Summer Holiday Activities

The sessions at Wesley Hall have been going really well with the adults. Of course, now that the Summer Holidays are in full swing, the workers are occasionally looking a bit 'frazzled' to say the least, as there are hordes of children to entertain.

The Families Worker asked me if there was anything I could do to help occupy the older children for the remainder of the holidays, so I was happy to oblige... So, armed with a basic plan of games and drama exercises connected with the sea (a relevant theme-they were planning a trip to the seaside!) I arrived to find a room full of children, happily colouring cards and pictures. I felt awful asking them to move everything around and come away from such a calm exercise, but I'd travelled by train and taxi from Manchester (quite expensive!) and rushed to be there on time, so I was determined to do something!

There was a real sense of excitement as we began some simple games to warm up and get everyone working together. When I later asked for volunteers to help carry an imaginary treasure chest across the room, several hands shot up - even the older boys - then, when I asked who had the key, even more people wanted to join in the game of 'make-believe'.

As the session progressed, a few of the parents wandered in from the next room to see what was happening and ended up staying to join in, calling out suggestions and getting quite involved!

Towards the end, crowding around the juice, biscuits and fruit, I asked if they were enjoying the workshop and if they would like to do any more and one of the girls' memorable reply was: "Yes! A thousand, thousand more..."

So all the rushing and taxi fare was worth it. They want me back again this Thursday.

Exodus Festival and SEMA Summer Project

Well, it's been busy again since I last posted - so that's why it's taken so long!

The Exodus Festival was a good experience, because it was a totally different way of working. I would normally work with a large group, trying to energise them, get them to know each other and warm up before we did a practical session. However, on 2nd August, I was there as a support for Mok Bukuakow, our 'PlAAy' Residency artist, helping with any language needs, as well as filling in monitoring and feedback forms, so I was able to observe. We only had three people at a time for our session, sitting opposite us and talking about childhood toys, then drawing and /or making them out of clay. It was a much quieter, more reflective experience than my drama workshops. There were some similarities in that I was able, by gentle questioning, to encourage people to speak and become more confident. People (especially young people and adults) are constantly worried that their stories are not interesting enough, but, after showing a genuine interest in description, memory, etc, they began to enjoy talking, sketching and modelling. The younger children tended to be much more open, enjoying the experience of the modelling, although one or two didn't like the wet feel and the residue it left on their hands.

The SEMA Summer Project was a complete contrast; older Primary and lower Secondary School pupils who come from refugee /asylum seeking families are given learning support via SEMA. This year, a two day project was provided for those who were able to attend, with activities such as drumming, art and craft, surveys and two drama sessions from Action Factory, through me. As they were fairly short sessions, we had to use fairly simple techniques - improvisation and physical creation of objects and stories. The end results were really creative, though. We had a story about a washing machine that used all the river and drained the forest and how this was solved; a magical bird who brought a king back to life and a group who had to overcome amazing obstacles to reach a party in a palace.

Language barriers were occasionally an issue, but the good humour of the group and sensitivity of the workers helped overcome this and there was a really positive reaction to the work. I am keen to extend work with this group in the future, involving other art forms as well as drama.

Photo Mok Buakaow and participant.

A rainy day in Blackburn

The new woman from last week did not turn up for the session today, which was a real shame, as she had made a point of telling me how much she had enjoyed it all. She also came over to me in Blackburn centre this morning and said she was planning to come later on. So something else came up, maybe? Hopefully nothing too serious. Possibly the horrible weather.... Where did the Summer go????

This is just one of the aspects of Community Arts that can be so frustrating - you don't always get consistent groups. Also, when you are working with vulnerable groups, in whichever situation that might be, there are often a lot of factors completely outside your control. People's accommodation, appointments with solicitors / social workers / finance / family issues, etc, etc, etc, often mean (understandably) that your arts session is not the most important thing in people's lives. Although, they may well get alot from it when they are able to attend. So maybe she will come another week - I hope so.

