REVERB and its second phase MORE REVERB grew from discussions in Barrow and Chesterfield involving ourselves, Museums, artists, musicians  on pop cultural artefacts as mediators of civic memory, and on the role of the arts in animating our town centres and public spaces.

These discussions demonstrated the power of grass roots creativity to enhance lives. Many of us are products of environments in which local music scenes and venues provided focus and platforms for developing art skills, expression of thought and feeling, a social conscience and a community-based version of  entrepreneurship.

At a time when town centres are struggling, we see a need to celebrate the energies and imaginations that, historically, have driven local arts and music scenes, to signpost their potential to revivify public spaces , and tell stories.

In Barrow, we produced a book -Play Summat We Know -and then an exhibition - Play One Of Your Own- of artefacts, audio, video and other ephemera from  extraordinarilly vibrant and nourishing music scenes, concentrating on 1976 and 1996, but also including items like Tom Jones' tie from a 1966 gig in the town.  Alongside the work on the walls and our text pieces,  Artfly designed and built a hugely popular juke box that played digitised vinyl, audience recordings,  demo cassettes, and interviews, and  John Rennie compiled a video of clips from lost venues and the annual open air shows at the Furness Abbey Amphitheatre,  For added ambience, Audio technician Damian Rose installed a recording made by Bob Spencer of the last night at Barrow's legendary Labour Club, the home of the scene for many years.
The work here, from a pre-digital era, retains its hand-crafted glamour and resonance. This work is a product of an autonomous local industry that was, and is,  just as important as any other operating within the town. An industry dealing in expression, creativity and happiness.

Our thanks to Charlotte Hawley at Barrow Dock Museum for her and her team's enthusiasm and support,  to Joanne Marwood and

Westmorland and Furness Council's Events and Festivals programme, and to all our friends old and new who have contributed in so many ways.

This project has been a pleasure throughout. Thank you..

 

Visitor Comments....

 

"A wonderful and special night John. Thank you so much for all your hard work. A fitting tribute to so many talented people. The jukebox is pure genius!"

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"Congratulations on a brilliant show, iIll be back for more soon - so much moving content, important to be seen, and the perfect place for it. Your words will stay with me, it’s one of the most important industries that needs to be celebrated and kept alive." 

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"Now the dust has settled after a night where I think most were a little overwhelmed and touched that the local scene was remembered in such a positive way I wanted to say well done.

As I said on Friday not only did you capture the DIY nature of the scene but you managed to capture an attitude that is peculiar to people who are (or feel they are) outsiders in what is all too often a very beige town.

That is no mean feat so congratulations on a really powerful and cleverly curated exhibition".

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