This year, The Brewhouse is proud to take part in Our Freedom: Then & Now, a national creative programme led by Future Arts Centres. Across the UK, 60 arts centres and libraries are exploring what freedom means, past and present.
We’re celebrating local voices, heritage, and creativity, with a special spotlight on the women who kept Burton’s breweries running during WWII. If your mum, nan, great-grandmother, great aunt, or neighbour worked at a brewery, we’d especially love to hear from you, but you don’t need a brewery connection to join in. Share a sentence, a story, or a memory; your contribution may feature anonymously in the project.
Using a new poem by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage as a creative starting point, we’ll host workshops with artists Jennifer Collier and Scarlett Ward, where the people of Burton can create visual work exploring what freedom meant then and now. Some of the work created will be exhibited at the Brewhouse Arts Centre and Burton Library from November 2025, and the photographs created by Jo Gane will be going on a national tour in 2026!
80 years after the Second World War, what does freedom mean today?
This September, you’re invited to share your stories and creativity:
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Be Part of the Art – Create with artist Jennifer Collier, adding your memories to beer mats or collages inspired by Burton’s brewing heritage.
3, 10, 17 & 24 Sept, National Brewery Heritage Trust (10–2pm) & Burton Library (2:30–4:30pm) -
Join History in the Making – Step into the frame with Jo Gane using a 19th-century photographic process for a unique portrait.
24 Sept – National Brewery Heritage Trust (10–2pm, drop-in only, places are limited) -
We Need Your Stories – Work with Staffordshire Poet Laureate Scarlett Ward to weave Burton’s past and present into a collective poem.
13 & 20 Sept – Burton Library (11–1pm)
Can’t make a workshop? No problem! You can still take part online by answering one simple question: What does freedom mean to you? Share your response here
Our Freedom: Then & Now
Our Freedom: Then and Now, is a new programme of community-based events in arts centres and libraries across the UK to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
This memorable programme will give communities a unique opportunity to reflect on the end of the Second World War and to explore what freedom means for them, then and now. Local people from 60 UK communities will join with artists to create special cultural events, exhibitions and performances that are meaningful to people living in these places and across the UK.
The programme, which is supported by UK Government through Arts Council England and in partnership with Libraries Connected, will be based in arts centres and libraries to build on their established relationships within their localities. An additional 20 celebrations will take place in museums, resulting in a total of 80 communities projects to mark the 80th
anniversary.
