Tag Archive for: Art School for the Homeless

Creative Futures 2024

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The start of 2024 was an exciting time for Accumulate with the launch of our third instalment of Creative Futures – our innovative programme that aims to break down barriers for people affected by homelessness to enter the creative sector, build their network and access workplace opportunities.

Over the past ten weeks, our participants have enjoyed weekly sessions with a range of fabulous speakers covering everything from making money as a creative, perfecting your social media profiles, portfolio and network building and growing your confidence and employability skills.

Our 2024 programme has so kindly been funded by Adobe UK and hosted by Autograph Gallery in Shoreditch. We are so grateful for the support we have received from both these organisations, enabling us to bring Creative Futures 3 to fruition.

The industry support we have received this year has been immense with guest speakers joining us from various creative backgrounds to share their experience and expertise with our group, all of which will offer a workplace opportunity for selected graduates.

Our thanks go to our guest speakers Emma Mann from No Fixed Abode, Emelie Helsen, Lizzie Shupak and Helen Bazuaye from Curve, Nikol DeHann, Paul Rider, Yvonne Halloran from the Seeds Diversity Project at Ravensbourne University, Lorna Hamilton-Brown, Accumulate Trustee Katherine Finerty, Design Bridge’s Leah Jacobs-Gordon, Vicky Yang and Graeme Haig, Othello De Souza-Hartley, Rebecca Young, Sade English from Anticlone Gallery and Vic Lee.

Thank you to those who attended our Portfolio Review sessions to give essential feedback to our participants as they continue their creative journey – Design Bridge, Handsome Frank, Jacky Winter and freelance creatives. We are also immensely grateful to our creative businesses who attended our speed networking sessions providing work-related opportunities – thanks to Abode, The Barbican, Design Bridge, South London Gallery, Jones Knowles Ritchie, Sade English and Gem Creative Studio.

Lastly, a huge congratulations to the participants of Creative Futures – what an achievement! We look forward to keeping you posted with all the workplace placements individuals will take part in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Utopia: A New World for Everyone

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Design, Make & Build Your New World

Brand new for 2022, this project started in April this year. The brief for our participants, to create their own ‘New World.’ Over ten sessions, the final works will be displayed at this summer’s Waterloo Festival which is attended by around 500 people each year. By completing this series of workshops, participants also have the chance to win one of our annual Accumulate scholarships to attend an Access to Higher Education course at either Ravensbourne University or Morley College!

Workshop poster

We are thrilled to partner with Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Architects on this project, giving our participants the chance to work with professional architects and designers to bring their vision to life. We are also so grateful to our funders Arts Council England and Foyle Foundation for their support.

Collage inspiration

Building up their own ‘Utopia’ ideas using collages, sketches and mood boards was a great starting point. So much imagination and thought going into each individual design. Each participant has their own sketchbook so they can carry on developing their ideas and creativity in each session and outside the workshops. The group also worked on models creating ‘mini me’s’ that will live in their own ideal world.

Creating mini me’s! Photo Credit: Chez Christiealice

Discussing and presenting ideas to each other is an important part Accumulate, so everyone can engage, learn and support each other. Climate change and sustainability are major themes for discussion in this project, with tutors showing how they incorporate such important elements into building projects and how they would be central to a new Utopia. Participants took this expertise and then discussed how they would like to incorporate it into their own plans before starting to build their own Utopia models with a focus on the environment.

Photo Credit: Chez Christiealice

Photo Credit: Chez Christiealice

As the weeks past it has been incredible to see how much their model-making skills have developed and their confidence has increased – especially when it comes to discussing their own works and explaining their vision to others. They are an amazing group of people, giving so much support and encouragement to everyone. Our creative community is flourishing!

Photo Credit: Chez Christiealice

Within this project, participants have tried their hand at embroidery and textile design, creative writing, music and voice workshops. All of these elements have been incorporated into the final project including a song that the group have written and will perform at the festival!

Working on lyrics in the Music & Voice workshop

Ten weeks of hard work and creativity are now complete and we are so thrilled to be able to present the participant’s final works to our supporters with a private view event on 7th July, prior to the exhibition at the Waterloo Festival. At this event, we are also presenting the scholarships to selected participants so they can continue their creative education. Join us! We’d love to see you there to help celebrate. DM us over on Instagram for all the details!

 

 

 

Pottery & Gardening!

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November brought our series of Pottery Workshop’s held at Space Studios in Hackney working with The Potting Shed. We haven’t worked with clay for a while in our workshops so it was fantastic to use this creative medium again in our sessions. Did you know ceramics are a favourite of our founder Marice Cumber, check out her amazing work here

The brief was to design and create our own pinch pot style plant holder that would then be glazed and fired and then planted up with a lovely succulent. Tutor Liz Jackson guided our group though all the stages from how to use slips and carving tools to decorate their creations to firing and glazing.

