THE FRIEND SHIP
discovering the treasure of human kindness & creativity, sharing arts skills with displaced people in their new communities & running artivist workshops, using the arts to bring about positive social change
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT AT LATITUDE
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
Raising awareness of The Detention Forum's campaign to end indefinite detention at UK immigration detention centres.
The project was launched at Latitude Festival July 2019 introducing teenagers and their parents to the power of artivism in bringing about positive social change. 100 fabric butterflies were made, with messages of solidarity embroidered onto the wings.
Working in support of The Detention Forum's Unlocking Detention campaign.
THE HUMANITEA PARTY
Exhibition was held at OPEN Youth Trust cafe in Norwich during Refugee Week 17-22 June 2019
Challenging stereotypes of who is a refugee
Workshops with Norfolk artists, the community, schools, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants at Norwich International Youth Project, have created pieces for a table set for 'invited' famous refugee guests.
Ceramic plates, glass side plates, woven placemats, mosaic lanterns and wire name place holders visually represent each 'guest' - inspired by Judy Chicago's 'The Dinner Party'.
North, Frank's Bar, Woolf & Social Cafes in Norwich and CoCoes in Swaffham, Norfolk, also displayed postcards on famous refugees made by school children on our workshops at the Millenium Library - did you know Einstein fled to Norfolk in 1933? He lived just outside Cromer and was guarded by armed friends while he continued his research, as the Nazi's had put a bounty on his head.
POSTCARDS FOR PEACE
Messages of welcome and friendship to displaced children
Over 600 postcards were made by children, artists, displaced people living in the UK, Athens and Austria, elderly care home residents, IMAGINE postcards from the Info bus Calais, Woodcraft Folk and the public at Makers Month The Forum Norwich.
Postcards were hand delivered as messages of welcome and friendship to refugee children throughout the UK via The Children's Society and The Refugee Council, and shared electronically with children in camps in Gaza with the charity Hope and Play.
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WHO IS A REFUGEE?
Who is a refugee?
It could be you, it could be me
Look back through history
Climb up your family tree
Did your ancestors have to flee, to protect their family?
Who is a refugee?
Proud descendent of a refugee, that’s me
There’s room for everyone to live under one sun
Where difference gets respect, not slaughtered by the rest
Understanding is the key to our humanity
War leads to war, greed fuels it more
Our own worst enemy
Stop or we’ll explode, the final episode
It’s time for Peace and Unity
Your ancestors may not have had to flee
Still we’re all from one tribe originally
A glorious mix culturally
All born with the right to be free
Good and bad, part of the human family
Refugee is just a word, not a personality
Lead by example, who do you choose to be?
Difference is only skin deep
Where we’re born, the language we speak
I’m a meliorist who does not see survival of the fittest as the way to be
Fate decided by nationality
If that was your child would you let it die?
If that was your mother could you ignore her cry?
Your brother, your father, would you walk by?
Bravery bourne across the sea
Met with social and political impotency
With open minds give empathy
With open hearts give sanctuary
Simple acts of kindness will set us free
Heads held high with humanity
Compassion, solidarity
Open your eyes and see
Thousands locked up indefinitely
Can’t contribute to society
Need to ponder if that was me
How would I want them to see
My hopes, my dreams, love of the human family
A chance to be safe in a new community
1500’s fleeing religious persecution, seeking sanctuary
Landed in Essex, cloth makers and tailors
Hundreds of years later making uniforms for sailors
1600’s fleeing persecution based on nationality
Landed in Kent’s tent city
Moved to South Africa raised a new family
First born daughter given same name as me
Who is a refugee?
It could be you, it could be me
Explore the roots of your family tree
They may not have had to flee
But we’re all part of the human family
Twice proud descendent of a refugee
Woman, Mother, Daughter, Me
JOIN THE FRIEND SHIP CREATIVE CREW
share your creative skills with, & learn new creative skills from, displaced people
SCHOOLS WORKSHOPS
Promoting a greater understanding of displaced people & supporting their integration into our communities & schools our workshops explore issues of persecution, identity, having to flee your home & the importance of sanctuary, welcome & acceptance through arts & storysharing. Exploring our similarities through portraiture, celebrating different cultures through bookmaking, creating a welcome banner through upcycling & storysharing to develop empathy, creative writing & performing.
"We were all, teachers and pupils, impressed and enthused after our day with The Friend Ship. It was well thought out, important and organised. The topic was current and one which all children should learn about given the current situation. The art workshops were engaging and interesting. The storysharing drama workshop gave them real life stories to base their work on."
