We are Together Culture: Meet Weaver
Member since October 2023
Together Culture is growing a community of outrageously curious, open-minded and creative members who care for each other and want to build a more inclusive and ecological Cambridge. Today, we’re introducing you to Weaver, a writer.
Photo by Rajen Mistry
Why did you become a member?
I'd been looking for somewhere in Cambridge to be a part of. A group or a club of artists from across the various disciplines of arts practice. I run an arts business and have friends who are also artists, that I've known for lots of years. I wanted to reach out a bit, make contacts with new people, and offer what I have to both them, and to a space. I have workshop and delivery skills in all sorts of different subjects, and I delight in sharing what I do.
Tell us a bit about what you do
I was employed professionally as a consultant and multi-site project senior manager in homelessness and supported housing across Cambridgeshire for 35 years. Now, I run my own arts business - The K. Michael Weaver Collective Ltd.
I’m a writer first and foremost, but as well, I make site-specific object/ text/ image/ sound-based installations and experimental theatre work. I also DJ jazz-fusion and jazz-tronic dance music from across the world on radio, podcast and live at venues variously. I am also an arts journalist and I support and encourage ‘unsigned’ young musicians.
What are you working on at Together Culture?
I like that sense of just being able to 'be' at Together Culture. I don't have to come in with a purpose. I can just come in and chill, or I can come in after I've been book shopping. It’s a place to relax, meet others and engage in meaningful activities. I'm intrigued about the other peeps that are here - it’s always interesting to meet new members.
I want to give an awful lot, that's something that I do. But I also want to make contact with and share things with other people and have a sense of dialogue with others. It's not just one-way traffic.
Your favourite things about the space
Cultural spaces - like Together Culture - are often tucked away, out in the middle of nowhere. You don’t even know that they are there sometimes. The first thing that struck me about Together Culture was its location - on Fitzroy Street. I noticed it and thought, “My word, it’s lovely.”
From the outside, it looks great, and then you come in and meet people like Ellie [Community Director], or Heather [CEO]. You get a sense already inside this place that there's a care and attention about the world. There's a care & attention & a desire for the well-being of people, however estranged and alien they might feel in the world. And I like the fact that you have artists and entrepreneurs upstairs creating - that it's not just a talking shop. Together Culture are providing a space for creatives - variously.
Photo by Rajen Mistry
Your hope for Cambridge
A multi-cultural and multi-generational community. Whatever age you are, and whatever age I am, it's possible to have dialogue - with anybody, whatever their cultural root or age, so that's exciting. And I hope that the membership, the 250, includes, well, I hope it includes a politician – we desperately need a politician currently that sticks up for or indeed shouts at government level for artists on the fringes and not just those in the mainstream.
Community Membership is £18.50 a month; become a member here. Email ellie@togetherculture.com to find out about Pay What You Can membership.
And you’re invited to join us on 22 June for Saturday Lounge - a free event celebrating our neighbourhood!
