Cultivating communities with The Forum
We sit down and chat with Chris Gribble, CEO of The Forum Trust,
we learn about their work within the community and some secret offerings you might not know about...
A: Who are you and what do you do?
C: My name is Chris Gribble and I’m CEO of The Forum Trust. Essentially, my job is to ensure that The Forum Trust delivers its purpose, which is to create an accessible and safe space for everyone who lives in, works in or visits Norwich to engage with, experience and find out about outstanding cultural and creative activities. In practice, we are a team of about 22 people (plus 30 more brilliant sessional events staff), that delivers a year-round programme of festivals and events, runs an iconic building in the heart of Norwich that is home to BBC East and the Millennium Library among others and hosts partnership and hire events all year round in our Atrium, Gallery spaces, Auditorium and meeting rooms. It’s always busy and never dull – we welcome over 1.5 million people through the doors each year and are open 363 of those days from 7 in the morning until 10 at night – and sometimes later.
What is something you’d love people to know about The Forum?
What people might not know about The Forum is that we’re an independent charity! The other little known fact is we’re not just an impressive building: our surrounding land is home to over 100 trees and at least three species of bat (at the last count) in or around our building. We take our commitment to biodiversity and achieving Net Zero targets seriously and work hard to reduce the environmental impacts of our work, our tenants and our building’s operations. We also have a Changing Places toilet in The Forum. This is a large and accessible toilet and changing facility that is equipped with hoist and a changing bench so that people and families with specific needs can be sure they can use an accessible, clean and safe space when they need it. Toilets aren’t glamorous, but they’re essential! We’re also home to Norwich’s central Citizen’s Advice Bureau.
How do you work on including the community within The Forum?
The word community means lots of different things or us at The Forum. Our staff and our tenants form a community, as do the wide range of people and groups who come to use our spaces, the library and other facilities here. We’re also home to On the Stall City, a not for profit that supports the Community Sports Foundation by selling Norwich City FC training and match kit surplus and special editions at prices that mean families can afford them. We’re situated next door to the Sir Isaac Newton Academy, so our community extends to the students and young people who study there and spend time in The Forum, and the office workers who are based in our second space, 2 Millennium Plain over the way from The Forum itself.
But our events are where we really meet and engage with the communities in and around Norwich, Norfolk and further afield. From Norwich Science Festival, Norfolk Heritage Open Days, the Norwich Games Festival and the forthcoming Norwich Book Festival, we put on events that bring people from all over into the city and at the same time we go out into communities across the county to work with people who always able to make the journey to us. From Science on Your Doorstep projects in Mile Cross to work with Sixth Form Colleges in Lowestoft and North Norfolk, we reach out with our exciting events and programmes to make sure as many people as possible are able to take part.
Through our venue hire business, we facilitate a huge range of community and charitable events – in the past week alone we hosted Give it a Go – Volunteering Extravaganza, the Carers Information Day, and Opening Doors Happy, Healthy, Safe which celebrates life with a learning disability. These fantastic events help us to ensure a range of communities feel comfortable, welcome and safe in The Forum, and are so important to us.
Where’s your favourite place to visit in Norfolk and why?
I love sea swimming and the beach at Waxham is one of my very favourite places to swim and escape in Norfolk. I love walking and running and cycling along Marriotts Way too and my secret joy is visiting Glandford Shell Museum at least once or twice each year.
@theforumnorwich / theforumnorwich.co.uk
This interview was published as part of a paid collaboration within our printed newspaper.