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UPDATE
We are delighted to announce that our Celebrate Legacy project with Old Ford Art Club recently won the Best Creative Project at the Clarion Futures/ InCommon Age Friendly Awards. This is fantastic news. Congratulations to everyone who took part!
20 young people and elders from Tower Hamlets have spent the last three weeks collaborating on a unique work of art celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and local Tower Hamlets history. The intergenerational project will culminate in a special community celebration on Wednesday 1 June 2022, where participants will showcase their artwork and residents of all ages and backgrounds can celebrate the historic milestone together.
Supported by an award from Arts Council England’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund, managed by the East End Communities Foundation, Celebrate Legacy was a collaboration between Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group, Half Moon Theatre and the Old Ford Art Club. The programme enabled older residents to share memories and learnings from their lives and for younger residents to share their hopes for the future.
Using exploratory play, drama and visual arts to discover and celebrate local history and connect communities together, the final artwork will be displayed across community hubs in Bow, before going on permanent display in Tower Hamlets.
The Celebrate Legacy artwork consists of portraits of young people and elders in the style of the Queen and banners representing ways in which Tower Hamlets celebrated the Queen’s Coronation in 1953. Alongside this are audio recordings of interviews with the participants.
The Community Celebration on Wednesday 1 June marks the end of the project and will feature entertainment for all ages, including badge making workshops, a bouncy castle and funfair stalls, as well as a traditional BBQ and authentic Caribbean cuisine. The event will take place outside the Butley Court Community Centre in Ford Street, Bow, from 4pm-7pm.
Taking part in the project were members of the Old Ford Art Club, as well as members of Half Moon’s Youth Theatres and After School Drama clubs.
Chris Elwell, Director of Half Moon, said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Old Ford Art Club on Celebrate Legacy, an important intergenerational project to bring local communities together, reduce isolation amongst older residents and increase social connections between diverse groups of residents. It has been a real privilege to meet so many lovely people from across the decades and hear a diverse range of personal memories. A huge thank you to Clarion Futures and Arts Council England for enabling us to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and local Tower Hamlets history in a unique work of art.”
Matt Parsonage, Head of Communities at Clarion Futures, said: “The Platinum Jubilee is a major milestone in our nation’s history and we’re delighted to be part of the celebrations, working with our partners at Half Moon Theatre to deliver a fantastic project in Tower Hamlets that will bring older and younger residents together to share their stories and experiences. We hope that the project will help tackle loneliness and isolation and establish intergenerational friendships as well as giving local people the chance to learn from the past and explore hopes for the future.”
Celebrate Legacy Community Celebration
Wednesday 1 June | 4pm-7pm | FREE
Butley Court Community Centre, 1a Butley Court, Ford Street, Bow, London E3 5LT
