Art of the possible Residents run show at local gallery

I used to see this place on the street but I didn't know what was here - I didn't even know it was an art gallery," says Felix, a 20-year-old nursing student.

- Jessica Murray Social affairs correspondent

"And now I'm here shaping its future.

Felix is one of 40 residents of Hyson Green in Nottingham who run the show at New Art Exchange (NAE), which believes it is the first cultural institution in the world to hand permanent leadership to a citizens' assembly. These people, representative of a diverse community that speaks 52 languages, decide what events the gallery should put on, to where money should be spent and what artists should be exhibited. They have allocated £285,000 in funding.

"Without citizens and community around the table shaping the direction and showing the horizon, we would quickly become an average organisation," says Saad Eddine Said, the chief executive and artistic director at NAE, which is the UK's largest gallery dedicated to African, Caribbean and south Asian artists.

"This neighbourhood is such a huge treasure of culture and of talent so we wanted it to play a key role, not just in terms of consultancy, but in real terms of co-leadership."