Tag Archive for: Accumulate

Creative Futures is back in 2024!

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Creative Futures is back in 2024!

Creative Futures is a FREE ten-session programmer taking place at Autograph Gallery in Shoreditch, East London between 23rd January and 26th March 2024

This programme aims to break down the barriers for people who are affected by homelessness to enter the creative sector, build networks and have access to opportunities.

You will learn skills in confidence building, networking, how to talk about yourself and your work, creating an online presence, portfolio building and more!

Apply online HERE and we will contact you to confirm your place. For more info email rossanne@accumulate.org.uk

 

Wonderland – 2023 Art Exhibition and Scholarship ceremony

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Wonderland

As we approach the Summer break it feels like the perfect time to look back at the incredibly special summer showcase event we held at the beginning of July. Sponsored by MTD Group and hosted by Conductor London, One Crown Place and Sun Street Hotel in the City of London, we celebrated the creative achievements of all our participants in the last year.

Wonderland Exhibition –  July 2023. Big thanks to Patrick Fry for the amazing graphics!

The exhibition was absolutely brimming with incredible art, all produced by our participants during our programme of creative workshops throughout the year. Guests on the night viewed ceramics, visual art, fashion, film and photographs. All created by people affected by homelessness.

Headpieces on display from our ‘Wearable Art as Fashion’ series of workshops

Beautiful ceramics designed and created by participants

Images from our Analogue Photography workshops

This year we wanted to make the exhibition as interactive as possible so we treated our guests to live screen printing workshops run by the wonderful Nicole Line as well as drawing workshops led by Joshua Beatty. We even had our own DJ booth, designed, built and painted by a group of participants along with Poor Collective.

Screen printing workshop so guests could give it a go too!

One guest loved the print so much that she printed it onto her trousers! Looks so good!

Our DJ booth created together with Poor Collective

As we all gathered together to celebrate the creativity in the room, we felt so privileged that participants Sam and Deon agreed to speak to the audience about their own Accumulate experiences. Sam, as a participant and scholarship winner in 2022, and Deon who is taking part in the MATTA programme, working so hard to inspire creativity in others. Listen to their stories in their own words via our Instagram posts. Sam’s is HERE Deon’s is HERE

Sam spoke about this Accumulate journey

Deon spoke about her experience as a participant on our MATTA course.

As part of the evening were just so excited to present certificates to each participant who attended our workshops as well as the highly anticipated scholarships to selected participants so they can continue their developing their creativity in higher education.

Participants were all presented with a certificate by Chair of Trustees Michelle

After a heartwarming speech from our Director and Founder Marice Cumber, our Chair of Trustees Michelle presented the scholarships to each winner along with their delighted sponsor.  They will study, fully funded, on Access to Higher Education courses in Fine Art, Design and Digital Media and Fashion at either Ravensbourne University or Morley College. Huge congratulations!

Stuart won the Accumulate Ian Shaw photography prize and also received an award of a camera and a year of mentoring by tutor Giulio Mazzarini.

Congratulations Alicia and thank you to sponsor Debra from Grove End Housing

Congratulations Ya’aesh and thank you to sponsor Debra from Grove End Housing

Congratulations to Alexandria and thank you to BOP Consulting for their sponsorship

Congratulations also to scholarship winners Hayley and Sana (not pictured) and sponsors AHMM Architects and EC Bid London.

To round off the celebrations, we were treated to a fashion show of participants all modelling the incredible headpieces they created in our series of workshops ‘Wearable Art as Fashion’. The show was led by previous Accumulate scholarship winner Nikol who really got the crowd going! Check out a video of the show HERE

Nikol led the fashion show!

Amazing pieces! Well done to all the participants.

Accumulate, after it all, is about community. We are so thrilled that so many participants past and present attend our events. A true testament to the experiences they have taken part in and the lasting friendships they have formed.

This was a truly special evening. The perfect showcase for all our participants for their achievements this year. We can’t wait to see what’s next for you all.

Photo credits: Ben Peters Photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming Soon! Wonderland

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COMING SOON!

Accumulate, the Art School for the Homeless presents………Wonderland

On Thursday 6th July we will treat our guests to a spectacular display of ceramics, visual art, fashion, film and photographs created by people affected by homelessness. We are so excited to also include a Wonderland live screen-printing and drawing workshop on the night so everyone can get involved!

