A COMMUNITY art plan has got residents putting pen to paper to get to know their neighbours.

And they have even been taking photographs of the people on their street as part of the Albert Drive Project.

Residents have become so caught up in the scheme that 55 of the letters have been enlarged and hung on lampposts along the 1.6 mile stretch, allowing passers-by to read about the people living around them.

Jess Thorpe, one of the project coordinators and a lead artist at theatre company Glas(s) Performance, said: "We were interested in the idea of neighbours and what it meant to live alongside each other.

"We decided to work on Albert Drive as we were in residency at Tramway performing arts venue and they had an interest in engaging with the local audience.

"We worked together to see if it was possible to make a performance with one street.

"We successfully did that a year ago and this year decided to see if it was possible to make one even bigger, I suppose like an arts festival with one street."

Tramway has also been heavily involved with the project. Project manager and development officer Rosemary James said it was important the venue appealed to the local community and the project has helped to do this.

She said: "It was really obvious that the very local community were not engaging with us and were not participating in exhibitions or events.

"Historically, I think sometimes the way in which Tramway communicated itself to its audiences had meant that there were barriers, mainly to do with language.

"It perhaps had a style of communication that was off-putting to people who may have felt nervous about participating in contemporary art and performance."

More than 600 local people have become involved with the project, reading or writing letters, attending community talks or displaying signs saying 'I'm on Albert Drive,' in the windows of their homes and businesses.

There are currently 20 neighbours rehearsing for a play about life on Albert Drive, which will be performed at Tramway during the summer.

Beth Allan, a Pollokshields resident, attended a workshop which aimed to explore the idea of being neighbours, and what it meant to her.

She said: "The workshop made me think of the concept of 'neighbour' differently, perhaps as a wider concept of community rather than 'that guy I borrow a hammer from' or 'the woman who writes the notes about putting the bins out'.

"I hope it will encourage me to make more time and effort to engage my neighbours, not only those who live directly opposite or underneath me but also the people in the wider community."

Sam Phillips and Tom Hobbins form the Neighbourhood Watch group, the part of the project aimed at young people, who visit primary schools and attend group meetings on Albert Drive.

The pair travel on black scooters, wearing white overalls displaying 'Neighbourhood Watch' in bold lettering.

Tom said: "We go out into Pollokshields and our main job is to try to report all the different things that are happening or are going to happen.

"We try and meet people on the street, go to group meetings or visit some of the young people at Pollokshields or St Albert's primary schools.

"We have done workshops in St Albert's and now they know us. They recognise us and cars hoot at us and people wave because they know who we are."

Sam said: "We have our own badges as well

"Every time someone tells us something exciting or gives us some information, they get a badge and become part of the Neighbourhood Watch.

"The badges are really starting to appear out on Albert Drive now."

The project is due to run until October 2013, with the next phase, Everybody's House, set to arrive on Albert Drive in the next few weeks.

An exhibition featuring many of the aspects of the project, including short films and photography, will take place at Tramway in July and August.

The project is supported by Creative Scotland's First in a Lifetime fund through the Year of Creative Scotland and Awards For All.

n For more information, visit www.albertdrive. com /project/the-project