I’m Stella Aster ✨, a socially engaged creative practicioner from Leyland, Central Lancashire. My work looks at how art, social research, and activism can be used to support local communities and cultures.
I’m currently working on a number of projects, most of which are focused on my home of Central Lancashire, an urban area roughly centred on the Bamber Bridge Interchange:
I maintain the Central Lancashire Homepage which provides free mailing list hosting for people in Central Lancashire.
The Central Lancashire End Weight Stigma project aims to dismantle weight stigma in healthcare within Central Lancashire. I am founding and caretaking this project as part of my PhD studies at Leeds Beckett University.
I’m building a ‘communities and cultures’ map of Central Lancashire. I’m currently having a lot of conversations so I can produce an initial version to share publicly.
I’m running a survey on funding opportunities available to individuals and small groups in Central Lancashire. Please fill this in if you know of any, and pass it on to someone else!
I’m designing a number of events that aren’t ready to be announced yet 😊
Open Letters is an experimental journal project which looks at the role of conversation in meaning-making. I’m currently working with submitters to produce the first issue.
I am working with a client to support them in designing websites and branding for some of their projects.
I help facilitate the Leyland Trans Group 🏳️⚧️
I’m a member of the Bookings team at St. Mary’s Community Centre, Leyland.
Some of the other things I’ve been working on recently include:
Music by Belisha beacons, where I turned zebra crossing beacons into musicians. The piece has been covered by Blog Preston, the Lancashire Post, and Shots! TV. I’m aiming to deliver an installation sometime in 2025.
In January and February 2025 I delivered Build a Website workshops to Preston Co-Operative Development Network.
I perform poetry at events across Central Lancashire, and I run the Central Lancashire Spoken Word WhatsApp channel to keep people updated about events in Preston, Leyland, Chorley, and beyond 😊 My poetry has also been published in Pressed Town and is currently due for publication in some other places!
I have done some campaigning in the past on the Department for Education’s 2024 consultation into RSHE (relationships education, relationships and sex education, and health education) in England, among other issues.
If you would like to support me and my work, please get in touch! I am eager to hear from people and to find opportunities to work together 😊
Sincerely,
Stella ✨ <hello@stella-aster.com>