Over the past couple of months, the Covid pandemic has posed the most dire challenges to those already on the margins. The children, young adults and women that Artreach engages with, and our partnering care homes, NGOs and NGO-run schools inspire us every day in how bravely they are meeting up to this adversity.
Caring for a large group of children and young adults, within the confines of a small space, with schools closed, is in itself Herculean; and many of our partner organisations are going further, providing rations to children and families in need and stranded labourers in their neighbourhoods.
We wanted to share with you how we at Artreach have been responding to this continuing situation, which demands new strategies of care for children and young people:
Through conversations with our partnering care homes and our artists, we have come up with original modules for online art workshops that delve into the lives of inspiring artists from around the world, museum collections, and periods of art history. From Frida Kahlo's diaries that reflect on her solitude (Google Arts & Culture) to puppet making practices using simple paper, scissors and colours.
These explorations have sparked endless lively interactions among our small groups of participants. Each workshop we learn from the previous one, and it shows us that it IS POSSIBLE to connect creatively, learn, heal and grow through art -- even in these extraordinary circumstances.
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"It was a really good workshop today; we learnt about pre-historic paintings and also got to know about some new artists that were very interesting!"
- Student, Artreach online workshops
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We have been drawing 'live' during workshops: educators actually giving drawing demos, inspiring students to get out their sketchbooks and paper. They set up their own still-life sessions with objects around them to build observational skills, they make portraits of each other and understand drawing 'characters', and they are keeping visual journals of their everyday lives. It has been heartwarming to see the results of these interactive exchanges.
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"What could be as therapeutic as sketching out thoughts and painting your imagination on a canvas during this pandemic induced sit-at-home time? Thanks to Artreach for organising these sessions for our children. It is helping kids not only engage with something productive but also ensuring mental well being." - Shafi, Udayan Care
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"Today we learnt about an architect who used to paint first and whose paintings inspired her architecture, I really liked this. Anarya didi also showed us how to do 'pencil shading' which we will try." - Student, Artreach online workshops
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We have held two 'Artist-Educators Meet-Ups' over the past month - dynamic Webinars between young educators to exchange notes on pedagogic experiments, and learn from each other on how we reshape our practices to meet the needs of the current crisis. The second one was led by Australian artist-educator Lleah Smith, who took all of us twenty plus participants through a small reflective workshop session. More exciting 'Meet Ups' are planned, details will be posted on our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
With six workshops per week at present, our small team is completely committed to providing nurturing, skill-based, wellness-focused creative workshops to our partners. We our grateful to Udayan Care, Rainbow Homes, Tara Boys and Tara Girls, Salaam Baalak Trust and Karm Marg for their trust in us.
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Thank you to our supporters and friends who believe in Artreach's work and stand behind us.
If you would like to support our online workshops with children and young people in care, your contribution will go a long way in ensuring that we can pay excellent artist educators and bring workshops to more care homes and NGOs - helping many more children and young people through this difficult time.
Your contribution will support Artreach's workshops AS WELL AS our partner organisations working on the frontline of COVID relief. We will pass 50% of all Artreach/COVID donations on to them.
Thank you all for your support!
Stay Well & Warm Regards,
Ita, Shivangi, Anarya, Charty & Sophie
(Artreach Team)
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