We warmly invite you to support our 2025 Women's History Month Programme continuing the transformative work Skaped has already begun in our community.
After the disheartening alt-right riots at the end of 2024 and the ever-at-risk state of women’s rights to their bodily autonomy and gender equality, our work around gender empowerment is vital.
With your support, we are hoping to once again provide a safe space for our young people to explore their gender identity.
Skaped is an artivist charity that works with young people in East London to educate about community building and human rights through the creative arts.
We do this by running arty events, educational workshops, and providing paid work/training opportunities.
Skaped was founded by Sandy AbdelRahman and Thay Graciano and is rooted in their respective lived experiences as migrant young women in the UK, their dedication to social action, and their shared love of the arts.
Skaped (derived from the Norwegian word for ”create” - skape) aims to empower young people to create positive change within their communities. We believe that, in order to create a more connected world, individuals must cultivate a better connection. with themselves.
We are an artivist organisation that leads through care and acceptance.
Skaped has been extremely busy this last year, delivering a number of successful projects for our community of young people despite a shortfall of funding. By reaching out to our community we were able to raise vital funds which provided free educational workshops and paid creative opportunities to young people.
During our previous Women's History Month Programme "Decolonising the Body" we ran a paid artist-in-residence programme which allowed four young artists to participate in our series of creative workshops and receive one-to-one mentoring in creating their artworks. They learnt to unpack complex themes around gender and decolonisation and practical skills around creating and curating a public art exhibition, allowing them and other young artists to show their work.
In August 2024 Skaped put on our first-ever Artivism festival, this community event brought together artists, makers, community organisations and performers from diverse disciplines for activism and creativity. At the helm of it all was our steering group made up of young people from East London with limited experience in the arts. We worked to provide these 5 young people with training and support as they learnt the ins and outs of forming professional connections, undertaking outreach, liaising with collaborators and venues, and designing promotional materials. They received hands-on experience of what it takes to put on vibrant public events, built confidence, made connections, and developed skills all while being compensated for their time.
In 2024 we engaged with more than 600 new participants through our programmes, events and commissions. We are hoping to continue reaching more and more young creatives in the upcoming year.
As always, the aim of our work is to facilitate spaces and a community where topics such as decolonisation, migration, discrimination and other social justice issues can be discussed comfortably and through a community-focused lens. Providing paid roles in our programmes also means we encourage confidence and elevated self-esteem among our young people.
Your donation will ensure our programme remains free, and accessible, to our young people. It will also contribute to materials for our creative activities and fund more paid opportunities for marginalised young creatives.
Even a small donation will make a big impact!