In conversation with Daniel Pitt

“…we also wanted to ensure that the Trail was both truly community-led and socially-engaged, and that there was diversity in the artistic forms, aesthetics and the artists themselves. ”

 - Daniel Pitt

Daniel Pitt in front of Old Diorama Arts Centre. Image credit Matt Mahmood-Ogston.

Daniel is a curator-producer committed to the social power of the arts, and the possibilities of cross-sectoral collaboration to change our world. He's currently Creative Director & Chief Executive of Old Diorama Arts Centre (ODAC), a centre for creation and communities in Euston, where he has led the charity through a period of increased impact, reconnecting with its local communities in the context of major urban change in the area.

Previously he was Director at Chisenhale Dance Space in Bow; co-founded and directed Dutch-UK outdoor arts project In Your Way in Cambridge; co-curated 2018’s international Roundhouse CircusFest; and spent more than four years as producer at Cambridge Junction arts centre. He started his career at producers Crying Out Loud, where he helped turn Piccadilly Circus into a surprise circus as part of the Cultural Olympiad London 2012 Festival.

What was the initial vision behind the Regent’s Park Estate Story Trail, and how did it evolve over time?

The official aims of the project were to support way finding, build community pride, promote community safety, and increase use of green spaces across Regents Park Estate. Alongside those, in making it happen, we also wanted to ensure that the Trail was both truly community-led and socially-engaged, and that there was diversity in the artistic forms, aesthetics and the artists themselves.

In this area of long-term, disrupted urban change due to HS2 and the wider Euston regeneration, residents feel ‘over-consulted’ with and see little impact. So it’s also a project about resident-empowerment: this is a project which residents conceived and have been involved with making it happen at all levels, which is actually happening!

Overall, we wanted to make something happen that is artistically impressive and practically improbable, that the residents who have been involved can see their influence on, and that other people will love and care for, that interrupts daily life in the best way possible.

Where else can you experience a permanent exhibition that allows you to converse with an AI-powered voice of a 200-year-old tree; see community’s experience of the seasons through a kaleidoscope; view a block-sized photo project which was all shot by turning a flat into a camera; a mural that brings an unloved green space to life; a light project; text-based works and Woman Whole manhole covers - in a housing estate?

You Are Here - Ocean Stefan, This Community. Image credit Nick Turpin.

How did you ensure that the residents’ voices and ideas were at the core of the art trail’s development?

There have been so many ways, allowing for a range of different access points and levels of commitment over four years. The project was conceived by residents attending Community Champions Regent’s Park social action group (which is managed by Fitzrovia Youth in Action, and has a home at ODAC) - at some points that's about 40 people, who acted as a volunteer ‘steering group’ throughout the process.

Larger scale engagement on the idea for the project on the locations and stories took place at community events and outdoor festivals in 2022 and 2023. From there, we developed a detailed brief for artists, with options for locations and stories which could form the jumping-off point for their ideas.

We then recruited three paid Regent’s Park Estate-resident Neighbourhood Curators - Bahja, Rukshana and Chrissie - to join ODAC’s staff team for the project, working a few hours per week, with responsibilities for decision making and community engagement.

The interview process for artists included a long list of 20 artists being invited for a (paid) afternoon visit to the Estate, where the Neighbourhood Curators led a personal guided tour and then they met more residents. The interview panel included the Neighbourhood Curators and we made the decisions together.

Once the artists were appointed, depending on their interests, projects and methods, we made a plan for their specific community engagement processes, which often included both open-access workshops and visits to existing community groups, organisations and schools in the estate, and Regent’s Roots festival 2024. The range of socially engaged practices and methods the artists used to ensure residents are truly part of their projects are so varied.

The Neighbourhood Curators have also documented the project in their ways: Rukshana and Chrissie have made an audio tour in English and Syhleti, and Bahja has made a film.

We think this really constitutes something exemplary in community engagement for a project like this and has set a precedent for the ways in which ODAC continues to work.

Can you talk about the process of selecting the 10 artists and how they were matched with specific locations on the estate?

