Looking Back to go Forward
Yesterday Intercultural Roots had an important meeting marking the beginning of a new partnership project with local community leaders and Boal Forum Theatre practitioners aimed at addressing domestic violence and abuse in one of the most deprived areas of South London. As we build our experience and ability to support the development, funding and delivery of partnership projects through specialist socially engaged embodied arts it feels pertinent to take a look back at our last year of activity.
Intercultural Roots for Public Health CIO Trustee Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 are now published at the Charity Commission. We believe in being transparent about our work and you can browse our independently examined finances and download the formal published report here.
We thought that at the start of 2023 it would be useful to share information from our Annual Report that describes some of our work during 2021-22. Our administrative year runs August 1 until July 31. We have tried to summarise the important work we've been doing for easy reading and have inserted a few images to provide some visual context. While we appreciate that it makes this newsletter long, we feel it is important to acknowledge and name all the partners and facilitators who contributed to our work lats year. Sincere apologies if we have missed anyone out.
On behalf of our Core Team: Dr. Alex Boyd, Dr. Andrea Maciel, Wendy Van Der Haagen Boyd, and with huge thanks to our Trustees, Directors and Advisors: Te Ahukaramū Prof. Charles Royal, Dr. Alvaro Hernandez, Dr Ian Kenvyn, Prof. Lynette Hunter, Regina Gutierrez, Clare Kenvyn, Dr. Ben Spatz, Chalice Richardson and Prof. Anita Gonzalez we would like to share this work with you.
We welcome your feedback and hope you will continue to support us in 2023.
| |  | | 'Strangeness' Metamorphosis Creative Lab 25 March 2022 | | Charitable Objectives Summary For the public benefit, to promote community participation and advancing education in healthy recreation including tai chi, yoga, pilates and dance. Intercultural Roots (IR) brings together artists, practitioners, performers, scholars and teachers to create collaboratively and develop and produce their practices for health and social change. IR achieves this by creating a healthy environment for practitioners and nurturing this as a place in which seeds of artistic practice can flourish to bring positive changes to the world. We seek to harness the combined power of practice, critical inquiry and creativity to address health, education, environmental awareness, social equality and multilingual and trans-cultural collaborations. Throughout 2021-22 the following areas of activity have encompassed Intercultural Roots' work as arts and education for health, wellbeing and social change: - Professional Development & Creative Practice;
- Networking and Community Engagement; and
- Creative Wellbeing and Mental Health Support.
From August until December 2021 we were attentive to our communities' needs in relation to the 'post' pandemic moment. IR's community engagement approach had a special regard towards supporting mental health needs and the emerging release from restrictions in some areas which led us towards applying for external funds to support the transition from on-line to in-person activities. This effort not only attended to practitioners who needed to engage again in social scenarios, but was also intended to re-build audiences and public confidence for engagement in the artistic-educational events we curated. All of these activities were underpinned with continuous community consultations and the maintenance of a safe space through the critical care that our Creative Labs provide. These were spread throughout the year and functioned as a continuous hub for listening and responding to the needs of our communities. They also provided a catalyst for further funding applications that successfully led to resources supporting Intercultural Roots' core team to provide support to our growing community and projects.
Some factual numbers of engagement August 2021 - July 2022: - Practitioners contracted: 55
- Public engaged: 1,777
- Sessions delivered: 147
- Newsletter subscribers: Approx 2,000
- Facebook Page Likes: 1,841 (01/08/2021) – 2,195 (31/7/2022)
- Instagram Followers: 1,535 (24 November 2022)
- Website (Google Analytics 01/08/2021 – 31/7/2022) – 58,000 views and 37,000 first users.
Financial Summary
Our income grew from £35.61K in 2020-21 to £83.63K in 2021-22. On the 1st August 2022 we had £2,420 unrestricted funds in our bank account and £34,343 'restricted' for spending on funded projects. Finding the financial resources to support the increasing demand for our work continues to be a challenge. If you are able to donate to support the financial sustainability of our charity you can do so via Donorbox. | | Community Engagement Post Pandemic Restrictions
Life ∑mergence-y Project - As restrictions were lifted after July 2021 we began to engage communities in creative wellbeing, performance sharing and educational events. In November 2021 IR promoted its first post pandemic gatherings at Siobhan Davies Studios and Open House Hackney in London. The experience and evaluative feedback from this project led to our Metamorphosis 'Roots to Better Health' project.
