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EDITORIAL
by Francisco Carrasco
It feels like 2021 has enveloped us in a weighted cloud of negativity. The third lockdown and many people are feeling the heaviness in the air. It’s so much harder in these cold and grey days… Yet we here must consider the positives and the importance of self-reflection and how we strive to stay mentally active and feed our health and wellbeing.
With this in mind LUMA CREATIONS is aiming offer some support and share wellbeing activities we will be developing as well as sharing those being developed by many of our colleagues and partners in both the arts & culture and the voluntary & community sectors.
We are creating a series of arts/creative activities, activities packs, health & wellbeing pointers and training opportunities to support our communities and our colleagues. At the beginning of February our Reconnecting Futures training programme starts (online) for unemployed creatives and freelancers who find themselves out of work. A creative writing programme, and creative embroidery course and a series of how to projects.
We continue to develop our “In Conversation” series and slowly but surely move forward with our Chile Story project (A history of the Chilean community in the Liverpool City Region) and hope to bring you an interview with the wonderful Peruvian dancer and musician Luciana Proano who currently lives in Portland, Oregon, USA.
In 2021 we aim to connect with you in a multitude of ways and hope you join us in some of our endeavours, whether they are creative, developmental or community.
We continue to support our communities by being there as much as we can; listening, advising, sign posting, packing and delivering food parcels, creating activity packs and finding new ways of engaging.
We will be sharing activity packs you can do online and learn a little about Latin America and the world as well. Please let us know what you think and if there’s anything you might find useful that we can help with or add to our offer.
Stay safe and look after each other
Please let us know what you think and if you would like to contribute email: hola@lumacreations.org
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Reconnecting Futures
a LUMA Creations Training Programme
by P. Max Alder
Many of us are confused, anxious and pessimistic about what the future holds once, and if, this pandemic, and the multitude of restrictions it has caused, is finally over. Many are concerned as to what their role might look like in what will become the ‘new normal’, and how they might manage to be ahead of the curve. So, the main focus of the training programme will centre on personal development, confidence building and motivation. By working closely with the participants throughout and beyond the training programme, we will support and encourage them to find the positive aspects to how they can and should move forward through and beyond this pandemic, and be more prepared for taking on the new normal as it develops and changes.
Reconnecting Futures is a brand-new training programme from Luma Creations for unemployed people, which will start being delivered at the beginning of February. It is funded by the European Social Fund and administered by the Workers Education Association.
As a result of and a response to the Covid pandemic, this training programme has been created to confront many of the issues facing creatives and freelancers at the moment, as well as providing skill development, advice and support for the post-covid world of society and work.
When the training commissions were originally set up last Autumn, there was an expectation that from the beginning of 2021, the country would be seeing itself emerging from the worst effects of the pandemic, and starting to move forward with regard to work, and people and organisations connecting physically once again. The long-predicted second wave has of course put all this back significantly again, but we were prepared for this, and created a training programme which was flexible and adaptive.
The training will be delivered online through creative sessions which include: an introduction to project and event management; working through and post Covid-19; Covid finances and beyond; new digital lifestyles and utilising the power of the internet; multi-media skills development – all with the methodology of online and face to face group learning, coaching & mentoring, with participants learning through real-life examples.
To be eligible for the training you must be: aged 18+; unemployed at the start of the training; be a resident in the Liverpool City Region.
If you are interested and want an application form, or want to know more about the training, please contact Max Alder, Reconnecting Futures Coordinator – max@lumacreations.org.
P. Max Alder
January 2021
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Health & Well-being
by Maya Mitter
In a recent report, Public Health England (PHE) monitoring tool looked at the wider impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on population health and the main findings were that daily life in people had all seen some noticeable changes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone talked about the new normal, and yet, no one knew what that was, as rules kept changing all the time.
At LUMA Creations we developed a strong online presence when we were unable to meet and devised ways in which to deliver workshops, with regular meetings with our groups, keeping all channels of communications open for everyone connected to us. During these difficult times, your mental and physical health needs a bit of self support which you can include in your day as and when it suits you. So, we’ve gathered together some ideas on how to stay healthy during lockdown. Hopefully, they can give you some inspiration as the lockdown continues.
In the months ahead we will be looking at various topics and most of the ideas will have some element of activity, from making, writing, exercise and communicating to keeping ourselves healthy both physically & mentally and keeping our brains active and our imagination stimulated as it is easy to become self critical and forget that we can make even the most mundane of events interesting. Along with elements of our routines we have had to rethink and find ways to utilise our time, some of our self-care techniques and rituals also need readjusting to self-isolation and social distancing.
If you are still struggling with the basic instructions that you will have heard from the beginning of the lockdown, here are some suggestions:
Contact the LUMA Creations team on hola@lumacreations.org if you need any help or just a chat
Maya Mitter
January 2021
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Gabriela Mistral, Chile (1889 - 1957)
Gabriela Mistral was the first female Latin American poet to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. She received it in 1945. The Nobel citation read:
“for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world“
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym for Lucila Godoy y Alcayaga. She was born in Vicuna, Chile in 1889.
Her early life was traumatic. She was brought up by her mother after her father left the family when she was 3 years old. However, her mother’s declining health meant Gabriela had to start working early – from the age of 16, she worked as a teachers assistant.
Aged 17, she met Romeo Ureta, whom she fell in love with. But, more tragedy was to strike three years later, when he committed suicide. This loss devastated Gabriela and left a lasting scar throughout her life. More tragedy was to strike later when a nephew also committed suicide.
