Tag Archive for: homelessness

Accumulate x House of St Barnabas

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The Accumulate Zine

This October will see the creative work of Accumulate participants included in an exhibition!

We are thrilled to be included in the AW18 Art Hang event at Soho private members club, House of St Barnabas.  We worked together with the students in their Employment Academy programme. This programme aims to support people affected by homelessness get the skills & training they need to get back into sustainable employment. The participants came together on a series of zine workshops led by designer Patrick Fry. They produced creative content influenced by their own experiences. This creative work was then passed onto over 80 2nd year graphic design students from Ravensbourne University. The students were set a brief by their tutor to produce a series of magazine spreads for Accumulate. Three students were then selected to develop their ideas further and create the final visuals for Decay 3, the Accumulate zine.

This collaboration of organisations and people who gave their time and expertise to create this zine has been immeasurable.

We will be immensely proud to see this work displayed within the stunning environs of House of St Barnabas in its Bazelgette Room as part of their 2018, not for profit art programme alongside other incredible artists.

If you think you could support Accumulate in our continuing creative programme supporting people affected by homelessness by working with us or volunteering your time, please do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you!

Page from the Accumulate DECAY 3 zine

 

Page from the Accumulate DECAY3 zine

 

 

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.

 

 

Displacement - The Accumulate 2018 Exhibition

The Accumulate Exhibition 2018

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The Accumulate 2018 exhibition opens at The Guardian building at 90 York Way, Kings Cross, London in just 5 days time. This year, we have 21 people, from 6 hostels, who completed the 15 week Accumulate photography course, learnt new skills and made new friends. The theme of this year’s exhibition is Displacement, and on the course we visited places and exhibitions around London that related or drew influence from the theme, such as Peckham, Dalston and Shoreditch and the Basquiet exhibition at The Barbican.

Displacement - The Accumulate 2018 Exhibition

Displacement – The Accumulate 2018 Exhibition

As ever, the build up to the exhibition is full of anticipation and expectation. Accumulate participants have recently put themselves through the task of applying for a scholarship to continue their creative education and study on the Access to HE Diploma in Design and Digital Media at Ravensbourne. This year, three scholarships are up for grabs and these will be announced and awarded at the Displacement Exhibition Private View on 17th May. It is a life changing opportunity for those that are successful and selected for a scholarship. Our thanks go to Brickworks London, the Ethical Estate Agency, Straight Forward Design Company and Ruth Keetch, a Ravensbourne governor, for supporting and funding these scholarships.

The Accumulate exhibition is not just about displaying the photographs taken by the Accumulate participants. It has a bigger role to play – it showcases the talents of a group of people that may feel marginalised and excluded from the mainstream and it becomes an educational tool of how much talent exists that is under utilised and needs to be nurtured and supported. Most of all, on the exhibition private view evening the Accumulate participants celebrate their achievements, learning and developments and others celebrate with them and admire their work. All of this is part of the positive learning journey that helps people to believe in themselves, their potential and ability to self progress onto a better place in life.

All of the photographs in the Accumulate Displacement exhibition are for sale, with profits split between the participants, so that they can earn money from their creativity, and Accumulate so that it can continue its services and provide more creative workshops to people affected by homelessness. It is possible to purchase the Accumulate exhibition 2018 photographs from our online shop here 

 

Accumulate at Youth Club Archive shop

Accumulate Good News Stories

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Accumulate has some good news stories to share with you!

So what have we been up to?

Accumulate Good News Story 1.

Accumulate entered a t.shirt collaboration with the wonderful Hopeful Traders. Hopeful Traders are a social enterprise that create and sell t.shirts using designs by homeless people and then they give a share of profits to charities dealing with homelessness. So it seemed a pretty obvious, that Accumulate should team up with Hopeful Traders and produce this beautiful, cool and groovy t.shirt.

Accumulate World Queen T.shirt

Accumulate World Queen T.shirt

 

Accumulate Good News Story 2.

We also have been busy bees producing products for the Accumulate Pop Up Shop within a pop up shop at Youth Club Archive, 3, Carnaby Street, London W1F 9PB.

The Youth Club Archive shop is a celebration of all things connected to Youth Culture, with a huge archive of photographs documenting the different subcultures such as punk, rockabilly, ska, skinheads, grime etc.

We have created a range of Accumulate products for the shop including t.shirts, tote bags, badges, art prints and posters. The Accumulate products use artwork created by residents at the Evolve Hostel in Stockwell when they participated in the Accumulate DECAY zine workshops.

Accumulate at Youth Club Archive shop

Accumulate at Youth Club Archive shop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accumulate Good News Story 3.

And then to top it all off we were very lucky, grateful and honoured to receive funding from the RSA Catalyst Fund to support the development and commercialisation of Accumulate products. The fund will enable us to increase the range and sales of Accumulate products designed by young people who are homeless and who attended our workshops. Through this development, we can provide an income to the Accumulate artists, who will get a share of the profits generated, build greater awareness of Accumulate and what it sets out to achieve, and, most importantly, provide an independent source of revenue so that we can increase our services and impacts, and reduce any dependency on grants and donations.

Accumulate gets RSA Funding

Accumulate gets RSA Funding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accumulate Good News Story 4. 

And then finally, we are looking forward to the DECAY at The London Art Fair exhibition. This Accumulate exhibition will showcase all the creativity produced on the DECAY 2 workshops with the Evolve hostel residents. And what’s even more exciting is that the exhibition will be within the prestigious London Art Fair – and that’s a great, big, good news story to end this year on! many thanks to the fantastic Briffa law firm and also the wonderful Ravensbourne for sponsoring the DECAY at The London Art Fair exhibition.

DECAY at The London Art Fair - Accumulate Exhibition

DECAY at The London Art Fair – Accumulate Exhibition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A HAPPY 2018 TO EVERYONE!

Tonya's poster at the DECAY zine workshop

The Accumulate DECAY ZINE Issue 2

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The past week we have been running a series of ZINE workshops with residents of Evolve Housing‘s Stockwell hostel. It is always a bit of a stress, not knowing if the project is going to appeal or, worse still, whether anyone is going to turn up and actually do anything. Well, the fears didn’t last long, every day people would turn up, sit round a shared table, talk and share insights, stories and their creativity with each other.

Getting creative at the DECAY zine workshop

Getting creative at the DECAY zine workshop

It became a very meaningful activity, trust was developed and creative content was produced for the DECAY zine which was beautiful, emotional, personal and incredible. They produced drawings, illustrations, poems, photographs, stories and collages and it will now be a hard task to edit, select and curate these for Issue 2 of the Accumulate DECAY zine. Tonya came to the DECAY workshop after getting a new job, and she created this lovely poster which just sums up how great she felt!

Tonya's poster at the DECAY zine workshop

Tonya’s poster at the DECAY zine workshop


The start of "reverse sunset" by Tia at the DECAY workshops

The start of “reverse sunset” by Tia at the DECAY workshops

We finished the week of with a portrait and drawing workshop at Youth Subculture. The group created their own backdrops and then had their portraits taken in front of their creative work.

Aaron's backdrop for DECAY zine portrait

Aaron’s backdrop for DECAY zine portrait

It was a very empowering session, in fact the whole project has really encapsulated what Accumulate is all about – using creativity as a tool for empowerment and progressing in life. DECAY will come out in September, so be sure to grab a copy and find out just how much talent there is, that is hidden, and just needs a helping hand to be enjoyed, appreciated and admired. It’s going to be great!