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Metal Peterborough

@metalpeterborough

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Championing artists, creatives & other curious people to follow hunches, explore dreams & probe problems.
Part of @metalcultureuk

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On Thursday, poetry took over the streets of Peterborough. We launched A/Owning, a new public artwork by José Oliva Garcia, commissioned by Metal, as part of Peterborough Cultural Alliance’s Place Partnership Programme.

We started under the awning at Chaat & Chill, where artist Zain Haider Awan shared a spoken word piece. Dance artist Kate Marsh led us to our next stop at the International Food Centre, and poet Charley Genever anchored the gathering with another spoken word performance. From there, Kate guided us to Hook’d, and poet Kaitlene Koranteng shared more words beneath the awning, before leading us to our final stop at the 2020 World Buffet.

The evening closed with a live performance from the PNS (Peterborough Nepalese Society) Bhajan Group, with Bhakta Bishow, Keshav Poudel, Juna Sapkota, Sundar Bhandari, Sagar Lamdari, Subash Pantha, Arya Belbase, Ojaswi Poudel bringing the evening to a beautiful close over food, music and dance.

As we moved from awning to awning, we picked up people along the way, drawn in by the happenings unfolding around them. We stopped cars, with people winding down their windows to find out more, while others were transported back to their childhoods and the poetry they used to write as kids.

A special thank you to the migrant and second-generation business owners who welcomed us and extended their hospitality, opening up their awnings as a different kind of public space. Thank you to everyone who came along and embraced the event, to all the performers for sharing their words, sounds and movements, and to the people of Peterborough who worked collaboratively with Jose to create the poem that can now be read across the awnings.

And, of course, thank you to José for imagining such joyful, unexpected encounters beneath the awnings, and weaving poetry together with the everyday rhythms of our city.

There’ll be more happenings under the awnings on Thursday 22 October. Save the date, more soon!

Reel credit: Joe Almond

#AOwning #MetalPeterborough #PeterboroughCulturalAlliance #WordsInPublicSpaces #Peterborough taken in Peterborough by @metalpeterborough

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Part of the Working Artist Week was a also an Art Trip to London.
The London trip became an important part of the residency, visiting @whitechapelgallery , @autographabp , Spitalfields and Brick Lane, including its street art.

At Whitechapel Gallery, we viewed work by artists including Gabriel Chaile, Fozia Ismail and OITIJ-JO Collective. As part of the visit, all of us collaborated in making rope together. This was connected to The Ropery, an exhibition and participatory project exploring the historical relationship between the local area, rope-making, the River Thames and the docks.

At Autograph, which opened specifically for the group for a private viewing, we experienced the work of Nhu Xuan Hua. by @metalpeterborough

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Working Artist Week Project Mon 24 - Fri 28 August 2026

The Working Artist Week was designed as a small-scale artist residency for Jessica, giving her the time, space and freedom to experience what it is like to work as an artist.

The week was delivered collaboratively by, @theartofmadiha , the teacher (COPA), Viviana (CEO) and Yasmine from @metalpeterborough , and me, as the artist. Both Madiha and I have had a fanstastic working history with Metal, thank you for asking us to work with you again! by @metalpeterborough

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A/Owning is up and running after a crazy few months of work! So grateful to have shared this journey with so many people in Peterborough, who led the activities at the launch under the awnings of Hook’d, Chaat and Chill, and the International Food Centre, and closed the night with a concert by shop owner Bhakta and his Nepalese band at his restaurant, the 2020 World Buffet.

This work came in response to people in the city complaining about shops closing, markets shrinking and cultural organisations lacking permanent spaces, including Metal, which commissioned this project. A/Owning is a public art intervention that reimagines the awning as a form of civic space. Developed with local shop owners, the project looks at the awning as an ordinary piece of architecture suspended between the private and the public space, whose outline can be occupied as a more intimate place for public actions.

Each awning displays fragments of a text written collectively by people in Peterborough as part of this project, alongside words gathered from across the city. Together, they form a temporary subtitle for the street, inviting people to walk from one venue to another to read it in its entirety. It remains unfinished, with lines on the awnings becoming titles for happenings when a date and time are added, allowing the writing to continue through the civic actions taking place beneath them.

For the opening we had spoken words by the local legends @charleyfarleyha and @zain.speaks, together with archivist and poet @justkaitlene, who edited the final version on the awnings. The public was guided through the city to visit the four locations with a participatory choreography led by @katems01.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who made the launch possible: @metalcultureuk @metalpeterborough @peterboroughculturalalliance @chaatandchillpeterborough @hookd.peterborough @2020_world_buffet @viviana_checchia, @yasminesefraoui, @simoneyasmin, @danibenben, @keelymillspoet and @matt.booker1

Photos by @alicemannnn by @metalpeterborough

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We’re hiring! Join the Metal team in Peterborough & Cambridgeshire as our new Producer 🌟

We’re looking for a creative, flexible and inspiring Producer to support the Director and wider Metal team with production, engagement, logistics, fundraising and administration, playing a key role in shaping our future artistic programme and deepening our impact in our neighbourhood, across Peterborough and the wider region.

You should have a passion for nature-based approaches to creative practice and be eager to explore how art can drive social change, resilience and local transformation.

We’re running a guaranteed interview scheme for this role as part of our commitment to addressing the imbalance of underrepresented communities within the cultural sector and within our own organisation. You can also apply for this role in a way that meets your access requirements.

To find out more and apply, visit the link in our bio.

Applications close at 9am on Thursday 5 November.

Go go go!

Image credit: Positive Notes, 2026. Image credit: Jessica Lund Photography

ID: Three people standing in front of images of the framed Positive Notes artworks.

#MetalPeterborough #JoinOurTeam #Hiring by @metalpeterborough

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Peterborough's shopfronts are becoming public stages!

Join us for the launch of A/Owning, a new public artwork by José García Oliva, as part of Words in Public Spaces on Thursday 8 October from 5pm.

Words in Public Spaces is a new public art commission from Metal, part of Peterborough Cultural Alliance’s Place Partnership Programme. Working with local shop owners across the city, many of them migrant and second-generation families, José has adapted each awning into stages for a city-wide cultural programme.

The words on the awnings come from a poem written collectively by people in Peterborough. On the night, we’ll move between each awning, gathering the words as we go.

Book your free tickets at the link in our bio and come and join the happenings under the awnings next week 👀

ID: Blue background with white text reading 'Words in Public Spaces' under a white outlined awning graphic. The Metal and PCA logos are in the bottom right.

#WordsInPublicSpaces #Peterborough #NationalPoetryDay Blue background with white text reading 'Words in Public Spaces' under a white outlined awning graphic. The Metal and PCA logos are in the bottom right. by @metalpeterborough

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We’re excited to be working with ✨ José García Oliva ✨ on our new Words in Public Spaces commission as part of Peterborough Cultural Alliance’s Place Partnership Programme supported by Arts Council England. We’re still shaping what the project will look like with José and look forward to sharing more soon.

José García Oliva is a Venezuelan artist living and working in London. His practice engages with outsourced labour systems, migrant economies, and the hierarchies that shape everyday urban life, interrogating how these structures are experienced, negotiated, and reproduced within shared social spaces.

Watch this space!

ID: A blurry image of José sitting on a black chair in a bright room, with filling cabinets behind him and an empty orange chair next to him.

#MetalPeterborough #PublicArt #Words #PublicSpaces A blurry image of José sitting on a black chair in a bright room, with filling cabinets behind him and an empty orange chair next to him. by @metalpeterborough

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