Thank you Bedford!
we had an amazing 6 weeks
Thank you to everyone who worked with us to make our first pop-up creative space such an enormous success.
We held an incredible programme of exhibitions, performances and community events.
Over the coming weeks we will be sharing information about what we delivered as well as our plans for more POP activity in the future.
Artist takeover /
Co-creation week
7-13 August 2023
For one week we invited artists and creatives local to Bedford to use all three floors of our space to experience the buzz of a shared studio environment. The result was an exhibition entitled ‘This Is Bedford’ showcasing work created across the six week pop-up.
The exhibition celebrated all the diverse communities, individuals and stories that have been involved in POP Bedford. The space used to be a Virgin Media shop and we inherited some old staff lockers which were used during the artist takeover week.
Photos to follow!
A new space for everyone
POP Bedford was a creative hub pop-up, situated right in the heart of our town centre at 5 Midland Road. Made possible by the support of Harnan Real Estate, we took over the space with a lively and engaging six-week programme of events produced by local artists, creatives and community groups. From exhibitions to live performances, poetry slams, to conversation corners and creative workshops, our aim was to bring people closer together and help reimagine where we live.
This space acted as an extension of the public realm through accessible, experience-based interactions and co-creating for those living, working, and visiting Bedford. POP Bedford was a pilot project to trial ideas and find out what the community of Bedford would like to see and use. We hope the project will pave the way for a more permanent, community-led creative space.
What did we do?
We delivered:
Collaborative art projects
Exhibitions
Live performances
Workshops
Conversation corners
What’s next?
POP Bedford enabled us to explore what might be possible in a creative space in our town centre.
We still have a vision for developing a creative community hub for Bedford.
Do sign up to our mailing list if you want to keep up to date with our ideas as they develop for what could be next for POP…