Developed with support from public funding by Department of Culture, Media and Sport. We spent March, April and May 2021 exploring creative ways to address loneliness and social isolation resulting from the impact of Covid-19.
We threw the obvious title “The Loneliness Project” out the window. After a year of near-constant lockdown we felt it was important to offer people a more positive outlook. How could we help people break out of their ‘bubbles’ in a fun, colourful and positive manner?
After not been able to see or touch their families and friends for a year people needed a sense of real connection. What better way to make meaningful contact than with the simple forgotten Art of Writing? In a world of mobile phones, email, text and WhatsApp, how many of us take the time to put a pen to paper?
The #See You Soon pack of postcards was designed to encourage people to send creative messages and ideas to family members, friends and neighbours.
We took time to have our now familiar “creative conversations” with a diverse range of contacts who are working with families, seniors, young people and people who are experiencing isolation across Fenland and West Suffolk. We worked with community leaders and creative practitioners who understood how their localities and neighbourhoods had been affected by the pandemic.
Connecting is what #See You Soon was all about – making a move to do something positive. Smile, Reach Out & Say Hello! Our new See You Soon section of the website is coming soon!
This case study is part of our project evaluation for 2019/2020.
We’ve worked with Shelby, owner of the lovely Barleycorn Cafe in Mildenhall on creative projects over the last few years. Before the pandemic, we were running a series of taster sessions with local Meet Up Mondays group and creative practitioners from the region. The group enjoyed the activities and the company, feeling less isolated and more connected.
The Covid-19 pandemic changed everything and we had to stop the live programme. To keep something going, we worked with The Barleycorn and artist Marian Savill during the first lockdown to create a series of ‘make along’ videos about Art Journaling.
Find out the difference this project has made and the challenges of delivering online as we all adjusted to doing more things digitally.
The Barleycorn Cafe in Mildenhall is only three years old, but has become a hub in the community. They decided to start a Meet-up Monday group, hoping to tackle loneliness and isolation by offering a free cuppa and a place to chat and meet people. Working with owner Shelby and a group of regular Meet Up Monday members a taster arts programme was established to reach new audiences, create new art opportunities locally and increase well-being.
Tea and Tasters
A series of taster workshops were delivered with different artists for the group to choose one they would like to work with the longer term.
These workshops included:
creative journalling
singing
printmaking
ceramics
expressive drawing
Pictured:Three photos from the taster workshops. Left: For this workshop, the group were trying singing with singing teacher, Sally Rose.Sally is grinning while sat on a chair with a little guitar. Middle: The group were trying pottery. In this photo, Clare the artist is showing a member of the group how to throw a pot on a potters wheel. Right: The group were trying screenprinting. In the photo the group are sitting and standing around a large long table, with rollers, paint and printing stamps scattered on the table.
The group decided to pursue additional singing sessions alongside holding a longer creative journaling project using a democratic vote.
The plans for additional journaling workshops were curtailed by the pandemic. This resulted in a commission for mixed media artist Marian Savill to produce four online tutorials to journal from home, using resources you would find around the house.
Extending the commission in this way was a means of continuing to maintain the group’s connectivity. As well as to manage further isolation for this vulnerable group and transition activity into digital outputs in a meaningful way.
Pictured:Two photos from the taster workshops. Left: The group were trying pastels. In this photo, a large piece of paper has been covered in drawings in pastel, including images of coffee cups, flowers and words like “sun” and “hope”. Right: The group were trying art journaling. In this photo, a table is covered in magazines and collages.
Art Journaling with Marian Savill
Pictured:The opening image for Marian’s workshop. It reads “Art Journaling with Marian Savill” in collaged letters.
Initially the commission was developed as an experience for the Meet Up Mondays group to continue their journlling activity with Marian, during the first national lockdown through April – May 2020.
Marian was commissioned to make a series of four workshop tutorials and an introductory promo video. The tutorials cover how to make a book, creating backgrounds, adding text and embellishing your journal.
To mirror in-person experiences, the videos were launched weekly, on a Monday at 10am, within a Facebook event on the CPP MarketPlace account and the Barleycorn Facebook page.
Pictured:Two screenshots from Marian Savill’s Art Journalling workshops. In the images Marian experiments on her desk with paint, wax crayons and collaging in colourful handmade books.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for 2019/2020.
Art in the Fens with artist Kaitlin Ferguson was one of the first Creative Conversations in Isolation commissions. With Kaitlin, we trialled new ways to use digital creative activity to encourage connection with the green spaces on our doorsteps.
We’ve worked with Kaitlin before on the Brandon Tales and Trails event so this was an opportunity to respond to the changes we all faced in the pandemic through different creative activity. People were finding connections or reconnecting with nature on their daily walks during lockdown and Kaitlin’s project showed simple art projects and interesting techniques to make a creative response to the Fenland landscape.
