Archive for category: Inclusion

We’re celebrating how youth social action helps build communities this #iwillWeek – join us!

This week, 12-16 November 2018, is #iwillWeek which serves as a focal point for anyone and any organisations to communicate the benefits of youth social action. This year our focus is on young people. Their voices. Their impact. Their story.

#iwillWeek is a yearly celebration of the anniversary of the inception of the #iwill campaign. The #iwill campaign is a national initiative, led by Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, that launched in 2013 with high-level cross-party support. The campaign has a goal of enabling 10 to 20 year-olds from all backgrounds to have access to volunteering, campaigning and fundraising opportunities by 2020. We call this youth social action – making a difference through practical action in the service of others.

It is an independent cross-party campaign, led by 875 organisations from across sectors, of which we are proud to say we’re one. We believe that enabling more  young people, wherever they live and whatever their background, to become active citizens, will have a long-term, unifying impact on the future of our country.

Across our network of community organisations linked to the 72 EFL football clubs young people make a massive impact.  This week we’ll be celebrating some of the work that they do for their community.

The EFL Trust and our network of EFL club charities are pleased to be part of One World an ambitious project by internationally acclaimed artist Mark Wallinger to commemorate the 100 years anniversary of the ending of World War One.

One World, is a new work co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary.

Inspired by the famous Christmas truce of 1914, when soldiers from both sides emerged from the trenches and met in No Man’s Land to exchange gifts and play football, Wallinger has taken the football itself as his canvas. He has transformed the football into a globe of the world, taking his inspiration from the celebrated image of the Earth taken during the Apollo 8 lunar orbit on 24 December 1968. Captured at the moment of earthrise, it is an image of enduring beauty, depicting a peaceful planet floating in the vastness of space.

In partnership with organisations including the EFL Trust, Sport England, the Football Foundation, Sport Northern Ireland and sportscotland, a limited edition of the One World football will be released in November to community football projects across the UK, with the simple request to each person to upload their own #OneWorld video in response to Wallinger’s call for action.

Football clubs throughout the country will be using the ball in a variety of projects. From their work with primary school children all the way through to ‘sporting memories’ session for those living with dementia, the balls will reach a wide range of people in communities across the country.

Mark Wallinger said: “It is 100 years since the Armistice was agreed in 1918, and 50 years since the Earthrise photograph was taken on Christmas Eve 1968. One World is my contribution to the legacy of those precious moments – spreading a message of peace for the world. Time to stop fighting and start playing. Playing the beautiful game. Let’s take that image of a precious and fragile world into the future and celebrate the joy of playing together.”

Mark Wallinger is one of the UK’s leading contemporary artists. Having previously been nominated for the Turner Prize in 1995, he won in 2007 for his installation State Britain. His work Ecce Homo (1999–2000) was the first piece to occupy the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. He represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2001. Labyrinth (2013), a major and permanent commission for Art on the Underground, was created to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground. In 2018, the permanent work Writ in Water was realised for the National Trust to celebrate the Magna Carta at Runnymede, and The World Turned Upside Down will be unveiled in 2019 for the London School of Economics.

Wallinger has held solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery, London, England (1995); Portikus, Hamburg, Germany (1999); Museum for Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland (1999); Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (1999); Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, England (2000); Vienna SeceVienna, Austria (2000); Whitechapel Gallery, London, England (2001); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany (2004); Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy (2005); Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico (2006); Tate Britain, England (2007); Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany (2007); Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland (2008); Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway (2010); Museum de Pont, Tilburg, Netherlands (2011); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, England (2012); Serlachius Museum, Mänttä, Finland (2016); The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland (2017); Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland (2017); Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy (2018) and Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, England (2018). His work is also displayed in the collections of many leading international museums including Tate, London, England; MoMA, New York, US; and Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.

One World is co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, with support from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Young people with disabilities from nine Wigan Borough schools recently competed in the annual Every Player Counts football festival at Wigan Soccerdome.

Hosted by Wigan Athletic Community Trust, the event saw more than 100 children from schools including Atherton Community High School, Dean Trust, Hawkley Hall, Hope, Oakfield, St John Fisher, St Peter’s, Standish and Shevington in attendance at the third year of the festival.

Launched in Wigan by first team stars Will Grigg and Michael Jacobs in 2016, the festival aimed to improve the skills and techniques of participants through a number of inclusive activities before taking part in a football tournament.

The Every Player Counts programme is funded by the Wembley National Stadium Trust and administered by the EFL Trust, and aims to get more people with disabilities involved in sport.

Sean Rowlinson, Sports Coach at Wigan Athletic Community Trust, said: “This event continues to go from strength to strength with more and more young people involved each time. The festival this year was a real success and was well received by both participants and schools.  Every Player Counts scheme has seen us work with more than 600 people with disabilities in Wigan, giving them the opportunity to play football and sport, but more importantly helping them to improve their development and confidence, as well as meeting new people.”

The Community Trust engage with schools and colleges across the borough on a weekly basis as part of the programme, and work with the club’s junior and adult disability football teams who compete in the Greater Manchester Ability Counts League.