Platinum Portrayals
The Let’s Create Jubilee Fund will ensure that thousands of people from communities all across England will have the opportunity to take part in exciting creative events – all in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee. From puppetry and story creation, through to making crowns, carnival and art trails, there will be a huge range of exciting activities for people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in.
Headway’s Jubilee sessions will be led by Helen Newton a Leicester based artist and designer who works mainly in gouache, watercolour and inks on board and paper. Helen is a successful local art teacher and has extensive experience of working with adults of varied abilities. She will host workshops in house at our Day Service and online at our #DigitalDayCentre. Working with our members, Helen will support them in creating pieces which reflect their own jubilee memories.
For our carers support group, we will be holding a Tealight luminary zoom workshop led by another local artist, freelance Ceramicist Katherine Fortnum. Katherine hand builds decorative ceramic sculptures and the luminaries are a scaled down version and our take on the long tradition of marking Royal occasions such as jubilees, weddings etc with the lighting of beacons.
The artworks will then form part of a public exhibition to showcase the talents of our Headway community. More details to be announced in May 2022.
Made possible thanks to National Lottery players and administered by UK Community Foundations on behalf of the Arts Council, the Let’s Create Jubilee Fund will support a huge range of projects throughout England. 44 community foundations have been awarding grants across the country.
Mary Goulty, Services Director at Headway Leicester said “During the pandemic we have held various Visual Art therapy workshops with the brain injury survivors we support to create diverse pieces of work using different materials such as paint, natural paints, and clay. We are thrilled to be able to welcome back Helen and Katherine to lead these very special workshops for our members, as art has such a strong relaxing and stress reduction quality for survivors which is tremendously beneficial for overall recovery from their injury”.
Darren Henley, Chief Executive at Arts Council England said “The Let’s Create Jubilee Fund is a wonderful example of our ambition to give everyone the opportunity to participate in and experience the arts, culture and creativity – made possible thanks to National Lottery players. This June, we’ll see communities across England coming together to celebrate a historic milestone for this country. I’m excited to see these projects brought to life in villages, towns and cities across the country as our wonderfully creative communities celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.”
Rosemary Macdonald, CEO, UK Community Foundations, said: “For community foundations, people and places are the priority and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is a unique opportunity for people to get together and celebrate in their communities. We are proud to have connected Arts Council England with local organisations whose imaginative and exciting projects and collaborations with professional artists will bring communities together to enjoy marking this milestone moment in our history.”
HM The Queen Elizabeth II is the first monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, having overtaken Queen Victoria as the longest reigning monarch in 2015. Her reign has been marked by a commitment to public service, reflected by her extensive programme of engagements at home and abroad, and support for over 600 cultural organisations, charities, military associations, professional bodies and public service organisations.