This exhibition will display the striking creative work of the Accumulate participants which they have worked so hard to produce this year. We will hear their stories and witness how creativity has made a positive difference to their lives.

 

 

The Accumulate Wonderland exhibition is all about community and working together to achieve better things. It celebrates the creative achievements of a group of people, living in hostels and temporary accommodation, who participated in this year’s Accumulate Wonderland workshops, created their own supportive community and advanced and developed their skills and confidence through creative learning.

This event will also celebrate Accumulate’s  Wonderland community of creative practitioners, cultural and creative organisations, funders and sponsors who work with, collaborate and support Accumulate and help us to achieve so much meaningful and transformative impact and experiences for our participants.

Our participants have worked so hard on their creativity throughout the year

Part of this event will also include the scholarships which will be awarded to selected Accumulate participants so that they can continue their creative education and study, fully funded, on Access to HE courses in Fine Art, Design and Digital Media and Fashion. An amazing opportunity and all part of their creative journey with Accumulate.

It promises to be an inspiring evening. There’s still time to RSVP for your ticket to attend. Drop us a message if you’d like to come along.

  • Email us at info@accumulate.org.uk
  • Follow us on Instagram & Twitter @acccumulate_ldn

 

Creative Futures Update

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Breaking Down Barriers

This Summer saw our first Creative Futures event, a two-day workshop of networking and profile building, interview and presentation skills, and matching participants with opportunities in the creative industries. We were thrilled to be hosted by D&AD in their Shoreditch offices.

This initiative, which we operate in partnership with leading creative businesses and organisations, aims to break down the barriers for people affected by homelessness to enter the creative sector, build networks and have access to opportunities.

Creative Futures Event at D&AD, Shoreditch
Photo Credit, Ben Peters

As a result of the summer workshops, our participants were invited to take part in creative sessions led by industry professionals. Check out our days at software leader Adobe and the London-based creative agency Jones Knowles Ritchie.

Adobe – Video Creation and Editing

In September. our Creative Futures participants attended a workshop hosted by Adobe at their amazing offices learning how to edit videos for TikTok using Adobe software.

Participants Crystal and Anita take part in the Adobe workshop

 

Malin Persson from Adobe who was leading the opportunity said: “It was truly magical hosting the attendees that came to the workshop and the day was just filled to the brim with laughter, creativity, fabulous ideas, new editing skills, and lots of Tiktok videos…the entire Adobe gang truly enjoyed sharing the afternoon with the group, and really hope they got the most out of the day and learnt some new tips and tricks 😊”

Participant Nikol said ‘I felt like a professional team player. It’s good to get a feel of these places because it kind of lights a fire under you.’

Jones Knowle Ritchie – Building your Profile

In October our participants made the most of another exciting opportunity working with the creative agency Jones Knowles Ritchie.

Luke and Anita at Jones Knowles Ritchie

Anita, who took part in the session said “‘The JKR workshop was fantastic. I left inspired by their advice, carefully listening to our ideas and individual feedback. On the way home, I shed a tear. I felt so touched. It was like there was hope that things could somehow work out. It lights me up.’

What’s next for Creative Futures?

It is so heartwarming to hear the fantastic feedback of both the facilitators and the participants in these opportunities. Positive steps, empowerment through creativity and an exciting future for our participants.

We are so delighted with how it has all run that we are going to do it all again in January 2023! Another two-day workshop working in conjunction with creative industry professionals. Want to get involved? Get in touch at info@accumulate.org.uk

Print, Weave, Sculpt

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This June, our group was super excited to start a brand new series of intensive creative workshops led by professional artists. We partnered with the University of Arts London in Camberwell on this project. Such a fantastic way for participants to learn new skills and uncover hidden talents. A three-day creative marathon!

 

Day One – Print

Working with print artist Caroline Fernandes participants learnt to use different print techniques and designed their own t-shirts. Everyone really loved this workshop, especially the heat transfer which they said was like ‘magic!’

Designing our own T-shirts using heat transfer printing techniques

Day Two – Weave

Led by textile artist Amber Roper our group took part in a weaving activity. We learnt all about creating patterns through weaving along with design and making our own tapestries. What was even better was their individuals learnt to be patient and focus on their creations. Feedback from this session was great. Everyone just loved getting creative with colour!

Working with colour on our weaving activity

Day Three – Sculpt

The final day saw the participants sculpt a display of their work. We built a structure from cane to which all the art made over this course was attached to create a pop-up exhibition. It was a real team effort and a huge achievement at the end of this course. It was wonderful to see it all displayed together, and the group was so proud of what they created.

