If culture is made up from a number of small activities that we do regularly, like going to the pub with friends or going to gigs, then it’s a safe bet that the importance of those activities has been reinforced to us during Covid.  How much do we miss the pub, or the gigs, when they’re taken away without warning?  How much do we take our culture for granted?

Supporting and working with some of the most vulnerable BAMER and wider communities, GemArt, a local culture programme, has continued to support a number of community projects during Covid including offering a befriending and translation service, creating multi language Covid19 advice videos, and delivering fresh food packages to vulnerable families.

Additionally GemArts has been creating a mixture of on-line and offline arts, music, dance and creative activities for groups and communities to try at home to support those feeling especially isolated and lonely at this time. 

As part of GemArts Cultural Threads programme, which has a focus on creative engagement to improve health and wellbeing, the organisation has also been working with a range of artists to create bespoke fun and engaging on-line content as well as creative packs which are delivered to regular groups. 

If you’re interested in supporting GemArts, or you’d like to know more about its services you can do so through their website https://gemarts.org/whatson.  If culture is about important small activities then this is a great place to start.