Hello, and welcome to The Abundance Project’s blog. My name is Anna, and I’m the Community Engagement Officer. I’ll be coordinating most of the content you’ll see on this blog, as well as attending community events hosted by our Community Research Hubs and related to our project’s ambition of improving social prescribing services for Black, minority ethnic and refugee communities living in underserved areas.
In this article, I’m going to tell you a little bit about me and my experience on the project. Hopefully this will give you an insight into the ethos of our project and the inspiring conversations that are being had as a result.
About me
Although I’ve lived in the UK for 8 years now, I was born and raised in the Netherlands. I studied Fine Art, Museum Practice and Anthropology, and Heritage Studies at university, volunteering in museums by creating educational materials, facilitating family activities and undertaking basic research. I’ve always been drawn to museums for as long as I can remember, but I realised after finishing university that part of what I loved most about museums was their social and emotional impact on people: their ability to tell stories that people see themselves in, to bring people together, to inspire connection and foster belonging.
After working in a national gallery for 15 months, I decided to focus further on this community building power, joining The Abundance Project team as the dedicated Community Engagement Officer in September 2024. The Abundance Project reinforced what I had seen in the gallery — that cultural spaces can make us feel held when we’re going through difficult times; that, when we’re given the chance to immerse ourselves uninterrupted in beauty and creativity, our mental wellbeing benefits. It also felt like a project with integrity, prioritising the agency of underserved communities in identifying what obstacles are actually important to tackle and in determining what solutions work for them.
The Abundance Project
Since joining The Abundance Project, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the Community Co-Investigators and Community Voice Champions co-leading the project. I’ve also gotten to know a bit more about the vital work the Community Research Hubs are doing for their communities in their boroughs and beyond. I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to attend a number of community events, such as the ARCC’s joyful Coffee Mornings or KVA’s 56th anniversary celebration at the FUSEBOX in Kingston. I’ve met so many wonderful people, and witnessed the passion, resourcefulness and determination of community leaders demanding better from a political climate of funding cuts, rising xenophobia and a cost of living crisis. It is a privilege to be so warmly welcomed into their spaces.
ARCC’s monthly Coffee Morning, September 2024. ‘We Are Croydonian’. Photos taken by Nayim Chowdhury.
In addition to these community events, it’s been a pleasure to work together in the first and second work packages for The Abundance Project. Work Package 1, led by Prof Meg Jensen, invited Community Voice Champions to reflect on their relationships with nature and culture, using writing and poetry prompts, drawings and Post-It notes to start conversations about belonging, identity, safety, sanctuary and home. The stories that Community Voice Champions shared about their experiences were moving and diverse. Work Package 1 also included training for Community Voice Champions to speak with other members of their community and to gather more stories about relationships to nature and culture, and how that impacts wellbeing. These ‘snapshot stories’ gave vital insights for our researchers to better understand the breadth of feelings and experiences associated with these two topics.
Work Package 2, led by Dr Pete Garside, focused on the accessibility, quality and impact of information about local CGCAs. We organised community walks to a local CGCA chosen by Community Voice Champions — parks, a town hall, running tracks, a shopping high street, the riverside, a bike path — and talked along the way about why this CGCA felt important to go to. Often, these walks were a way for other Community Voice Champions to learn about a new CGCA in their area. It was wonderful to see how this sharing of knowledge led people to feel excited about and empowered to benefit from their area.
We are now gearing up to starting Work Package 3, led by Prof Tushna Vandrevala, after delivering a feedback and networking session on the 9th of May. This exciting event, held at Kingston University, was the first time all 27 Community Voice Champions met each other. It was a chance for the academic research team to verify whether the data they had gathered from Work Packages 1 & 2 felt accurate to the Community Voice Champions, and to check in about what was coming next. In the lunch break, Community Research Hubs set up stalls with resources about their work so Community Voice Champions and Community Co-Investigators could learn more about their work. I also designed some posters depicting our journey on the community walks, with quotes, illustrations and space for extra notes. These were also used to verify data, with spare copies offered to Community Research Hubs to take home.
As the summer approaches, I’m looking forward to attending more community events and spending time with our Community Voice Champions. It’s been such a pleasure working with them so far — I’m sure the summer sun and blue skies will make it even better!
With gratitude,
Anna