Squatlife

Squatlife Summer Programme of Events

St Albans Art Team and its Partners proudly present an exciting community arts and heritage programme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Squatlife is a thought provoking project, which explores the often hidden issues of squatting and homelessness using photography, film and the performing arts. The project will highlight historical and contemporary responses to homelessness and give an insight into this previously under-researched aspect of local history. It will involve people from across the community, including those who have experienced homelessness, as well volunteers. The programme will culminate in the first community-focused exhibition to be shown at the new St Albans Museum + Gallery which opens this summer.

St Albans Film Festival

Date: Saturday 30th June 2018
Film: Hector – ‘Anywhere away is where he wants to be’
Doors Open: 7.30pm - Film Screening - 8pm
Directed by Jake Gavin, Certificate 15. 87mins
Location: Metro Bank, 77 St Peter's St, St Albans AL1 3ED
Cost: FREE

The opening event in the Squatlife Programme: ‘Hector’ A portrait of an invisible man and an authentic account of homelessness within contemporary Britain.

A ‘pay what you can’ donation will be collected on the door.
Money collected will go to four local Homeless Charities: Open Door, Centre 33, Emmaus and Herts Young Homeless.

Squatlife Exhibition

Date: Saturday 14th July to Sunday 26th August
Location: Museum + Gallery, St Peter’s Street, St Albans, AL3 5DJ
Opening times: TBA
Cost: FREE Event

A thought-provoking and challenging exhibition inspired by Dave Kotula’s photographs of squatted premises in St Albans in the 1980s. This collection of iconic images illustrates a period in history and a culture that has almost completely gone and has rarely been documented. With the support of volunteers from St Albans & Hertfordshire Archaeological & Architectural Society and heritage professionals from St Albans Museum Service the exhibition will be contrasted with a view of Victorian (and pre-Victorian) workhouses and historical attitudes to homelessness, providing a historical context on what is often perceived to be a contemporary issue.
This will be the opening community project at the new St Albans Museum + Gallery.

Walk a Day in My Shoes – Photography Exhibition

Date: Saturday 14th July to Sunday 26th August
Location: Tied to the railings – Wax House Gate, Sumpter Yard and St Albans City Centre
Opening times: 24hrs
Cost: FREE Event

To coincide with the Squatlife exhibition inside the museum this poignant collection of photographs, of those currently homeless, will be tied to railings around St Albans Cathedral and City Centre. Hertfordshire Young Homeless assisted by Professional photographer Pete Stevens record their daily lives with images, using a visual voice to provide an insight into ‘life on the streets or sofa surfing’.

Squatlife Theatre Performance

Date: Friday 27th July 2018
Location: Abbey Theatre, Westminster Lodge, St Albans, AL1 2DL
Opening Times: 7:30pm
Cost: FREE

After a two week residency working with nationally acclaimed Cardboard Citizen, actors from the local homeless community tell their stories in this thought provoking production. A Forum piece Theatre, which provides the audience with the opportunity to ‘stop’ the performance and introduce other issues/ideas, which can lead to interesting and powerful debates in the theatre.
A ‘pay what you can’ donation will be collected on the door.
Money collected will go to four local Homeless Charities: Open Door, Centre 33, Emmaus and Herts Young Homeless.

Squatlife St Albans City Centre Walk: Waifs, Vagabonds and Workhouses

Date: Sunday 29th July
Starting: 2.30 – 4.00pm
Location: City Centre walk (starting West End of St Albans Abbey)
Cost: Tickets: FREE Event

Join St Albans Tour Guide, Elizabeth Eastwood, at the West End of St Albans Abbey, where the walk starts, and collect your map. This walk will include the House of Correction, Raynshaw’s Almshouses and the former slums. Elizabeth weaves a fascinating, historical and poignant story of the homeless, which forms part of the Squatlife Exhibition, upstairs in the East & West Galleries of the St Albans Museum & Gallery, and which runs from Saturday 14 July to Sunday 26 August.

A ‘pay what you can’ donation will be collected at the end of the tour.
Money collected will go to four local Homeless Charities: Open Door, Centre 33, Emmaus and Herts Young Homeless.

Squatlife Children’s Workshops:
Home Sweet Home
Date: Wednesday 1st and Saturday 11th August 2.00 – 4.30pm
Location: St Albans Museum +Gallery, St Peter’s Street, St Albans, AL3 5DJ
Cost: FREE Family workshop suitable for under 12’s
Children to be accompanied by an adult
What are the elements to create a home? What would you use if you were homeless to make a dwelling offering warmth and protection? Join Rose from the St Albans Arts Team as she explores these questions, and using felt, make a cosy shelter to take home or an extra one to create a community!
Huff, Puff, Blow Your House Down
Date: Saturday 4th and Wednesday 8th August 2.00 – 4.30pm
Location: St Albans Museum +Gallery, St Peter’s Street, St Albans, AL3 5DJ
Cost: FREE Family Story and workshop suitable for under 8’s
Children to be accompanied by an adult
This is the story of the 3 Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. Sounds familiar, but it has a twist! Sit down and listen to the story with Chris from the St Albans Arts Team and Volunteer Barbara from St Albans Museum Service. What happens to the 3 Little Wolves and can they make a shelter which is indestructible? That Big Bad Pig will use any method to destroy their home! Using paper straws, we will try to construct a home, which won’t collapse or be blown down. Make one to take home or add to the St Albans street of paper straws.

For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/StAlbansSquatlife/