Medway Culture Club is an independent, community lead initiative, which offers supplementary education to support the cultural diversity within Medway.
Born in the Summer of 2020 (amid the tragic events of the COVID-19 pandemic) Medway Culture Club was formed with the objective of addressing social isolation and promoting racial harmony within Medway. Medway Culture Club was founded by a collective of home-grown local educators and industry professionals who volunteer their time. They each recognise the need to support diversity and inclusion through community cohesion and cultural exchange.
This monthly Saturday club launched with a free online event in December 2020 with the aim to encourage personal value and self-esteem with young people, aged between 5 and 16 years.
CommunityAd spoke to founder Camealia Xavier-Chihota to find out more…
What has the feedback been like since starting Medway Culture Club?
Since launching Medway Culture Club in December, we have had an extremely positive response from participants and parents alike.
When lockdown restrictions meant we had to cancel our November face-to-face launch, we decided to proceed with an online quiz. This went so well, that we have continued to offer free 1-hour interactive taster sessions via Zoom, aimed at 5–11-year-olds. These give a flavour of the topics we hope to expand on. Our face-to-face sessions will be 2.5 hours and also include practical activities as well as a hot meal.
We were apprehensive to start online learning, as our main objective is to bring the multicultural community of Medway together to learn from one another. We thought online sessions may lack impact and prevent full engagement.
The mother of one of our participants, gave some reassuring feedback (seen below). This demonstrates how our goals are being achieved and that we are reaching children further afield than Medway.
Sarah Cowell, Faversham
“I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the Wonder of Windrush workshop you put on at the weekend.
I thought it was really well done, right on their level and with plenty of different content to make a video workshop really interesting.
This workshop gave me the chance to bring a bit of culture and black history to my daughter, so wanted you to know that I am very appreciative.”
What are your aims/goals for Medway Culture Club not only for 2021 but long term?
We have a highly skilled team of educators, youth workers and industry professionals who have facilitated what has been achieved so far. This year we plan to gain charity status but looking further ahead, Medway Culture Club intend to act as a community support service offering cultural exchange and education to children.
We aim to offer mentorship and signpost opportunities to young people, supporting them through their education on to training or employment also.
We hope to partner with local businesses help raise aspirations and inspire good citizenship, entrepreneurship and community spirit for generations to come.