Our pop-up exhibition!

One participant said ‘Fantastic people, brilliant sessions, fabulous work. It’s amazing what can be achieved individually and collectively.’

Our group of artists!

Huge thanks go to our tutors over the last three days of creativity. We are so grateful for your support and the group is still buzzing from your inspiring sessions.

 

 

Get An Education to Give An Education

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Get An Education to Give An Education with The Accumulate Art School for the Homeless courses!

Accumulate is now offering specialist online Get An Education to Give An Education courses with all profits being used to fund Accumulate creative workshops for people who are homeless and so it’s a win-win for everyone. The courses are all bookable online (see links below) and not only will you be gaining an education but *paying forward* to help others gain an education too – what’s not to love??

“Ever since I have been declared homeless, my human rights have been stripped away. My voice is either muted or lost. My opinion has no value. I’m treated as nothing more than a dumb person. I truly appreciate what Accumulate is doing and offer (to anyone) Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!”

The Accumulate Get An Education to Give An Education courses are focused on mastering Instagram and gaining the impact you want. Now, more than ever, people and businesses are using Instagram to get ahead but knowing how to do it to get results takes insider knowledge and skills that are really in demand. These Accumulate courses will provide all of this for you, your business, brand or career.

The Accumulate Get An Education to Give An Education courses are delivered by Williamz Omope and Tori Taiwo – creative directors and social media experts who teach these courses at universities, for Accumulate and within the community. Williamz and Tori really know the inside stuff and tricks that the professionals use on Instagram and will be sharing these on the Accumulate courses which will cover:

  • How to take the photographs that gain Instagram attention
  • Understanding image composition for a good photograph
  • Using visual language to tell a story
  • Developing a visual style by using editing apps
  • How to use Instagram – right from the very beginning
  • How to build audiences, brands and businesses through Instagram
  • Mastering the Instagram functions and using them correctly
  • Developing the creative content that generates interaction
  • Reels, IG live and videos for Instagram
  • Timing your Instagram post to increase engagement and what systems to use for this
  • Language and words to use to get attention for your posts
  • How to manage and get Instagram comments to increase engagement and audience
  • The clues and tricks about hashtags and how to use them
  • How to set up an Instagram shop and generate financial gain
  • Creating visual content that turns into online sales

Tori Taiwo leading a Making It On Instagram online course at Ravensbourne University London

All the Accumulate Get An Education to Give An Education courses have limited numbers so you get the attention you need and feel comfortable asking questions, you will also get individual feedback. The courses will be delivered online and recorded so you can also refresh your knowledge after each workshop, there will also be weekly homework and tasks to do so that you progress and put into practice the valuable knowledge and skills gained.

Book Now! Places are limited

To book a course to improve your Instagram knowledge and skills whilst also changing a homeless person’s life through creative education click on the links and Get An Education to Give An Education

Smartphone Photography for Instagram : 3 week course: 14 Sept – 28 Sept, Tuesdays, 6.30- 8.30pm, £150
Instagram for Beginners: 6 week course: 5 Oct – 9 Nov, Tuesdays, 6.30 – 8.30pm, £375
Making it on Instagram (intermediate and advanced): 6 week course: 5 Oct – 9 Nov, Tuesdays, 6.30 – 8.30pm, £375
Making Money from Instagram: 6 week course: 6 Oct – 10 Nov, Wednesdays, 6.30 – 8.30pm, £425

Hope to see you there and please email info@accumulate.org.uk if you would like any further information

Accumulate 2020/21 Showcase Event

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The end of June brought us what felt like a rare chance to join together with participants, supporters and friends to look back at an incredible year. The aim of Accumulate, the Art School for the Homeless, is to improve peoples’ lives through creativity and we are proud to say that we have achieved this despite a very challenging year. A year when we couldn’t meet as a group and our participants were more isolated, and feeling even more lonely and vulnerable than ever. Even though our annual jam packed exhibition had to be reinvented for 2021, we still managed a celebration of what we have achieved through our showcase which was held at The Barbican, in Cinema 1.

Accumulate at The Barbican

We premiered our Accumulate 20/21 film, which you can watch HERE, in which we celebrated all that we have done over the past year. From pivoting during lockdown to online workshops, to distributing over 4000 Art Kits to hostels across the UK and launching the Book of Homelessness, it has been extremely busy but rewarding time for all of us.

