text: The current pandemic has unfortunately diminished the Creative West End Network’s ability to engage with the community on a face to face level. However, in spite of this, or perhaps because of this, new and unexpected opportunities present themselves – a perfect example
  being the talk given by the renowned artist, Heather Peak Morison, at Creative West End’s third zoomed Network Meeting.
  What particularly gripped the audience was her current sculptural passion for what she describes as ‘agoras’ (or ‘agorae’, depending on whether you hail from 2020 CE or 520 BCE!). The original Ancient Greek agora (literally a meeting or gathering place) developed into an area set aside for both markets and politics. Clearly, then, it was a place associated with civic change – a concern common to both Heather and the Creative Network.
  But how to describe her ‘agoras’? They are made as much of emptiness as solidity – each balancing the other. They are unenclosed enclosures. They resemble creatures that are about to take off or ones that have just landed. They are surreal marquees. Some are as mysterious and simple as huts in which a storyteller might be found.
  Many of us could see the potential of creating one for Morecambe’s West End – where spaces, purpose-built for gatherings, are few and far between. Not only would the agora communicate to the locale through its striking form, it would also provide an environment in which people might communicate with each other through word, gesture, dance or
  play. Thank you, Heather. Hopefully a conversation, once begun, will
  continue. Watch this space. Or should I say watch these spaces?
  Screengrabs from Heather Peak Morison's 'Inspiration and Learning' session with our Creative West End Network.
  Agora – Noun, Feminine – Meeting Place
  A talk from an artist called Heather
  About bringing people together
  In the fabulous meeting places,
  She designs for outdoor spaces,
  Made us all scratch our heads and wonder
  If, perhaps, in time’s deep blue yonder
  With her help, we could somehow create
  Such a place – yes, that would be great!
  But we’d have to understand angles
  And undo any complex tangles –
  For the structures of her agoras
  Would confound even Pythagoras.
  Blog & Poem by Jules Abraham
  Jules is a creative writer and all round creative dabbler; volunteering at The Exchange Creative Community and taking a lead in starting up Film Morecambe. He volunteers his time to Creative West End as he believes in its values and vision in making creativity accessible for all and helping to make great creative projects and things happen locally.