Help bring art and colour to Romford

Colour in Romford is one of 20 locally initiated crowdfunding campaigns to receive a pledge from the Mayor of London in Round 3 of our Civic Crowdfunding pilot.

This means that if the campaign can raise all of the rest of the total project budget from 'the crowd', the Mayor will donate £11,000 and it can become a reality. The deadline for this fundraising is 27th August 2016.

The campaign creators Made Public explain more...

Tell us about your organisation and its key aims

Founded in 2012, Made Public is a Community Interest Company based in Romford, East London. We have been using creativity to collaborate with our existing community, encouraging ownership and making our town feel great about itself. Please check out the trailer of our most recent film below to learn about what we do.

Our aim is to regenerate communities and stimulate economic development using cultural means. We deliver a vast body of work for public, private and commercial clients, whilst staying true to our mission of supporting, nurturing, assisting, empowering and working with those who create contemporary culture in and around East London.

We actively support entrepreneurship and engage in collaborations with individuals and groups, providing advice, opportunities, socially-engaged projects, facilities and a peer network, amongst other benefits.

What is your project, why is it important and how will it help people in your area?

Here at Made Public we believe Art is for everybody - we want to free it from it's ivory tower and plaster it all over walls...literally. Last year we started our mission, working with local artists to produce four street art murals, which now proudly brighten up our High Street. An overwhelming response from our community has fuelled us to take Colour in Romford a step further.

This time we will be giving local students the opportunity to design their own piece of street art, whilst learning about the regeneration of Romford, and the impact of cultural regeneration on a broader scale. Once selected, our winners will work with our partners, local businesses and landlords to bring their creations to life...making our community colourful!

The murals will utilise both abandoned spaces and existing businesses; making them more attractive to potential tenants as well as highlighting the range of excellent businesses that already exist in the town. We want to make our town feel good about itself and the residents proud of where they live.

Quotes from our community:

“I really like it! Romford is so grey, they've really brightened it. It isn't a spritz of spray paint, it's creative and inspiring.”

Kate Evans

“I noticed this one on Monday, it's gorgeous, as is the one by the station, I love them. Are there any more? The more the better, they brighten up Romford nicely.”

Carol Fleming

“Romford needs all the colour it can get”

Mark Sean Scorey

What’s your best experience of the Mayor’s crowdfunding pilot been so far?

So far the Mayor’s Crowdfunding Pilot has been an incredibly positive experience for Made Public. Havering is often the town that London forgot, people often still see us as Essex rather than a London borough so showing our community that we are eligible for this type of funding has been a real eye opener. One of the best moments for us was the Pitch and Pledge event at City Hall. Although quite daunting it gave us an opportunity to dispel some stereotypes associated with Havering and in turn showed that fellow fundraisers understood our mission and were fully supportive. We left that evening feeling incredibly positive and raring to go!

Why, when and how should people pledge to you?

Colour In Romford is a fantastic project, which is all about making art inclusive. It’s a great initiative that will not only brighten our town but will also encourage future generations to continue the creative regeneration of Havering. We need all the help we can get to make this project a reality so please dig deep! We have less than 2 weeks to make our target so please pledge whatever you can to our Spacehive page.

Are there any other ways people can meet you face-to-face or help you?

At Made Public we love meeting people! Especially those they are interested or inspired by what we are trying to do! Please do not hesitate to email us if you wish to meet in person to discuss ways to get involve. You can email [email protected]