Community Arts Projects社區藝術項目

Lizzie Bee

Creativity is contagious, pass it on.

Albert Einstein

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Mission statement

At Lizzie Bee Foundation Ltd (LBF) we run community arts projects, using creativity to empower the disadvantaged, improving their well-being and enhancing their lives.

Background

Since 2010, Lizzie Bee has partnered with different local organisations to provide arts workshops to the community, especially those in need. What started with a voluntary based project at The Nesbitt Centre grew steadily into a charity providing workshops all over Hong Kong. Since November 2013 we have been growing considerably. We became a charity, went from 1 to 3 projects running weekly programmes, ran 2 very successful public workshops and had our first independent CSR event.

Artistic vision and objectives

We care about bringing people together. The feeling of belonging and working together towards something better is the core of well-being. We believe we can do this through the arts and therefore everyone should have access to quality arts projects. This richness to life creates stronger and happier communities.

Our objectives- Accessible Art - Art should not be seen as exclusive. We all have an artistic genie in us, it is LBF’s responsibility to lower the threshold and encourage people to try without losing artistic quality.- Community engagement – Let Art bring people together, start the conversation, let voices be heard and help each other. Together we have the power to bring change.- Theory of Change - Change happens from within, may these be on a personal or community level. We use art to facilitate this growth.- Sustainability – Community building does not happen overnight. We need to build the relationships and maintain them over a sustainable period of time.- Growth - It is our duty to reach as many people as possible. By developing replicable and scalable models we believe we can deliver cost-effective arts projects without losing quality or uniqueness.

Please look through the following pages to find a selection of our projects or visit our website for more information www.lizziebee.org

About us

Community arts workshops

• Lost & Found 6-7• Home is where the heart is 8-9• United Nations of Knitters 10-11• Make it Better 12-13• Our Sai Ying Pun 14-15

Public workshops

• Weaving the Unwanted 16-17• Garden of Goodness 18-19

CSR Projects

• Birds of a feather, flock together 20-21• Green fingers 22-23

Contents

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Helping to engage the elder community in exciting, new creative skills

Once a week we travel to a small village outside Fanling. In this remote area, a lot of elderly are living a rather isolated life. There is not a lot to do for them which is a pity as they are still full of life. Thanks to Mission to New Arrivals, we have the opportunity to bring them together and do some art. We started with a mosaic on one of the walls of the centre and will continue with other projects.

We are hoping that by delving into their past we reconnect with some long lost skills and bring them out again. With it we hope to revalue their place in society and pass on some amazing skills.

More information: www.lizziebee.org/lost--found

Period: July 2014 - present

Frequency: Once per week (2 hours)

Participants: 10-15 elderly

Location: Kan Tau Tsuen, Fanling

Partners: Mission to New Arrivals

Funding: Lizzie Bee Foundation Ltd

Objectives: 1. To empower elderly and gain confidence through art practice 2. To revalue elderly in the society by teaching their skills

Lost and Found

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Art sessions and creative workshops for the refugee community

In 2014 we were asked by KSMT ventures to offer a series of workshops for their organisation Arts and Enterprise for Women. They wanted to develop the arts skills of their members.

It took us some time to come up with a concept that doesn’t constantly remind us of the tragic circumstances refugee women were uprooted by. They lost their home; one of the most important things in life. Arriving in a new place without hardly any rights and any means to make an existence does not facilitate building a new home.

We started the search into what else these women have in common and what makes a home, a life, a culture. Throughout Africa there has been a longstanding tradition of creating the most amazing textiles.Each different cloth and each different pattern tells a story. We created a workshop around different printing techniques on textiles. When the 10 workshops ended, we felt that we could not say goodbye to these women so we continued the project in our studio. Where previously these women made items which would be auctioned off, we now solely focus on items that they can make for themselves or for their homes. We try different techniqes such as silk painting and weaving and listen to what they would like to learn or need in their homes.This project, together with our upcoming funding event in November 2014, caught the attention of RTHK Radio 3’s Noreen Mir and Liz Briers was invited to the studio for an interview.

