overview
The Growing Project is a community-led growing scheme working with organisations who support the vulnerably housed and people in crisis. Aiming to ‘Green-Sense’ the city, The Growing Project will improve sites across Birmingham by ‘growing food and creating green spaces’, sites that are developed, tended and nurtured by homeless people. Grand Union is working with artists and professionals whose practice engages with ecology and sustainable growing projects, particularly within an urban environment, to offer solutions for a post-industrial landscape.
Currently operating in St Anne’s Hostel Birmingham, the initial allotment garden is a collaborative partnership between Grand Union and The Residents, supported by CRISIS Skylight, SIFA Fireside and Modern Clay. The first phase culminated in a Public Dinner Event, whereby guests and participants shared stories, food and conversation about the symbolic meaning of taking seed to soil to plate.
This project will create a visible platform that can change perceptions of vulnerable people in crisis and experiencing homelessness, celebrating their production and demonstrating how they can make positive contributions to society.
Image Credit: Nina Baille 2019
