In Dec 2022 we had the BEST Play days at the Spire, Brighton. Running over 2 days with 2 different activities for people to engage with the event attracted a local community turn out of up to 500 people. We spent time Christomizing (yep making those not yet Christmassy, Christmassy) people and then co-created The Punch, The Sandwich, The Cake! Collaborative food making and eating.
Using roaming 1:1 performance with comedic chat and banter and mass collaborative performance we engaged with a huge variety of individuals and families, building relationships between people over the weekend and making joyful memories for all who took part.

Impact:
- 500 local people visited the Spire during the 2 day event
- 50% of who had not been to The Spire before
- More people have experienced high quality creative work on their doorstep
- More people have experienced the work of the Spire and developed a better understanding of what The Spire strives for and offers.
- Increase in social media engagement for both The Spire and Hunt & Darton
- Cross- generation engagement from families, adults developing the understanding that not all ‘play’ activities are just for kids
- More adults enjoying playing (which they were not expecting to)
- Development of new audiences in new areas of Brighton to the work of Hunt & Darton

We had the BEST Play Day last weekend! Great community turn out (over 500 people over the duration of the weekend) and kicking off the Christmas celebrations with a massive dollar pod creativity! We spent time Christomizing (yep making those not yet Christmassy, Christmassy) people and then co-created The Punch, The Sandwich, The Cake! Collaborative food making and eating. Everyone joined a production line to make each item and then we all had a taste. Lovely stuff.

Oh yeah…

The planning of Hunt & Darton's Play Day sounds marvelous. I love that you are including people of all ages and collaborating with several groups. It sounds like an exciting Play Day experience. Pat Rumbaugh, The Play Lady Co-Founder & Executive Director of the nonprofit www.letsplayamerica.org

Hunt & Darton - Play Day Action Plan
Since 2007, Hunt & Darton has led the way in creating highly creative public and participatory projects, engaging new audiences by connecting to people in their own locality, specifically in low areas of cultural engagement. The company cultivates local, national and international partnerships to ensure projects reach further into the ecology of our streets, towns and cities, celebrating place-making through a playful, inclusive, thoughtful and accessible investigation of what it means to be local.

Our projects are a positive interruption in daily activity, becoming part of the fabric of the community by creating and delivering high quality installation and performance work in collaboration with participants over extensive periods of time. Our work is innovative and collaborative - groundbreaking in its ambition to connect with communities, developing activity for people wishing to engage in world-class culture.

We cultivate unique partnerships from CPPs and arts centres to international festivals and national museums/galleries such as, Appetite, Heart of Glass, Made with Many, Colchester Arts Centre and Sick! Festival all forming our diverse mix of regular collaborators.
‘A celebration of everything that makes the area special, as told by the people who make it so!’ Anna Casey, Producer (Beyond Barbican and Culture Mile), Culture Mile (Radio Local)

Hunt & Darton will work closely with our partner, East Brighton based charity The Spire Arts, to deliver a Play Day at The Spire in December 2022. We will work with colleagues at The Spire to engage local people, especially those living in the communities least likely to engage with high quality arts and culture on their doorstep.

The Spire is located between Brighton and Hove’s most and least advantaged communities. The organisation is a vital bridging point between the city's traditional performance spaces and the communities of East Brighton who are less likely to attend events in the ‘creative quarter’ / city centre (East Brighton postcodes made up only 2-3% of 2019 Brighton Fringe bookers for example).

There is a lack of cultural resources in East Brighton, with no other arts organisations in the city delivering a regular programme of activity - The Spire Arts will support Hunt & Darton to plan and deliver our playday to bring inventive and creative experiences to the people of East Brighton. The Spire Arts will provide the space in-kind and support Hunt & Darton with in-kind community outreach, press and marketing.

Hunt & Darton believes that everyone should have access to playful activities, no matter their age, location or financial position, that’s why our Play Day will be located at the heart of the community, enabling people to come long, connect with each other and experience something new.

Our aims for the Play Day include:
Offer the opportunity for local people of all ages to experience something new together
Provide a fun and creative activity for local people to take part in which promotes teamwork and community cohesion
Create an event that gives people who are often isolated a place to go and meet new people
Produce a family friendly event where different generations can play together

Hunt & Darton will lead a planning committee which will include representatives from The Spire and two other local organisations (to be confirmed). This group will research, plan and produce a series of activities which will be delivered throughout the flexible performances spaces of The Spire.

The starting point for the activity planning is Hunt & Darton’s The Punch, The Sandwich, The Cake - a live interactive experience where participants come together to form a human chain and prepare recipes inspired by their own homes along a huge communal table - a true celebration of collaboration.

Hunt & Darton will promote the event via their active social media platforms plus:
Specially designed posters & flyers distributed throughout East Brighton
Large Banners on the outside of The Spire
Press releases sent to all local media outlets
Quarter page advertisement in the Artists Open Houses brochure
Eflyer sent to East Brighton Hub mailing list
All employees and freelancers working for Hunt & Darton are required to hold valid DBS certificates, ensuring the safeguarding of all people taking part in our projects.

All activity delivered will respond to current COVID-19 guidelines, taking into consideration any changes made by the Government between the first planning meeting and the delivery date.
Budget;
Planning meetings - 4 x people @ £75 pp = £300
Design costs - eflyer/flyer/poster = £500
Print costs - 500 A5 flyers / 100 A3 posters = £350
Consumables = £500
Equipment hire = £400
Performer fees - 2 days @ £250 x 2 = £1000
Additional Performer fee = 2 days x250 = £500
Materials budget = £200
Associated activities budget = £650
Evaluation costs - 2 days @ £150 = £600