More info: www.lizziebee.org/home-is

Period: May 2014 - present

Frequency: Once per week (2 hours)

Participants: 7-15 refugee women

Location: Tsim Sha Tsui + Sheung Wan

Partners: Christian Action

Funding: Kuldeep Saran Memorial Trust Ventures (KSMT Ventures) Lizzie Bee Foundation Ltd

Objectives: 1. To empower women by creating items for themselves and their home environment

2. To improve art skills by exploring new techniques

Home is Wherethe Heart is

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Knitting with the community to provide warmth to people in need

The United Nations of Knitters started as tester workshops to teach volunteers how to knit so they could teach children one-on-one. We found it so enjoyable that by the time we all knew how to knit, we didn’t want it to stop.

We have been knitting ever since and donate our goods to pregnant women in need, mainly at Pathfinders. In September 2014, we got support from KPC yarn, a HK company that prides itself in offering a quality wool at affordable prices that is produced with high ethical standards. They provide us with wool at a 20% discount. In In September 2014 we also raised $16,000 through a Filantrophy event organised by Acumen HK and Unltd HK.

We keep on knitting because we believe that all new-borns should get something made especially for them, not second hand. There are a lot of babies to knit for so we are hoping to go weekly in 2015.

More info: www.lizziebee.org/united-nations-of-knitters

Period: February 2014 - present

Frequency: Once per fortnight, drop-in sessions (2 hours)

Participants: 53 knitters have attended so far

Location: Sheung Wan

Partners: KPC yarn Pathfinders

Funding: Lizzie Bee Foundation Ltd

Objectives: 1. To enjoy knitting and meet new people 2. To contribute to the community by donating handmade items

United Nations of Knitters

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A community arts project to empower underprivileged kids in HK

The Make it Better project nurtures the belief that you can make things better even if you are a kid. So we make arts and crafts items to improve their home environment but also for others in the community such as the artwork we made for IDEAL, a centre for students with learning disabilities in Sham Shui Po. All our workshops are 1:1 so we can offer more challenging arts workshops in a safe environment and also give a lot of attention or positive encouragement.

In 2013, we started with 2 workshops a month at the SoCO premise. By October 2013, we continued with weekly workshops. In May 2014, we took on a second group at the HSPC.

We believe in the longevity of projects and have children attending for 2 years now. In the care of our committed volunteers we have seen these kids transform: they are calmer, more focussed and keen to try anything. With our committed volunteers coming back week after week we have created an environment of friendship and the kids are so care-free. Providing challenging workshops has made them really adventurous and by exceeding their expectations they have become proud of what they made.

We have a trusting following of volunteers and our workshops posted on the HoHK website are mostly fully booked within 48 hours.

This project also brought us to Sydney to speak about our findings at the prestigious Arts&Health Conference in November 2013. More info: www.lizziebee.org/make-it-better

Period: November 2012 - March 2015

Frequency: Once per week

Participants: 2 x 15 underprivileged children (P4-P6) (2 hours)

Location: Sham Shui Po

Partners: Society for Community Organization (SoCO) Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (HSPC) HandsOn Hong Kong

Funding: Sovereign Art Foundation

Objectives: 1. To nurture the belief you can make things better even if you are a child. 2. To explore and develop new skills

Make it Better

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Providing an oppurtunity for students to contribute to their community

Our Sai Ying Pun arts project explores the changes that Sai Ying Pun has gone through and the local community that makes it an intrinsic part of Hong Kong. These impressions were captured and translated into a visual context creating a mixed media installation using paintings, collages, photographs, textile, etc.The project was led by Lizzie Bee and the artist Lorette E. Roberts and offered an opportunity to students with learning disabilities to actively get involved with the community.

What started out as a 12 workshop project, extended to 50+ workshops and a very successful exhibition with Christie’s Jonathan Stone auctioning off 12 of the works. The $35,700 raised was donated to 4 other charities: IDEAL, Sailability, Growing Together and House of Loving Faithfulness.

We have never come across a group of people so eager to earn their own way in life but they hardly get the chance. So to be given an opportunity to contribute to the community, earn a large amount of money due to their own skills and be able to help other people with it, gave such an amazing boost to their confidence that the project still causes ripples at the Nesbitt Centre.

More info: www.lizziebee.org/our-sai-ying-pun.

