Through public Live Action Role-Play (LARP), workshops, exhibitions, meetups, and conversations, you are invited to explore new ways of seeing, being, and belonging in coastal communities. Dive into a year of activities – playful encounters, fun gatherings, creative connections, community talent-and-passion-sharing, artistic opportunities, and engaging conversations on the issues that matter.
Everyone is welcome. Our events are free, friendly, and designed so anyone – whatever your background or experience – can take part comfortably.
Since May 2024, Furtherfield has been hosting playful encounters to explore what really matters to the community. Looking back over 150 years of change and dreaming of new possibilities for all (people and all living beings) – creating proposals for a Felixstowe that is cared for, celebrated, and thriving.
Reimagine This Coastal Town builds on this year of playful activities and builds on the priorities of the local people who joined us:
These priorities are not fixed but will adapt to the things we discover as the programme unfolds.
Reimagine This Coastal Town is an 18 month project running from April 2025 to September 2026. It includes a programme of events, workshops, an exhibition, and a series of time-travelling events in a form of immersive fiction called Live Action Role Play (LARP). The programme is co-produced for all, by young adults (18-30) and eight creative practitioners from the region. Together these lead to new community-led visions for the future of the town.
We want to
🌿 Care for Felixstowe – spark a town-wide conversation about what it means for Felixstowe to be cared for, celebrated, and thriving.
👥 Connect Generations Through Change – bring together people of all ages and backgrounds to share real stories of courage, creativity, nature-connection and resilience.
✨Celebrate Local Creativity – work and dream better together. Celebrate the imagination, talent, and cooperation that make Felixstowe unique.
🐚 Reconnect with Nature – strengthen our bonds with the land, sea, and all living beings – treating other beings as co-creators in a thriving community.
🌞 Imagine the Futures We Want – spark curiosity and pride in Felixstowe’s possible futures. Change is coming – what do we want to sustain?
The LARP events were co-devised by Ruth Catlow (Furtherfield) and Ann Light (University of Sussex), with Mimi Doncaster, Frazer Merrick, and Kirsty Tallent. Thanks to Cuppa for hosting the community conversation that inspired and informed our work, and to Hamilton MAS for hosting our co-creation workshops and our exhibition. Elly Clarke will be co-curating the 2026 program and the Felixstowe Youth Co-Production Team includes Courtney Hessey (26) and Stanley Willey (25) who are offering guidance on youth empowerment and creating and facilitating a wider range of methods for outreach. Thanks to the Felixstowe Community Nature Reserve & Citizen Science Group as well as the team from Landguard Nature Reserve for their knowledge and expertise on the local wildlife and biodiversity. Finally a big thank you to the hundreds of people (so far) who have joined us to shape the experience.
Since 1996, Furtherfield has organised for inclusivity and equity in art and technology. Since 2008, we have promoted their use in shaping real social change and positive environmental impact.
In 2024, after extensive research, dialogue, and collaboration with local and regional communities, Furtherfield, part of Arts Council England National Portfolio of Organisations, relocated from London’s Finsbury Park to Felixstowe, East Suffolk, with a renewed place-based mission.
We believe that imagining the possible futures of the places we care about is the first step toward creating the ones we want. And that the long-term wellbeing of ALL beings is the business of us all.
A proven way of generating visionary new worlds, we are using LARP (Live Action Role Play), a form of game where participants play characters who interact to pursue goals within a fictional setting. This kind of immersive fiction and role-play inspires community-led environmental and social transformation in Felixstowe, enabling residents to collectively reimagine its future in the context of social and environmental change, with a particular focus on youth empowerment and reaching those communities in the town that might not always feel that arts are for them.
This project is realised in partnership with The University of Sussex, Level Two Youth Projects, Hamilton MAS, and the Felixstowe Citizen Science Group and with support from Arts Council England and the Suffolk Cultural Fund.
Becoming ‘Boro is inviting people to explore the part they play in Middlesbrough’s shifting identity and potential futures. A place-based, live action role-play (LARP) – will be the first event of its type in Teesside and will all be grounded in local history, present tensions, and eco-social possibilities.
Booking is now open on Eventbrite
Becoming ’Boro, is an immersive, research-centred LARP invites people to step into a future Middlesbrough and imagine how their town’s identity could transform in years to come. The game-like experience supports players to explore
Two sets of ‘power objects’ allow people to imagine time-travelling together, exploring ideas, discovering fresh perspectives, and rehearsing meaningful change,
This is a chance to co-create new possibilities, together. No experience required, just bring your curiosity and willingness to play.
There are multiple free sessions throughout the festival. The publicly bookable sessions for the LARP will be:
Becoming ‘Boro has been developed by artists Ruth Catlow and Cecilia Wee at Furtherfield, with Middlesbrough artists, residents, community organisers and civic collaborators. Design by Sofia Barton. Presented at Middlesbrough Art Week, 2025, supported by Borderlands.
Meet at Hamilton MAS
Bent Hill Felixstowe IP11 7DG
11:30am – 12:30pm Sunday, 17 August
Book your free place here.
The Interspecies Meditation is a guided ritual designed help people develop empathy with non-human life forms through imaginative role-play and deep listening. It provides participants with a fun experience of possible new relations. Originally created as part of The Treaty of Finsbury Park 2025, a collaborative fiction project about interspecies democracy, this meditation has since traveled the world, evolving with each new place it visits.