The locations came first - it’s a site-responsive process. A large list was created over a couple of years of work with the Community Champions and Central Saint Martins, and discussed at public events, then narrowed down. They were locations identified either because they were tied to stories (something historic or personal or recent changes such as lost spaces from HS2 developments) or there was some form of ‘problem’ about them, like they were frequently subject to vandalism or needed some love. The aim is to increase pride in the area, and we’ve already seen that the artworks installed in places that needed some love - such as Shiraaz Ali’s mural by Pangbourne have been loved and protected by the community.

Many artists came into the process knowing that a particular site or story was what inspired them, and others we had ideas about where their work could fit best - that was part of the commissioning process. However there was also then a complicated pragmatic process that had to happen to make it all possible in the long-term. This occurred alongside other changes in the area and came together curatorially as part of a trail.

Regent's Park Portrait - Brendan Barry. Image credit Nick Turpin.

What role do you think public art can play in transforming the social and cultural fabric of a community like Regent’s Park Estate?

Changing anything is a process, let alone something as massive and complex as society and culture. On its own, I don’t believe ‘a piece of public art’ can do this. But the process that the community has gone through with ODAC and our producing partners on making this project happen, and creating the artists 10 commissions which make it up, have been part of making change. Long-term commitment and investment from cross-sectoral partners, collaborating with residents in an area can make this change - and I see it happening in Regent’s Park Estate. The Story Trail is just one -but a very visible- case study in the area.

The Story Trail, interlinked with the journey of Community Champions Regent’s Park and the reimagining of ODAC’s relationship with its local communities has been a process that goes back 4 years (two of which we would say were project delivery). 10 artists have created their own social engagement processes that have culminated in a permanent, interactive, public art trail, and that feeds into a wider process of a community getting organised, getting creative, and the urban stakeholders round here taking notice and helping. ODAC is one of a few key charities who are working in this area, nurturing and empowering resident action. We use artists and resident collaboration, responding to social needs, as our method.

I’ve always been convinced that the arts can change the world, though sometimes that change is hard to see and track - but some of the conversations we are having about future projects with Camden Council and other partners really make me think that together we will transform this corner of society in tangible ways.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of collaborating with the residents throughout this process?

Seeing the artworks be installed, and come together after so long is obviously hugely rewarding, but my favourite thing about working with communities on arts projects is hearing residents talking about the value of art to other people, and about how much the experiences have meant to them.

As professional producers we all write funding applications about the impact that projects we want to make happen can have, but then to actually hear it is true delights me and drives me to continue.

What do you hope the lasting impact of the Regent’s Park Estate Story Trail will be on both the artists and the local community?

The project was conceived as a creative way to increase residents’ pride in the area, celebrate the lesser-known histories and identity of the area, collectively process some of the impact of changes to the estate due to HS2, and therefore hopefully reduce some elements of antisocial behaviours as a bi-product. Our collaborators at Central Saint Martins are from the Design Against Crime research centre. Time will tell if we have succeeded.

As I watched Brendan Barry’s photographic artwork be heat-fixed to a wall on the busiest street in the estate at the end of last year, Steve - a resident and Community Champion who has been with us on the whole journey, and a musician - said to me how excited he was to see everyone’s reactions and he thought it was going to raise the whole community’s interest in engaging with the arts elsewhere too. Honestly, for months the project was so difficult to make happen that the daily firefighting was all we could think about. It was lovely to hear because of course that’s the hope: that’s fundamentally our ODAC’s charitable aim and we’re committed to continuing to nurture this through our other programmes. We’ve got to get those legacy projects sorted quick!

Growing Together - Shiraaz Ali. Image credit Nick Turpin.

The [Quick] #FLODown:

Best life advice?

Harness enthusiasm and keep momentum.

Last song you listened to?

I’m quite committed to the album format rather than songs on shuffle. Currently listening to Lucy Dacus’ new album, Forever Is A Feeling.

Last book you read?

I’m just starting Miranda July’s All Fours, having loved her previous work. Over the last few months I’ve been enjoying a subscription to Stack, an independent magazine club, which sends monthly short-form things I wouldn’t otherwise read!

Can’t live without...?

Delicious food and people to eat it with me.

What should the art world be more of and less of?

The world is ever-increasingly cross-disciplinary, and I think the arts are still catching up.

Old Diorama Arts Centre is launching the Regent’s Park Estate Story Trail on 24 April 2025.