Blog: Welcome to Village Hall

For some people, the festive “C” word is forbidden until December. For others, chestnuts are roasting on an open fire before the pumpkins are even carved for Halloween.

But this year, in this unusual tiered lockdown, bubble system, COVID world, many have begun the 7-week countdown to Christmas.

I know my mind is still waiting on the Easter holidays to happen. It feels in some ways when lockdown began way back in March, the year's timeline paused. But the changing colours on the trees and the shift in the temperature outside is a steady reminder that Winter is Coming. (Spoilers: Winter only lasted an episode and then Daenerys and her dragons went a little psycho).

So as I try to wrap my head around the fact that I have 7 weeks to wrap presents (and buy them…) Why don’t we discuss what gift-giving will be like at the end of our 7-week countdown. With the likelihood being that families will not be able to gather in large groups like previous years, (coming from a huge Irish family this will definitely be a different Christmas experience), my mind turns to an alternative gift-giving option. Ethical, Interactive, Creative presents.

I remember as a child going to a friend's 8th birthday party. Her father sat us all down before the gifts were open and we all watched Cinderella. He told us after the film that instead of buying a physical gift for my friend; a toy, arts and crafts supplies, the coveted Walkman or karaoke machine, he had paid for a gift to be sent to a child in a third world country. He reminded us of the film we just watched and how for Cinderella, going to The Ball was one of the best experiences she had. What a time to teach 8-year-olds about equality and the world right?

Now at the time, I thought of all my friends and wondered:

"What if I couldn’t attend my swimming lessons or dance classes. Would someone gift an activity or learning experience to me or my friends like Cinderella had the gift of going to The Ball?"

I'll admit past me didn't quite understand the value of this gift, but I was trying to relate it to my 8-year-old world.

Now we may not be helping a third world country or solving world hunger but Shaper/Caper do want to affect change for the better in our local community. We want to make sure that every child, adult and human has access to the arts, to creative classes, to movement and dance and playful exploration and discovery no matter what age or socio-economic background.

And so, we created The Village Hall.

When physical dance classes for children and adults are cancelled, when breathing too close to someone is looked down on, when professional dance shows and theatre productions are cancelled, where do we turn to experience the arts?

Subscription services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify and Apple Music have seen a surge in memberships as people crave the Arts that they are currently starved of. Creativity, play and imagination have been almost entirely forgotten about for fear of spreading COVID. But Shaper/Caper believe, though this digital word we are all part of, that we can create a community, a community of villagers, to become part of our Village Hall and engage in the Arts again.

Shaper/Caper’s Village Hall is a digital community filled with dance adventures for children, seated dance sessions for adults, mindfulness for the whole family, as well as excerpts of professional shows, Creative Thinking classes and Q&A’s with arty folks. It is a digital space for the Arts to thrive and to bring creativity, play and imagination back into the lives of people who have been starved of it since March. It’s a community for Art lovers, dance enthusiasts and people wanting to add a bit more joy and creativity into their lives.

It can be an ethical, interactive, creative gift for anyone to enjoy. And the best bit? It costs the price of a box of Nestle Shreddies, or 6 lemons, or a Costa Americano. Yes, just £2.

The 7-week countdown is on, so save yourself the trouble of present planning, gift wrapping and unnecessary stress this Christmas and give the gift of Arts to friends and family through an invitation to our Village Hall. We can't wait to bring all our community has to offer to you, your friends and family this Christmas. https://www.patreon.com/shapercaper