Welcome 2020 and the next decade!

We hope you managed to find some time over the holidays to relax and rejuvenate.
As January is speeding along, we thought we give you a peek into the exciting things we have planned for 2020 and take a look at some of our 2019 highlights.

Powerflex commission by The Lowry

Thursday 30th April to
Saturday 2nd May 9.30pm

Powerful or powerless? Ascending to or descending from power? Balancing power?

A site responsive promenade performance, Powerflex leads us on an enthralling vertical journey suspended on the stunning architecture of The Lowry, where performers will transform the building to create a visual manifestation of how we find power within ourselves; what it means living and balancing power at the edge and how can we summon its positive aspects!

The main outdoor performance of WEEK 53, a bi-annual festival that commissions, produces and presents bold and brilliant contemporary art and theatre.

Take Flight

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been awarded a grant from the
Mayor of London’s Young Londoners Fund for our Take Flight weekly
aerial training programme for young people aged 13-21.

We've now started our weekly classes. Welcome to all of our new participants!

Get in touch for more information:
rachel@scarabeus.co.uk

Co-op Local Community Fund

We're proud to announce that we have been chosen as one of the chartities supported by the Co-op Local Community Fund this year. This means every time Co-op members shop at Co-op, you get 5% back, and 1% of what you spend on selected own-branded products and services goes to help fund community projects, projects like our Take Flight project.

So we're encouraging all our supporters to choose us as their cause, and of course, to shop at the Co-op! Visit our cause page for more information: membership.coop.co.uk/causes/37632

Not a member yet? Earn rewards for you and your community, join in store or online at www.coop.co.uk/membership

Aerial Yoga Classes - for adults!

Starting on 12 February, and then every Wednesday 7.30 – 9pm
at Caxton House Community Centre, 129 St John’s Way, N19 3RQ.

Aerial yoga takes yoga practice to a further level moving from the mat to the air,
developing creative ways of working with the cocoon, to strengthen the body and
further deepen our mobility and flexibility.

Come prepared to be stretched and opened to the core!
Contact Daniela at daniela@scarabeus.co.uk

Participation Projects

Flying into Physics
comes to Enfield

After such success last year, we'll soon be swinging into schools in Enfield to continue our Flying into Physics project. The programme uses aerial skills to illustrate and embody key concepts in the KS2 Forces topic.

Supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, over 370 students took part in 2019, across a number of primary schools based in Leicester and London.

Enfield here we come!

Flying Families
comes to Enfield

We can't wait to start our next cycle of Flying Families, this year we'll be working with families from two schools in Enfield. Parents and children get to bond in our aerial cocoons, enjoy fun theatrical games and explore the great outdoors!

We'd like to thank all the organisations we partnered with in 2019, including Bright Start, Archway and Willow Children's Centres, Families First, and All Change. Supported by The National Lottery Community Fund.

Highlights of 2019

FALL TO FLY explores a different way of talking about and perceiving young women’s mental health: specifically self-harming and depression.

We aim to open doors to different conversations that create knowledge about the subject, and provoke a change in perception moving from stigma towards empathy and support.
We are exploring a metaphorical language of shadows, because the stigma of mental health is often associated with not being seen or heard.

20:20 Stories of Moving Lineage
As part of the 20:20 Stories of Moving Lineage arts and heritage project we were commissioned by Salusbury World to create WE BELONG, a performance with young EAL students from Queen's Park Community School in Brent and funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund. The production was inspired by the stories of the first 20 refugees welcomed to the Salusbury World Centre, and was presented at the Launch exhibition at Willesden Green Library and will be shown at Queen's Park Community School.

If Not Now, Then When? at Keys Meadow
We created a thought provoking site-specific promenade show inspired by Quentin Blake's 'A Sailing boat In The Sky' and The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Working with Keys Meadow School Y5 children, we explored the themes of child labour, warfare, poverty and climate change; using a life sized boat to 'save' children, we travelled around the school site to scenes representing violations of children's rights. It culminated in an aerial performance in the hall with our young performers suspended above the ground and a call to action for the rights of all children.

Take Flight Sharing

Our Take Flight young participants showcased their skills in a very successful sharing in July. Watch our sharing video of them demonstrating what they've learned.

Short Breaks at Watermans Art Centre
In the Summer we ran a number of aerial workshops for families with special needs as part of the Short Breaks programme at Watermans. Short Breaks offers activities throughout the year for children up to 18 with special educational needs living in Hounslow.

Aerial Summer School at Alexandra Palace
We were fortunate to run an aerial Summer school at Alexandra Palace, and held a performance with Summer school children as part of the Great Féte. A gorgeous location, we'd really encourage anyone that hasn't visited to have a look at what they have on offer.

Aerial Rigging Consultancy

Our consultation work takes us all over the globe! In 2019 Søren visited Flo’s Gals at Graeae Theatre in London to rig, then bounced over to Greenland for a site visit, and we ended in Korea, with more rigging for All or Nothing in Jeju.

... and Finally

PLEASE SUPPORT US

Scarabeus relies on your support to deliver our ambitious programme of work.

We are extremely thankful to our current project funders; Paul Hamlyn Foundation, The National Lottery Community Fund, the Mayor of London’s Young Londoners Fund

... and You can support us to offer more aerial theatre performances and valuable education and outreach projects in a number of different ways:

Make a one-off donation however small at our Virgin Money Giving account all donations go towards making performances and participation and education projects.
Set up a standing order for a regular payment– this makes our future more secure, however small your monthly donation.
Register with Easy Fundraising, especially great when buying Christmas Presents! A simple and free way to fundraise for your charity online. All you need to do is shop with your normal retailers such as Amazon and John Lewis, and if you sign into Easy Fundraising before making your purchases, you will raise money for Scarabeus for free.
Talk to your colleagues at work about adopting Scarabeus as your charity of the year.
Volunteer your time, do you have a skill such as marketing, archiving, social networking, PR, administration or anything else that you think would be a supportive service for Scarabeus? Contact us on soren @scarabeus.co.uk to discuss further.
Want to give that little bit more, have you considered becoming a board member, or young board advisor, we are looking for active and involved members to work with our committed and driven board of Trustees to take forward the strategic development of the charity. We are ideally looking for people with passion and knowledge in one of the following: an enjoyment of and or understanding in aerial theatre, financial/business management, fundraising, creative learning, human resources, knowledge of the voluntary and community sector in Islington. If you are interested in discussing this further, please email soren @scarabeus.co.uk or call 020 3620 2325.
Please do follow and share our social media, we post updates, photos and videos of rehearsals, projects, events and all the other exciting this that we get up to.