Smethwick Imaginarium:
A celebration of Community, Culture & Canal Heritage
Six artists worked across photography, performance, poetry, graphic design, sculpture and curation to collaborate with local residents and community organisations to co-create work that explores the role of the Galton Valley Canal in our community.
The programme took place over the course of a year with free creative workshops at Smethwick Library. A host of canal activities in partnership with North Smethwick Development Trust at Brasshouse Community Centre took place over the summer and autumn 2026. Artists shared their work at public moments along the canal and in local venues, culminating in a celebratory festival in September 2026.
Credits and funders
The Canal & River Trust project was funded by Arts Council England and through funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
Delivered in partnership with North Smethwick Development Trust / Brasshouse Community Centre and Smethwick Interfaith Friends Group.
Meet the Artists
Juneau Projects
(Ben Sadler & Philip Duckworth) have a participatory practice embedded in creative empowerment and shared learning. They have worked extensively with communities in urban planning, natural landscapes, and ecological settings through temporary, digital, and permanent sculpture.
Beth Derbyshire
An artist and educator working with social practice, sculpture and storytelling. Her work explores interconnecting themes of togetherness, displacement, loss of identity and active citizenship through temporary, time-based works and performances in non-art alternative spaces. In the 2023 pilot, she invited participants to create terrariums with waterway plants, sparking discussions about the canal’s value to the community.
Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora
A Birmingham-based socially engaged artist working with photography. Previous work includes tender family portraits at Lightwoods House, Smethwick, as part of the BLAST! festival. (2019), and Aurat ki Himmat (A Woman’s Strength), a co-created publication with women from Birmingham Crisis Centre exploring the world through their eyes. Jaskirt grew up in Sandwell, bringing a personal connection to Smethwick.
Sharonjit Sutton
A Birmingham-based emerging multidisciplinary artist, designer and co-founder of the South Asian Arts Collective (SAAC). Her practice involves graphic design for community, education and heritage projects, paintings, videos and emerging conceptual projects. In the 2023 pilot, she created an ecological activity connected to water mythology at Smethwick Library.
Anneka French
A curator and writer based in Halesowen with family roots in Smethwick. She produced the 2023 pilot project and has worked with Coventry Biennial on new commissions connected to canals and the River Sherbourne. She has worked at Tate Modern, Ikon, and Wolverhampton Art Gallery; curated exhibitions at Grand Union and Croome (National Trust); and served as Director at New Art West Midlands (CVAN).
Sarah Barton
An artist, educator and Director of Stirchley Art Room CIC with over 20 years of experience in secondary arts education and community arts. She specialises in designing and delivering collaborative creative projects that bring together schools, local communities and cultural partners, and develops community forums that create space for shared voices and collective expression. Her own artistic practice weaves together social engagement and folk art traditions, drawing on storytelling, heritage and the textures of everyday making.
Some of the great events and activities coming up
