Project Belgium & France

So, why Belgium & France?

France is the temporary home of many refugees fleeing wars in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The infamous Calais Jungle, which at its height had 10,000 residents, was dismantled in 2016 and since then, migrants have repeatedly faced disruption, uncertainty and violence in the form of the French police. The situation out there is volatile, and the children trapped in these difficult circumstances are anxious, traumatised and destabilised. Belgium has a myriad of refugee centres, where refugees from the Middle East and Africa stay for months (sometimes years), while their asylum claims are processed. These hosting organisations strive for cultural integration activities. With Wind-Up Penguin, we bring a giant dose of happiness and inspiration through music and theatre, in order for these young people to get a well-deserved breath of fresh air and to channel their energy into something creative.

Photos from our previous projects in both Belgium and France

The project…

Team members: Eight people, either acting or music students. We’re very keen on having a mixture of musicians and actors, as the show will be devised mixing physical theatre and musical instrument playing. Leading the team is Bianca Watts!

Dates of the project: From 28th December - 6th January

Devising the show: The whole team will meet up at dates during December to devise the show and workshop. A Penguin show usually lasts about 45 minutes, and gets everyone involved in the music and the acting. A good way to describe our performances is ‘storytelling through music and movement’. The show is followed by a workshop!

Where in Belgium & France? We will travel by Eurostar to Brussels, and then staying in the Belgian town of Liège. We will be working here and over the French border in Lille, as well as a spending a night in and around Calais and Dunkirk to allow us to work in the area.

Performances? We will perform the show and workshop once or twice a day, to refugee children in camps (settlements), squats, community centres, and NGO premises. It’s all a very thrilling and a humbling human experience.

What language will we speak? The performances and workshops are wordless – because the children do not speak English. Elisabeth and Bianca both speak French which will help us coordinate activities. We will use English to get around, but you’re encouraged to learn a few words of French!

Where will we be staying? In a mix of Airbnb’s and host families.

A few words about how we operate…

We’re a grassroots group of students and graduates, who produce these tours abroad on our free time. We choose to commit to this cause because we strongly believe in the transformative power of Penguin experiences, for children and training performers alike. Basically, we absolutely love it. As of now, since we're all volunteers, we don't have the time resources to apply for funding, so we ask the participants to fundraise the costs of the trips themselves. This model is very much suited and designed for musicians and actors who are currently training - but we accept applications from everyone! So here’s the deal:

The project costs £625 per person. This covers absolutely everything: Trains to and from London, travel to and from performances, travel between cities, all accommodation and food during the project, and a £200 development fee to cover production costs and keep these projects running.

  • Each member will pay £200 as an inscription cost by 10th November,

  • And the team will communally fundraise the rest, i.e. £425 per person, through a fundraising campaign with many activities.

How this Fundraising campaign works:

  • We start now;

  • Each member of this project agrees to take part in the activities we’ll be doing (concerts, cake sales, charity concerts, internet crowdfunding page… whatever comes to your brilliant creative minds). The profits are then split equally between all team members;

  • For the past two years, all our projects have raised over £500 per person. Considering the fact that we’re a growing organisation and that each new project always raises more funding than the previous one, we’re pretty confident that the team will reach its goal;

  • If we don’t reach our goal of raising £350 per person (as mentioned – this goal is highly achievable), each member of the team is still liable to pay for the missing amount for his trip (as Wind-Up Penguin doesn’t actually have the extra funding), so it’s all about whether you’re up for a fundraising challenge!

  • Fundraising will take up a little of your time, but it’s great team bonding, and all of our members have always enjoyed taking part in these activities;

  • We can chat at your interview more in detail about this and show you our detailed strategy of how we’ll achieve our goal.