Circle of Light director Tiffany Jade tells us about the future of Fishergate Point

Tiffany, where to begin - it sounds like you have your hands in many creative pies in Nottingham! What is your background and what projects have you worked on over the years?


I have indeed. I'm originally from Matlock and came to Nottingham to study art and fashion when I was seventeen. I just fell in love with the place so I decided to stick around. I was studying Fashion Communication and Promotion at NTU when I decided to throw a curve ball and join a local music project called Circle of Light. That's where I met Tricia and Ian Gardiner! We got on instantly and they invited me along for the ride. Since then I feel like I've lived about seven different lives... I started working in social media and communications, then I tried my hand as a Project Co-ordinator and now I'm a Director and Project Producer, supporting pretty much everything that goes down here at FGP. 

I manage projects such as the Circle of Light music programme, HOAM studio (house of all music) which is the first female led studio in Notts and Sugar Stealers workshops for women and gender expansive people. I'm also a singer/songwriter and performer - I've got a few awards under my belt for that.

Can you talk a little about some of the people involved in FGP and how the place has developed over the years?

Well. I've seen this place grow from the bare bones. We got the keys to the building right before the first UK lockdown in 2020, with nothing but a bag of hopes and a set of faulty speakers. I remember marching down here with Tricia and Ian (who are the masterminds behind the idea) and it was a right old mess - but we made a home out of it. With our combined skills, network and cultural experience, we have fought through thick and thin, using every resource possible to see this project through. Over the last five years we have taken down the maze of walls and opened up two beautiful exhibition, workshop and event spaces, fitted a stunning cafe bar and a brand new kitchen, curated a local artisan gift shop and installed a much needed wheelchair ramp and stair lift. 

We started with just the young people from Circle of Light in situ, and now we have a whole bunch of people based here, including Hockley Hustle, The Actors Workshop, ACT ON, Acoustickle, Nottingham CYF and plenty more! We've discreetly been putting on events for a while, and every time people come in they are like ‘I had no idea this place was here - it’s so cool!’. Now after our most recent refurb I'm just so excited to see what the general public think about what we've done with the space. You should come along to the launch party - 6pm on Saturday 8 March. Be there!

With five albums, several awards, and dozens of young people involved, The Circle of Light (COL) appears to be one of the most fruitful projects to be born out of Fisher Gate Point. Tell us more about it. How did you get involved and what have been some of the highlights?


I'm gonna be real, I joined COL because I wasn't having a great time with my mental health and I needed some respite, something different. Circle of Light started as a project where young people pretty much camp out and make a music album in just three weeks, and then release it on World Mental Health day. I was a participant on the first project, and from day one I was achieving things I didn't know I was capable of. I had such minimal experience in music before I joined, but I got to work alongside Grammy winning artists and professionals whose support allowed me to fast track into the industry.

The project has been running for six years now and grown to become more of an artist development programme. We still do the music album every year, of course, but we also do offer Rock School London qualifications, jam sessions, industry support and as a collective we are currently touring England with the support of Youth Music! The young artists involved in the programme have been able to capitalise on the network that exists within FGP and have had opportunities to work on film scores for the British Film Institute, perform at Rock City, The Bodega and Nottingham Contemporary, they've opened the stage for BICEP at Rescue Rooms and bagged a bunch of national awards in the process.

There’s a strong focus on mental health within the project, which helps young people to express themselves creatively through music. How have you found creativity to aid in mental health, and how does the project do this specifically?

I think the biggest thing the project offers in terms of mental health support is a place to feel seen and heard for the truest version of you. Creativity is so nuanced and personal that it manifests in so many ways, but so many people exist without a place to just show up, explore and be appreciated for those sides of ourselves - whatever they may be. What is super special about the way we work is that it is so autonomous. Often people turn up expecting to be told what to do, because that is how we are raised by school and society, but not here. The entire FGP project, even beyond Circle of Light, is about facilitating people and communities to take charge of their own experience and begin to create and become the changes they want to see in the world. 

