Cheshire East Council is working with Crewe Cultural Forum to organise a 'Creative Takeover Weekend' in the town centre - kicking off the upcoming half-term holiday.

The event at Lyceum Square will be hosted by creative practitioners '64 Million Artists' – working alongside a new team of local cultural volunteers known as 'Creative Champions.'

These volunteers have already received training to help develop their event hosting skills, with the focus being on how to start conversations about creative programming.

They aim to provide a foundation in understanding how to open up community discussions - engaging with culture.

The event at Lyceum Square will be hosted by creative practitioners 64 Million Artists (Cheshire East Council).

The weekend will include a variety of creative installations and engagement activity, focused around Lyceum Square.

It will help to help stimulate conversations with local people about how they would like to engage with culture, creativity and heritage in Crewe and what they might like to see in creative and community spaces in the future.

All this activity is happening at a really busy time for Lyceum Square with the council's Pride event also taking place on Saturday 22 October.

Chair of Cheshire East Council's economy and growth committee, Cllr Nick Mannion said: "It's a very exciting time for Crewe and these forthcoming events are very much a taste of what's to come.

"It's really important that Crewe residents shape the future of their town and that's why I'm delighted to see 'our new Creative Champions' at the heart of these activities."

Chair of Cheshire East Council's economy and growth committee, Cllr Nick Mannion (Cheshire East Council).

Crewe Cultural Forum is a key partner for the weekend activities.

The forum – formed in 2018 – is a working partnership group made up of a wide range of community members, businesses and residents, who all agreed that there was both a significant opportunity and benefit in the growing cultural sector in coming together to work collaboratively.

The forum developed the Crewe Cultural Strategy, which was formally endorsed by both Cheshire East Council and Crewe Town Council.

Chair of Crewe Cultural Forum and theatre director of Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Rhys Hopkin said: "We can achieve so much more if we do things collaboratively and the takeover weekend is a great opportunity to do just that.

Chair of Crewe Cultural Forum and theatre director of Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Rhys Hopkin (Crewe Lyceum Theatre).

"I'm delighted to say that our own Lyceum Youth Theatre will be performing as part of the celebrations to share that collective sense of pride and enjoyment and with Pride taking place on the Saturday as well.

"It really does promise to be a brilliant time for everyone involved."

The Crewe takeover weekend activities include: An augmented reality art trail, an interactive installation of bee hives and decorative window art adorning windows on businesses around the square by Victoria's Art Studio.

It also includes: Qalkabout interactive performers, The Alpaca Backpackers, interactive 'doodleboards' from local artist Jay Neville and performances from the Crewe Lyceum Youth Theatre.

Cheshire East Council's Crewe Pride event is also taking place on Saturday 22 October (Cheshire East Council).

The activities are being put on to inspire and ignite conversation ahead of planned developments on Lyceum Square, which will create more space and facilities for creative and cultural activity.

The weekend's events will take place around the Lyceum Square, Market Hall and surrounding area.

This will also coincide with an opportunity for residents to give feedback on the design of a proposed new wall mural at Lyceum Square.

Cheshire East Council is welcoming residents and visitors to pop in and see its Creative Champions for a chat in the market sheds and to catch the activity this month.

All this activity is happening at a really busy time for Lyceum Square (Ryan Parker).

This is on Saturday (October 22) from 10am-2pm and Sunday (October 23) from 12pm until 4pm.

To learn more about the work of Crewe Cultural Forum or to find out how you can become a creative champion, please get in touch by emailing: [email protected].

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