Grimm & Co, YCC8 chosen charity
Grimm & Co is an exciting writing and mentoring charity, helping children and young people (7-18) to unlock their talents and develop confidence, self respect and communication skills. We are a Yorkshire-wide charity with our hub in Rotherham, inspired by 2, already proven models, the Ministry of Stories (London) and 826 Valencia (San Francisco).
You might have heard of the Ministry of Stories (supported by Nick Hornby, author) fronted by the 'Hoxton Street Monster Supplies'. This charity is hugely successful in engaging children in creative writing and it originates/and is connected to 826 Valencia pirate supplies and creative writing centre, San Francisco, created by Dave Eggers (there's a fabulous award winning Ted Talk about it). The American project is now in 8 states, supplying to pirates, super heroes, time travellers, secret agents, and more... Children and young people come into these writing centres to unleash their imaginations and leave as published authors.
We are one of 2 successful projects (Brighton is the other) to secure support to become a chapter of the national 'Ministry of Stories'. This is hugely exciting as it was very competitive with over 100 applicants.
Our charity is Yorkshire-wide, 'Grimm & Co, apothecary to the magical', with out hub in Rotherham. Our writer is Jeremy Dyson (creator of 'Ghost Stories' and 'The League of Gentleman', etc) and other champions include Joanne Harris, Bob Geldof, Ian McMillan, etc.
What we're doing:
We are creating a fantastical destination centre and Yorkshire's fantastical hub will be in Rotherham town centre (on track to open summer 2015). The shop will provide a non-stigmatised entrance for the children, whilst helping to raise income for the charity as it will sell real products. We'll also have an online shop. Children/young people will go through the secret door and into the wardrobe (lift), arriving at an exciting publishing centre where they are inspired to write and will be mentored by volunteers, shining a light on each child. Some of the work produced will be published in the books which are sold in the shop. We will introduce the children and young people to a variety of writing techniques which are creative and inspiring (comedy writing/writing for film/story making/etc).
An example of a project which has taken place at the Ministry of Stories - Share More Air:
The Ministry of Stories have access to some amazing people through Nick Hornby, including Ben Folds and Matt Lucas who recently collaborated to produce a professional album from the children's lyrics, created with children who had previously been reluctant writers. The video to this is attached above.