There seems to be a beautiful thread of collaboration within Fisher Gate, and Sugar Stealers is another example of that. Can you tell us a little about what you get up to in this collective?

It's such an interesting space to be because there is so much diversity here in every possible way. When you first enter the building you're greeted with such love and welcome from the cafe-bar staff. Then you could wander around the building and pass ACT ON zipping around his studio plotting the next chip shop rave, or Jamal Sterrett teaching gliding in the downstairs workshop room. If you head upstairs you'll be bound to cross paths with the Hockley Hustle crew making festival decs, or The Actors Workshop perfecting their blood curdling screams. You might also bump into Nottingham CYF baking brownies with the kiddos, or the legend that is Princess Trium teaching the next generation of DJs how to mix. 

I almost guarantee that if you show up on an evening, you'll find comedy antics downstairs from Wormhole Comedy, and live music upstairs from artists like Seas of Mirth and Sancho Panza. It's wild, and non stop, but we are all one big family and there is literally never a dull moment that goes by.

You have also been involved in HOAM, Nottingham's first female-led music studio who develop DJ courses specifically for women and gender expansive people. This sounds brilliant, tell us more!

Ah this is something really close to my heart. I've been really spoiled with the support I've received from COL, but the music industry is ferocious and even more so if you are a woman or gender expansive person. I've seen and experienced the ways in which people like me are not often invited to the table to even learn, let alone take charge in the studio or the live music scene, unless it's to stand around and make the place look nice. It can be quite an uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous place to be. 

We got some funding to train two young people to launch a music studio and I was so pleased when we ended up with an all-female team. We'd only ever been to music studios that were dark and masculine and it just made sense to create a space that people like us would feel safe at home in (no pun intended). Now it's bright and earthy - I guarantee you've never seen a studio like it. 

We then caught wind of the DJ scene in Notts being quite exclusive, and so the HOAM studio team partnered with me over at Sugar Stealers to create DJ courses that were cost-effective and specifically for women and gender expansive people. I sat down with our DJ Mentor Princess Trium who is a huge advocate for the cause, then we mapped out a plan and the rest is history! Together we've supported the development of nearly fifty female and gender expansive DJs and we've got so much more in the works.

You said in the BBC Inside/Out documentary on Circle of Light that you originally felt too shy to perform at an open mic. You’ve now featured on several records, created a film score for the British Film Institute, and are working on a solo project. What advice would you give other young creatives looking for the courage to share their talents?


It's much easier said than done, but the first thing would be to become aware of any unnecessary limitations you are placing on yourself. It probably feels more comfortable to procrastinate and clear out your wardrobe than it does to go to an open mic or pick up an instrument that's catching dust. If I sound like an expert here, it's because I am. Have a moment with yourself and think, if the world stops today, am I going to regret not reorganising my sock drawer, or not exploring my creative potential?

The next step would be to get yourself out there and make use of all the free and supportive platforms in Nottingham: Circle of Light, Sugar Stealers, HOAM, and Nottin Industry to name a few! Community is everything, and we are all as nervous as each other. There is no right or wrong way to do anything and I'm yet to meet a creative person who hasn't got more to learn. Having the right people around you will keep you encouraged and committed through the times that you don't feel so confident.

What has Fisher Gate Point got anything planned for International Women’s Day this year?

We are having an FGP launch party! It feels like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory because no-one beyond our community really knows what goes on here and this is the first time we are welcoming the public into our shiny new space. The space is predominantly female-led and we have so many strong female initiatives here that it just felt like the perfect day for an opening. I don't want to hear any excuses, you should definitely come along at 6pm on Saturday 8 March for a free drink, a taster menu and live music, and be the first to experience it in all its glory. From then on, we'll be open every day for all your coffee, snack, creative and cultural needs. 

Head to the Fisher Gate Point launch party and International Women’s Day celebration on Saturday 8 March from 6pm. You can find the centre across from BIOCITY at 3 Fisher Gate, NG1 1GD.