People Power Passion: the story

People Power Passion was Luton’s Pilot Year of Culture, an ambitious programme designed to assess the impact of arts and culture on our town and commemorate one of the most famous moments of Luton’s history. The 1919 Luton Peace Day riots are a symbol of working class action: dissatisfied with the out-of-touch decisions made by people in power, men and women came together to demand to be heard, and burnt down the Town Hall in the process. This programme set out to ask what has changed and to explore other acts of people power in Luton and across the world.

The aims for People Power Passion were across five themes

Health and Wellbeing: To improve physical and mental health and wellbeing of Luton residents and volunteers.

Society and Community: To improve civic pride, community cohesion and aspiration

Placemaking: To connect local people to their public spaces and improve perceptions of Luton’s public realm and To improve the perceptions of Luton nationally as a great place to live and work

Economy: To significantly, positively impact Luton’s economy and To ensure that the positive impact benefits local people

Arts and Culture: To improve the creative skills of local people and To enhance local appreciation of high-quality arts and culture projects

With investment from Luton Council, Arts Council England and The People’s Postcode Trust, partnership with Revoluton Arts and support from Cultural Histories, we delivered six ambitious events over five months and shone a light on our diverse and vibrant town.