Participants Stories

During the event, we were honoured to hear from three past Accumulate scholarship winners who took to the stage and spoke so candidly about their own personal experiences of homelessness and how they were empowered to move forwards positively with their lives. It really was very moving to hear these stories and the impact that art and creativity can have. Check out all three videos HERE

Nikol DeHaan speaking at the Accumulate Showcase. Photo Credit, Williamz Omope

 

Mitchel Ceney speaking at the Accumulate Showcase. Photo credit Williamz Omope

 

LisaLouise MacGregor speaking at the Accumulate Showcase. Photo credit Williamz Omope

Scholarship Awards

This event also gave us the opportunity to present our annual scholarship awards, giving the recipient the opportunity to continue their creative education at Ravensbourne University in September. We are so thankful to each scholarship funder for supporting these awards, without who they just would not be possible.

The well deserved winners were:
  • Keattch family scholarship awarded to Jade Amoli-Jackson
  • Say Property travel bursary scholarships to Whitney Stewart and Reuben Dehaan. (The Say Property scholarship is covered through sales of Book of Homelessness, as they bought nearly 200 copies!)
  • Jon Drori scholarship to Anita Karklina
  • The Keattch Family also awarded  £1000 each to Mitchel, Ola, Nikol and Anne to help with their continuing creative studies.

Debra Yudolph from Say Property presenting two scholarships. Photo credit Williamz Omope

 

 Keattch Family presentation. Photo credit Williamz Omope

Huge congratulations to all award winners. We are so proud of you all and can’t wait to see your continuing achievements. Thank you also to everyone who was able to attend this event and who followed along on social media with us. We are so happy to have your support on this very special and happy day.

 

 

 

 

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Phenomenal response to Book of Homelessness!

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An Amazing Response!

When Accumulate set out on The Book of Homelessness project we had no idea that the response to it, once published, would be so phenomenal! Sales have been so significant that we sold out of the first print run within 2 weeks and so have reprinted in double quick time!

The Book of Homeless

 

Life Changing

What’s even better is because sales are so high we are now able to fund a scholarship for an Accumulate participant to progress their creative education and study, fully funded, on the Access to Higher Education course at Ravensbourne University in London. It is truly wonderful that the creativity of people who are homeless will actually change another homeless person’s life through creative education.

 

Hear my Story

The stories in The Book of Homelessness are emotional, raw and direct. They tell the stories of people who have been forced to leave their homes, countries, relationships, families, care and prison. But they are also stories of hope, resilience and determination from people who are using their creativity to tell their own stories and to help change perceptions of what homelessness is.

Self Portrait by Ria Wallace

Sharing the profits

Profits from sales of The Book of Homelessness are shared with the Accumulate participants, so that they can earn money through their creativity, and Accumulate so that we can fund another scholarship to change a homeless person’s life and provide more creative workshops for people who are homeless.

Image and text by Mitchel Ceney

Press Response

The response from the press to The Book of Homelessness has been just as incredible and for that we have been so grateful, helping us spread the word far and wide. If you want to see what is being said about the Book of Homelessness is publications such as The Guardian, Big Issue and Creative Review pop over to out Press Coverage page on the website here.

 

Youth Culture – An Accumulate Exhibition

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The Accumulate 2019 Exhibition launches April 2019!

On the 9th April, ‘Youth Culture’ the Accumulate exhibition for 2019 launches at Autograph in Shoreditch, East London. We are so looking forward to showcasing the incredible creative achievements of the group of participants who have taken part in the Accumulate programme this year.

Our group have covered a wide range of creative mediums in a really short space of time, given we only started with the group in January! We have introduced new workshops this year including fashion and sculpture which the group have absolutely loved. Collaborating with some big industry names which has been an absolute thrill for all of us involved.

The Road to Youth Culture

The start of the year brought together the group of participants. Each person taking part is affected by homelessness. Participants have come to from 7 hostels across London. For the first of our workshops we worked with our exhibition hosts and long term collaborators Autograph. Participants got to hear about the context and background to their extensive photographic archive as well as learning new skills with the camera before shooting on location around Shoreditch. Getting out of the hostel environment is a very important element to our project. Participants enjoy the experience of visiting and exploring new places as a focus to their workshop, helping them gain confidence away from the hostel.