| | | Cross Pollination, Southend, East 15 Acting School Yr 3 'Worldies' 23 Nov '21
Organisational Partnership
IR and arts collective and research platform Cross Pollination partnered in two successful Crowdfunder funding campaigns in November 2021 and July 2022. Four core members of Cross Pollination: Marije Nie, Gonzalo Alarcon, Andrea Maciel and Alex Boyd facilitated two fortnight-long residencies in Southend at East 15 Acting School for 3rd year World Performance students. These were supported by public donations from our communities that were match funded by the National Emergencies Trust 'Local Action Fund' and also supported by small grants from the University of Essex.
| | | 'Roots To Better Health' granted £10,000 by The National Lottery Fund, resourced the realisation of IR's Metamorphosis project which brought a series of in-person encounters from March till October 2022, looking at ways of overcoming the challenges of our times. IR provided professional facilitation, creative spaces, and tools for participants to ignite and harness a sense of inspiration, connection and resilience through practice. These encounters involved a combo of creative co-labs, public classes and performance sharing hubs where artists, thinkers and makers had the opportunity to engage the public with new ideas, practices and art. Metamorphosis became an inspiration for the October 2022 'To Be With' Health & WELLth Festival. | |  | | image by Alina Grubnyak 'Growing Intercultural Roots in Communities' In June 2022 IR received £28,000 Social Enterprise Support Fund (SESF) support for a project titled 'Growing Intercultural Roots in Communities' funded by The Big Issue Invest and The National Lottery Community Fund. The funding is particularly in recognition of, and to further develop IR's social enterprise approach towards the support of communities of practitioners and artists. This work, that we call 'Practitioner Partnerships' began in 2019 with our first Health & WELLth enable the enabler contracts, and grew throughout the pandemic. The funding will support our core team through until June 2023, helping IR to further develop its online and in-person engagement with communities in order to increase sustainability – in mutual benefit both for the practitioners and the organisation. Our Open Call for practitioners to benefit from this programme is here. | | Organisational Sustainability
'Practitioner Partnership' is IR's social enterprise approach to engage with and provide continuous professional support to its community of practitioners. Since 2019 and especially throughout the pandemic, and transitioning from online to presential approaches, this program not only enables a source of income to practitioners yet also provides mentorship, assistance in developing proposals and with the publication, promotion and administration of artists' work. This has been important also in providing IR with a percentage of net income that covers core costs independent of external funding raised. | | | Nabba or The falls, Andrés Montes Zuluaga Production and Exchange of Knowledge
Intercultural Roots Presentation at SAIL - 14th June 2022
The Social Art Inclusion Lab (SAIL) - Research Group at Manchester Metropolitan University invited Dr. Andrea Maciel (Artistic Director) to a panel presentation looking at social arts practice at both a local and global level, with a focus on how to co-create arts, culture and policy practices that benefit those routinely excluded from the arts.
Embodied Research Working Group (ERWG)
Intercultural Roots attended with Dr. Alex Boyd responsible for convening the ERWG at the IFTR – International Federation for Theatre Research conference in Reykjavík, Iceland in 20-24 July 2022. Alex had conceived in 2015 and is a cofounder of the ERWG and it was from there that he cofounded Intercultural Roots from alongside many of the existing IR Trustee, Directors and Advisors.