Year 4 Teacher, Avenue Junior
"We enjoyed the day and felt the children were able to take much from it."
Year 6 Teacher, Colman Junior
WORKSHOP OPTIONS
Choose from our exciting selection of workshops raising awareness and empathy around displacement and enabling children to use the arts to bring about social change and work together making creative decisions as a team
Storysharing - hearing stories displaced people would like to share with us of their journey, explored by the children through Drama and Creative Writing
Cards of Kindness - using drawing, doodling and collagraph printing to design printing plates from recycled materials and print cards to be sent to displaced children.
Textile wall hanging - using sewing, weaving, embroidery and upcycling old fabrics to make a wall hanging to represent your school, and School of Sanctuary, values
Junk modelling /sculpture - making 3-dimensional work out of cardboard, exploring what is of most value in our lives
Sign painting / Slogans - inspired by performance artist Bob And Roberta Smith, deciding what message we want to communicate to the world and how, taking inspiration from typography and artivism
Taking a line for a walk - drawings inspired by Paul Klee and cartography - developing these into a textile design or painted representation exploring maps of countries refugees come from and the most traveled routes they take to escape
Creating Mobiles - hypnotically beautiful and a visual representation of our hopes and values, inspired by artist Alexander Calder
Animated Welcome - make short animated films of welcome using drawing and plasticine modelling
THE FRIEND SHIP
is a non-profit making community interest company which relies on the good will of volunteers to make our projects happen. Sometimes we are lucky enough to receive small amounts of funding (so far from the Norfolk Arts Project and individual donors) to enable us to pay workshop leaders for their time and expertise. Please email us if you would like to make a donation towards our work.
The Friend Ship organises activities which:
provide benefit to the community by using Arts and Storysharing to support and bring about positive social change through raising awareness of, and support for, displaced people, specifically those living in Norwich
highlight the importance of working together to break down barriers and fear of the unknown, creating a unity and feeling of community
provide a positive, enabling and healing community through Arts workshops, exhibitions and events to empower displaced people to reclaim their voice, providing them with opportunities for personal and creative growth, and to feel welcome in their new home, alongside the opportunity to share their own creative Arts skills with the community
bring the community together to contribute their creative Arts skills, learn new skills, and prove that we are all the same: people with skills to offer, dreams and aspirations. This applies to the whole community, regardless of age, gender, sex or nationality and regardless of skill level. Anyone with a creative arts skill to share will be welcome.
enable the wider community to actively take part in supporting The Friend Ship through volunteering and participation in lines with the aims of Norwich City of Sanctuary
enable displaced people to gain valuable experience and confidence through helping support/run workshops and practise their English
provide Arts and Storysharing workshops for local schools and community groups to raise awareness and support for displaced people, focusing on persecution, protection, welcome and acceptance in support of Norwich Schools of Sanctuary
exhibit work produced from workshops with displaced people and schools
School workshops at The Millenium Library, Norwich Jan/Feb 2018
As with our previous project working with schools where we talked about the importance of Norwich becoming a City of Sanctuary, the history of displaced people in Norwich over the years, and produced work for the Refugee Week 2017 exhibition at The Millenium Library in Norwich (now touring libraries throughout Norfolk), The Friend Ship continues to work to support the aims of Norwich City of Sanctuary.
Local schools took part in workshops at the Millenium Library to produce postcard sized art works on the themes of 'Welcome', 'Choose Love', 'The Future we All Deserve' and Match Attax style cards of footballers who were once refugees, linking in with Amnesty International's #footballwelcomes day of action in April.
On the workshops children made hundreds of postcards which will be sent as a message of welcome and friendship to refugee children living in the UK via The Children's Society and The Refugee Council. They will also be shared electronically with children living in camps in Gaza via the charity Hope and Play.
Workshops also provided the children with the chance to discuss issues of persecution, sanctuary and whether it's possible to measure the 'worth' of one person over another, as well as exploring the Library Archive to see the contribution displaced people have made to Norwich over the years.
We are very grateful for the support we have received for this project from Norwich Millenium Library and Norwich Schools of Sanctuary.
Image (above) by Syrian refugee artist participating in Postcards for Peace now living in Athens
Workshops with displaced people now living in Norwich and Norfolk artists
Workshops with New Routes Art Group produced work for the Refugee Week 2017 exhibition at the Millenium Library.
Since Autumn 2017 we have been busy working with Norfolk artists creating new work with New Routes and Norwich International Youth Project as part of our latest project 'Postcards for Peace'.