Look at the concentration on these faces! The group just loved working on this project. Pottery and gardening! Such a enjoyable and relaxing way to switch off from everything and get creative.

When they were finished, each member of the group had a beautiful and unique piece they had made to enjoy! 

 

Accumulate April Update!

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April 2021 has been a busy month for Accumulate with some exciting new and continuing projects and good news for Accumulate!

Return to The Barbican

We were delighted to be able to return to the learning space at the Barbican Centre early in April to resume our face to face workshops after such a long time. We are equally delighted to have teamed up with the global creative design advertising association D&AD who provided one of their student briefs to design a promotional campaign for lego bricks for this series of workshops.

A new series of workshops began in April 2021

We were very grateful to have a great haul of lego donated to us to use for this project through the generosity of the team at the Barbican and D&AD. The local community in Crouch End were also a huge help donating bricks after a Facebook shout out! The group were so excited to see this mountain of lego and to take part in an Accumulate project that is completely new and different.

Using Lego bricks as our creative medium

 

Our aim on this project is the reverse the hierarchy, bringing top-level creative expertise, teaching and knowledge to people who wouldn’t normally be able to access it. Industry experts Giulio Mazzarini and Natalie Prout from Jones Knowles Ritchie joined us to talk the group through how strategy and creativity work in an advertising environment. We are also very excited to welcome industry speakers from leading creative agencies including Saboteur, GEM, Bullet Proof and We Are Social to join us on this project in the coming weeks to share their expertise and industry insights with Accumulate participants. This will be an amazing opportunity for our participants to gain access to this level of knowledge and also be able to showcase their talent and potential.

Joined by industry experts from JKR Global

At the end of this project in June, there will be an exhibition of the participants work along with three scholarships awarded to selected participants to attend Ravensbourne University! Watch this space!

Donation from Grand Matter

Illustration agency Grand Matter organised a fundraising drive for Accumulate with their super-talented illustrators designing a beautiful collection of blankets which were then sold to raise money for Accumulate. We are so thankful and humbled by this support. Even more so in that it has meant that we can now purchase tablets for the group working on the D&AD project we are currently running, so all our learners can digitise their own creative work. Huge thanks to all the team at Grand Matter.

Students digitise their creativity

Accumulate Art Kit workshops continue

Our Accumulate Art Kits project is still going strong. We ran an excellent ‘Train the Trainer’ session this month with the team from London architecture firm AHMM who put together and led a model making activity with a group of support workers from homeless hostels across the country.

Train the Trainer session with AHMM

This session was so well received by the group and they are now ready to run their own sessions with clients from the hostels they work in using the kits that we provide. We are so pleased to have AHMM join us, giving their time, expertise and support.

Accumulate in Positive News

We were very excited to see the graphic novel that we published last year, Book of Homelessness, featured in an article by Positive News! You can read the full article HERE. We had such a great response to the feature with a great surge of support. The money we have raised from the sales of our book has meant that we have been able to fund a scholarship for an Accumulate participant to attend Ravensbourne University to study on the Access to HE course in Design & Digital Media. As our founder, Marice Cumber told Positive News ‘This is a very special thing. It means that the creativity of a group of people affected by homelessness will support someone else who is homeless to change their lives through creative education.’

Feature in Positive News

Click HERE to read more about Book of Homelessness and purchase your own copy

 

Follow @Accumulate_Ldn on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook!

 

 

 

Create Change Project

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A Series of Workshops

September 2020 brought our newest collaboration, the Create Change Project, kindly funded and supported by the innovation foundation Nesta. With our base at Union Chapel in Islington, we set up our ‘Art School for the Homeless’ pop up. This was our first face to face but socially distanced series of workshops to run since March and it was great to be back together again after so long.

Photo credit: Ben Peters

Climate Change

Our subject was Climate Change. We gathered as a group to collectively discuss the climate change crisis & it’s impact. Along with this we talked about the financial aspects of poverty & how it directly affects the choices you can make from an environmental point of view. We worked using art, illustration, poetry and creative writing, so many creative mediums to help to express opinions and points of view in our group. Working with an amazing group of tutor Tori Taiwo, Williamz Omope and Liv Wynter, our group was able to form a creative community with the freedom to discuss ideas of how to create change.

Photo Credit: Ben Peters

 

Photo credit: Ben Peters

The incredible creative responses created by our group are currently being digitalised for an online exhibition that will be hosted on the Nesta website very soon. Watch this space!

A Creative Community

This series of workshops was a great opportunity for all our participants, some of whom this was their first taste of an Accumulate workshop, to really connect, support each other and find purpose. People who didn’t know each other have formed teams to work together with great energy & group dynamic. So proud of what we have created together!

Photo credit: Ben Peters

Huge thanks to Nesta and Union Chapel for your support.