Corby wellbeing programme helped by £31,000 boost from Loneliness and Isolation Fund

A Corby community-led arts consortium will be able to give their wellbeing programme a shot in the arm to help those suffering from isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Made With Many’s Corby arts programme has received a £31,000 boost for creative projects from the government’s Loneliness and Isolation Fund, to allow it to reach more people with their cultural and creative activities.

Since spring 2020, Made With Many has been offering activities online and remotely and now this additional funding will help to develop new projects that provide immediate, targeted relief to those most at risk of loneliness in Corby as a result of Covid-19.

The seven projects all aim to help people feel more connected to their community, as well as having a greater sense of belonging and wellbeing through the arts.

Vicky Frayard, Corby producer at Made With Many, said: “The past 12 months have been some of the most isolating we have ever experienced as a community.

"I became a new mum in the first lockdown so really understand the loneliness and isolation that the pandemic has forced upon us.

"Using this funding, we hope that people will come together to enjoy creative activities as we look towards the easing of restrictions.”

Working with a variety of artists and partner organisations, Made With Many will offer online opportunities as well as some Covid- safe offline activities once restrictions start to be lifted.

Pre-walking babies and their grown-ups will be able to take part in a series of online sensory play and movement sessions with dance artist Anna Daly starting on Thursday, March 18.

These fun and relaxed sessions are being run in collaboration with experts in child development, Pen Green Centre for Children and Their Families. And from mid-April, new parents with babies under one can join the Bumps and Buggies group, who will be exploring the green spaces around town with cameras under the guidance of Corby Community Arts.

For those who would enjoy the chance to meet new like-minded friends online, artists Carole Miles and Phiona Richards - collectively known as The Eloquent Fold - will be running a Culture Buddies group on Zoom with older adults starting on March 22. Whilst residents in supported housing will get the chance to converse with younger people through the Pen Pals project, which will encourage members of Writing East Midlands’ Young Writers group to exchange letters with older people.

Regular service users at Corby Mind will be offered creative wellbeing activities in their green space in Argyll Street with support from Groundwork Northamptonshire as well as an artist of the group’s choosing.

The green theme is continued in the work of ArtReach who will be sending out My Green and Me activity packs to families who will be asked to share photos of their creations to inspire the design of a larger artwork, for installation in a public place in May.

And in April, The Core at Corby Cube will team up with Creative Kingswood and Hazel Leys to present Lyrical Lockdown, a music and production course that will bring young people aged 12 to 25 from all over Corby together to write songs and poetry in a hip-hop style, culminating in a live performance being filmed outside and streamed into living rooms and bedrooms everywhere on the May 29, 2021. Sessions will take place both online and in person at The Core at Corby Cube with taster workshops happening online in advance of the course starting on the April 15.

To find out more about any of these projects or request support to access online activities please visit www.madewithmany.org, email [email protected] or call Community Engagement Co-ordinator Tom Briggs on 07923 221759.

Made With Many are a community-led arts programme which produces events and activities designed to inspire more local people than ever before to take the lead in experiencing, creating and taking part in high quality arts and cultural activities. Through conversations with local people and community decision-making panels, local people are put at the

heart of commissioning artists and producing new and exciting events.