Online Practitioner Partnership Activities 2021-22
Sep - Oct 2021: Daoyin Ancient Taoist Breathwork -- Alex Boyd
Sep - Oct 2021: Art of Listening -- Will Crawford
Sep - Oct 2021: Assessment in TCM: Pulse and Tongue Diagnosis and Auricular Points -- Dr Alex Feng
Sep - Oct 2021: spontaneous-imaginative-expressive Art Workshops -- Nasrin Golden
Sep - Nov 2021: NIA DANCE - Joy of Movement -- Andrea Maciel
Sep - Dec 2021: Neuroscience Informed Mindfulness (Eyes, Breath, Hands & Body) -- Jessica Andexer
8th Oct 2021: Elements of Life - Laban Bartenieff and Qi Gong Practice (in person) -- Andrea Maciel & Alex Boyd
9th Oct 2021: Practitioner Lab (in person) -- Andrea Maciel & Alex Boyd
24th Oct 2021: 18th Taoist Gathering - Resilience Through The Dao -- Dr Alex Feng
Oct - Nov 2021: Embody You - discover your authentic self -- Kristin Loeer
Nov 2021: BMC and NIA Dance - Neuro Movement Patterns -- Andrea Maciel
Nov - Dec 2021: Daoyin - Ancient Taoist Breathwork and Qigong -- Alex Boyd
Nov - Dec 2021: Medical QIGONG - Breath, Mind and Movement Classes -- Dr Alex Feng
Nov - Dec 2021: Deep Listening in Zoom - re-GROUP; re-CONNECT; re-PLAY -- Jon Petter
Nov 2021 - Jan 2022: Dear Body -- Anna Furse
Jan - Feb 2022: Intro to Embodied Dreamwork -- Harald De Bondt
Jan - Feb 2022: Daoyin & QiGong - Taoist Whole Body Breathing -- Alex Boyd
Jan - Feb 2022: Art of Listening - depth-nature-connection -- Will Crawford
Jan - Mar 2022: Alexander Technique for Performers - Introduction -- Rose Whyman & Victoria Door
Jan - May 2022: Wellness Through an Anishinaabe Lens -- Anishinaabe Theater Exchange
6th Feb 2022: Celebration - The Year of the Tiger - Lunar New Year 2022 -- Zhi Dao Guan/The Taoist Center
Mar - Apr 2022: Daoyin-QiGong-Yijinjing - Taoist Yin Yang Revitalising Breathwork -- Alex Boyd
Apr - Jun 2022: Yijinjing-Qigong-Daoyin Taoist Embodied Culture -- Alex Boyd
May - Jun 2022: Well Beings - Writing the body through illness and pain -- Marieke Bigg
May - Jun 2022: Self-compassion and the Alexander Technique -- Victoria Door & Jo Roantree
Jun - Jul 2022: The Art of Listening - growth-balance-stillness -- Will Crawford
Jun - Jul 2022: Body Mythology: (re)imagining the body in movement and life -- Evelyn Aston Rhodes | | In-Person Arts for Health & Social Change Programme 2021-22
13th & 14th Nov 2021: Vocal Strata - Extended Voice Work and Song -- Patrick Campbell
13th Nov 2021: Elements of Life - Laban Bartenieff Dance and Qi Gong (in person) -- Andrea Maciel & Alex Boyd
13th Nov 2021: Life ∑mergence-y Performances and Party by Intercultural Roots Practitioner Lab
Nov 2021: East 15 Acting School -- Intercultural Roots & Cross Pollination
24th Mar 2022: 'Strangeness' Metamorphosis Creative Lab
25th Mar 2022: 'Bartenieff-Laban Qigong Dance' workshop with Andrea Maciel and Alex Boyd
27th Mar 2022: 'Forum Theatre and Body Voice Paradox' Guest Teacher Workshop with Almiro Andrade and Gabriela Flarys
27th Mar 2022: 'Strangeness - Performance Sharing Evening' with Andréa Maciel, Gabriela Flarys, Alice Motta, Lizzy Tan & Maya Williams, Julia Testa & Hannah Nichols
28th Apr 2022: 'Landing' Metamorphosis Creative Lab
29th Apr 2022: 'Bartenieff-Laban Qigong Dance' with Andrea Maciel and Alex Boyd
1st May 2022: International Guest Teacher Workshops 'Body as earth / Earth as body' with Julia Pond and Andrés Montes Zuluaga'
1st May 2022: 'Performance Sharings' Featuring: * Trinacria by Irene Fiordilino * Nabba or the falls by Andrés Montes Zuluaga * "Not a Problem" by Julia Pond * MODAK by Purnima
26th May 2022: 'Rewilding' Metamorphosis Creative Lab
27th May 2022: 'Bartenieff-Laban Qigong Dance' with Andrea Maciel and Alex Boyd
28th May 2022: Guest Teacher(s) Workshop WILD BODY with Fernanda Mandagara and Julia Testas
28th May 2022: 'Performance Sharings' - Rewilding Performance Sharing with Kyara Orlando, Ernesto Sarezale, Christina Lovely and Anna-Maria Amato
28th Jul 2022: 'Aqua Carriers' Metamorphosis Creative Lab
29th Jul 2022: 'Bartenieff-Laban Qigong Dance' with Andrea Maciel and Alex Boyd
30th Jul 2022: Guest Teacher Workshop 'Moving Bodies of Water - Workshop' with Helen Ainsworth & Fabienne Formosa
30th Jul 2022: 'Performance Sharings' Female Voices In Flow - Performance Sharing with Alice Motta, Isadora Bacon & Julia Testas
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