Following the success of 2020’s community sewing project, Stitch, Oldham Coliseum Theatre is launching a new creative community project for all ages, asking people to create postcards filled with positivity to send to family and friends or return to the Coliseum to be shared with Oldham’s communities.
The theatre is asking people to create their own artwork or drawing for the front of their postcards and write a poem for the message, all based on the themes of ‘connection’ and ‘togetherness’.
For the project the Coliseum’s Learning and Engagement team have collaborated with award-winning poet Nasima Begum (AKA Nasima Bee) to create a poetry exercise pack which can be delivered as part of a package of resources or downloaded from the theatre’s website.
Nasima Begum is a performance poet, producer and creative practitioner. She has taught poetry nationally and internationally though various projects and her most notable performances include Manchester Literature Festival, British Council’s BritLitBerlin Conference and BBC’s Contains Strong Language. She is one of five Greater Manchester recipients of the Jerwood Creative Fellowship and is currently working on an audio commission with New Creatives North. Nasima is also a trustee for Manchester’s Young Identity, an advocate for Contact Theatre and is the Project Coordinator for Ananna.
At the beginning of the pandemic the Coliseum commissioned Associate Artist Hafsah Aneela Bashir to create the Poetry Health Service ( https://www.poetryhealthservice.com/ ), a free website that uses poems as a tool for connection and healing. Stamp: Postcards of Positivity helps people to create their own poems as a tool for sharing positivity.
The Coliseum has a limited amount of Stamp: Postcards of Positivity resource packs containing postcards, stamps, art and crafts materials and the poetry exercise pack.
Oldham residents can request a full resource pack or a Stamps and Postcards pack for free from the Coliseum by emailing LED@Coliseum.org.uk. Group packs are also available for Oldham based groups. Anyone can download the poetry exercise pack from the Coliseum website.
