News from the Team
During February we wrapped up our Giving Thanks online campaign; this month will see the premiere of the artwork which pulls all your submissions together. We would like to thank everyone who took part! Also this month, we have various workshop opportunities and we continue working towards our finale events, coming in April.
Giving Thanks
 School winners
In February we were thrilled to announce the winners of our Giving Thanks schools’ competition. Participating pupils produced creative content in response to the theme of gratitude and posted images, films and poems online. The winning entrants are:
- Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill
- Bitterne C of E Primary School
- Regents Park Community College
- St John’s Primary & Nursery School
Each school will receive an inspirational talk from local Paralympian Aaron Phipps!
Our #MyGivingThanks to everyone who took part. We received such a wealth of creativity from across Southampton. Take a look at some of the beautiful submissions.
Charity winners
Last month we were also happy to announce the winners of our Southampton charity and community group prizes as part of Giving Thanks, in partnership with Southampton Voluntary Services. Groups were nominated on social media via a Giving Thanks post by people who have experienced or benefited from the wonderful work the charities and groups do. Winners were selected in three categories and each winning group will receive £150 as a big THANK YOU.
Winner of the 'most creative post':
Winner of the 'most inspiring story of thanks':
-
The Rose Road Association - They work with children and adults with complex and multiple disabilities and health needs and their families in #Southampton. Such vital work.
Winner of 'most reshared message':
Runners up of 'most inspiring story of thanks':
- The G.E.Ms team at Kingsland Community Centre, a volunteer run organisation who supply the vulnerable & families with food parcels.
- The Basics Bank, Southampton City Mission who give out free food & clothes to those in need in the city.
Who took part in Giving Thanks?
More than 300 residents of Southampton of all ages and backgrounds joined in the project through social media channels and in online interviews. Amongst these were pupils from many schools and colleges across the city and a range of community organisations such as Theatre for Life CIC, Skate Southampton, SO Linked, the Romanian Advisory Centre, TUVAA.
One member of the public who took part said:
“Thank you for the opportunity that the Giving Thanks campaign provides to sharpen our focus on the very significant action of Giving Thanks…... although we can have the head knowledge that being grateful and giving thanks is helpful, can provide lots of benefits mental and even physical healthwise, it's the continual heart attitude of Giving Thanks that I think makes all the difference.”
We hope this attitude will be one of the legacies of the project.
Giving Thanks final piece - coming soon!
At the end of the month, thanks to funding from Arts Council England and the Barker-Mill Foundation, artists Shared Space and Light will premiere a new digital artwork which pulls the Giving Thanks community-generated content together. This online show will tell the story of our city and its people at this unique moment in time using motion graphics and 3D animation.
Shared Space and Light are artists who strongly believe in the power of video projection to bring people together. Collaboration is central to what they do, they have worked alongside a diverse range of communities as well as musicians, set designers and theatre companies.
Join us live on Facebook at 7pm on Saturday 27th March for the premiere of the new artwork.
 In partnership with artist Rachel Gadsden, we are delighted to offer free workshops for visually impaired, or disabled, children and young people, and their families/siblings during the Easter holidays.
The workshops are open to those living in the Southampton area and will take place via Zoom. All the art materials will be posted out in advance. Sign up before the 18th March! Follow this link to find out more and download the sign-up form.
Rachel has also been mentoring a group of local disabled artists who have received training from the New Carnival Company. In March the artists will deliver their final workshops with community groups.
 Voyages of the Heart, a new work by renowned composer, producer, cellist and kora virtuoso Tunde Jegede will be officially launched next week. You will be able to explore the inspirations behind the work, the stories behind some of the musicians involved in the project and book your ticket for the online event!
Inspired by the stories of Southampton’s migrant communities, the piece is commissioned by Turner Sims Southampton and Southampton City Council, and involves migrant community musicians and people from diverse backgrounds. Tunde Jegede describes the piece as ‘about heritage, journeys, migration and the transitory sense of home and identities…[asking] pivotal questions of our perception of culture, memory, race and how we see the world.’
Keep an eye on our social media accounts to find out more.
The team at Mayflower 400 UK are launching Mayflower LIVE this weekend. Mayflower LIVE is a series of live Q&A’s where participants can submit questions to leading expert speakers in real time via the Mayflower 400 UK Facebook Page - click here to be notified of the event starting
The first session will be on Saturday, 13 March at 5pm UK time, featuring speakers Dr Anna Scott - an internationally recognised leading expert on Mayflower history from the region in England where many of the leading Mayflower passengers were born and raised - and Susan Suer of Heritage Leiden - the Dutch city where the religious separatists who planned the voyage lived after escaping England. Follow this link to submit a question for one of the experts in the live session.
 Have you attended a Mayflower 400 event? Watched one of our online videos? Taken part in one of our partner projects? We hope you had an enjoyable experience and we would really value your feedback and thoughts. Please give us your thoughts using this survey which should take no longer than 3 minutes to complete. Thank you!
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