GOLOW LULYNN
A creative exploration of Newlyn, its stories and who gets to tell them
Lead artist / project creator: Sara Bodinar
Host venue: Newlyn Art Gallery
Current project period: October 2026 – July 2027
Contact: sarabodinar@gmail.com
More details: Newlyn Art Gallery and My website
The question
Who gets to tell the story of a place?
Newlyn has been represented, interpreted and portrayed by artists, writers, historians and visitors for more than a century.
The Newlyn School created a visual record of the people, work and community of the village. Golow Lulynn begins by asking what happens when we turn that gaze around.
What might happen if people living in Newlyn today have the opportunity to tell their own stories of the place and to respond to the ways in which Newlyn has been represented in the past?
The project
Golow Lulynn is a creative project exploring the Newlyn School through storytelling, creative writing and theatre.
The project is being developed and delivered with Newlyn Art Gallery as the host venue. There will be 6 x creative writing workshops delivered during the year and ongoing arts engagement activities, both within the local area and online.
The longer-term ambition is to develop a brand new piece of theatre, drawing on historical research alongside contemporary voices from Newlyn. There will be an R&D at Easter and production in the Summer of 2027
The project is deliberately not intended to be another conventional retelling of the history of the Newlyn School. It will be a celebration of Newlyn School art, but with an additional and original dimension.
It asks questions about representation, memory, place, community and voice, whilst celebrating an extraordinary art heritage of which we should all feel proud and connected.
Why now?
The timing creates an unusual opportunity.
Penlee House Gallery & Museum is presenting The Art of the Newlyn School: Paintings from the Bowerman Collection from October 2026, bringing together a major group of paintings depicting Newlyn and West Cornwall.
The Bowerman Collection will subsequently tour nationally.
This creates the possibility of putting the historical paintings into conversation with the living community that they represent.
The project is therefore interested not only in – How did the Newlyn School artists see Newlyn? But also – How does Newlyn see itself?
A particular commitment
I want this project to reach beyond people who already participate in the arts.
A central ambition is to involve local people who may face barriers to engaging with galleries, theatre or cultural activity, including people who may not see a project at Newlyn Art Gallery as being “for them”.
However, I don’t want community engagement to become an outreach activity added to the project after the artistic idea has already been decided.
I want participation to help shape the artistic work itself.
That means asking:
- Who isn’t currently represented in cultural stories about Newlyn?
- Who already has the trust of those communities?
- Where and how should the first conversations happen?
- What would make participation meaningful to people?
- How can people’s contributions influence the eventual creative work?
- How do we avoid extracting people’s stories simply to use them in a play?
- What would genuine co-creation look like?
Why I am seeking specialist support
I am looking for a small group of experienced practitioners to help shape the project during its development.
I am particularly interested in expertise around:
Participation & inclusion
How do we create meaningful opportunities for people who don’t normally engage with the arts?
Community relationships
How do we build trust and work with existing local networks rather than expecting people to come to us?
Ethical storytelling
How do we ensure that people’s experiences are treated with care and agency?
Artistic development
How can community voices genuinely influence the eventual theatre/writing, rather than simply becoming research material?
Curatorial / historical thinking
How can the project be adventurous and contemporary while remaining grounded in the history of the Newlyn School?
What I am looking for
I am approaching a small number of people whose experience is particularly relevant to these questions.
I am initially looking for:
An Arts engagement specialist
A paid initial development conversation / mentoring session to explore outreach event strategy and guidance
Subject to funding, I would hope to develop this into a more substantial paid role within the project.
I am also prepared to make a small initial investment from my own funds so that the project can benefit from this expertise before the larger funding decisions are made.
The bigger ambition
Ultimately, I would like Golow Lulynn to create a meeting point between:
- The Newlyn School
- The paintings and collections that preserve its story
- The contemporary community of Newlyn
- People whose voices are less often heard in cultural projects
- New writing, storytelling and theatre
The ambition is not simply to tell the story of the Newlyn School again.
It is to ask whose story we are telling, who gets to tell it, and what happens when those voices meet.
Current project partners / relationships:
Newlyn Art Gallery (Host venue)
Susie Gray (Project development)
Alison Bevan (Historical mentor)
Penzance LitFest (Literary support)
Morrab Library
Newlyn Archive
Cornwall Life Magazine (Press)
Dan McGarry (Dramaturg / director)
