Blog Layout
Young Start Project Funding
Paul Bristow • Apr 24, 2020
Outside the Box - Community Comics Project
Today we are delighted to be able to announce that Magic Torch Comics CIC have recieved £62,708 funding support from Young Start
for our new Outside The Box - Community Comics project. We will have lots more information to share on the project soon, if you have any questions or would like to get involved, please contact us. You can read all about the projects Young Start National Lottery Community Fund are supporting below.
YOUNG SCOTS DANCE TO THE TUNE OF £1.3 MILLION FROM THE YOUNG START FUND
An intergenerational dance company that helps young people creatively connect with older generations through dance is amongst a number of groups sharing in 1.3 MILLION of dormant bank account funding.
Across the country 19 youth-led projects are celebrating £1,334,561 from the Young Start fund, which aims to help young people build confidence, skills and take an active role in realising their own potential. See a full list of projects here.
Young Start is delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund and awards dormant bank and building society cash to projects led by and for young people.
One of the groups celebrating today is Barrowland Ballet, based in Glasgow, which receives £98,314 to deliver intergenerational dance workshops and performances. The project, which is called ‘Wolf Pack’ will also provide three young associates places to volunteer and gain group facilitation and leadership experience.
Natasha Gilmore, Artistic Director of Barrowland Ballet, said: “We are thrilled to have been awarded three-year funding from the Young Start Fund. We passionately believe that dance is for everyone and Wolf Pack is a celebration of different generations collaborating. We provide a chance for young people to creatively engage alongside other members of their local community, develop new skills and create dance performances that give each of them an opportunity to express themselves.”
Also welcoming the funding is Isaac, 10, whose confidence has come on leaps and bounds since joining the dance company in 2017, he said: "Before I started in Wolf Pack, I didn’t really think I could dance but now I know I can. I have so many good friends too. I feel much more confident than I used to. Last week I stood up in front of 100 children at my school and gave a speech because I wanted to be house vice-captain of my school house. I was up against seven others and I won the vote! Without the confidence gained at Wolf Pack I wouldn’t have gone for it.”
Also sharing in today’s cash boost are Magic Torch Comics in Inverclyde. Their £62,708 award will enable them to run Outside the Box – Community Comics, which will empower young people from marginalised groups to create comics that reflect the imagination, lives and stories in their community. The young people will design, create and distribute their comic books at this year’s Comic Con.
Paul Bristow, Director of Magic Torch, said: “Magic Torch Comics are absolutely delighted that we have this new opportunity to provide free comics workshops across the Inverclyde community. Over the next two years our Outside the Box - Community Comics project will work with young people to help them share their stories, life experiences, hopes and ideas using comics. We're looking forward to discovering lots of new writers and artists - everyone has a story to tell."
Announcing today’s funding, National Lottery Community Fund, Chair, and Maureen McGinn, said:
“Young Start aims to support projects that are led by, and for, young people, giving them the best possible start in life. All of today’s projects share an ambition to help young people grow in confidence and play an active part in realising their potential, and so it is with great pleasure that we announce this latest investment totalling £1,334,561.
Groups wanting to know more about Young Start should visit https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/young-start
or contact 0300 123 7110.
MTC Project Blog
Earlier this month, we were asked to produce some artwork for the Afrowegian Project , imagining an Afro-Futurist version of the story of real world cycling superhero, Marshall 'Major' Taylor. The comic display panels form part of an exhibition by the riverside in Glasgow throughout October. You can read more about the work of the project and how to get involved. We're looking forward to doing some more collaborative work with Afrowegian's Jim Muotone, down in Inverclyde over the next few months.
Earlier this year, our director Paul Bristow spoke to Tall Tale films as part of CVS Inverclyde's Digital Open Studios project. Check out the short video below to hear Paul chat about storytelling, communities and his creative process for his own writing and his work with Magic Torch Comics CIC. You can also see his fairly messy home office under the stairs...
Back in 2019, artist Mhairi Robertson and myself, spent some time with a group of women in Glasgow, who told us about their experience of the asylum process, and the welcome they had found in Scotland. The project was pit together by the Poverty Truth Community, and the women all wanted to focus on the positive things that had happened to them since arriving, and the actions that other could take while in the process. A booklet of their stories, which also shares information on the support which is available for people, was launched during Refugee Week 2021 at an online event. The book can be downloaded for free on our website or read on our ISSUU page . A narrated version of the book, recorded by one of the women is also available to view and there is a short preview below.
Magic Torch Comics CIC are asking local young people to get involved in creating a science fiction adventure comic online. The comic, Starbound, is part of our ‘Outside The Box’ project, supported by National Lottery Community Fund. Over the last year, the project has delivered online workshops and involved young people in creating comics about life in lockdown and a collection of spooky stories for Galoshans. For this project, we wanted to do something a little different. It’s a choose your own adventure comic, where local people help create and shape the story on instagram. Every Monday evening, a short video will introduce the story so far and offer people choices for what happens next. People have 24 hours to vote, the artist creates the page and the next week we choose again, spinning the story off in unexpected directions each time. Right now, it’s still impossible to deliver face to face workshops, but if you’ve been online learning all day, you maybe don’t want to come to another online workshop in the evening. So we wanted to provide an opportunity that was easy for everyone to engage in, whatever way they want. Some people might just vote or comment on the story, or email in ideas, other people might want to get more involved and share their creations which we’ll then put out on the blog or in the weekly workshop videos. Although the focus of the project is comic storytelling, we want people to get involved in other creative ways. We’ll have story prompts and tips in the weekly workshop videos, there’s a whole world to explore, so we hope people will get inspired to create and share all sorts of work – Minecraft builds, music, moments of drama – whatever you like. Part of the reason we decided on science fiction was to open up possibilities to imagine. The last few months have been really confined, and it’s easy for your imagination to become confined too, so we wanted to help people break out of that a bit. Starbound launched on Monday 8th March on instagram , there's a new story vote every week. People can get involved on Magic Torch Comics Instagram page or by submitting ideas and suggestions directly on the project page .
About us
Magic Torch Comics CIC
Company Number SC568827
Useful Links
Contact info
07757 112 332info@magictorchcomics.co.uk27 East StreetGreenockPA15 2RL
info@magictorchcomics.co.uk
27 East Street
Greenock
PA15 2RL