Here’s another entry for the St Luke’s CARES Community Awards, submitted by Skippko, the community arts organisation. For details of how YOUR community group can enter please click here. But hurry, the deadline for entries is 5pm on Wednesday 28 February 2018.
‘A Shared Place’
One of the hardest, but most rewarding, activities to make happen is to bring different generations of people together, to learn about each other, their cultural backgrounds and promote greater understanding and empathy. As our population gets older each year, it becomes more and more important to bring these different generations together.
Here in Holbeck, South Leeds, two long established organisations are working together to do exactly that.
Holbeck Elderly Aid on Domestic Street opened its doors in 1992 and since then it has continually supported the older people in the area. Skippko on Croydon Street has been working since 1988 to bring people together in communities across Leeds as well as other towns and cities in the north of England.
Skippko has secured some funding to work with Holbeck Elderly Aid in a project called ‘A Shared Place’. The idea came out of discussions between the two organisations and the ambition to work with families of children Ingram Road Primary School, which is just a 6 minute walk down Shafton Lane away from Holbeck Elderly Aid; bringing different generations together, improving local connections and generating a greater sense of belonging for the people taking part.
With the support of Skippko artists, those taking part will be exploring the rich heritage of Holbeck, the stories of the people who live there and their experiences. Using photography based activities, those taking part will look with fresh eyes at the streets, parks and buildings around them to create art work about the places they know.
The project will especially bring together people from different cultural backgrounds and ages, with the aim of reducing social isolation, building friendships and sharing ideas, thoughts and concerns about the place they live.
The funding we have already secured will enable us run workshop activities during February and March. But, if we are successful in securing some funding from St Luke’s Cares, we will be able to continue the programme after Easter, which will be really fantastic for all involved.
Our aim is to use the money on photographic equipment, materials for the workshops and to bring in artists to work with everybody. No one taking part in the programme will pay anything, everything is free for them; this why the extra funding would really help.
Skippko celebrates its 30th birthday this year and is spending the time, re-visiting people and communities it has worked with since 1988. It was great to meet with people at The Mount in Leeds recently and to learn that women taking part in a Skippko project there 4years ago, still meet up and go to their children’s birthday parties. Here in Holbeck, South Leeds, we hope that the different people we bring together today will still be together in 4 years time.
