Words of Colour Productions is a community enterprise initiative that aims to teach adults about literature and other writing forms, and to develop and promote creative writing skills to enable their work to be published and/or performed. Through the development and delivery of unique community arts and educational experiences, Words of Colour Productions aims to help people learn new skills and encourage them to participate fully in the arts, the local community and wider society.
Words of Colour Productions is committed to delivering quality services and to ensuring that our project activities address inequality by primarily targeting the most marginalised and socially excluded groups.
Words of Colour Productions’ projects aim to teach and empower people, improve their basic skills, personal development skills and build their self-confidence. Based on a track record of nearly ten years of working with adults, bolstered by the support of a network of creative professionals and educationalists, Words of Colour Productions have developed three core strands of activity:
Reading & Writing for Personal Development
Workshop-based projects for adults, for example, poetry and fiction using a range of literary forms and genres.
Writing Projects
Compiling, developing, editing and self publishing creative writing and journalistic contributions from unpublished talented individuals.
Career Guidance & Development
Training and development seminars and workshops for adults seeking to gain productive skills in the arts.
The team
Hackney budding journalists
Hackney Museum is launching Mapping the Change, an innovative project to collect local people’s views about the transformation taking place in the London Borough of Hackney in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the museum aims to produce an archive to be enjoyed by future generations and to discover what people really think about the Olympics and its impact. Words of Colour will deliver the journalism programme. For more information go to the website or email.
C4 opportunity to film shorts
T4 presenter Miquita Oliver is fronting a Channel 4 and Media Trust competition to find ten talented16-25 year olds to write, direct and produce short films for broadcast on the Community Channel. The First Shots: Identity Uncovered competition is looking for ideas that showcase how black culture has inspired the lives of individuals and communities across the world. Closing dates for entries is Thursday 29th July. The ten finalists will receive specialist training and a professional mentor. For more information on how to enter visit the website.
Glass ceiling in the arts
Women are still failing to break through the glass ceiling in the major cultural art forms from music and filmmaking to writing and the arts, claims new research by UK Feminista. Over 70 per cent of the acts at this year’s Glastonbury festival were male, 83 per cent of the artists at Tate Modern are men, and for every female character in a TV drama there are two male characters. Novelist and critic Bidisha said: ‘I’m angry. The marginalisation of women across all the arts and media is ubiquitous and obvious.’ For more information on the research go to the website.
Campaigning journalist dies
Themon Djaksam, a long standing National Union of Journalists (NUJ) magazine branch member and activist in the Black Members’ Council who died aged 53 in April, had his funeral organised by the NUJ in July after his family couldn’t be present due to visa restrictions. Originally from Gabon, Djaksam was Father of the Chapel at West Africa magazine six years ago. The freelance journalist held the chapel together through appalling staff conditions and stuck tight until all staff received statutory redundancy payments. The NUJ deputy general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: ‘Themon was a stalwart NUJ member, always ready to give help and support for union causes. His death was a great loss to all of us who were fortunate enough to know him.’
EU Journalist Award 2010
The EU Journalist Award 2010 is open to online and print journalists in the EU who, through their work, contribute to a better public understanding of the value and benefits of diversity and the fight against discrimination in Europe. The winner of the European competition, plus two runners-up, will receive prizes with a value of €5,000, €3,500 and €2,500 respectively. The winners of the national competitions will receive a prize with a value of €1,000. The Media Diversity Institute, a partner to the award, is responsible for encouraging entries from the UK. Up to three articles can be submitted per person and must be at least 630 words long. Deadline for submission is 12:00 (midday) on 17 September 2010. For more information email or visit the website.
‘I believe the Words of Colour Productions initiative has a great vision at its core and has been created to aid, nurture and open doors for creative writers who’s beautifully diverse voices would go unheard otherwise.’
Ony Uhiara, writer, actress and an Evening Standard ‘Best Newcomer’ nominee for her performance in Roy Williams Fallout.