'The Universe is Closing Down' performed by the 'We Were Born to Shine' Collective at The Omnibus Arts Centre on 22nd Dec.
What a year the past 12 months have been To start off, we welcomed a few new Cafes to our growing family of big-hearted owners and baristas. For example, The House Cafe gave us space to hold a solo exhibition for John Sheehy, CoffeE7 was filled to the brim with the artists' works for 2 months, the owners of the newly opened Ezo Bistro not only shared their wall space, but also enlisted one of the artists to paint a mural too. The artists' works also graced the walls of The Recovery Cafe and the unique Brew Box. As well as in a cafe where royalty once presided! On top of that, we were given a chance to run our very own 'cafe' for a few days with 'artists-turned-baristas' at a special event at Christie's. The artists not only managed to exhibit their works at these great cafes, but were also given opportunities at Allen & Overy, Christie's Art Assembly, Ikea's flagship store at Wembley, the Homeless Link national conference, Omnibus Art Centre etc. They also spread their wings a bit further afield too! In fact, all the way to Melbourne and New York. We are very grateful to the many, many, buyers of the artworks (we don't take any commission at all, and neither do some of the Cafes!), the generous supporters eg the students of University Hertfordshire, the Team at Pop-Up Painting & Prophet, the young adults from The Challenge etc. We are also honoured to be featured in Homeless Link's influencing document! We have also been busy at the start of the year handing out Atlantis Art vouchers & awards bought with money raised from the sale of the 2014 calendar. On top of that, the artists were busy taking part in our trial Work Experience Week, and The Spitalfields Arts Market Week. Last but not least, our annual photography contest, supported by The Royal Photographic Society, attracted even more photographers than last year. We printed even more MYLONDON 2015 calendars too, which were sold at Spitalfields & Piccadilly Markets, and other outlets and retailers. They can also be bought online from the website. We ended 2014 tired and shattered (but in a very good way!), and feel immensely proud of the achievements of all the artists and photographers. So we managed to put our feet up and attended a new inspiring and uplifting play 'The Universe is Closing Down' created and directed by Jeanette Rourke, and performed by the 'We Were Born to Shine' Collective (from the St Mungo's Broadway Wellbeing Day) and with a little help from the amazing, Streetwise Opera. What a great way to end the year ...... ! PS. Check out one of the props that was used for the play. Hint: bottom of table at the front 📷