Gabriela threw herself into her career as a writer and work in education. She became a published author – including volumes of poetry and articles about education.
The poems of Gabriela Mistral included themes of Christian faith, love and sorrow. Gabriela Mistral was a lay member of the Franciscan order and this Catholic faith and belief in the afterlife, influenced her poetry and outlook on life.
As well as being a poet, Gabriela Mistral became an internationally renowned figure in literature and education. She was involved in the early cultural committees of the league
of Nations, and played an important role in shaping the educational systems of Mexico and Chile. She also worked as a Chilean consul in cities, such as Nice, Naples, Madrid and New York. In her work as a Chilean consul, she sometimes came into contact with fellow Latin American poet – Pablo Neruda. Mistral was an early advocate of the
originality of Neruda’s poetry.
She also taught Spanish literature in the United States at Columbia University, Middlebury College, Vassar College, and at the University of Puerto Rico.
In 1945, she was the first Latin American to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. She continued to receive awards during her remaining years. She died from pancreatic cancer in January 1957, aged 67.
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Latin American Music 2
Original People's Instruments & Music
by Oscar Carrasco
The instruments used by the Original People were usually sourced from materials mostly organic found in the environment they lived in. Animal bones for flutes, whistles and percussion. Reeds used for Zampoñas (pan-pipes) and Quenas (flutes) Rocks and stones used percussively as xylophones and also in a form of panpipe. Animal skin and wood for drums .
There’s other materials use like dried plants in different formats which we will talk about in future articles.
Within the cosmos vision of the Original People there is an understanding that the spirit world and the material world are platted around each other intricately connected so the people lived their lives accordingly. Music is used to talk to talk to the spirits and ask for their presence and blessing depending on the occasion. They used music as a bridge between two worlds mimicking the sounds they heard around in their environment thinking of them as the voices of the spirit world.
If you are lucky enough to find yourself (safe) at the top of a mountain in the middle of the Andes on your own, you can hear the haunting sound made by the wind racing around the cliffs and creeks of the mountain range which may remind you of a chorus of zampoñas and quenas. The sound that water makes running down the hills before they join the rivers and you’ll remember a “chakara”, made of llama or goat hooves or toe nails.
One particular set of instruments that have a spiritual significance in the cosmos vision of the people are made of clay which are statues or sculptured containers that are fill with water as it moves around the channels and holes inside the sculptures you will hear haunting musical phrases made by the movement of air pushed by the moving water inside the sculptures.
These are some of the materials that are used by Original People’s culture.
Up to the point of Spanish conquest of the continent the Original People used music mostly to communicate with the spirits. The Spanish were not too keen on fomenting those traditions for they saw them as anti-Christian activity or devil-worship so they forbade the use of native instruments and rituals forcing the people to develop their cultural activities in ways that were more acceptable. Adopting new forms of expression and adopting new instruments.
Oscar Carrasco
January 2021
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Journeys to Liverpool
by Francisco Carrasco
Watch this video of Betty, Ciiku, Estibailz and Kindah from Mexico, Kenya, Chile and Syria speak about their first memories of Liverpool and how they got to know the city. A wonderful look at different journeys from four different and insightful perspectives.
A LUMA Creations & Liverpool Central Library Production
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SOMOS (We Are) by Francisco Carrasco
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A Pregnancy In Pandemic
by Estibaliz Moure Abad
April 2020, the world is paralysed by the threat of a dangerous virus coming from China. Supermarkets and convenience stores run out due to the compulsive buying of people in fear and the social gatherings become dangerous and prohibited. Everything shuts down and we are told the only safe place is home.
For us April 2020 was a little different, bringing the news of a new member joining our small family. A small being began to grow inside of me, ignorant and carefree from the chaos that was occurring outside. A pregnancy discussed and planned, but which was arriving during a strange global moment.
Today I am in week 39 (9 months completed) of this, my second pregnancy, the final stage of a journey. I can say that I have lived this whole process during a world pandemic, quarantine upon quarantine and in view of the constant threat of the mentioned coronavirus.
Not everything has been bad, I have to recognize that, as everything in life, it has brought positives and negatives. It helped to get us to stop, rest, think, live a little calmer, more silence and reflexion. With family, no work, no commitments; without the hustle of everyday life. It helped me to feel closer to my family, live this journey hand in hand with my husband and my daughter. Only the three of us, like the tribe we are.
But from another point of view, the constant threat and the permanent fear of an illness going round and round is tiring and disturbing. We try to take it with the calmest possible attitude, taking the weight off everything. I have to recognize that we haven’t been the strictest and often we have prioritised our mental health. Of course, without risking anyone else. But the trips have been missing, visiting our families (that in our case are far away). That my mother could have come and helped me with the birth, that she could see my belly and play with my daughter. We miss the fun social activities, summer festivals, the barbecues with friends, the parties, and to share this pregnancy with our community. To be able to do the pre-natal courses and meet other women like me, the Yoga classes, the swimming, to be able to share this journey with others.
And even though we are more fortunate than others, it has not all been easy. The continuous bombardment of bad news on TV, whilst you are creating a new human being can be both worrying and saddening. A lot of times we end up switching the TV off, choosing to only learn the most necessary, closing our eyes and trusting… In the end, life goes on, you open the way with strength and carry on. The future is uncertain and unsafe, but it doesn’t scare the little ones, they don’t stop, girls and boys that bring worry but above all, hope and the energy to change things.
Estibaliz Moure Abad
January 2021
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