Make it better – creative efforts to build creative community

SSE Cornwall Trade-Up student Ruth Purdy has continued to provide her creative services – albeit in a different way – in light of Covid-19...

Make It Better (Mitber for short) CIC was founded in 2017 to support and bring communities together through creativity and the arts. Mitber provides arts and making sessions, digital arts sessions, creative activity boxes and weekly downloadable activity sheets, for care professionals, volunteers, families and other groups.

We have flourished and grown as an organisation that cares deeply for the health and wellbeing of individuals in our communities. When discussing her inspiration for starting the organisation, Ruth Purdy the founder, said “Mitber was developed by my belief that creativity is fundamental to everybody’s quality of life. We set up to deliver creative justice to people who find it more difficult to access the arts”.

As a result of the global pandemic, Mitber had to stop the hands on sessions that were running at the time, including postponing the eagerly awaited 8-week National Lottery Community Fund Kruthyl Project. In this project, we were excited to bring music, art and prose to engage different groups together in order to create safer communities. However, we decided to continue helping communities by distributing individual craft packs to vulnerable people in self isolation across the areas of Redruth, Pool and Camborne. We have been working with frontline organisations such as Chy Winder Homeless Services, Carn Brea Foyer, Heartlands Intergenerational Project, Miners Court extra care scheme, St Euny Church, CPR Foodbank and Penlee Family Project. With the generous help of the funding from FEAST and the Cornwall Community Foundation, we have been able to push our project forward, delivering 96 creative activity packs every other week. We couldn't have taken this extra leap without the support of the School for Social Entrepreneurs.

As such we are able to provide creativity to isolated individuals during this unsettling period. We believe that, through creative flow and individual exploration of the arts, we will help alleviate the worries and anxieties felt by many. The Mitber team have been extraordinarily grateful for the overwhelming support from the public letting us know that our efforts are helping many through their isolation struggles as now, more than ever, it is vital to stay connected to ourselves and those around us.

Penlee Family Project has received our packs with warm gratitude as they have put smiles on many faces. Joe was delighted when he received his pack, as it meant he could make a card for his isolated friend, whom he misses greatly. Jenny, an older vulnerable woman with a chronic illness, has taken very well to her packs and children of key workers made cards at Little Hearts Nursery, whilst munching the goodies and cakes in the pack with glee. Penlee mentioned, “the packs added a bit of stardust as people could not wait to see what was inside. Thank you so much Mitber, you really do make it better."

Chris at CM Marketing saw the huge impact that Mitber has had on Trevarna care homes, understanding the changes seen in their moods and overall engagement. He said, “I just wanted to say how impressed and moved I’ve been by the work you’ve been doing for the community at Mitber. It’s really valuable and will help a lot of people.”

You can get involved by signing up to one of the three memberships that we have created through our website mitber.com, offering a library of resources to engage with and join the tight-knit online community on the forum. We also greatly appreciate any donations https://mitber.com/donate/ that will aid our drive to spread the magic of Mitber even further.