One element of the work we are doing at Creative Island, is to commit to convening a series of local conversations with the cultural community of each town on the Isle of Wight.
The ambition is to speak about and listen to the particular challenges and opportunities that we all face, to explore collaborative opportunities, share information and network with others.
There have been three creative events held in Ryde at the Library so far, one in October 2023, with others following in January and July 2024.
We gathered at the brand-new Department building on March 17th 2025, hosted by the brilliant Shademakers team, and began with a tour of this exciting new cultural space. We then moved into a group discussion, wonderfully facilitated by Caroline Pakel, who helped us really listen to each other and draw out the themes, dreams, and challenges facing Ryde’s creative and cultural community. We asked our creatives “What do you love and care about in Ryde?“, “What’s next for Ryde?” and what they’d like to see more and less of. Here’s just a few of the ideas that emerged:
More: Opportunities for collaborations across different disciplines and concrete actions that move beyond discussion.
Less: The same familiar faces in every meeting – let’s make a real push to bring new and different voices into the room.
A key idea that came out of the session was to create a Creative Ryde Community WhatsApp group. This has now been set up and if you’d like to be involved, please email Sam, our Communications Manager on sam@creativeisland.org. Thank you!
Let’s keep asking: What next for Ryde? – and more importantly, let’s keep making things happen.
