Collaborators
● WonderZoo
● Omnium Radio
● Shekinah
Describe your aims and ideas
We’re trying to tackle social isolation and fear by creating a program of 11 events in 2022-2023 that enable the community to come together, discover or develop their own creativity, experience culture, feel empowered and make friends.
We’d like to create…
– 3 x WonderZoo evening shows at Union Corner.
We will showcase 8 artists from diverse backgrounds to perform spoken word, music, theater or comedy at each show. At least one artist will be new to performance. Food to be provided by Purdy’s Punjabi Cuisine. Free entry to enable greater inclusion and diversity of the audience. These shows will give local artists the chance to share their work, and for the audience to experience local culture. Omnium Radio will record each show, edit the audio and broadcast it on their shows. The volunteers at Omnium Radio come from backgrounds of additional needs and learning disabilities, so this would be a chance for them to be actively involved in a WonderZoo show, meet new people, learn skills and enjoy the community and culture.
– 3x Adelaide Park Fun Days
In 2021 WonderZoo created three Adelaide Park Fun Days over the summer months, which were loved by the local community. We’ve been asked by many to hold the events again this year as they really brought the community together after a long time of social isolation due to Covid19 restrictions. We’d like to create these events again as they did so much good for everyone involved. We collaborated with diverse groups such as Hope Football, Street Factory, DBI, Oasis Project, Nudge Community Builders, RAAY and Adelaide Street Angels, and will be increasing our collaborations this year. This year, Omnium Radio will do vox-pop interviews at these Fun Days with local residents, and broadcast these recordings on their shows. Shekinah will be at the events, with an information table about what they do.
– 4 x Safer Streets Workshops at Shekinah Mutley
Sharon Vinson from Shekinah Mutley charity shop would like to develop her shop into a
venue for cultural events in the evenings. We’d like to pilot this by running a series of 4 workshops at her shop where a speaker/teacher/instructor engages the participants in discussions about street safety. Participants will have the chance to express themselves and tell their own stories. These workshops aim to empower its participants and will include subjects like self-defense and consent. After an instructor has given a talk or demonstration, Chi Bennett (WonderZoo) will facilitate open discussion.
– 1 x Safer Streets Christmas Show at Shekinah Mutley shop.
Those who participate in the workshops will be encouraged to create a performance piece or piece of art inspired by the workshops and perform these at a Christmas Show in December at the Shekinah Mutley Shop. This will allow them to be heard, grow in confidence and make friends, whilst tackling a very important and serious issue that affects so many of us.
– Research Project
These events will form a research project, looking at how WonderZoo can continue to collaborate with both Shekinah and Omnium Radio over a longer-term project, helping and supporting these organisations to have greater connections with the community and more opportunities.
Why is it important?
WonderZoo has always been rooted in breaking down barriers, working with different people, giving people opportunities, supporting them and empowering people. We are always trying to increase our community outreach and we want to work with Omnium and Shekinah because they do really interesting and meaningful programs that help some of the most vulnerable people in society. This fits our ethics, values and aims.
Describe how you will work together to achieve this.
– WonderZoo’s strength and skills are running workshops and performance events. Slain McGough Davey and Chi Bennett created around 120 events over 2020 and 2021, including workshops, street theater, festivals and performance shows, online and in real life. Despite lockdowns and restrictions, they creatively adapted to continuing their performance platforms and workshops. They have a lot of experience working with people and bringing groups together to work alongside each other.
– Omnium Radio’s strengths and skills are working with disadvantaged people and using their expertise with radio technology and broadcasting to provide opportunities for others who may get opportunities elsewhere. We have worked with Omnium Radio at our recent Peace Event raising money for the British Red Cross Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal. The Omnium crew broadcasted our 7 hour fundraising event live on their radio
station. This was the first time we worked with them and we’d like to grow this connection as there’s a lot of potential for creativity and growth.
– Shekinah’s strengths and skills are having the knowledge and expertise needed to work with vulnerable people. Sharon Vinson is the shop manager and has great organisational and people skills, as well as PR and social media. Over the last two years, Sharon has transformed her shop into a vintage boutique, which is now a popular destination on Mutley Plain. Creating evening events with Sharon will help to develop the shop as a venue. She’s interested in arts and culture and has hosted two WonderZoo charity gigs (in 2020 and 2021) at her shop, which proved highly successful. These two events were the only times we’ve done events with Shekinah, and we’d like to do more as there is a lot of potential for developing the space to become a new cultural hub in Mutley. With our event management skills, we feel we can really support Sharon into making the most of her shop space and creating interesting experiences for the community.
Our three organisations would like to work together because we share the similar values of breaking down barriers, bringing people together and giving people opportunities. We feel that through storytelling, communities have greater cohesion and greater understanding of one another, and art can bring people together in fun and uplifting ways that can inspire others.
