Escape Arts unveil latest Stratford shop window project
“WE’RE planning to do many more,” Escape Arts programme manager Dionne Sandbrook said as a new shop window display was unveiled at the former Music Room shop on Rother Street, in Stratford.
The latest display is part of the group’s Heritage in Unusual Places project and provides colourful and interesting material in what would otherwise be an unused shopfront.
Dionne told the Herald: “The centrepiece is really our Sounds of Stratford collage, where we wanted to celebrate individual musicians.
“There's a fabulous mix of famous musicians, past and present, who either have influenced the group and people have loved, or people have actually seen them in concerts.
“There are some big names there, as in David Bowie, Poly Styrene and Jeff Beck, who have performed in Stratford in days gone by.
“Also our Arts Award group, which is young people and teenagers who meet on Thursdays, did portraits of their musical heroes, or just of themselves, showing their passion in music.
“Then we also wanted to celebrate the current music scene, because whatever people think, there is actually a really vibrant music scene in Stratford. For this we’ve got lots of portraits of current musicians, and also people that have been really prominent in promoting music and supporting music around Stratford. We’ve got Rebecca Hallworth, who used to run the PlayHouse, we’ve got David LaPage from the Orchestra of the Swan, then Doug Armstrong, who used to run Street Arts, and Jay Riley, who runs the Jazz Club.”
Music was identified as a theme that everyone could become involved with.
“When chatting to the group, we came up with music being a lovely theme that everyone can connect to, so we thought it would be fabulous to do a creative and heritage project, just talking about the music that's really influenced our lives
and still connects us,” Dionne said.
The wide age-range of the group was reflected in the window, she added.
“We had fabulous stories about being in the school musical or part of Stratford Musical Society, or people who go into dances in the Red Lion on Bridge Street back in the 1950s,” she explained. “People made artwork to reflect some of those
stories, and we made playlists and dream albums that we had never
seen but we wished had been made.”
People who have got a musical story to tell can still get involved with Escape Arts’ projects.
Dionne added: “There’s a little QR code on the display, and people can just click on that, go on our website, and if they want to share their stories about the different shops or the music or whatever other themes that we’re developing as we do this, then it’d be fabulous to get people involved. We’re planning to do many more, popping up all around the town.”