Participants have been are producing postcard sized art work in different mediums with the local artists (including painting, photography, printing, drawing, embroidery, textiles, glass work, mosaics, weaving and ceramics). Larger, or 3D, works of art have been photographed to make postcards to send to refugee children and their families.
The finished art works will be on exhibition during Refugee Week 2018 at the Anteros Art Foundation, Norwich, from 12-23 June.
We are very grateful for the support we have received for this project from artists volunteering their time, as well as financial support from The Missing Kind, The Forum Trust, Norfolk Arts Project and individual donors.
Workshops with Wensum Junior
Great day of workshops with Wensum Year 6 looking at identity, having to flee your home and the importance of offering sanctuary, respect and the chance to start a new life using skills displaced people bring with them. The children created thoughtful, mature and empathic work including this poem,
We are refugees
We travel to the land of sea
We bring gifts
Of any kind
To live in sanctuary
With a positive mind
Hope will save us
Reach shelter
Everyone is safe
Forgive us country
Usually we come back
Go away war
Everyone is fleeing
Everyone is screaming
Save us!
Workshops with Colman Junior
Amazing art and thoughtful, emotive creative writing and performance by Year 6 children from Colman Junior today at our workshops at the Millenium Library, including
Lilyana’s Diary
Monday 15th May 2017
Anxiously, I pressed the buzzer and waited silently for a response. I could almost taste the fear rising up my dry throat. I was worried what they’d think of me turning up in my tatty old clothes. I tried to remember when I last washed! Probably months ago but it felt like years. I tried to remember my old school and home but it all seemed so distant. I wondered what the new block of flats would be like. Probably so tall it blocked out all memory of my small cottage. I looked up at my Mum. She made me feel more comfortable. Suddenly the door swung open and a teacher and a student walked out. “This is Sasha, she’ll show you around,” said the teacher, not that I understood. She grabbed my arm and started babbling in some strange language. I stared back at my mum longingly, but she was already gone. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sasha pull a mean face. I hoped it would all settle.
The Story of Things
One day there were three brothers, a mum and a dad. The oldest was thirteen years and called Leo. The middle was Jacob, who was twelve. The youngest was Jaycee aged eleven. They were from Mexico. They were going to be deported from America. The next day, gigantic SWAT vehicles pulled up around their mansion. “GET OVER HERE!” bellowed a soldier. Suddenly, Jacob and Leo were knocked unconscious. Their parents weren’t home. Jaycee dragged them to hospital. They left America to go to Norwich, a City of Sanctuary.
Workshops with Avenue Junior
Great day of workshops with Year 4 Avenue children exploring the biggest crisis of displaced people since WW2 with 34,000 people having to flee their homes every day which we worked out as Norwich being emptied of people in less than a week... Looking at the importance of offering welcome and a chance to carry on school and work life in their new home, and the positive contribution everyone can make to our community through arts and storysharing workshops with The Friend Ship
Workshops with Lakenham Junior
Year 6 pupils from Lakenham Junior School spent a productive day with The Friend Ship arts projects at Norwich & Norfolk Millenium library using their creative writing skills, drawing, design, and drama skills to explore ideas around displaced people living in Norwich and the importance of offering sanctuary and welcome. They also visited the Library Archives to discover that Norwich has welcomed displaced people for hundreds of years and the rich contribution they have made to our city.
"I really enjoyed writing the story about having to leave my home and travel to a new country. It helped us understand what it’s like for other people having to find a new, safe home."
"I am so proud of my portrait. It’s the best drawing I’ve ever done."
Become a School of Sanctuary
Schools of Sanctuary is for everyone: diverse or homogenous schools, parents, communities, local people and people seeking sanctuary. It’s a way to engage sanctuary seekers and families with their communities and educate children and teachers about the human right to sanctuary.
Norwich City of Sanctuary
If you would like to be involved in making Norwich a more welcoming city please contact Norwich.cityofsanctuary@gmail.com
For hundreds of years Norwich has offered a home to people whose lives were in danger in their own countries. Many lost homes and families but brought new skills and cultures to make Norwich the vibrant and cosmopolitan city it is today. In 2007 Norwich became the first UK city to join the International Cities of Refuge Network, offering residency to politically exiled writers who had been denied freedom of speech in their home countries.
Norwich has now joined the national City of Sanctuary movement, working to ensure Norwich is a place where all people seeking sanctuary from violence and persecution in their own countries can find welcome, support and understanding. A place where they are included in local activities and have their contribution to the community recognised and celebrated.