What are these Neotists all about?

By Clair Slade

“So Clair, what are these Neotists all about? I mean is it like a volunteer group? I mean I’ve heard of them and I’m aware of them through the stuff they do with the council, but what are they? It sounds ridiculous but I really don’t know. Is it a volunteer group to do art-based stuff around St Neots?”

A question from someone who knows me and a few other Neotists quite well, who has lived in St Neots for the last 10 years we’ve been around, but felt a bit confused and quite rightly asked the question. It made me realise that we’ve fallen into that trap like many of you here on LinkedIn have (see what I did there? Making it relevant…) We forgot to shout about the things we do, who we are, how we do them, who we work with, what we achieve, basically all of it. For 10 years.

When you’re busy doing the do, you totally forget to stop for that selfie, or write up that article, or share that win. It’s great that we’ve been so busy focused and we’ve achieved so much – however, the downside of that is that people have mistakenly attributed our work and achievements to others. There are those who will only too gladly take credit for your work, fill the gap you leave from not posting relentlessly about your every move, who will ride on the back of your success.

So it’s time to own it! Own the part we have to play in St Neots and the future plans of the largest town in Cambridgeshire. Shout about the award winning St Neots Festival which returns this July. Reach out to each of our members who are keen to collaborate and grow with us. Take the wins and share the successes!

If you’d like to know more about those Neotists, take a look at how it all began here.