Creative Corner

Hi there and a very warm welcome to the Creative Corner 🏡 

This is a place where you can sit back, put your feet up and relax. We made this space to share the music, poetry, stories and art we have created and a quiet space to do some arty stuff yourself. You can also find out about other creative people here too.

If you would like us to share your work here, drop us an message via this Google Form. We can also share and/or promote your creations on our Instagram page and/or Twitter.

Creative things to do...

Please note - you don't have to be 'bored' to do any of these! (Much as some of the titles may suggest otherwise.) Be creative when you feel like it - or if you'd like to get out of your head...

GER

GER is an Irish singer/songwriter and a fellow care leaver creating hauntingly beautiful music.

YouTube   ~   Spotify   ~   Insta

FIAA

Has a voice that awakens the heart and soul, Fiaa is a UK artist and care leaver who shares her story from the real life struggles and striving to chase her dreams. 

Name in Lights is her debut single epitomises Fiaa’s unstoppable strength and determination no matter what life throws at her to embrace her talent and showcase it with the entire world.

YouTube   ~   Spotify   ~   Insta

Ric Flo

Ric Flo describes himself as the anti-hero is one third of the hip-hop collective Jungle Brown (Mr Bongo). 

Growing up in foster care, the creative arts became a therapeutic medium of introspection and self-expression. His debut project, ‘A Boy Called Ric’, is a reflective journey about his life in foster care and has resonated strongly with the undervalued community. Ric has also co-founded Mantra Music - a record label specifically for Care Leavers!!!

YouTube   ~   Spotify   ~   Insta

Philippa Uden

Philippa is a writer with published poems, an award-winning social mobility advocate and is passionate about seeing more kindness in all parts of society.

She is also an upcycling and circular fashion enthusiast who makes new stuff out of old stuff.

Instagram @pip.uden and @patchedbypip

Exciting new creative writing project launched for young care leavers

Coram is working with the Royal Literary Fund to offer a series of free online creative writing workshops to help young people reach out from lockdown. The theme is sharing life experiences through letters – past, present and future.

The programme is for care-experienced young people aged between 16 and 25 and will take place in a series of online sessions over six weeks. The workshops will take inspiration from historic letters held in the Foundling Hospital archive, and will give young people the chance to get creative, develop writing skills and look at similarities and differences in care experiences throughout history.

Website  Instagram

How to Fly (a song by Care Leavers)

How to Fly combines the experiences of 18 care leavers in a bid to bring their voice to the masses and build their aspirations.

The project came about when the Springboard Project – a Big Lottery-funded organisation supporting care leavers – teamed up with York non-profit Inspired Youth, which specialises in engaging young people through the arts.

One of the goals in the project was to get care leavers' voices into the public domain – but the project also aimed to build the group's aspirations; encouraging them towards employment or higher education. 

Element Project

Is an arts projects exploring purpose, motivation and creativity with care leavers. If you’re interested in developing your creative skills, finding out more about yourself, and socialising and having fun in a positive atmosphere, an Element project might just be the one for you.  

Network: After completing a project you become part of their network. This means you have access to meet ups with other Element young people, free tickets (see below), and amazing opportunities through their arts and employability partners. 

Website

Care Collective Zine

Care Collective publish a zine, a space where they hope individuals from the care-experienced community can feel #ZineAndHeard 

Submissions are open to any #CEP from the UK who are 16 and over (Full submission guidelines on their site and on their Twitter and Instagram).

Website: https://carecollectivezine.co.uk/work

Instagram: @_carecollective  

Twitter: @_CareCollective

Care Experience & Culture

Care Experience & Culture is a Digital Archive pulled together by care-experienced academics, Dr Dee Michell and Rosie Canning, that features care experienced literature, spoken word and academic material.

For children and young people in care, and their carers, social workers, teachers etc, Care Experience & Culture will provide a significant source of material to which children and young people can be directed for characters they can relate to. As Ryan McCuaig who was in care has said, characters like Harry Potter are for those who’ve left care too. He was in his twenties when a conversation with another care experienced person about Harry Potter made him realise that he “was already part of something bigger” whereas he’d often struggled with not fitting in....

Cassie and the Lights

Cassie and the Lights is an original play with music based on a true story and interviews with care-experienced children and young people. It will run at Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 4th-28th August 2022 (not 16th).

"Can kids be parents? When Cassie's mother disappears, the teen wants to care for her younger sisters on her own. But is Cassie the right person to be a parent now, or should she let her foster parents adopt her sisters and create a new family?..."

To find out more:

Care Creatives

 Care Creatives is a network dedicated for Care Leavers & Estranged people working in Film & TV .

To find out more or to get in touch: 

Life of a Care Leaver (LOACL)

Are you a care leaver? Do you feel invisible or have a lack of identity? Do you have something that you want to share? Want your voice or talents seen and heard?

Do you want to be recognised and respected as a care leaver? Then follow LOACL  and share your ideas with a platform owned by care leavers.

Please get in contact: careleavers47@gmail.com 

Rees Community Cafés

The Rees Foundation is proud to collaborate with a number of cafes across the country, offering a safe social space for care experienced people in the heart of the community. The cafés offer affordable, high quality food and drinks and supportive staff who are mental health first aiders.

The Rees Guest Card is exclusively available to care experienced people and allows you discounted food and drink at any of our cafes. Please click here to apply for a Rees Café Guest Card.

​You'll find a full list of where you can use your card on their website below.