Welcome to our micro-blog series where we will introduce some of the recent members of The People Speak team.

“Living in the present”

Zoë is an American theatre maker, facilitator, and educator based in London. She works with creators and communities around the globe to tell stories that prompt conversation and run workshops that create change. As a theatre maker, she recently worked with Audible and the BBC on their new podcast and play The Hijack. Previously, she worked with a young spoken word artist to develop Outgrown at Shoreditch Town Hall, and with Company Three to develop The Act at The Yard. She was a member of the Orange Tree Writers Collective, where she developed her new play Return. Her plays The Burning, The Net, and Define have premiered in Edinburgh and London.

As a facilitator and educator, Zoë has had the privilege to create and run a series of workshops for The Incident Project that spark conversations on race and privilege, and toured in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and London. She has also worked with Rewrite, bringing newly arrived refugees and born-and-bred Londoners together through creative writing. She believes that play and creativity are the best ways to spark change.

Working with the People Speak has been one of the best things about the insane year that is 2020. In a time of so much isolation and anxiety, the People Speak events have reintroduced me to the power of fun, silliness, and connection. Whether it’s moderating Aberfeldy Live or facilitating the Tree of Success networking event for Waltham Forest, I have learned that collective laughter is one of the best tonics in this time. Collaborating with the People Speak has taught me loads of other small lessons: how to create legitimate connection and fun over Zoom; that sometimes outright silliness is the best way to unearth new ideas; and that, as a facilitator, I can really trust my participants and audience to take the lead. In 2021, I’m most looking forward to getting in a real life room filled with real life strangers and experiencing moments of collective fun and joy in person together.

Check out Zoe’s website www.zoe-guzysprague.com

You’re hired! The Inverse Apprentice in Aberfeldy Street

We are thrilled to announce that our project The Inverse Apprentice has been awarded a Small Grant Scheme from the new Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund, delivered by Foundation for Future London.

The Inverse Apprentice is a creative entrepreneurship programme provoked by the TV show ‘The Apprentice’. Our format, in contrast to the TV programme, is led entirely by the participants – Tower Hamlets residents. The programme delivered in partnership with the local talent, business owners and entrepreneurs uses personal creativity, cooperation and diversity of thought as a framework to develop participants’ self worth and employability skills. The apprenticeship aims to raise aspirations of the participants by helping them to gain agency and practical tools to become local instigators of change responding to their community’s needs.

The Inverse Apprentice is a collaboration between The People Speak art collective, Spotlight youth hub and a posse of creative businesses in Aberfeldy Street, Poplar.

Find out more about the fund and other awardees here.

Get involved

If you are interested in joining the project as a participant, aged 18 or over and based in Tower Hamlets – we would love to hear from you.

If you are an artist, creative or entrepreneur linked with Tower Hamlets or wider east London, who wants to help us shape the project and respond to participants needs – let’s have a chat.

Drop us a line to find out more info@thepeoplespeak.org.uk

 

The Inverse Apprentice is supported by

In collaboration with

Welcome to our micro-blog series where we will introduce some of the recent members of The People Speak team.

“Growing and socialising”

I was born in Lithuania in 1989. Moved to India at the age of 13, where I spent 4 years studying music. I returned to Lithuania in 2007, finished school and got a job in a printing and graphic design company. I joined Vilnius Pedagogical University to study physics and applied computer science as both have fascinated me since my childhood. I quit it after the first year to be able to take up a full-time job in a DELL distribution center as a sales manager. I started my own IT company soon after and a few years later dropped it for a job in the Computer Science Corporation branch in Vilnius, Lithuania. At the age of 25 I quit everything and came to the UK to begin a new life. Here, I found a job in a cafe/club in central London where I am currently employed.

My interests started with physics and computers at about age of 5, and now they have grown into physics, philosophy and psychology. My current biggest passion is looking for patterns in the universe, our world and our mind, whether they would be physical, historical, or psychological. I became a science fiction fan from the age of 7 after reading “The Destruction of Faena” by Alexander Kazantsev and have been a big fan of the genre since. My favourite author is Isaac Asimov and my views on science fiction value and role in society closely matches his. I am also an activist for the global disclosure of UFO/UAP information.

I love talking with people and comparing different views, so I was very happy to find out about Talkaoke shows during the lockdown. I have participated in a few of them, first being the “TAKE BACK CONTROL TALKAOKE” in September, and have really enjoyed listening and sharing ideas with people who have different views and experiences in life. I believe such talk shows are a great way to grow and socialise and meet people whom we wouldn’t have if we just stayed with our regular circle of friends. I have learned that sitting in the middle and guiding the conversation is way harder than it appears and I really appreciate the work that the hosts put in it. I am always looking forward to the next event!