On location in Shoreditch (Photo credit Sabela Peinado)

Fashion Workshop

2019 was the first time we have worked with a fashion theme in the Accumulate programme. We collaborated with international fashion brand Levis, London cultural space Somerset House and the photography archive, Youth Club Archive on this workshop. Participants got inspired, working with the theme of Youth Culture, reviewing Youth Club’s amazing social history archive of images. They then went on, using these influences to customise the iconic Levis Trucker Jacket to give it their own unique and personal look. An amazing outlet for self expression, learning new skills and finding inspiration working together as a group. The levels of creativity and imagination was just outstanding!

Customised denim jackets (Photo credit sabelapeinado.com)

With the jackets complete, the group took part in photoshoots outside Somerset House and on location at the Printworks venue in East London. The group were fashion models and photographers for the day! The took  it in turn to photograph each other, perfecting their newly learned camera skills!

Shannon Stevenson Glowing Out Of Turn

Photo Credit Shannon Stevenson, Accumulate Participant

Sculpture Workshop

Along with a fashion workshop, we were so excited to introduce Sculpture to the programme this year. This workshop was kindly funded by Art UK as part of their ‘Art is all around you’ UK wide sculpture project. We also partnered again with our friends at Autograph. We were very excited to hold part of the workshop at the BBC Broadcasting House! Inspired by the sculptures and history surrounding this iconic building, our participants worked on themes that influenced their identity and own ideas of youth culture. They began modelling their sculptures first from cardboard then covering them in plaster before finally painting them with breathtaking results!

Adding plaster to a sculpture (Photo credit sabelapeinado.com)

Zine Making

Amongst all this we also found time to create Issue 4 of the Accumulate zine Decay!! The creative ideas were first produced by our group, putting their own thoughts and feelings down on paper. This work was then passed on the 60 graphic design students at Ravensbourne University who worked to create the final spreads seen in the zine.

Creating at the zine workshop

 

The Youth Culture pop up exhibition will feature all the work our participants have produced during these workshops, including a show of the stunning customised Levis jackets and the official launch of Decay 4. As part of this event we will also be awarding scholarships to selected Accumulate participants, giving them the opportunity to further their creative studies on the Access HE course in Design and Digital Media at Ravensbourne University London. A life changing opportunity.

There is still time to register for this free event – click here.  Please show you support for our participants and come along. We would all love to see you there!

Accumulate Summer 2018

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Wow, what a Summer we have had! As Autumn approaches, it’s great to reflect on what has been a really exciting time for our project with so much more to come!

We won an award!

June saw Accumulate highly commended by the Festival of Learning. This organisation celebrates the benefits of learning and the achievements of adults who have used learning to transform their lives. It was such a proud moment to see one of our 2017 scholarship winners; Jay collect this award. It was presented by Professor Linda Drew, Director and CEO of Ravensbourne University.

Creative Leaders 50

Following this, we were simply over the moon to see our inspiring founder and Director Marice Cumber named in Creative Review’s ‘Creative Leaders 50’. Recognition of people driving change in the creative industries and incredibly well deserved. Many congrats Marice!

Process at Somerset House

In July, we took part in ‘Process’ a two day festival of independent media & a zine fair held at Somerset House in Central London. This was a great platform for us to promote the work of Accumulate and our latest zine ‘Decay.’

 

This zine is the result of a collaboration between House of St Barnabas, Accumulate and Ravensbourne University. This collection of words, images and random thoughts by people affected by homelessness is now in its third issue. It is a really great showcase for the power of creativity, with organisations and individuals working together to form their own creative community. Click here to buy your own copy of Decay 3 and help us support more people affected by homelessness find empowerment through creativity.

The Great Fete

In August we took part in the Great Fete at Alexandra Palace in North London. Participants from hostels all over London came together to take part in this workshop. They took portraits using a polaroid camera of those attending the event. The images were then all linked together to create a ‘Palace Quilt’. This was such a great project to work on, bringing different parts of the community together to craft, share skills and make something collectively. The finished piece was then displayed by the festival.

Scholarship Winners Enrol!

As the end of August came, we were so proud to see the happy smiling faces of our 2018 scholarship winners as they enrolled at University. They will be studying on the Access to HE Diploma course in Design and Digital Media at Ravensbourne University.  This has all been made possible by our amazing sponsors Brickworks London, Straight Forward Design and Ravensbourne University. Exciting times are certainly ahead, and we are so happy to have you follow our journey with us.