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.
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