Watermans was appointed as the Arts delivery partner for a project to regenerate Brentford funded by the GLA’s Outer London Fund. The overall project comprised major physical improvements to the environment in Brentford such as a new path between the Golden Mile and Brentford Lock. Watermans’ role was to provide an events programme to reinforce these new physical connections through a community engagement programme which brought these routes to life and triggered their community use.

The events programme topped and tailed the regeneration programme.

2012 – Launch Event and Community Engagement Programme

Brentford Lock came to life on 20 July 2012 with a visit from the Royal Opera House who presented the world premiere of their new opera, The Owl & the Pussycat. As well as celebrating the commencements of the Brentford works, the event was one of the highlights of the Mayor of London’s Secrets: Hidden London programme. It was performed on a barge in the Lock before floating along London’s canals on its way to the Olympic Park. This presented a major cultural opportunity for Brentford, and continued to increase awareness of the town as a cultural destination, supporting the development and use of the waterways, and raising the standard of outdoor arts programming in the town centre.

It was recognised that the visit of the Royal Opera House would be enhanced by a community engagement programme to provide some contextualisation for the project and to ensure it delivered the maximum benefit to local communities.

Therefore Watermans led a community engagement programme resulting in a large-scale outdoor arts event in Brentford Lock which both celebrated the start of the regeneration works, and engaged the community in the upcoming visit from the Royal Opera House.

The objectives for the community engagement programme were to:

• Engage local communities in the development of Brentford’s waterways in a way which promoted new and positive uses of the waterside
• Build a sense of place, local pride and wider community ownership of the waterways
• Support an active and creative community which was engaged in, and inspired by, the London 2012 cultural programme

A workshop programme was delivered by Watermans in local schools (primary, secondary and special schools and the CATE Centre). Working with internationally-acclaimed artists body>data>space, the children & Young people created an installation and live performance incorporating photography, video, animation, music and sound design, based on the Owl & the Pussycat poem. The finished piece, ‘Hey There Pussy Cat’ was performed on the same night as the ROH opera and engaged local communities in discovering new, fun, creative and positive use of the waterways.

The event drew a large, local audience to the Lock as well as bringing new audiences to Brentford, with 16% coming for the first time. 91% agreed that events like this improved the image of Brentford.

2014 – Closing Event and Community Engagement

To celebrate the completion the public works, Watermans appointed and worked with expert outdoor artists Walk the Plank to deliver the Brentford Lock Fire Garden, a large scale outdoor arts installation. Again community participation was an important part of this, with workshops delivered in several local schools, whose work was then displayed as part of the impressive installation. The event itself attracted an audience of over a thousand and the warm, convivial atmosphere was a fitting close to the successful changes in Brentford.