PICNIC + POTLUCKS (2026)

Bas Arts Index and Gloucester Park Community Group launch creative picnic programme in Gloucester Park

Bas Arts Index CIC, in partnership with Gloucester Park Community Group are hosting a programme of free monthly community gatherings this summer in Gloucester Park, followed by indoor potluck style gatherings for autumn and winter after receiving funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, Awards for All and additional support from the Essex Community Foundation.

The programme will bring residents together through shared food, arts, music, wellbeing activities and connection in trusted community spaces. It builds on successful community picnics held in Gloucester Park last year, where families and residents from different backgrounds came together in a relaxed, welcoming environment.

This work was developed in response to rising social tension, isolation, and local experiences of harassment and exclusion. In previous events, Muslim mothers and families shared that concerns around safety and identity had affected their confidence in using public spaces. Through gentle outreach and trusted local networks, the picnics helped create a visible expression of solidarity and belonging.

Holding these communal gatherings in the public space of the park is also in response to limited community or creative venues available for get togethers and sharing the good times in the town, so we decided to build our own and take over a small corner of the park! We recognise that community strength is built through sustained relationships over time and familiarity and hopefully this is only the beginning.

Each gathering is free and open to everyone. Activities will include accessible arts and crafts, gentle wellbeing activities like t’ai chi, local music and shared community food. The aim is to create low-pressure spaces where people can take part at their own pace, meet others, build confidence and feel more connected to their local area.

Gloucester Park is an important shared public space in Basildon. Through this partnership, Bas Arts Index and Gloucester Park Community Group want to strengthen the park’s role as a place for creativity, wellbeing, community safety and social connection and shared stewardship, supporting residents not only to enjoy the space, but to care for it, shape it and feel a sense of ownership within it.

At a time when many residents may feel isolated, anxious or disconnected from local decision-making, community-led work like this is vital. Our focus is on inclusion and growing in persons connections, these go on to enhance dignity, safety and friendship.

For us, creativity is not limited to formal art. It includes cooking, gardening, storytelling, music, movement, care and the many everyday skills people bring into shared community spaces. This programme celebrates those forms of creativity as part of building belonging and wellbeing in Gloucester Park.

Gloucester Park belongs to the whole community, and this programme will continue to reflect that.

PICNIC + SOCIAL (2025/26