The Nottingham Photographers’ Hub has been working at the intersection of ideas concerning inclusion, community and socially engaged art practice for nearly a decade. We offer support to help people create art and advocate around issues connected to race, mental wellbeing and disability in the arts.
Learn more here
The Anti-Racism Heritage Project
This project celebrates the rich history of anti-racist activism in the Midlands—told through the voices of those who lived it and reimagined by a new generation.
Working with elder activists, young people, and artists, we've brought together powerful oral histories, creative responses, and educational materials to explore how diverse communities stood together to challenge racism from the 1960s onwards.
Through storytelling, art, and public exhibitions, we aim to honour the past, inspire reflection, and build a more inclusive future.
The project was funded by the Lottery Heritage Fund
Rays of Light
If the pandemic has exposed the deprivation, inequalities and personal struggles of people coping with the zero hour, austerity-blighted, financially stretched society, it has also reminded us how simple interventions can make a significant impact. Himmah, the Nottingham Photographers Hub and the Scrambles Photography group worked together to enable participants to make visual work about their COVID experiences and support each other through the creative process.
“Its very therapeutic, its like you’re composing yourself to achieve something, that you are really looking”
— quote from participant
Some current projects
Arts and Social Prescribing
We are working in partnership with the Canal & River Trust Nottingham CVS, Notts County Foundation, Canalside Heritage Centre, and local foodbank Himmah to work with local social prescribers to address people's physical and mental health.
The project is one of 37 across England which are being funded by the Thriving Communities Fund and delivered by a unique partnership between the National Academy for Social Prescribing, Arts Council England, Historic England, Natural England, NHS England and NHS Improvement, Sport England, the Money & Pensions Service and NHS Charities Together.
Derby Mills Heritage project
We are working in partnership with the New Art Exchange, Derby Valley Mills World Heritage Site (DVMWHS) and the Scrambles Peer Led Mental Health group to engage with the archives from DVMWHS. The project will not only help participants to engage with the archival and historical narratives around the project, it will also support two members of the group to teach and run the workshops. The project will result in a publication in July 2021.
Young People Photography class
We are working in partnership with Inspire Culture, Learning and Libraries based in Nottingham. Nottinghamshire course participants will work towards an EQF Level 1 Award in Crafts, Creative Arts and Media. Through funding from Children in Need we are using a visual methodology to address a wider spectrum of issues faced by young people in rural Nottinghamshire.
Photograph by Alyn Mulholland. In 2019, Scrambles members (Rita Kaur, Ben Elliott, Karlito Knight Priscilla Maurer and Chris Middleton) were invited by New Art Exchange to be part of a panel discussion about mental health and creativity.
‘If you are looking through the camera lens you can divorce yourself from the situation and look at it in a different light, so it’s not just photography but wellbeing’
Feedback from participant
