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It’s always a sad moment when a brilliant peer in the charity world closes its doors. InCommon, a fellow intergenerational charity, has spent nine wonderful years bringing school children and older neighbours together across London, creating joy, curiosity, and genuine friendship along the way. Closing down a charity is never an easy journey, but the InCommon team has done a beautiful job of ‘ending well’. And the vital relationships they built won’t be lost – they will be passed into safe, trusted hands.
Connecting the dots
As the UK’s leading intergenerational arts charity, Magic Me felt a real responsibility to step up and support the continuity of the fantastic work that InCommon has done. After hearing about the great partnerships they’ve been building, we are pleased to share that we’re taking on their Connect programme. Connect brings local schools and housing schemes and day centres together across Tower Hamlets and other London boroughs, and we want to help those intergenerational friendships to keep flourishing.
InCommon’s Connect projects offer a fantastic foundation for us to grow what we do and bring Magic Me’s way of working into new neighborhoods. In keeping with our values of thoughtfulness and inclusivity, our immediate priority is to do a lot of deep listening. We’re having conversations with these existing housing partners to learn about their unique histories, what they love about their Connect programme, and what they need from us in this new phase of work..
Continuity and creativity
While we’ll look to keep the familiar, monthly structure of the programme, we’re going to add our expert artistic magic to the mix. Over our 35-year history, we’ve learned that the absolute best way to spark a deep, transformative connection between generations is through collaborative creativity.
Starting in the Autumn school term, we’ll be handing the sessions over to our brilliant team of Associate Artists. Whether they are making photographs, writing poetry, or building puppets together, our artists will ensure that high-quality creative expression sits right at the heart of these monthly collaborations. We can’t wait to combine InCommon’s legacy with our creative imaginings.
The power of a collaborative sector
The best part of this story is how the wider intergenerational sector has rallied together. We are incredibly proud to stand to sit alongside:
When times get tough, a generous, collaborative sector prioritises community impact. By coming together, we’ve ensured that InCommon’s extraordinary legacy is preserved across three highly experienced organisations.
Looking ahead to 2032
We’ve been working carefully behind the scenes to ensure this initial transition is robust and sustainable and it comes at a really exciting time for us. We are currently shaping our next five year strategy, which will launch in April 2027.
Welcoming the Connect projects and exploring how we can best support them across different London boroughs gives us a brilliant opportunity to learn, test ideas, and explore new ways of delivering activities. It’s the perfect way to prepare for our next chapter: it helps us decide where to focus our long-term vision, and to ensure these vital intergenerational spaces remain vibrant for years to come.
A massive thank you to Hannah and the team at InCommon for trusting us with a piece of their legacy. We are proud to keep the generations connecting.
