Storyteller Seasonal Series: Summer & Autumn
Adam, our Storyteller-in-residence at Scene & Heard, shares a diary of the first few months of his role, which he took on in Summer 2025. This is the first instalment of a seasonal series, featuring monthly reflections of his time working as a community storyteller.
July
I had my first in person meeting at my host organisation, Scene & Heard, in Somers Town. Tea was had, plans were made, and the sun was glorious outside!
Straight after that meeting I went down the road to meet Diana Foster, community activist and director of A Space for Us People’s Museum, which serves as our local archivist, and is in its own right a great centre of culture. We had a great discussion about how I might support the museum through this project using my storytelling skills, recording equipment, and boundless curiosity!
I also popped down to Orleans House Gallery to experience the artwork ‘My Body is a Sundial’ by the interdisciplinary artist Bryony Ella, which features as a key part of the Melting Metropolis project.
My excitement levels are high, and I have more ideas than I know what to do with!
Goals:
To meet as many community stakeholders as possible.
To take part in a project with Scene and Heard.
To start exploring ideas for community events, and possibilities for the final exhibition.
August
While on holiday in Córdoba, Spain, where the daily temperature in summer can reach 40°C, I paid particular attention to how the locals managed this intense heat. Typical methods of adaptation included getting a lot of their work done early (before 11am), taking shelter in plazas filled with shade beneath trees, staying in their air-conditioned houses between 12pm - 6pm, and gathering outside at bars, restaurants or parks for dinner, drinks and/or conversation after 8pm.
While in Spain I undertook an online course with climate activist Clover Hogan, entitled ‘Communicating for Impact’. It was a fun course, with great tips for creating a compelling message around climate action, with participants from all walks of life. I’m hoping to use what I learned here to develop my public speaking skills to TED Talk levels!
Upon my return I engaged in my first Scene and Heard project for their ‘Creative Arts Week.’ We used extreme heat and weather as a stimulus for the groups, then let them run away with their phenomenal imaginations. In the final production, I played the part of ‘Unicorn Gum.’
Goals:
Continue to reach out to local community organisations and leaders to get to know the various communities and spaces more intimately.
Complete Creative Arts Week project and capture materials for final exhibition.
Explore which training courses may aid the development of my practice within the context of the project and the final exhibition.
September
I was lucky enough to attend the big closing event for the Story Garden, a staple in Somers Town for its repurposed wasteland, community workshops, and beautiful plants and flowers. Thankfully, the garden is just being relocated, so I shall seek it out again when it blooms in Spring 2026.
I also bought materials to continue exploring potential future workshops for the MM project.
Goals:
Get to a community event.
Make plans for Climate-based workshop at Scene and Heard.
Continue working through ideas for potential community engagements.
October
Often you can miss exciting things on your doorstep, so I nipped into the Wellcome Collection to see their exhibition ‘Thirst.’ As well as being relevant to the conversation on heat and its effects, it contained many explorations of the search for and preservation of freshwater across borders of land and centuries of time.
Goals:
Get to a community event.
Take part in some Scene & Heard work sessions.
Explore training opportunities to upskill ahead of producing future community events.
November
This month, I did some storytelling out of the borough, at the Hackney School of Food. I also took part in a community workshop at the Somers Town Community Association, led by the Camden Libraries team, where we recorded our memories of Somers Town on a giant piece of paper.
Shortly after this, I co-led a session around memories of summer, which featured an All-Star Melting Metropolis cast. In this session, I tried out something different: improvised childhood summer memories, inspired by words, sentences and images provided by participants. (Spoiler alert: it went down well!)
Goals:
Take part in a community event before Christmas!
Book or take part in a training opportunity.
Continue to expand my Somers Town network.
