Welcome to York’s Community Wealth Building podcast, brought to you by Fieldwork.
In each of these episodes we’ll be chatting with someone involved in the community wealth building movement in and around the city of York, in the north of England.
This includes people working in social enterprises, co-operatives, charities and community groups, as well as academics, private business owners, and passionate individuals.
We’re currently running three projects, which are all focused around research and storytelling.
Firstly, we’re producing a series of books all about York’s citizens who have taken action to improve their local area. Do you know someone who fits that description? Let us know, by going to wearefieldwork.org and using the contact us form.
Secondly, we’re offering free content creation training to charities, cooperatives, social enterprises and community groups, helping them to better tell their story online. This covers everything from coming up with content ideas and hooks, to capturing the audio and video content, editing it, and presenting it in a way that is both accessible and engaging. If you or someone you know would like to access that training, you can find more information at wearefieldwork.org
The third project, and the reason this podcast exists, is that we are conducting research into community wealth building activities taking place in York.
This work is funded by David Skaith’s York and North Yorkshire combined authority’s community wealth building programme, and predominantly looks at the activities of local social enterprises.
It was recorded at the Community Wealth Building hub in Spark. The hub is a pop up venue created in partnership with York Social Enterprise Coalition, also known as YSEC.
The hub is funded by Fieldwork via a grant from Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and provides space for social enterprises to come and receive 1:1 support and guidance, as well as housing a podcast studio for the research into community wealth building activities to take place.
These conversations will be released weekly, although clips from the podcasts are already doing the rounds on social media.
Please do give Fieldwork a follow on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, and engage with the clips when you see them. We really want to broaden the dialogue around community wealth building, which means bringing more people into the conversation.
Ask questions, prompt for examples, challenge things you aren’t sure about. This is an ongoing conversation and it needs your voice.
Today’s guest is Sue Williamson is CEO of Tang Hall SMART CIC, a York based community music and arts social enterprise.
She’s also the CEO of Tang Hall Employment charity, and Chair of York Social Enterprise Coalition.
She was previously a music subject leader, SENCO and English teacher at Burnholme Community College, and was instrumental in the campaign to save the building for community use when it was closed as a school.
The conversation starts off by defining some of the terms we’ll be talking about in York’s community wealth building podcast, then we explore some of the project’s she’s been involved in, then the assets her companies have to deliver upon their aims.