Now arriving on the lively coast of Felixstowe, this event offers a moment of reflection, connection, and playful transformation.
Whether you’re an artist, activist, beach-walker, or just curious, this event offers a powerful, imaginative way to reconnect with your surroundings—and with the lives that share it.
Presented by Hamilton MAS, this event is part of a larger interactive exhibition, From the City to the Coast tracing Furtherfield’s journey from London’s Finsbury Park to Felixstowe’s coast—celebrating art, community, and ecological futures.
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This exhibition is part of Reimagine This Coastal Town, a Furtherfield project realised in partnership with The University of Sussex, Level Two Youth Projects, Hamilton MAS, and the Felixstowe Citizen Science Group and with support from Arts Council England and the Suffolk Cultural Fund.
🔗Learn more about the exhibition
Contact info@furtherfield.org
Image: The Interspecies Meditation, film still from the Interspecies Festival of Finsbury Park 2023, by Tracy Kiryango
Hamilton MAS, Bent Hill, Felixstowe, IP11 7DG
OPENING PARTY: Friday 1 August, 6–8pm
Join us for a warm and welcoming celebration at Hamilton MAS with refreshments, conversations, and a chance to get hands-on with ideas for the town’s future.
EXHIBITION OPEN DAILY: 2–17 August, 11am–4pm and by appointment
EVENTS
This summer, Furtherfield invites Felixstowe communities, supporters, and friends, old and new, to From the City to the Coast, a playful and interactive exhibition that celebrates a new chapter for this radical arts group.
After nearly 30 years in Haringey, North London, Furtherfield, an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, has relocated to Felixstowe. Now rooted in Felixstowe, Furtherfield is working with community partners and people across the town to co-create adventurous, imaginative responses to the environmental and social challenges of our time.
From the City to the Coast tells the story of that move, and of a growing network of local people – young adults, artists, and community partners – coming together to Reimagine This Coastal Town. The exhibition showcases visionary work from this process, including:
The Interspecies Festival, Part of The Treaty of Finsbury Park by Furtherfield (2020-25)
AFTER 30 YEARS IN LONDON FURTHERFIELD IS STARTING A NEW CHAPTER IN FELIXSTOWE
This exhibition marks the start of the next phase of the project: an 18 month-long creative programme culminating in a Live Action Role Play (LARP) where art, community, and ecology meet. This will take place in September 2026, co-designed with young adults and regional artists.
LARPing is a powerful form of immersive storytelling where participants play characters and explore shared alternate realities through play. It’s a proven way to gain insights into the more-than-human world, to test ideas, and spark new ways of thinking, feeling and relating to each other – especially in times of uncertainty.
It’s up to us to imagine, together, the possible futures of the places we love.
Everyone is welcome. Come and get involved.
Contact info@furtherfield.org
MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT
Funded by Arts Council England, the Suffolk Culture Fund, and Sussex University, and developed in collaboration with The University of Sussex, Level Two Youth Projects, Hamilton MAS, and the Felixstowe Citizen Science Group and local communities, Reimagine This Coastal Town explores how places like Felixstowe can creatively respond to environmental change, while building inclusive spaces for connection, care, and imagination.
Furtherfield is the UK’s longest-running centre for art and technology. For over 25 years, through nearly 70 exhibitions, and over 125 national/international partnerships, we have developed alternative systems of co-creation and co-organisation across digital and physical networks.
We envision a world where diverse communities act together creatively to imagine and build more equitable and resilient alternatives together.
Imagining the possible futures of the places we care about is the first step to forging the futures we want. In 2024, following extensive research, dialogue, and collaboration with local and regional communities, Furtherfield relocated from London’s Finsbury Park to Felixstowe, East Suffolk. As an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, Furtherfield is expanding its mission to organise for place-based community-led imagination, inclusivity, and equity in art and technology, advocating for their use in shaping positive eco-social change.
We are therefore looking to recruit advisory board members who share our vision, with one or more of the following areas of expertise:
We are keen to hear from anyone who feels they can offer these skills and/or can open up valuable connections to community groups, partners and cultural networks. At Furtherfield we want our board to reflect both existing and new communities in the Felixstowe Peninsula. We especially welcome individuals aged 18-30, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and those with Black, Asian, or Global Ethnic Majority heritage. Your voice can help shape the cultural and social landscape here.
For details about the role and application process download Advisory Board Recruitment Pack | Large Text Version.
Application deadline: Open
Prospective applicants are welcome to contact the Artistic Director for an informal conversation. Please make contact first by email to Ale, the Administrator, to arrange a telephone call – info@furtherfield.org
Working with local and international partners we are creating a vibrant hub for eco-social cultural engagement in Felixstowe.
Through creative labs, youth co-production, exhibitions, and networking events, and building empathy through Live Action Role-Play (LARP), we inspire collective environmental and social transformation—helping communities imagine and forge the futures they want.
This Coastal Town Reimagined – 200 Years of Change. Watch a video on our arts-research work exploring community hopes for Felixstowe and the region.
With a rich history of co-creation and open tools, Furtherfield continues to foster peer-to-peer artistic collaboration. Our legacy programme ensures access to our archives, publications, and debates, preserving 30 years of pioneering work for artists, researchers, and future generations.
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