Gentle/Radical is a Cardiff-based cultural organisation drawing on contemporary art practices, socially engaged projects, social justice and community activism to create change at grassroots, cultural and institutional levels. We work with a hugely diverse range of people, artists and collaborators to design and deliver exciting and deeply impacting projects for and alongside communities. We're interested in how art can be useful in society, and how cultural practice and inclusive cultural spaces can genuinely make a difference to community renewal and people's sense of empowerment. Culture can be a powerful force for social change and the development of just, inclusive societies and communities. And we believe those spaces are most effective when cultural work reflecting the richness of our communities, is available and accessible to all.
What drives what we do
We create affordable and accessible spaces for diverse communities (and under a pandemic, online communities) to meet and build long-lasting connections through culture. We are deeply invested in the communities we work with hyper-locally, and our projects are developed on the basis of nurturing long-term engagement which refuses to tokenise our audiences, instead prioritising their cultural well being in a sustainable way. We bring communities into contact with some of the most exciting artists, cultural practitioners, activists and change-makers working today.
What's happening under Covid
We've made shifts in our delivery in 2020 to reflect changes we've had to adapt to under Covid. We've poured energies into trying to develop accessible and affordable online spaces that platform vital contributions that raise up marginal voices and experiences. We're also developing important work in our local Riverside community with our new Doorstep Revolution project. Working with a team of local outreachers and volunteers, we're developing socially distanced conversations with local residents on our doorstep to understand the impacts of the pandemic on their lives and how they are imagining the fabric of our community differently at this time. These dialogues will manifest in a new long term community podcast for Riverside, and Riverside's own brand new multi-lingual community newspaper. We're also continuing with online projects to include our Film Club, the Imagination Forum, our healing justice programme, and much much more! If you'd like to input into any of this work, we'd be extremely grateful for your support.
