In July 2013, Tramway and Glas(s) Performance presented ALBERT DRIVE – Introducing you to your Neighbour; a large scale participatory arts project involving artists, volunteers, local businesses, residents, families, individuals and communities in a creative exploration into the idea of neighbour from the perspective of one street in Pollokshields, Glasgow.

In January 2013, six commissioned artists joined the ALBERT DRIVE project with the shared aim to engage with people living on and around Albert Drive.

They brought with them a whole new set of skills and interests working across film, photography, installation, architecture, performance, dance and visual art in order to further explore the idea of neighbour from a whole new perspective.

Out with NW again when an intriguing thing happened while filming their secret new dance moves. A group of local boys had seen us and approached us to find out what was going on. We explained the project and even mentioned the Letters to Our Neighbours which were right next to us and found out that none of them had read the letters.

Cakes made by Viviane’s Mum

Met Andy from Edo Architecture to interview him about the inspiration behind ”Everybody’s House’.

Got very excited when Delicious Too confirmed that they will be one of the venues for Albert Drive TV.

After weeks of meeting and talking to people the filming has truly begun. Met Ewen and Dorothy at their homes where they shared their thoughts on community, music and their love of travel.

The first person I met is brother Yasin who works at Azad newsagents and we talked about life in Pakistan, Pollokshields community, work and more.

Furthermore Azad newsagents have agreed to be one of the sites for our pop up programming for Albert Drive TV which is fantastic news.

Mr Yasin is a hard worker and states ‘ Life Dee Kadee Tay Run Karnee Hai’ which translates into ‘We all have to do something to be able to run the ‘car of life’.

Mr Yasin is a gentleman with a great smile and I look forward to working with him.

Met Gill while she was out shopping at Azad Newagents. We started talking at Mr Yasin’s counter where I explained the project and how the community can get involved.

 My residency will focus on making short films with the community and business owners on the drive. The short films will be part of ‘Albert Drive TV’ which will highlight the diverse people and stories of the area. The short films will be shown in local shops and other public places as part of ‘pop up programming’ for this project.

On our first day of filming Shona, Sam from ADNW and myself visited Shazia from Libaas Fashion on Albert Drive. Shazia is a great supporter of the project and was one of the first people to be recorded for Albert Drive TV which will be coming soon to a local shop near you. It was really good having Shona (who is one of the creative volunteers on the project) helping me with the filming and she is a great communicator who really engages with the people we meet on the drive.

Just spent a lovely day with the whole team of the ALBERT DRIVE project. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience of meeting all the artists and project team. We shared artistic approaches, feelings about our communities and the changes we would like to see. This day has already started to form some of my approaches to my residency which has been inspired by what I heard from other people.