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Eastside’s June 2024 Updates

Dear friends of Eastside, 

I hope you’re doing well, 

It’s been an exciting time for us at Eastside recently. 

Team Away Day

In May we had our annual Away Day, bringing together Eastside Staff and Trustees for an exciting day of team building activities, presentations and workshops, all centred around the theme of ‘Launching Eastside’s 4th Decade’. 

A highlight of the day was an AI workshop by new Trustee Monti Kgengwenyane, who created a custom Eastside AI site for us to chat to and ask questions to.

The day was held in the wonderful new UCL East campus, who we are working closely with as part of our new East Ed teacher development programme.

A massive thank you to everyone who attended the day. 

New Appointment

We are delighted to share that we have recently welcomed Charlie Humpreys to the team, taking on the position of Facilities and Operations Assistant. Charlie will be responsible for the day to day running of our office space, looking after desk leasers and room hires. 

Welcome to the team Charlie!

King’s Civic Leadership Academy Interns

We’re delighted to welcome two interns from the King’s Civic Leadership Academy programme to the Eastside team.

Mahnoor and Aryaa joined us part time since February, and are joining us full time throughout June, learning what it takes to work in an arts charity, and helping the team out across the board. 

Izzy - Placement Reflection

In May we had the pleasure of welcoming Izzy, a recent university graduate, to the team for a week-long placement.

Izzy wrote a blog post reflecting on her time with us, read the full piece via our website.

I felt so included and valued by all the staff and am extremely grateful to be part of something so impactful. Every single person I met who is part of the charity is so committed to the values and aims and to be able to feel part of it, if only for a short length of time, was a treat. I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone who makes this wonderful charity able to do what they do, and reading about the exciting plans and programmes that Eastside will go on to facilitate going into their 4th decade. I can’t thank everyone enough for allowing me to be part of the team and explore opportunities that will most definitely help form what I go on to do in the future. Thank you Eastside!

April Foolery Smiley Movement video

Following on from the success of April Foolery 2024, our annual fundraising gala in the West End, the wonderful team at Smiley Movement put together a short video from the night. 

Schools Programme

Our schools team are busy running a range of programmes this term in schools across London.

Spoken Word Power 2024/25 Applications are now open
Deadline: Friday 28th June 2024

We are thrilled to invite Primary, Secondary and SEND schools in select London boroughs to join this fully funded poetry project launching its fourth year.

Schools have the chance to have a Poet in Residence take their students on a spoken word poetry journey from idea generation and discussion, to writing, editing and performing on a West End Stage. 

Find out more about Spoken Word Power.

Artists in Residence is a 7-week creative residency which is currently happening in 12 schools throughout this term. Participating schools have the opportunity to work towards a select school improvement goal using a specific artform. 

Find out more about Artists in Residence.

Eastside Schools Workshops are running across this term and beyond. We’re offering in-person creative workshops around the themes of Celebrating Wellbeing and Celebrating Diversity. All workshops are led by our expert facilitators, who will support students to build key academic and personal skills including confidence, vocabulary, oracy and speaking & listening skills.

Find out more about our full range of workshops.

Support Us

It is a very tough time for the arts and charities like Eastside. Schools are under great pressure and facing budget restrictions. Sadly the arts and cultural education opportunities are being reduced or in some cases cut completely. This is why your support will help us more than ever in delivering outstanding creative and cultural opportunities to those young people who need it the most at this time.

Please help us reach our target of raising £100k by the end of 2024. You can donate via our website.

Every donation we receive, large or small, helps to fund the important work we do, and allows us to expand our reach and help even more young people. 

Please stay in touch with us and continue to support our life-changing work. 

Matt and the Eastside team

Working towards a future in which all young people’s creativity is nurtured and celebrated