Kaitlin was commissioned to deliver four online ‘make along’ tutorials to be shared through IGTV on Instagram and promoted through new environmental partner networks that align with current strategic activity in Fenland.
The videos were shared through our social media channels over four weeks. The launch of the project coincided with ‘Celebrate the Fens‘ Day on 20th June 2020, which was hosted by @FascinatingFens.
Pictured above: Two screenshots of Kaitlin’s video workshops – On the left, drawing plant materials from observation, and on the right using felt to create a textural representation of the soft strata of the Fenland landscape.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for 2019/2020.
In this case study we’re looking at the Young Producers Programme developed in partnership with 20Twenty Productions C.I.C. 20Twenty use creativity and participation to build essential life skills in young people and provide mentoring and career opportunities for them within the creative sector.
Through this project, 20Twenty supported two young artists to develop skills as creative producers through co-designed activities for and with young people.
The Young Producer Programme has been established to build the skills of young artists into audience focussed art producers, whilst increasing the relevance of cultural opportunities for young people, particularly those based within March. 20Twenty Productions supported two young producers to develop and deliver programmes of activity whilst working towards the Gold Arts Award.
Right: Image from the Tagged & Filtered project [Description: A young girls photo is obscured by writing of negative words like “ugly” and “loner” across the image.] Left: Logo from the Viral project [Description: An image of a virus cell with the word “VIRAL” across a background of blue social media icons.]
Tagged and Filtered
Young producer Nicola Baxter was commissioned to develop her ongoing artistic themes into a co-produced series of workshops across Easter half term with a group of young people identifying as female. Tagged and Filtered was a series of workshops developing photography skills through the exploration of identity, selfies, online safety and engagement to inform a new interactive digital exhibition. This mentoring project was to develop Nicola’s work further through an audience focussed approach.
Young Producer Libby Ward was the second commission in this partnership. Libby has a BTEC in performing arts and had been a performer with the Connexions youth group in March. Libby’s proposal was a theatre in education offer exploring mental health issues in local schools. This project plan changed in response to the pandemic and through inspiration from a shift to digital productions.
This case study is part of our project evaluation for 2019/2020
Digital artist Lee Mason applied to the Creative Conversations in Isolation Inkling programme with the idea of using Mozilla Hubs Spoke to make a virtual gallery with other artists. We saw an opportunity for a collaboration with a local community group and commissioned Lee to work with members of Brandon Arts Society to create a digital home for their 40th anniversary exhibition. A 3D virtual gallery experience became their exhibition space for the celebrations.
As a commission, this met a local need for connection, routine and a way to reduce isolation in a group of older amateur artists. The digital nature of the project challenged the group to see and experience their work in a new way. Lee worked with Brandon Arts Society, Brandon Creative Forum and Creative Collective members to liaise with the group’s membership to collate and curate high-quality images and interpretation for all of their exhibition submissions.
Visitors to the gallery created an avatar to explore the exhibition space. The event was complete with wine and nibbles.
Lee built the virtual reality gallery in Mozilla Hubs after conversations with the MarketPlace team and Art Society member Terry to discover more about the local area and the group, in order to inform the aesthetic of the space. This enabled the creation of a space filled with local references and events that could make this virtual space feel owned and relevant to the artist participants, who were embarking on a new digital experience together.
Building the exhibition himself enabled artist Lee Mason to personalise the space to include features associated with Brandon. This included a roof garden to commemorate their Anglia in Bloom 2019 win and special guest, the infamous Brandon bunny.
In her blog entry, Genevieve reflects on her experience as an artist during the period of lockdown, and her learning from her project Let’s Take A Walk, as part of MarketPlace’s commissions programme Creative Conversations In Isolation. Read about Genevieve’s project #Let’sTakeAWalk here.
Developing An Idea
‘Doorstep curiosity’ is a phrase I noted down during a Zoom catch-up with Creative Agent Ali and Marketing Officer Alice, a few days after the Let’s Take a Walk workshop. My own nature-informed arts practice took on a new resonance this year. Experiencing nature’s sights, sounds and sensations became essential to my wellbeing. The little things have really captured my attention. Self-seeded plants growing through the cracks in flint walls became a symbol for the resilience to find a way through. It was these experiences that inspired the project.
Let’s Take a Walk didn’t begin as a walk. In fact, for the Creative Conversations in Isolation call-out, whilst the country was under ‘Stay at Home’ orders, I wanted to find inspiration at home by unlocking stories in the objects we live with. I’d been running still-life drawing sessions over Zoom and through this, became curious about arranging and connecting with everyday ‘stuff’.
Creative Agents Ali and Colin, made it clear from the offset that this commission was flexible. They assured me that as the ideas developed, they’d support me to make it happen. It was refreshing to have an open brief and, as the world around us changed, so did the project. Exploring objects indoors became less appealing and spending time outdoors felt like the right way to go.
