things looking interesting or feeling inspiring.  When I was doing the Contemporary Rituals and Participatory events symposium at the University of Essex one of the speakers Ellie Harrison was making a point about how Beauty is functional not fluffy, having things well designed and looking good is not about frivolity, it’s actually about accessibility, because if things just look a bit shabby and overly handmade and mediocre, people just don’t engage with it.  Whereas, if you’ve got something that looks exquisite, well designed or thought out and engaging, it opens the doors to a lot more people.  When she said that, I thought that’s exactly what I have felt for ages and she articulated it in a really lovely way. 

I think this comes back to a venue issue that I know you and I, and lots of people have been wrestling with for a really long time. I still feel in Chelmsford we are really missing interesting, creative spaces for events and experiences. I was thinking after doing my Labyrinth Facilitator training recently about how I’d love to do a winter indoor candlelit labyrinth walk, and just finding somewhere inspiring, that’s big enough to do it, that’s also accessible city centre wise, feels quite a struggle. I feel like we just don’t have that many easily available, interesting spaces. 

There’s quite a few small spaces, but there’s not anything really on a bigger scale. I know Dave at Hotbox talks about it a lot as well, if we want to have bigger bands, we just don’t have a venue to support that. So that’s something that I would like more larger, affordable, inspiring, flexible spaces.

There are two other things I would really like. One is that I love dancing, and, for ages, I’ve been thinking it would just be really good to have some big city centre dance event just to bring people together. I went to Situation Dance at Somerset House recently, and just the variety of people there, of all ages, all backgrounds, everyone just dancing together. It was just so joyful to be part of that. Everybody was smiling, and looking around, watching each other have a good time. The music was really varied, and it just brought everyone together. It was so powerful seeing so many different people dancing together in a city centre space like that. 

The other thing I was thinking about which seems a strange connection is that I really miss the outdoor swimming pool. Selfishly, I love swimming outside but I also think it is because it taps into something I think is important about public space and connecting art and culture to people’s wider lives. That pool was partly about health and well being from the swimming and physical exercise but it was also about community. It was a joyful, publicly accessible space that wasn’t expensive, that enabled loads of people just to come together and have a little cheap day out or just relax for a bit.

It was one of those places that wasn’t tailored to a specific group.  All kinds of people could go there and be alongside each other and having quite different experiences. There’d be teenagers and younger people hanging out with their mates, joking about and having a bit of a laugh, and then maybe mums with little kids.  There’d be somebody else just lying in the sun reading a book, and then there were dedicated swimmers, going up and down. And then older people as well. I don’t feel we’ve got a lot of those focal points or public spaces that bring people of different generations together. 

So I would really like us to embrace those opportunities, open up more public spaces, connect to the waterways a bit more and bring in some beauty!