Our Freedom: Then & Now

Our Freedom: Then & Now at The Brewhouse

All of our public-facing workshops have now finished, and our artists are hard at work preparing for the final exhibition, which opens at The Brewhouse in mid-November 2025.

This special event will feature:

• An installation by Jennifer Collier, exploring the memories of women in brewing

• Artwork created by local community groups, reflecting on what freedom means to them

• A specially commissioned poem from the Staffordshire Poet Laureate Scarlett Ward.

About the Project

This year, The Brewhouse is proud to be part of Our Freedom: Then & Now, a national creative programme led by Future Arts Centres. Across the UK, 60 arts centres and libraries are marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War by asking: what does freedom mean, past and present?

Here in Burton, we’re celebrating local voices, heritage, and creativity, with a special spotlight on the women who kept Burton’s breweries running during WWII.

Using a new poem by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage as inspiration, workshops led by artists Jennifer Collier and Scarlett Ward invited local people to create visual artworks and poetry exploring freedom then and now. Photographer Jo Gane also captured participants using a 19th-century photographic process.

Selected work will be exhibited at The Brewhouse Arts Centre and Burton Library from November 2025, and Jo Gane’s photographs will go on a national tour in 2026.

Past Workshops

In September, people across Burton were invited to take part in creative sessions including:

• Be Part of the Art – collages and memories with Jennifer Collier

• History in the Making – portraits by Jo Gane using a 19th-century photographic process

• We Need Your Stories – poetry with Staffordshire Poet Laureate Scarlett Ward

Even though these workshops have now finished, you can still share your story online: What does freedom mean to you?