At Sampling International we are always looking for ways to recycle and reduce landfill so teaming up with Urban Commune certainly made perfect sense. A family relative of one of our staff who volunteers at TUC put us in touch with the organisers to discuss the possibility of a contribution. As a result, we were able to give what we call ‘dead paper stock’: paper and card which we can no longer use, some of which is discontinued, or classed as surplus or end of line. The pack included a variety of sizes, colours and weights of paper which offered incredible scope for creative imaginations to run wild.
Founded by Raychel McGuin, in August 2022, the charity now has a team of volunteers and is open 5 days a week, offering creative wellbeing classes, workshops, courses, drop-in sessions and exhibitions.
The Urban Commune’s aim is to create a safe space for teens and adults to be creative whilst taking care of their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, whether that be through art, painting, networking, yoga, movement, music or just being with other likeminded beings. There are 46 artists in total enjoying the benefits of this creative well-being warm space and artists are able to show off their creations in art exhibitions, receiving 20% commission for any piece sold.
I spoke to Raychel recently who was delighted with the card and paper stock we sent. So much so that we are now extending our relationship by re-purposing off-cuts of fabrics for use in their multimedia artwork classes. These off-cuts can vary in size: from 5cm wide by 1 metre in length to small pieces less than A5. Normally we would sweep them off the cutting table, bag them up and send them to landfill, so we were excited to find a group who can reuse them and we hope this new initiative takes off. We weighed the bags and they came in at 22 kgs. That’s 22 kgs less for landfill. Win-win all round and we look forward to seeing some more wonderful creations.
The Urban Commune is based in Uthink Creative Hub, Westgate Retail Park, Ings Road, Wakefield WF2 9SD
To get in touch, you can email: [email protected] or visit www.theurbancommune.co.uk
Stefi Graham