Bring the Streets to Life: Stories We Tell from Breaking Barriers

“Stories are equipment for living.” – Kenneth Burke, Drama Critic

Telling stories is a fundamental human need. It’s how we understand our world. It’s how we connect to the people around us. It’s how we pass on knowledge generation to generation.

Stories We Tell is a community-based storytelling project by Breaking Barriers. The project celebrates the rich tapestry of stories from Rochdale’s ward of Deeplish and Milkstone, through an immersive combination of binaural audio recording and projection mapping.

From 27-30th October, you can join this outdoor audio walk, free of charge. You’ll be loaned an MP3 player to enjoy the experience and take the self-guided tour at your own pace, letting the stories soak in at each clearly marked reference point.

This is a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in the rich stories that are all around you, but not always heard, in a diverse community where there are more than 50 languages spoken. Watch the promotional film here.

Register for Stories We Tell here and discover a neighbourhood you never knew existed. You can join Stories We Tell at outside Rochdale Train Station for one of two daily viewings, starting at 7.00pm or 8.00pm, each lasting about 45 minutes.

We’ll finish the tour in Deeplish Community Centre with a warming drink, a snack and a chance to share your experience.

Stories We Tell is created by Breaking Barriers and was commissioned via Touchstones and Manchester Independents. It’s the work of Associate Artist Parvez Qadir.

Parvez created Breaking Barriers to follow his passion for working with young people from ‘marginalised’ communities. Devoted to uncovering stories from the community and use interdisciplinary art forms such as film, animation, visual imagery, soundscape and audio to tell stories in unconventional spaces to connect audiences to an immersive experience. Parvez won Artist of the Year in 2017 & 2018 at the Rochdale Borough Sport and Culture Awards.