Before this year, I had never produced any remote sessions. In fact I had dismissed it as a ‘lesser version’ of face-to-face engagement, in which group dynamics feed the process. However as business as usual wasn’t possible, I had to eat my words and be open to adapting…
As the country moved into new measures, spending time outdoors was possible. However on-going restrictions meant families, friends and communities were – and still are – disconnected. One aim of Let’s Take a Walk was to support people to safely experience art and nature in the real world. The groups WalknCraft, based in Mildenhall and the March Can’t Sing Choir came forward as willing guinea pigs!
Getting Started
I hadn’t met the groups before, so I was initially concerned about how I would be received. However Ali and Colin supported the relationship and introduced me by email before the session. As I’m based in Great Yarmouth, I’m less familiar with the areas the groups live. Therefore the group picked their own familiar location to take part in.
At 10:00am on Friday 30th October, I sent the first WhatsApp message. I often feel nervous before the first workshop with a new group and this was no different. My worries soon faded away, as by 10:03am the first photo of a happy smiling participant popped up on my screen, and the rest followed. I spent the next couple of hours dashing between the laptop in my dining room and my garden, sketching along in between posting prompts.
At the end of the day, I collated the photos and videos sent during the session, and shared them during a Zoom reflection session. It was brilliant to see all the outcomes and hear honest feedback about what worked and what was found to be challenging.
Final Thoughts
For me, the workshop felt like a success because it felt like, well, a workshop! I saw their feet kicking through autumn leaves, listened to the birdsong they heard, and enjoyed seeing drawings in (almost) real time.
These ideas developed with CPP MarketPlace will inform my community arts practice as restrictions continue. Let’s Take a Walk has been a highlight this year as I felt supported to take a risk to develop my practice. The main thing I’ll take away is the importance of being flexible – something Ali and Colin emphasised right at the beginning. Another thing I’ll remember is these wise words from David: kicking through autumn leaves “isn’t a must do – it’s a compulsion!”.
Artist Genevieve Rudd approached MarketPlace with the idea of a workshop that would connect people, using creative activities to explore their surroundings outside.
The Walk’n’Craft Group, based in Mildenhall, and the Can’t Sing Choir, based in March, were keen to get involved. Everyone loved the idea of getting together in a way that was socially distanced (in line with the government restrictions at the time), but still enabled them to meet and socialise.
On Friday 30th October 2020, Genevieve sent prompts via WhatsApp to both groups throughout their walks. She set creative activities which encouraged everyone to take time to look more closely, listen to and feel their surroundings and think about the landscape they were in. After a well deserved break, everyone came together to meet via Zoom. Genevieve shared the photos, videos and creations made during their walks in a Powerpoint presentation.
When asked if the groups enjoyed the session, they were all positive about the experience. They were particularly pleased to try something different.
What did you enjoy and what will you take away from the session? “Doing something different and way out of my comfort zone. Words are my comfort and drawing was really my discomfort but I enjoyed it. [I will be] taking away the idea that I have grandchildren in different countries, and we could all do them [the activities] together, so that was grand.”
The workshop was an interesting experiment for Genevieve and the MarketPlace team. Using a platform like WhatsApp to bring different groups together at the same time was new for us, and came from a need to find alternative ways to connect during the pandemic.
During lockdown in May, we worked with artist, Marian Savill to make four short ‘make along’ online workshops to help you create your own Art Journal with materials you have around the house. As Marian says, ‘ANYONE can do it!’
Marian had been running Art Journaling workshops with the Meet Up Mondays group at The Barleycorn Cafe in Mildenhall. This video series offered an online alternative when the workshops were stopped due to Covid-19.
The workshops were posted in a Facebook event here, and on the Barleycorn Facebook page every Monday at 10am. Afterwards participants were encouraged to invite friends and share photos of their creations via social media, tagging the Barleycorn Cafe, Mildenhall and MarketPlace.
Make your own Art Journal along with Marian, watch the Introduction to get started.
Marian’s Introduction to Art Journaling
Monday 27th April
Marian introduces the artform she ‘loves loves loves’ to share with everyone, Art Journaling.
Marian presents the first of her Art Journal creative workshops – explaining how to get started with the making of a journal from a surprising variety of papers, envelopes, magazines and much more.
Marian presents her second workshop in her mission to get everyone art journaling! This week we take a look at backgrounds and how we can use different mediums to create colour and texture.
For her fourth and final workshop in her Art Journaling series, Marian talks about FRIPPERIES – decorating, embellishing and bringing your pages to life with artistic flair and little tricks that will make your journal a unique reflection of your thoughts.
![Right: Image from Tagged & Filtered project [Description: A young girls photo is obscured by writing of negative words like "ugly" and "loner" are scralled across the image.] Left: Logo from Viral project [Description: An image of a virus cell with the word "VIRAL" across a background of blue social media icons.]](https://www.cppmarketplace.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Case-Study_YPP-Viral-Tagged_Infographic.jpg)
