The company's activities will provide benefit to local communities in terms of creative expression, interaction with the environment, and community cohesion through inclusive, place-based devised theatre projects that engage diverse groups, foster connections, and promote a deeper relationship with local spaces. When Blossom Comes C.I.C delivered Echoes of Us with funding from Arts Council England in partnership with KLS and Wandsworth Borough of Culture. Echoes of Us engaged 16 isolated elders across 7 creative workshops at KLS. We co-created 6 aural stories inspired by memories of the estate and local area. We explored themes of care, public housing and regeneration. Through the workshops and the live audio trail events - Elder participants deepened relationships with peers, the local area and the wider community. All the elders said their confidence and skills increased across the project, this increased confidence was noted in the project debrief by all the facilitation team and KLS Support staff. 100% of participants said they would like to engage in future projects. “I didn't know I could write before but now, through this, I've made a story for a bench. And there's so many benches out there! I could just keep going!” - KLS Elder “Theres so much change going on. It's important to remember and share all the things that have happened here, this has been such a good way to do that.” - KLS Elder When Blossom Comes was invited to be part of the London Architecture festival recognising EOU as an innovative, community-led approach to cultural and heritage, archiving community memory of public space. We built connections with local youth services eg - Providence House and KLS Youth. We engaged a youth worker to create workshop plans and resources for the trail to support youth participation (via local schools+youth services) - these are publicly available on the Echoes of Us website. “Our members got so much from it, and they felt part of their community and reflected on their heritage. They enjoyed being creative and having a voice” - Hannah Bailes, Elders Team, Age Using binaural microphones we recorded 6 stories attached to 6 benches on the Winstanley Estate. These aural stories are hosted on the newly created ‘Echos of Us’ website - an immersive and accessible website which will remain live for a minimum of 10 years (ensuring a legacy for the project), they are also accessible onsite via QR codes mounted on the benches. The stories have so far been listened to by over 500 people. Through EOU we developed our practice of co-created, site specific community storytelling. Offering accessible creative workshops, facilitating creative community led archiving and engaging local working class residents as active audiences. “Such a privilege to hear them talk about the area. I learnt alot. It was really great to be part of such a location based project. Rooted in the local community.” - EOU Assistant Facilitator + local resident.

We gathered feedback from workshop participants, audiences and partners organizations (KLS community centre) using aural decision and written feedback forms. 100% of participants said they would like to engage in future projects. “The project also helped with their mental health, as for some of them our community centre is a lifeline for them, and creative projects like 'Echoes of Us' really help reduce their social isolation” - Hannah Bailes, Elders Team, Age Well Battersea Worker, KLS All of the Elders engaged in EOU are not in employment, many living in poverty and at risk of social isolation. Through the community sharing event and public audio walks as part of Wandsworth Arts Festival and Wandsworth Heritage Festival we had the opportunity to gather feedback on the work from local people.We engaged 98 people as active audiences in 8 walking tours across WAF+ WHF. The trail opened up reflections from audiences on their own connection to the area, the importance of public space/housing and the need for intergenerational dialogue. We engaged local working class residents - most of our audiences (over 80%) accessed the free tickets available for unwaged/low income local residents. “Hope the project can expand to get more views on estate life. I think people on estates get forgotten in regeneration but your project show the importance.” - Audience Member “It is a lovely way to unite strangers, even if they don't talk to each other. Reminds you that you are here and you are part of a place’ - Audience Member ‘Made me feel suddenly quite connected to people that have sat here on this bench before me’ - Audience Member

No remuneration was received

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration