ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND

In March 2025, Helen received an Arts Council England "Developing Your Creative Practice" (DYCP) grant for the below project. This project focused on sharing creative writing prompts and exercises with organisations seeking to support people affected by xenophobia, violence, misogyny and homophobia while they rebuild their lives in a new country.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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From her DYCP Report:

 

​"In my application I proposed to develop and deliver 10 creative story-writing workshops with newcomer communities, and to translate my story-writing toolkit into relevant community languages.

 

In 2025, I delivered 17 creative writing workshops with organisations supporting newcomers, particularly those affected by violence, misogyny, homophobia or xenophobia. I translated and printed the Kitabna story-writing toolkit into six additional languages – Arabic, Ukrainian, Polish, French, Pashto and Romanian – exceeding my original proposal of five languages. These editions were printed and used directly within the following workshops:
 

• Two gardening workshops in rural Somerset with newcomer women learning ESOL, co-creating a herb garden and recipe book.

• Three online writing workshops producing a Change Agent Handbook for grassroots women’s rights advocates.

• Two youth workshops with mental health practitioners, scripting a dialogue-based card game, followed by several online “Open Studio” development sessions.

• Two workshops with the South West Councils ESOL network, co-developing an ESOL orientation card game, plus a bilingual (English/Farsi) writing workshop with Afghan women in Weston-super-Mare.

• Three workshops with refugee-support organisations in Romania and Poland.

• A letter-writing-by-the-sea workshop for refugee surfers in Plymouth.

• A creative writing workshop for newcomers to UK LGBTQ+ heritage spaces at the Queer Britain Museum.

• Three writing workshops in France with academic and translation partners supporting refugees.

 

Each workshop generated writing and a tangible resource (books, card games, anthologies) built around narrative prompts.

 

The project went broadly to plan and exceeded its workshop target, whilst respecting my creative time. While originally UK-focused, additional European collaborations added invaluable integration knowledge, strengthening the project’s impact."

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You can explore the projects and download the outcomes of these workshops below.