The good news was that, despite her absence, I still had a good number (seven) which included two men who had never been before. We did a mix of activities today - some physical, competitive games as well. One which, I am pleased to say, we had done the previous week and was requested by one of the less confident women. She appears happy to do more active exercises and gets very shy and giggly when asked to speak. However, she has the ability, so it is just a confidence issue. We did some physical work then storytelling exercises today and later combined the two. With the storytelling, some of them were excellent at this (particularly the two men who were new today; so expressive and descriptive - it was really beautiful to listen at times) but the two women struggled initially. They became more able to contribute in a later exercise which used the same skill, so I think it is just a case of gently persisting and encouraging.

Anyway, despite one or two struggling, there was a lot of laughter today. We created some surreal stories - with elements of fairy tales and Alice in Wonderland at times (I ended up being a rabbit who ate a man's carrot cake!) so it was very entertaining, as well as encouraging their speaking and listening skills.

Tomorrow, I'll be working with children and young people from refugee / asylum seeker families, so we'll see how they respond.

A good day

The latest session at Wesley Hall was great. There was a new woman there who was really keen to participate and enjoy it all and this also had a positive effect on the less confident ones. We did a lot more active, energetic warm up exercises and then used various props to improvise different characters and situations. It was a smaller group, as the regular English class is not running for a few weeks. This was something that was a concern for me and I'd wondered whether to cancel my sessions during these weeks, but eventually decided to continue for anyone who wanted to come.

It was actually a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere and people seemed really willing to 'play'. We ended up doing small scenes in groups using the props and created a wedding scene and a family holiday. Both scenes involved a lot of humour. At the end, one participant asked if we could do a performance, which is something I have tentatively mentioned, but not wanted to push, so that reinforced the idea that their confidence is building. One man was concerned that people would not understand his English, but I reassured them that we can use a mix of verbal and visual work, as well as possibly incorporating different languages. We'll see what happens next session (tomorrow!)

The Exodus festival, run by Community Arts Northwest, is on Sunday (2nd August) in Manchester, so am hoping a few of them will go and we'll all get inspired together.....

Info on Exodus if you're interested - it's free and worth a visit:

Exodus Festival Sunday 2^nd August 2009 12-6pm

Urbis and Cathedral Gardens

Come and join us in this unique celebration of arts and culture brought to you by Greater Manchester’s diverse refugee communities.

Featuring traditional and contemporary sounds and dance from Zimbabwe, Somalia, the DR Congo, Eritrea, Uganda, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Pakistan, and other countries across the globe.

There will be interactive workshops, children’s activities, delicious food from around the globe, and an exciting array of world craft stalls.

Drop in time

The sessions have been going on at the Wesley Hall Tuesday Drop In (a service for Refugees and Asylum Seekers) for six weeks now and I'm getting a steady number of participants each week - between eight and eleven, which is a good number. I work in collaboration with the English Teacher, which gives me more potential for participants as well as support and gives him support as well, along with practical techniques for encouraging communication skills.

We do a mixture of warm up exercises and basic Drama skills, sometimes creating scenes, other times using different stimuli to start off conversation and encourage communication.

It's one of the nicest groups-adults are quite often surprised by what they can do when they have the opportunity-and although sometimes exercises take longer than they would do with a group who all shared one language, the fact that everyone is from a different cultural background adds interest. They learn from one another and are keen to help one another as well.

I am learning a lot from them, too.

Hello

This is my new blog. Welcome!

I am working for Action Factory as Community Arts Development Worker. My job is to develop projects with Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Blackburn with Darwen, as well as look at work that brings different community groups together; people from different backgrounds, beliefs, experiences.

I'm using this blog as a way of showing people how I'm getting along. It's going to be an honest look at the work and positives as well as any problems /frustrations.

I'll try and update it as regularly as I can.

I hope you'll find it interesting!