EXPANDING ONE ROOF: NEW PROGRAMME FOR ARTISTS WITH EXPERIENCE OF HOMELESSNESS

ODAC is delighted to have received multi-year funding from The Linbury Trust, and project grants from Arts Council England, The Tedworth Charitable Trust and an anonymous donor to develop our work with London’s artistic community with experience of homelessness. Our three-year strategy will grow the One Roof festival into a year-round programme, supporting multi-disciplinary artistic projects, and organisational development.

THE PAST

ODACs relationship with arts and homelessness extends back to the 1970s, when the original Diorama building opposite Regent’s Park was known as a squat for artists and creators. In more recent years, ODAC has been known as the birthplace and annual host of The One Festival of Homeless Arts, or “One Fest.” Conceived in 2016 by ODAC resident artist David Tovey, One Fest was an exhibition of work by artists of no fixed abode from all over the world. The launch event took place every year on World Homeless Day (10th Oct) at ODAC, and we continue to honour that date today.

ODACs relationship with arts and homelessness extends back to the 1970s, when the original Diorama building opposite Regent’s Park was known as a squat for artists and creators. In more recent years, ODAC has been known as the birthplace and annual host of The One Festival of Homeless Arts, or “One Fest.” Conceived in 2016 by ODAC resident artist David Tovey, One Fest was an exhibition of work by artists of no fixed abode from all over the world. The launch event took place every year on World Homeless Day (10th Oct) at ODAC, and we continue to honour that date today.

When reopening after the pandemic, seeking to continue our support of the community, we learned that the most precious commodity for precariously sheltered artists is space to create their work, and the means to forge connections. We set about developing a new kind of event that would enable artists to partake in diverse and interesting workshops, while also enjoying time and space to work on individual projects, honing their craft in an environment that is safe, comfortable and free. The two-week creation festival format was born: evolved into an independent, in-house project of ODAC and - for 2024 - was renamed “One Roof.”

Since 2022, ODAC has been working on expanding this strand of our work, and in December 2023 received several nominations and was named Runner Up as Cultural Space of the Year in the inaugural Arts & Homelessness International Awards, losing out to the exemplary Dallas Public Library, USA. 

THE PRESENT

Last week on World Homeless Day (10th Oct) we had our ‘Idea Smash’ for One Roof 2025. This is an annual event for members of the artistic and homeless communities to gather at ODAC to contribute ideas and suggestions for the next festival. 

This process enables us to hear a broad spectrum of ideas for creative workshops - as well as suggestions for the equipment, facilities, food and wellbeing - thus ensuring the festival is truly made by and for people with lived experience of homelessness.

We now have pages of interesting ideas and creative input to work through, which we will use to inform our programme schedule for the next instalment of the One Roof Festival, which will be Mon 13th - Fri 24th January 2025.

This festival will be the springboard for some new or existing projects, and a seeding ground for new ideas. Claire Rivers, our Centre Manager since Autumn 2021 is taking on a new role from November dedicated to this work, as Programme Manager: One Roof.

THE FUTURE

One Roof is about to become a year-round arts and activity programme; integrating with ODAC as a whole, while retaining at its core the desire to nurture and amplify the work of artists with experience of homelessness.

Together, we hope to create and nurture a community with year-round support, while destigmatising homelessness and producing great work in the process. We would like to thank all funders of this project, which will enable us to work closely with artists and support their development, through workshops, signposting, mentorship schemes, and meaningful collaboration. 

Daniel Pitt, Creative Director & Chief Executive, said:
“We’re hugely thankful for the investment that has made this possible - especially from the Linbury Trust who have seen the potential and understood the ambition. This work has evolved and grown with our programmes in recent years, and now we’re exploring how an arts centre can integrate that lived expertise into what we do. ODAC’s strategy is about the social and civic impact that the arts can make, and the One Roof programmes are a vital part of that. Claire Rivers has long been an advocate of this work at ODAC - she was nominated as Co-Creation Champion of the Year at the AHI awards - and I’m delighted that this project enables Claire to take on a new role to deliver this work.”

GET INVOLVED

The heart of the One Roof Festival - however we dress it up or paint it! - is the people. If you are interested in joining us as a volunteer or attending the festival as one of our artists, please email us for more information on OneRoof@olddiorama.com. 

In the coming months, we will also be looking to fill a new role co-delivering the wider One Roof programme. We’ll be advertising the role from December, with applications closing at the end of January.

We are also looking for commercial and industry partners to support us with mentoring and internship opportunities for One Roof attendees. If you are one of ODACs loyal hire clients, and would like to help us to destigmatise homelessness through integrating the programmes, please email Claire on OneRoof@olddiorama.com.

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