Podcast and video released about Listen & Respond project SOLO: Surviving or Thriving?

SOLO: Surviving or Thriving? is a project funded by UCL East through the Listen and Respond programme which seeks to explore how UCL as a whole can best serve the needs of communities and the voluntary sector in London as they confront and recover from COVID-19.

The aim of the project was to find out how the pandemic has impacted self-employed creative practitioners based in Hackney, and the specific changes and innovations made to their work in response to the crisis.

It has been developed by Jay Derrick at the UCL Institute of Education, Department of Education, Practice and Society, in collaboration with Tanya Harris, a freelance photographer, an arts and cultural education consultant and long-term resident of Hackney.

Six Hackney-based, freelance, creative practitioners were identified and interviewed by the team. These were Christian Sinibaldi, Yves Salmon, Pete Bennett, Vicki Hambley, Tanya Harris, and one other individual who chose not to be named.

Throughout the interviews, the artists were encouraged to reflect their experiences and feelings during the lockdown, and at the same time throw light on changes they have made in their work and what they have learnt.

The team created a short podcast and video out of the interviews.

Learn more about the project.