Engagement
We've been engaging marginalised women and non-binary people in tailored creative programmes for over 20 years, in partnership with specialist support services.
Our creative engagement programmes are long-term, participant centred, and focused on building community and belonging. We provide safe, creative spaces for women and non-binary people to develop confidence, transferable skills, a body-of-work, and a network of support.
Thrive 2023
"I've had a few years where I didn't feel like me anymore...
I AM a creative person"
This year we are working with 60 women and non-binary people in three locations: London, Redcar & Eastbourne, in partnership with:
EVA Women’s Aid
Tees Valley Arts
Wayfinder Woman
Towner Eastbourne
Thrive 2018-2022
“I tried new activities that I have never done before. I was surprised about my hidden skills. I learnt to believe in myself.”
Thrive is our long-term engagement programme, in partnership with:
Coin Street Community Builders
Gaia Centre (run by Refuge)
Women’s Trust
EVA Women’s Aid
BeLifted
Solace Women’s Aid
An Alternative Life 2015-2017
“I feel like I’ve found a more creative side to myself…it just kinda broadened my horizons, put myself in places where I wouldn’t usually be and I really really enjoyed it”
Over three years we worked in partnership with:
Trust Women’s Project (2015) – women working in or exiting street based sex work
Gaia Centre (2016) – women survivors of gender based violence
Beth Centre (2017) – women affected by the criminal justice system
Spires 2010-2013
“I can’t wait to come here Friday mornings. Thank you. You put so much effort in me. I feel alive again!”
Futures delivered a three-year engagement programme in residence at Spires in Lambeth, working one to one with women working in street based sex work, or at risk.
F.I.N.E
“I enjoyed the group because it gave me a chance to do something fun. An opportunity to take time out of my life and relax and forget negative stuff.”
Futures worked collaboratively with writers Alice Birch, Sabrina Mahfouz and photographer Matilda Egere-Cooper to deliver an intensive series of creative workshops with women who were working in or had exited street-based sex work. The stories that emerged from these workshops led to the development of a new script that had a rehearsed reading in 2013.