Marigold Road blogger Adjoa Wiredu talks to the two women behind community arts group Make Room

For me, it's like seeing a hot air balloon over the city; nothing else to do but stop, look up and gawk. On a busy shopping street with shops selling ethnic produce like yams, plantain and green chilies; I am suddenly struck with something else to look at but a nondescript wall. It feels like a wake-up call. 

The duo behind it are Megan Beck, who has lived in Tottenham for five and a half years, and Jenni Grove, who lives up the road in Stokie. They make up the not-for-profit contemporary arts organisation Make-Room. They describe their core objectives as 'practice' and 'engagement', and although their works are engaging, when I think of them it's the 'practical' aspect of the name that stands out to me.

To get a better understanding of why, let me take you back to the beginning. First, there was their giant ‘M’ at Summer on the Green last year; then they went on to make a herd of Tottenham MDF Sheep for the Tottenham Medley Market; followed by the Rainbow Works exhibition at Markfield Road last November, which featured six different artists. They've also collaborated with Tim Etchells further afield on Curtain Road, Shoreditch.

Megan and Jenni have quite literally barged their way into the community with impressive installations and pop-ups, completely transforming whatever street corner or shop they take over. They are creating space - making room - by generating new ideas and seeking out opportunities to interact with the community - through art.

They are just about to unveil the current shake-up: the anticipated Living Archive of Tottenham. It can be found at a former Caribbean takeaway shop in Broad Lane, from October 24 to December 7. The main aim is to have a conversation space; to provide an open forum where locals can come together, share about the area and add to the archive daily. They hope the working exhibition will engage the community, build awareness and lead to future projects. Artist Pippa Connolly will also be involved on this one, as Artist in Residence - using her experience to structure and celebrate themes.

I went over to the site for a sneak peek before the anticipated launch on November 7 and somehow I got them to tell me more:

Tottenham seemed like a really interesting place to move to, and it is! It’s very much part of London but has its own identity too. 

The idea is to become a creative resource for Tottenham. As artists ourselves we understand the importance and need for spaces which support artists early in their careers and enable them to take risks and experiment with their practice. We want to support creativity in Tottenham by providing an experimental platform for the production and exhibition of contemporary art by local, national and international artists. We also provide opportunities for young people to engage with professional artists and designers by working with local schools, colleges and other groups. We’re working with a range of emerging artists, recently collaborating with Tom Ebdon Architects on public realm projects on West Green Road that engaged local people. 

The name Make-Room came out of a fun exercise where we listed all the nouns, verbs and adjectives associated with what we we're trying to do. We then began combining them in different ways to see which worked best and encapsulated our ideas for the organisation. We like the practical associations with making and also the idea that we’re making room for creative practice, often in unconventional places.

We each have a background in Fine Art and did our degrees at Central Saint Martin’s, although we were in different years so didn’t know each other back then. We work on projects together but have different areas of expertise which works well. Megan takes the lead on education and public realm projects. She’s a qualified teacher and has taught Art and Design in the Adult and Community and Further Education sectors. Jenni leads on the artist residencies and exhibitions. She has worked with organisations such as the Whitechapel Gallery and Home Live Art conducting research and evaluation projects and in 2012 completed her MA specialising in curating at Birkbeck, University of London.

Considering we’ve only been going for just over a year, we’ve actually done a lot when we think about it. Practically everyone we talk to, either locally or further afield, is really into Make-Room and we’ve started getting approached to do projects, which is fantastic. 

We don’t have core funding for the organisation yet. We’ve received two grants from the Community Development Foundation. The first was for the Rainbow Works exhibition and the second is for one of our current projects, The Living Archive. We still have day jobs to sustain us, but we’re hoping that Make-Room can become the day job very soon! We want to be a sustainable organisation that doesn’t rely on funding to cover the basic running costs. We’re looking into various ways to achieve this, but it’s not easy.

Tottenham was, and continues to be, the inspiration really. It’s such an interesting place of contrasts and the people are really up for getting involved in new things. As we said, we’re both from a Fine Art background and both found it difficult to find a place for our practice. Make-Room offers that place.

We’d really like to have a permanent venue soon. Occupying temporary places is great but it does make it hard to plan for future projects as we never know where we’re going to be. We’ll continue to do off site projects, but to have a base would be fantastic. 

Through setting up Make-Room we have met loads of really interesting people. To name just a few: Mark Brearley, the former Head of Design for London and now Guest Professor at the Cass School of Architecture, London Metropolitan University, and he has been very supportive of our projects. We’ve also had the pleasure of meeting Philip Wilton of Wildes Cheeses and its been really interesting learning more about the local area with Deborah Hedgecock, Curator at Bruce Castle Museum.

We often pop in to Mannions on Broad Lane for a pint of Guinness. It’s a great pub, friendly atmosphere, live music, pool, darts, what’s not to like? We also go to San Marco restaurant on Bruce Grove for simple home cooked Italian food, again with a good atmosphere. 

We are spoiled for fresh fruit and vegetables here; there are loads of places to go. To pick just a couple: there’s a fantastic supermarket on the corner of Philip Lane and Lawrence Road. I’m not even sure what it’s called, but they have great fresh fruit and veg and you can get pretty much all your groceries there. There’s also a great street market on the High Road near Bruce Grove that has fresh fruit and veg and a fish monger. And to get away from it all, The Tottenham Marshes are just beautiful with their mix of wild marsh land, electricity pylons and gas towers. 

www.makeroom.org.uk/

@MakeRoomArts

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