Period: Sept 2010 – November 2011

Frequency: Once per week (2 hours)

Location: Sai Ying Pun

Participants: 35 students with learning disabilities

Partners: The Nesbitt Centre, Christie’s

Funding: Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Objectives: 1. To facilitate a project in which students with learaning disabilities can integrate and positively contribute to the community of Sai Ying Pun 2. To engage different parts of a community by creating a piece of art for and by the local community and make it accessible to the general public

Our Sai Ying Pun

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Spreading positive thought through the creation of a public artwork

The Garden of Goodness is the live creation of a garden in a public space where the creative process is part of the art. Young students with learning disabilities, volunteers and members of the public came together to plant flowers made from cloth. On the leaves of the flowers each person wrote one thing that made them happy, for example chocolate ice cream, sunshine, love, children, singing, etc. The garden was created during the Very Hong Kong festival, at their main site in Kwun Tong. We had 150+ participants helping us that day varying from kids to elderly. We were overwhelmed with the response, ending up with 6 tables instead of the 3 tables originally allocated to us and volunteers offering to do double shift just to cover the demand. After the exhibition the garden moved to its permanent exhibition space at ESF King George V (Kowloon) in the Learning Support Department.

The Garden was an ode to students with learning disabilities, the best advocates of positive thinking thanks to their happy and encouraging nature.

More info: www.lizziebee.org/garden-of-goodness

Period: 7-15 December 2013

Frequency: Two full day workshops

Participants: 150+ participants

Location: Kwun Tong

Partners Very HK HandsOn Hong Kong

Funding Lizzie Bee Foundation Ltd HandsOn Hong Kong

Objectives: 1. To create a participatory arts projects that celebrates positive thinking 2. To celebrate students with learning disabilities, the best advocates of posi tive thinking

Garden of Goodness

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A participatory artwork upcycling old T-shirts into rugs

JCDISI invited us to create a participatory arts project to be part of their exciting 10 day Social Innovation Fest. Recycling is an integral part of social innovation so we wanted to show the versatility by upcycling pre-loved t-shirts and turning them into yarn to weave rugs on our large loom.Two weekends in a row we gave visitors of all ages the opportunity to participate. During the week there was an instruction video for students to continue weaving. Our loom ended up having an extended stay until December and our rugs will be displayed at JCDISI.

The simplicity of our project resonated with a lot of people and ended up being re-created by some students at the protest village with the aim to provide mats to sleep on.

The collaboration with PolyU also gave us an opportunity to speak at their Asian Consortium Conference for Young Social Innovators in the Region.

More info: www.lizziebee.org/ weaving-the-unwanted

Period: 10 – 19 October 2014

Frequency: Four full day workshops

Participants: 200+ participants

Location: Jockey Club Innovation Tower (PolyU), Hung Hom

Partners: Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation, PolyU (JCDISI)

Funding: Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation, PolyU

Objectives: 1. To create a participatory arts projects raising awareness about upcycling as part of Social Innovation

Weaving the Unwanted

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As part of Pinsent Masons’ CSR programme Starfish, we created an evening programme based on the homing pigeon and what it takes to feel at home. We invited 15 refugee kids to Pinsent Masons’s office for a silk painting workhop. The art installation that was created was displayed at Pinsent Masons’ lobby until December 2014. After Chinese New Year 2015, it will be installed at Christian Action where the kids regularly drop in.This project is set to be an annually event.

Period: 26 June 2014

Frequency: One evening

Participants: 25 participants

Location: Pinsent Masons’office, Central Plaza, Wanchai

Partners Pinsent Masons LLP, Christion Action

Funding Pinsent Masons

Objectives: 1. To create a CSR project in which refugee kids and staff worked together on making an artwork for the office 2. Offering refugee kids a new adventure and an opportunity to meet new people

Birds or a Feather, flock togetherKids tell us what makes a house a home throug silk painting.

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Period: 30 August 2013

Frequency: One afternoon

Participants: 15 participants

Location: San Wui Commercial Society School, Sheung Wan

Partners: Nomura HandsOn Hong Kong

Funding: Nomura/HandsOn HK

Objectives: 1. To clean up the roof garden of San Wui Commercial Society School and upcycle consumables within a design project

Green FingersA day of recycling and upcycling to improve San Wui’s roof garden

Green Fingers was a collaboration between HandsOn HK and Lizzie Bee, creating a team day out for Nomura’s audit department.

We asked Nomura to recycle different types of packaging they usually throw away for 14 days. We picked it up and upcycled it into garden planters, crawlers, bird houses and water baths.With it we gave San Wui’s roof garden a clean up and some new plants, ready for the next school year to begin.

© 2014 Lizzie Bee Founadtion - Portfolio