This August, Abbey Hill United Reformed Church in Kenilworth hosted Project Joy, a series of four free community workshops blending poetry and art with the themes of faith, hope, and love. The events drew strong attendance, with a diverse mix of just over one hundred attendees and volunteers across all events. The church worked with two local professional artists: poet Emilie Lauren Jones, who was Coventry’s first Poet Laureate; and multidisciplinary visual artist Ellie Rose who works intuitively with varying mediums from mixed media painting and drawing, land art photography, community projects and murals.
Every Tuesday evening throughout the month, participants explored the theme in friendly and supportive workshops. Poetry sessions reflected on Biblical texts such as The Sermon on the Mount alongside modern writers like Danusha Laméris, inspiring original writing that gave voice to themes of kindness, resilience, and love. Art workshops invited participants to create vibrant pieces using cyanotype and playful mark making. Discussions were an integral part of all sessions, and it was wonderful to see new connections being made and friendships forming. At a time where society can feel divided, it was brilliant to meet so many people who were keen to celebrate positivity through creative practices and conversations.
The atmosphere was described by attendees as uplifting and inclusive, with many saying they felt encouraged to share their words, ideas, and artworks in a safe, creative space. One attended said the sessions were a wonderful way of ‘sharing thoughts and ideas and meeting new people and making new friends’, a sentiment shared by many others. Several attendees also reported an increase in confidence after attending one or more sessions.
Art workshop leader Ellie Rose said, ‘it was a great opportunity to bring known and unknown people into the church and meet on one level and to be able to freely think about the theme of Faith, Hope and Love.’
I really appreciated the enthusiasm of everyone that took part in the creative events and love the fact that art and poetry can work together.
Many of the wonderful pieces created across the project will feature in a beautifully produced community booklet, to be launched later this year and distributed free of charge to local people, groups and churches. The booklet will continue to celebrate the voices and creativity of all who took part, leaving a lasting mark of faith, hope and joy in the community.
A short highlights video of the project so far is now available online: Watch here (https://youtu.be/akx6AryVt3k)
Following on from the success of these sessions, Abbey Hill United Reformed Church is pleased to announce they will be offering even more free community workshops, for all ages, across four Saturdays later this year with music and cookery workshops being added to the lineup. More details will be released soon
Project Joy is supported by Abbey Hill URC as part of its Visibility and Outreach initiative, and is funded by the King’s Table Fund. For more information visit: www.kenilworthabbeyhillurc.org.uk/