An intergenerational project bringing together sixth form students from Mulberry UTC and older adults in Tower Hamlets for regular creative workshops.

Creative Mix welcomes Health & Social Care students from Mulberry UTC and residents from local Tower Hamlets sheltered housing complexes. Groups meet regularly to build relationships, experiment with new artistic skills and share their stories. Creative Mix is a space for celebrating what different generations can learn from one another through the power of art.

Drawing on the skills of our Associate Artists, participants decide for themselves what issues they would like to explore, and how. A ‘Belonging’ theme saw the group exploring stories and experiences of food through poetry, printmaking and movement. They drew portraits with sticks, imagined their own personal islands and uncovered their shared interests. This season culminated in a joyful public exhibition, Recipe for Belonging, at St Margaret’s House Chapel in Bethnal Green.

In recent Creative Mix sessions led by specialists in dance and puppeteering, the group created a giant dancing papier mache FishBirdHorse puppet. It can’t be operated by one person alone – it needs both young people and older people to bring it to life.