HAUS OF travels to existing charities such as St.Mungos and Crisis to offer classes to the service members that are making their way through recovery. We will deliver extensive programming at relevant spaces in Tower Hamlets in 2020 and beyond. HAUS OF is a project aiming to build cohesive communities, to improve current partnership relationships between arts organisations and charity/outreach organisations. HAUS OF is overall a project that aims to minimise isolation and the issues that result from isolation. Many organisations/spaces cannot provide arts; HAUS OF would mediate this issue. HAUS OF was created by Potter Rachel Godin and Furniture Designer/Maker Elise Harrison in December 2018. We teach pottery and furniture making classes to vulnerable adults living with homelessness, mental illness, loneliness and addiction. Both Rachel and Elise have lived experience with mental illness and addiction. HAUS OF is a pay it forward project with tremendous healing potential.

What we'll deliver:

• Furniture making classes
• Pottery classes
• Exhibitions
• Events
• Use reclaimed materials
• Recovery for vulnerable adults
• Purchase service users work to fund continued classes
• Pottery wheels and throwing classes
• Upholstery classes
• Lessons how to photograph finished work

Why it's a great idea:

HAUS OF is a fabulous idea because it mixes creativity with wellbeing, brings the community together and tackles social isolation. Our project allows organisation and spaces that wouldn't usually have capacity to provide arts to do so. Creative arts and similar mindfulness activities are proven to promote healing regarding mental health and addiction. Within our increasingly digital society, our classes provide harken to the concept of slow life movement, which seeks to reintegrate people back with learning, natural materials and a refocus away from consumerism. We are living in a society riddled with mental illness and the wrong people in power, where craft and climate has been put on the back burner and is quite literally burning our planet and our souls. We believe people need to focus their attention on helping people within their own communities. HAUS OF promises hands on learning and making. We have received an award and plenty of community support for our concept already.

Steps to get it done:

• Secure Spacehive funding.
• Secure further charity partnerships.
• Acquire kiln.
• Provide weekly classes.
• Save for a van.
• Provide more regular weekly classes.
• Expand furniture related tools/machinery.
• Rent or purchase a space out of which to provide our classes and events.
• Regularly appear in articles and write-ups.
• Ultimate goal: become a staple in Tower Hamlets for Arts and Community partnerships!
• Provide regular exhibitions.
• Expand our volunteer pool.
• Hire service users.

Beyond the pottery and furnitureclasses, we have developed an overall legacy project: STUDENT ART EXHIBIT: An opportunity to engage with the public. Every 3 months the students can exhibit any and all of their work to the general public. We will hold a private view for investors and the charities involved to come down to see all the hard work and gather photos for your portfolios/online content. This will be a chance for press, charities, investors and community members to come together and share their experiences and hear updates from your service users. This will provide ample opportunity for press coverage for businesses engaging via social corporate responsibility programmes and for charities developing new outreach programmes. Students who enter into the exhibit leave with skills in exhibition practice and customer service. We will develop local partnerships with similar Tower Hamlets organisations for these exhibitions.