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We Live Here is a community project
based in Hulme, and a place to hold creative conversations about the
way the area is being changed, and our right as residents to a say in
what happens here.
I’ve
lived in Hulme for three years and in that time the skylines to the
north and east have changed massively. I feel anxious about the
approach of skyscrapers and blocks of dull, private student
accommodation. I feel the
gaze of developers eyeing up the area, and I feel the presence of
landlords hoarding property and squeezing profit from other people’s
need for homes.
But
I’m also filled with hope because I know the kind of people who
live in Hulme. Though it’s been largely knocked down and rebuilt
twice in the last sixty years, Hulme has a distinct sense of self.
This project is a place to explore together how we feel about space,
and our right to Hulme.
August was a busy month, I’ve been
having conversations, making some visuals on the instagram, and
setting up this mailing list. I’ve been walking around Hulme and
thinking about the shape of the space, the way the skyscrapers are
growing in the north, like a wall of glass, a shining wave
threatening to break. Watch this space – in the next couple of
months there’ll be some news about We Live Here’s first creative
workshops!
WLH
is run by me, James Varney, and supported by Contact Theatre’s
Future Fires mentorship scheme.
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