June Half Term

This half term, across art and music-making, we focused on expression and impression. 

In reflective, relaxing sessions, we used imprinting and etching techniques to create our own artistic designs, leading into conversations around cultural differences and boundaries across the group. Meanwhile music sessions - full of energy and fun - were a chance to play together as a group, with percussion, guitar and piano all taking a turn alongside production equipment that enabled young people to experiment with sampling and recording. Music from home was shared - one young person even brought along a playlist of tunes from his village - and this gave us a starting point for expressing ourselves in a lively jam session. 

The next day we worked on a piece of music using a traditional Sudanese song chosen by a young person from our community. He skillfully merged it with UK-influenced rap music, effortlessly bringing together different creative strands. A stand-out moment came when he started rapping in Arabic but decided to re-write the lyrics because he felt the content of the lyrics were “too much about himself" as an individual when, instead, he wanted the song to be “about Sudan" and the people of Sudan coming together against the war. This expression of desire for peace and unity in his homeland reminded us once again of the power of music to engage deeply with conflicting emotions and use music as a cathartic expression of self.

Thank you to our fabulous team of therapists and musicians who made these half-term sessions possible!