Project Lebanon

So, why Lebanon?

Over a million displaced people from Syria are currently residing in Lebanon. The situation is dire: most of these people are living under basic plastic tents. Access to basic needs is restricted, and children are daily subjected to the angst and trauma of not having a place to call home. On top of this, Lebanon is currently going through a severe economic crisis, many people struggling due to hyperinflation and rising food costs. With Wind-Up Penguin, we bring a giant dose of happiness and inspiration through music, 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 two projects in Lebanon

The project…

Team members: Five 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 Lauren Brown (RCM graduate clarinettist).

Dates of the project: From 1st August - 15th August

Devising the show: The whole team will meet up in the lead up to our departure 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 Lebanon? We will be working around Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley, where most of the refugee settlements are.

Performances? We will perform the show and workshop once or twice a day, to refugee children from Syrian and Palestinian communities, in camps (settlements) 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. Arabic and French are the main languages of Lebanon, but English proficiency is good so we will use mostly English to get around. However you’re all encouraged to learn some Arabic!

What’s the safety situation? We’ve been chatting to many people who’ve been to Lebanon recently, and they all are unanimous about this: Lebanon is safe. Lebanon is one of the few countries in the Middle East where tourists and humanitarians face security issues extremely rarely. Beirut attracts thousands of international tourists every day! We’ve been leading successful Wind-Up Penguin projects in Lebanon and Jordan since 2017, and are very confident about bringing a team back this year.

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 £1300 per person. This covers absolutely everything: Flights to and from London, travel to and from performances, travel between cities, all accommodation and food during the project, and a modest £200 development fee to cover production costs and to keep these projects running.

  • Each member will pay £150 as an inscription cost by 1st December

  • A second instalment of £350 will then be paid by 10th January,

  • And the team will communally fundraise the rest, i.e. £800 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 £800 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!

  • Exceeding this fundraising goal means each member could even get up to £300 back from the £500 initial payment;

  • 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.