Kate Folan is VAC’s Apprentice – she is following a course in Administration and Marketing and is supporting the work of VAC, with a specific focus on our ‘Get Involved Coventry’ initiative and our VAC room hire service. In this, second of her blog posts, Kate describes her experience of accompanying some of our ‘Get Involved Coventry’ community participants with a group workshop at Underground Lights.
Creative Café workshop – building confidence – by Kate Folan
At the end of February, Chat Central and I were invited to Underground Lights Community Theatre at the Methodist Church Hall, Coventry. The theatre team run group workshops for adults experiencing social disadvantage, homelessness or mental health difficulties.
The workshop I attended was called ‘Creative Café’, which uses the arts, such as drama, poetry and song writing, to help develop attendees’ skills, build confidence and encourage creativity as well as supporting wellbeing.
The session was drama-centred, with everyone welcoming me in as we sat in a circle. We began with breathing and slight movement exercises to help focus the room. We then completed some icebreakers, as there were a few new people in this session. For the first ice breaker, we said our names and a hobby we enjoyed. After this it was time for the silent exercises, which allowed us to explore facial expressions and body language, as well as the expression of walking styles, something I found enlightening and educational.
Participants share their experiences
Once we were familiar with each other, we had a break. During this time, I had the chance to talk to a couple of the regular participants from creative café. One mentioned:
“This workshop has helped me overcome my struggles with homelessness and the loss of my family when I moved here. It has helped me make new friends and feel welcome in the community.”
Another participant explained how they “felt more confident and feel safe to be myself here.”
After the break, we split into groups of various categories, including music across the fifties to the seventies or a musical group. As the participants had been working on their performances for a few weeks, I joined the group of the 60s and played a background character so I didn’t disturb the progress that had already been made.
We were given one to two hours of rehearsal time to practice our performance. As dancer number three, I was glad to have a small contribution towards the session while allowing regular participants to shine. Our participants also expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to get involved in Underground Light’s Creative Café. A big thank you goes to our creative facilitator Hayley, for making us feel so welcome.
Find out more about Underground Lights:
Underground Lights run Creative Café sessions every Wednesday, 2pm-4pm, during term times at Methodist Central Hall. Find out more here: Creative Café | Get Involved Coventry
Get Involved Coventry – why don’t you take the next step?
For more ways to get involved with Community Action in Coventry, browse ‘Get Involved Coventry’ , Coventry’s community engagement platform, search for volunteer roles plus events and activities at community organisations near you!
