PAUL HOUGH

Paul Hough first visited Hockley in the 1970s as a Sixth Form student, on a school trip from Belper to come and see ‘The Lace Maker’, a French film that was being shown at the Nottingham Film theatre. A few years later, after his time at the polytechnic, Paul’s first job was at the Midland Group at Carlton Street. At this time, it was difficult to find a job, and in response the government had funded a job creation scheme that would pay young people £50 a week to work in relevant industries.

Paul was then offered to work for the ‘Midland Group’, where they had a black box theatre with rake seating on the top floor of the building, where they would have performance art, theatre, music and dance. Everything that was used in performances had to be carried up the stairs by the staff members, including once a whole London cab! However, during this time, Hockley was still a bit rundown but Paul recalls a moment where Neil Bartlett was outside the Midland Group in full drag, as the Mistress of Ceremonies, enticing those pilling out of the pubs to come and see a performance.

The Midland group was involved in the Performance Art Platform, an annual festival of live and performance art over four days. This focused on finding unfunded artists and newcomers platforming, empowering their art. This festival would eventually evolve into the National Review of Live Art, moving from Nottingham to the Zapp Club in Brighton, London and finally on to Glasgow . International artists were involved in this festival such as John Giorno who was a star of Andy Warhol’s Sleep, Kathy Acker; an American punk author, Theatre de Complicite and Akedemia Rucku.

After leaving the Midland Group, Paul worked part-time at City Lights Cinema (now Broadway), as an usher and box office assistant. Paul’s working life in Hockley came full circle as his last role before early retirement was a Creative Learning Manager at Broadway working on education projects across the city until late Summer 2020.