HMD fundraising
‘STAND TOGETHER’ FUNDRAISER
CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL STUDENT HELP RAISE £962.42 FOR LOCAL GOOD CAUSES AT CIVIC HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL PRORGRAMME OF EVENTS IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY
Dancers and Drama and Music students have been performing physical theatre and dances and songs illustrating stories by Michael Rosen’s new poems commissioned by HistoryWorks for Cambridge schools. Their performances have been fundraising at the Holocaust Memorial programme of educational and civic events in Cambridge.
These are on the theme of ‘Stand Together’ and tell the story of Michael Rosen’s family members who went “Missing” in World War II. Michael has recently found out his Uncles and Aunts sad fate, to have been arrested in Vichy France because they were Jewish and subsequently murdered by the Nazis at the notorious extermination camp Auschwitz- Birkenau.
Young people involved in this project have been inspired to fundraise for charities in order to ‘stand together’ now with those groups who have suffered historically in the 20th and 21st centuries. Student performers from 4 of the Cambridge Academic Partnership Schools (Coleridge, Parkside, CAST, and Trumpington) pitched in to fundraise alongside performers from local primary schools including St Matthew’s, Milton Road, The Spinney, Fawcett, Trumpington Meadows.
Helen Weinstein, Artistic Director of Holocaust Memorial Programme says
“When students at our schools workshops and singing rehearsals learnt with Historyworks about the Nazi T4 euthanasia action against the disabled, and heard about the level of hate crime in UK today, against those with disabilities, especially young people, they wanted to ‘stand together’ with those with disabilities and fundraise for a local disability charity in addition to a refugee hardship fund charity in our HMD programming for events this year! I am thrilled we raised £962.42 at the HMD civic events and I’m so proud of the school students from CAP & the primaries that they wanted to take action & raise funding for refugees & for those with disabilities in Cambridge. It shows how moved & inspired the audiences have been that they gave so generously.
Michael Rosen re school children responding to HMD Theme and our HMD Education programme …
Historyworks, in their programme of Holocaust Education, ask the young people in schools to respond to the Holocaust in many different ways – some of them through poetry, dance, narratives, song, drama, and documentary. Students and their teachers in Cambridge have worked very hard over the past months as the Arts ask us to both learn what happened but also to empathise with the victims, to think and feel at the same time.
This is a difficult, challenging matter but if we want to avoid a rise in racism, we feel these things need to be tackled at the grass roots. The Arts put pictures and movements and music and words in front of us to help us ask questions like: what would I feel like in that situation? What would I have done? This gives us wisdom and strength. I’ve been delighted with how the young people in Cambridge have responded, wanting to fundraise for charities which support issues raised by learning about the past, helping those who are suffering hardship as refugees and exclusion from a creative life because they have disabilities, and both groups will be supported this Spring in practical ways because of the funding raised by youngsters.
Eddie Stadnick, CEO of Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum says: ‘As one of the recipients of the excellent fundraising efforts made by the young people in Cambridge involved in the HMD Education programme delivered by Historyworks and funded by CamCitCo. I can confidently say that the monies raised and donated to our CECF Refugee Services Hardship Fund, will make a huge difference in helping us to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable people we assist’
Hetti Wood, Marketing Manager at Rowan says:
‘Fundraising for Rowan is key to the success of our day-to-day provision of creative and ambitious Arts activities for those with disabilities in Cambridge, and we were delighted to be chosen along with the Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum Refugee Hardship fund. Seeing the number of schools and organisations coming together to mark the commemoration of genocides is wonderful and really shows the Cambridge community at its best. Events such as this also offer the opportunity for the work of Rowan to be known. To let the wider community know about our students artists, giving them a voice and the opportunity to be heard. Thank you to Helen at Historyworks and everyone that made the event such a success!’
Russell Burgess, Head of Create, Cambridge Academic Partnership, whose teachers and students are responding to HMD with an Arts programme:
Holocaust education is vitally important and we are extremely proud of the creative partnership we have formed with Historyworks, Michael Rosen and local holocaust survivor Eva Clarke. The project means that over the last 3 years 1,500 students from across our family of schools have explored the holocaust and produced creative work in poetry, drama, music, dance and art. It has been amazing to see students who associate Michael with humorous poems such as 'Chocolate Cake and No Breathing in Class' discover his more serious side as they hear about his families connection with the holocaust, how it wasn't really spoken about as he grew up, his journey to discover the truth and how he has expressed this through his poetry. The work students have created in response to this experience has been mature, moving, thought-provoking and extremely creative. We are very proud that the students chose these two charities for their fundraising, and that they were moved to not only respond creatively to learning about the plight of those with disabilities and refugees who suffered during the Nazi regime, but also wanted to make a difference by fundraising for charities in Cambridge who support those with disabilities and those who are suffering hardship as Refugees.
TO FIND OUT MORE:
Helen Weinstein, Director of Historyworks
Tel: 07974-827-753
Email: historyworks@gmail.com
Russell Burgess, Head of Create
Cambridge Academic Partnership
Tel: 01223 712 300
Email: rburgess@cap.education
