Inter-Action was perhaps the most influential arts, education and community development charity to emerge in post-war Britain. From the late 1960s onwards it ran dozens of projects which changed lives – both of the people and communities which it worked with and of the hundreds of people who worked so energetically as part of its teams. City Farms, Weekend Arts College, the participatory theatre company Dogg’s Troupe, the Fun Art Bus and the Almost Free Theatre, which hosted the first Women’s Theatre Festival and the first Gay Theatre Festival in Britain (the 50th anniversary of which Unfinished Histories are marking with FYFFI 2 in 2025), are just a few of its radical initiatives which have left their mark.
A few years ago its archive was rescued from some damp garages and we have since made headway in sorting it. Now we have the opportunity to put its records – photographs, video and films, stories, publications and a treasure trove showing what it did and how it worked – into the hands of the London Archives. This material was collected over more than thirty years: projects on the streets, in housing estates, in inner city neighbourhoods across the UK and internationally. For the first time, researchers, artists, social historians and others will be able to access and use this rare collection of material.
David Powell, who helped run the charity for three decades, is leading a campaign to raise funds to secure the rescue and to preserve the archive of Inter-Action for future generations.
As of end of February we have met our initial target, but the more we raise the more additional content we can create on this site sharing key archive items, oral histories and information about the work of Inter-Action and how it can inspire new much-needed work across the arts. Please donate
Donors of £20 or more will have their names published on this page. Other perks are available. Please spread the word to others!
To donate, volunteer to help or find out more please go to our Indiegogo page.
We would like to thank for their contributions so far:
Rene Rice
Kara Noble
Kingsley Dawson
Aldacor
Stephen Murphy
John Anzani
Jo Burns
Charles Freeman
Prakash Daswani
C. Crawford
Jim Galbraith
Chris Barlas
Saul Hewish
Mark Morreau
Carry Gorney
Ros Asquith
Peter Rowe
Peter Hewitt
Claudia Bloom
Graeme Evans
Jan Ryan
Martin Turner Pugh
Valerie Warburton
Robert Chase
Mile and Jean Jenn
Audrey Bronstein – in honour of Robin Hornibrook
Katina Noble
John Langan
Anna Weatherston
Nick Ewbank
Antony Lincoln
Bruce Galley
Chris Cooper
Kathryn Kelly
Debra Reay
John Bruce Adams Coldham
Maggie Cochrane
Nicolette O’Neill
A & S Millard
Jo Aitkenhead
Richard Sumray
Christopher Gordon
ED Berman
Roderick Morrison
Valerie Lipman
Chris Treweek
Anne S Chapwell
Harriet Powell
David Powell
Jessica Higgs
and those contributors who wish to remain anonymous
Below: Inter-Action founded the UK’s very first City Farm in Kentish Town in 1972.
It is still going today.
