The Place We Imagine: Sharing Food & Drink at Platt Hall
'Food is not just a biological need. It makes our culture, it feeds our emotions and builds our identity…It comforts us, it keeps us busy, it feeds us and reminds us who we are”Food is not just a biological need. It makes our culture, it feeds our emotions and builds our identity…It comforts us, it keeps us busy, it feeds us and reminds us who we are.'
Grayson Perry
How can sharing food and drink at Platt Hall bring people, collections and heritage together through health and wellbeing, food sustainability and belonging?
This question provides the basis for a year-long programme of research into making and sharing food and drink at Platt Hall. This topic comes up in all our conversations at the Hall, from the lack of an affordable café in Platt Fields Park and the reality of food poverty across the city, to the importance of good nutrition for a healthy life, and the diverse food cultures of our neighbourhood. But Platt Hall has a minimal kitchen – little more than toaster, kettle and microwave. Our programmes are fuelled by hot drinks and biscuits, and the garden volunteers make a mean carrot cake, but that’s about the best we can do currently.
The Place We Imagine: Sharing Food & Drink is a programme of research and creative engagement that will explore the role that food cultures play across our neighbourhood to inform the longer-term development of facilities in the Hall that can cater to the needs of all our communities.
Central to the programme are two creative residencies. We are currently recruiting two artists/artist collectives who will work with Platt volunteers and participants to bring creative and critical perspectives to our question. Themes explored may include the relationship between food, health and wellbeing; food citizenship and growing food together; and food cultures within the neighbourhood around the Hall. Meanwhile the Platt team will be conducting research into different models of operation, from self-service kiosks to pop-up cafes and community kitchens, and the opportunities and challenges that come with providing food and drink in a listed historic building. It’s a long time since anyone dined in the Dining Room.
The Place We Imagine will generate knowledge and evidence to shape a sustainable longer-term model for making and sharing food and drink together at Platt Hall, as central to its purpose as a welcoming and inclusive neighbourhood space.
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IN THE WINDOW
A project transforming Platt Hall's windows into a public art display showcases local artwork, keeping the community connected even when the Hall is closed.