A collection of stories from our community

During lockdown, we commissioned two of our wonderful creative associates – Bev Lee Harling & Lucy Mulgan – to co-compose music for a series of stories around the theme of ‘My Place’. We worked with three local community groups: 

• The Seaview Project  – A local Hastings charity that supports vulnerable adults.
• Dudley Infant Academy – Year 2 (children aged 7&8)
• The Refugee Buddy Project – A charity helping refugee families connect and gain support from our local communities. 

Bev & Lucy met with these groups towards the end of 2020. They were lucky enough to meet the Seaview group in person. However, due to lockdown, meeting up with Dudley Infant Academy and the Hastings Refugee Buddy Project had to move online. Volunteers came forward from all three groups to tell their stories in their own words, with their own voices. Bev & Lucy took these stories and made three short films – co-writing music, filming, and video editing.   
During a time when many of us have felt isolated, the My Place project was able to showcase the amazing words and experiences of our community partners and to keep us all connected, thanks to the power of music and creativity!
The project was funded with Arts Council England’s Emergency Funding 2020.
Barefoot Opera is looking at expanding this project with Bev and Lucy to create more stories and songs – hopefully meeting and making music in person with our community groups later in 2021