Refugee Arts
Our Refugee Arts Programme began through a relationship with the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture who recognised that our creative programme could complement the therapy they provided to young refugee and asylum seekers who have experienced trauma and persecution in their own countries. The programme soon grew to meet the demands of participants and grants from BBC Children in Need and Arts Council England have enabled us to establish a programme of creative development spanning the age ranges 5-23yrs, within which are the following groups:
Amies
At the end of 2010 Pan ran a pilot project for women who come through The Poppy Project, (the only dedicated organisation providing safe houses and specialist support for victims of trafficking in London) and ECPAT UK (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes). The pilot was a success and we have now been funded for two years by Comic Relief!
In year one a group of twenty women from The Poppy Project and ECPAT met once a week for Arts based workshops. The group have named themselves ‘Amies’ meaning ‘friends’ in French.
The Amies Project aims to:
. Encourage the women to work together supportively in a group. 
. Develop their physical and vocal confidence.
. Re-connect participants with creativity and power of emotion.
. Encourage songs and scenes, which reflect aspirations and concerns.
. Role-play situations in their lives where they feel they lack confidence.
. Work as a team to create a performance.
. Record songs and scenes to give participants ownership of their work.
We are currently recruiting for year two of the project. This year we
will be working with forty women
Fortune
Fortune provides a safe space for 17-23 yr olds from across the world to (re) discover their creative impulses, gain their self confidence and their freedom of ideas and communicate them to a wider audience. They are now at a stage where they can confidently deliver performances to the general public and mentor new members who join. Recent performances have included Asylum Road, a portrayal of the history of asylum within the confines of a shipping container, the 2009 production of 'The Colour of Love' and 2010-2011 project 'Taste of Memory'. The Fortune group are co-directed by Pan artists Annabel Rook, Taku Mukiwa and Adwoa Dickson. Join the fun and follow our blog by clicking here: www.bustdataste.blogspot.com. Our current Fortune project is Young Rights, Bloomsbury.
Future
The Future group (15-16yrs) have grown up with Pan over the past seven years and are now confident teenagers who have developed talents in creativity and workshop assisting. Recent projects include a puppet and animation project, and a film project entitled 'Are you being heard?' exploring situations where we can listen and be heard better. In 2010 they will continue their fantastic peer mentoring of younger participants working towards an accredited ASDAN peer mentoring award.
Fusion and Feet First
Our two most recent groups, covering the ages 5-14yrs, developed in demand from younger siblings of participants who wanted to join in the fun they saw their brothers and sisters having. Catering for a younger age range also enabled us to provide a much needed break from childcare for parents. It also allowed us to develop our peer mentoring strand where older siblings assist in workshops for younger participants. The groups collaborated on our 2009 project Eco-Thunder Kid which saw the creation of an environmental Super-hero for the local area, embodied in a sculpture made fro recycled materials.
If you work for an organisation which supports refugees and would like to get involved please contact the Pan office or you can download a participant recommendation form and post it to us.
The Youth Refugee Arts proejct has been funded by the generous support of BBC Children in Need.
