Steep Step Stroud

Saturday 5 – Sunday 20 December 2026

A multi-media exhibition celebrating turn of the 21st century Stroud performers featured in the films ‘Stroud Riff Raff Rip Rap’ and ‘Song from A Silent Singer’. The films made in 2000 will be available to watch on a variety of media including the original VHS recordings. Framed still photographs of the performers from the films will be on display and will be augmented by a wall collage of posters, photographs and news clippings from the period 1995-2005.

The exhibition is a historical – not a nostalgic –  look at this time. An underlying concept being that one generation of performers sets the stage for the one that follows … Jon Seagrave aka Jonny Fluffypunk said he chose Stroud over other towns he considered moving to after meeting poet/printer Dennis Gould.

There will be live performances during the run of the exhibition featuring performers from the films, and more contemporary performance artists.

The last decade of the 20th century and early years of the 21st saw an incremental – but in a sense transformative – development in the cultural artistic (visual, textural and performative) life of Stroud. The exhibition aims to showcase this seminal moment and how it acted as a crucible to forge the cultural artistic Stroud we know today.

‘Steep Step Stroud’ is a collaboration between Stroud residents, historian Stuart Butler, performing artist James Dick and visual artist Katie McCue.

Watch the exhibition preview here.