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Hello <<First Name>>, here's the latest news from Magic Me.
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THANK YOU!
To everyone who donated to our Big Give Christmas Challenge. We raised an amazing £8,746 to support our Arts & Ages programme
To everyone who has supported us during the year with donations, fundraising and encouraging their companies and organisations to support us.
To everyone who has volunteered
To everyone who has been part of a project
To all our artists, filmmakers and photographers
To all our funders
To everyone who has talked about us on social media, pitched us to the press, written articles and blogs about us.
To the teachers, care home managers, activities organisers, and other staff at our partner and host organisations
Photo above by Roxene Anderson from the International Cocktail Party at George Mason Lodge.
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Over ten weeks Magic Me brought together Year 4 children from Clara Grant Primary School and older people in the local community. Working with director and singer, Freya Wynn-Jones, visual artist, Ben Connors, and theatre designer, Amanda Mascarenhas, the group explored routes, navigations and maps into the discovery of our own identity, creating seven 3D artworks.
On 12th December the group came together to share their work with a wider audience. Other pupils from Clara Grant Primary and friends, family and Magic Me supporters enjoyed interacting with the art works the group had made.
You can find out more about the Arts & Ages programme here
Photo above by Samia Meah
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COCKTAILS TEAM WIN AN AWARD!
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Our Cocktails In Care Homes team have been awarded a Stars of the Arts award.
Pictured above, Phoebe Grudzinskas, Sarah Watson and Imogen Duffin have been awarded a Stars of the Arts Award by Arts Jobs Online. You can read about the award here.
Are you interested in joining our Party Manager team?
Cocktails in Care Homes is moving into new areas and reaching more people in London! We are currently looking for Party Managers to join our team in:
Dalston, Surrey Quays and Bethnal Green.
This is a fun and creative role! Commit 3 hours per month hosting one Cocktail party in your local area with other volunteers! Email Sarah for more details: sarahwatson@magicme.co.uk
We are also looking to welcome more regular volunteers to our parties in Marylebone, Willesden Green, Swiss Cottage and Surrey Quays. Are you happy to commit to 3 parties per year at the same care home? Let Sarah know and let's get some dates in the diary!
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Last month, Party Managers Claire and Lesley hosted their International themed Cocktail party at George Mason Lodge in Leytonstone. A great idea as bringing generations together in London also often means bringing nations together! Above is one of our fave pics from the evening, courtesy of our fantastic Photographer, Roxene Anderson. Thanks Claire and Lesley for organizing this fantastic evening, and to all who joined!
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Our new project, Quality Street, had its first taster sessions in December. Pupils from George Mitchell Primary School and older people from the Seddon Centre shared the task of making Christmas decorations which will be displayed in both the school and the Seddon Centre community centre.
Quality Street will be made up of many arts projects and events across the two years in Leyton including puppet making, visual arts and mural painting, film, photography and music pieces. The project will culminate in a large street festival in June 2019, when Waltham Forest are the official London Borough of Culture. The project is funded by housing association L&Q.
This 2 year project will bring older and younger people together, to build mutually beneficial, cross-generational connections and increase happiness and wellbeing. The project will engage with three generations of local people; school age children, working age people including parents of the children, L&Q tenants and people living and working in Leyton plus the third group of older people.
This innovative partnership between an arts organisation and a charitable housing association takes an exciting new look at ‘placemaking’. The long term approach hands over artistic autonomy to the community enabling the people of Leyton to find their own ways of connecting. The project focuses on the people as creators linking them with Magic Me’s high quality artists to help them deliver their vision celebrating their community.
If you live in Leyton and would like to volunteer or participate in the project please get in touch with Greer at greermackeogh@magicme.co.uk
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In December 2017 our Director, Susan Langford was one of a party of British arts practitioners and managers working in the field of arts and older people, who were invited by British Council Korea and Baring Foundation on an exchange visit to Seoul and Busan. Thanks to the generosity of the British Council Susan made a return visit to Seoul and Busan in November 2018, with our Associate Artist, Sue Mayo. The visit enabled her to dig deeper and explore more, whilst sharing Magic Me’s specialist intergenerational arts practice, developed in east London over nearly 30 years, in a series of talks and workshops.
Susan and Sue dived straight in on day one, during a roundtable discussion with guests invited for their diversity of ages from their 20s to their 60s. One key discovery was that the way the Korean language is structured reinforces the age difference of two people in any exchange: the younger person will use a form which honours the elder, and that’s not just people 60+, its across the life course. In a workplace new staff recruits will be carefully selected to ensure age differentials are respected; younger people reported feeling unheard and their experiences undervalued.
Through the week, as they talked with artists, activists, funders and those working to build and regenerate communities, Susan and Sue kept coming back to the question of what ‘respect’ means between people of different ages and experiences. How far can the arts, by offering non-verbal, alternative languages, through dance or photography or music, facilitate new conversations for those of all ages whom we met, who were keen to explore new ways of being and building community together?
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Lucas Tooth Trust and players of the People's Postcode Lottery who pledged to double donations in the Big Give Christmas Challenge.
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“It’s good, it’s fun, I love it. I mean I love working with them kids, they are so funny, great personalities.” – Older Participant in Map of Me project
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Christmas - Happy Christmas everyone!
Cocktail parties start again in January from 9th January.
Magic Me's 30th Birthday - all year long!
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