As part of It Takes a Community, an exhibition at Leeds City Museum, I recently joined former curator Antonia Lovelace for an audio-visual recorded conversation reflecting on our 30-year relationship and my journey of community engagement through art, culture and creative practice.

The conversation explores how our relationship began, from our first meeting and early community exhibition to the many projects, collaborations and creative experiences that followed. Over three decades, our shared work has explored the importance of museums as spaces for community voices, cultural expression, identity, history and storytelling.

One of the significant projects we revisit is Jah Fire Burning, a performance in which I used objects from the museum's collections as a starting point to tell stories about the Rastafari community. By bringing together museum artefacts, performance and cultural knowledge, the project created an opportunity to share histories and perspectives that are not always represented within traditional museum narratives.

We also reflect on the many art-based workshops, community exhibitions and creative projects developed over the years, bringing people together through artistic expression, shared experiences and the exploration of cultural heritage.

Using photographs from my personal archive, the recording brings these memories and experiences to life, offering a visual journey through three decades of community arts practice, collaboration and cultural engagement.

For me, this conversation is an opportunity to recognise the value of long-term relationships, the importance of building trust within communities and the role that creativity can play in connecting people, preserving stories and creating meaningful cultural experiences.

Thirty years on, the relationship continues to demonstrate what can happen when museums, artists and communities work together.