Overview of the project
In July 2021 a group of our IA services users attended local arts and concerts venue, SWG3, to participate in a community spray paint project where they were assisted by local artists to design images on paper and then were taught how to bring these images alive through spray paint on a large scale.
What was the aim of the project? What local problem was it solving?
The purpose of this venture was to empower our service users to think about what is important to them and showcase this through artwork. The venue provided pizza hut, a selection of drinks and chips with different toppings for lunch. The SUs were overwhelmed with the opportunity and described on many occasions how important getting out and participating in activities such as this are to their mental health and wellbeing.
What did you and the team actually do? Describe the social value project/ activity for us.
6 MEARS staff members supported and arranged the event by contacting the local venue and then working with them to create an event that would make the SU’s feel like they were involved. The staff supported them to use art as a way of expressing how they were feeling at the time and in some cases remind them of images from their homeland. IA Resident Welfare Mangers also attended to support SU’s and it was a great opportunity for them to get in some very beneficial welfare chats!
What were the outcomes
It was amazing to see how invested and proud the service users were over their artwork with a few explaining that they liked how it was something that was theirs giving them influence over the space they called home showing a sense of ownership. The event also welcomed a local musician. With an acoustic guitar, the musician engaged with both parents and children by playing children’s nursery rhymes such as ‘row row row your boat’. For lunch, Milk Café, a social enterprise to empower and support refugee and migrant women in Glasgow, provided feta salads and vegetarian curries along with homemade bread. The event was a huge success, with one service user saying: We had a lovely time. It was good to work together. Something to take our minds off the stress. Art, Music, and Food – the perfect day!