Chol - Open for business! A coronavirus update April 2020

Coronavirus (Covid 19) Full Statement

With the ongoing developments around Coronavirus (COVID-19) we wanted to provide an update on our current operation and plans during these difficult times. We are closely monitoring the situation and are following the latest advice from the Government, Public Health England and project funders, Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Chol is still open for business!

As we are currently not working directly with participants in real life, we are approaching our planned work in schools, libraries, and communities a little differently at the moment. We are very keen to continue working with children, young people, families, teachers, artists and partners during the next few months. Within the first week of working from home we launched some new online activities and are continuing to create and share these – visit our Chol @home page.

We cannot WAIT to be back making stories, creating performances, developing and delivering creative lessons and workshops in real life and are continuously re-assessing how and when it is safe for us to do so BUT we are still here digitally and are loving finding new ways to reach out and connect. We are already learning so much from the current challenges and can see this new insight will change the way we make and perform stories with children, young people and communities for the better in the future.

Collaboration and Partnership

In the meantime, we are also thinking about and developing creative lesson content for children of key workers in school as well as provision for children at home. Please feel free to get in touch with us for ideas and potential collaborations during this time.

We will continue to support the young people who are working with us as young interns, ambassadors, and producers and where possible working with artists and project partners. We are also looking into more ways we can continue to collaborate with and support our freelance artists – again please keep talking to us about ideas.

Difficult Decisions

We are doing absolutely everything we can to ensure Chol financially survives these challenges – we are having to make some very difficult decisions such as furloughing part of the team whilst some of our delivery is paused but we are actively seeking alternative funding to keep the team at work and connecting with partners, children and young people.

For more information visit https://wearechol.co.uk/coronavirus-covid-19-full-statement/