Search
Close this search box.

Split Perspectivz CIC’s Eurovision Unity Project to Benefit From the National Lottery Community Fund

By Joel Jelen

Co-founders Working With Liverpool's Ukrainian Support Group to Deliver 5,000 Free Eurovision Unity Packs to Children

Following a great start to 2023, a multi-award winning Merseyside organisation has now been awarded funding to help the city region community thrive even further!

Split Perspectivz CIC’s Eurovision Unity Project will benefit from the National Lottery Community Fund with co-founders Natalie Reeves Billing and Jude Lennon working with Liverpool’s Ukrainian Support Group, to

create, publish and deliver 5,000 free Eurovision Unity Packs to children from families across 5 boroughs in Merseyside, as part of the city’s celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Natalie explained: “A downloadable digital version of the pack will be created on Split Perspectivz’s website and special packs will be designed to fully involve families in the exciting run up to the event. These will contain materials including a book about cultural differences, diversity, empathy for people from different countries and unity despite cultural differences.

“There will also be papercraft models to help create a soundstage plus contestants, with scannable QR codes able to listen to samples of music globally plus resources and fact sheets about different countries, with a focus on Ukraine and building empathy with refugees, created with Ukrainian Support Group members.”

Natalie added: “We have strong contacts as an organisation with the city including Culture Liverpool and the City Council and we will work with our city to collaborate on unified messaging around the event, and signpost to other family-centred events celebrating the occasion.”

The packs will be used to increase solidarity, teach young people about empathy and show best practise on how to use an international event to create human connection.

Jude believes the project will encourage strong relationships in and across communities; giving young people the chance to partake in city-wide celebrations of an exciting event in a safe and creative way, in young people’s homes.

“The story included in the pack will promote understanding and empathy of people from other countries, and especially Ukrainian people who have come as refugees to the city. Resources in the pack will develop an understanding of different cultures, and will point to other local opportunities to get involved in the celebration. The project will also help young people to reach their potential, by teaching them important skills for empathy and understanding of different cultures at any early stage and supported by their family/carers.”

Split Perspectivz were approached to create the project by Liverpool’s Ukrainian Support Group, whose members wanted to do an outreach project with the local community, centred on the Eurovision Song Contest, to promote the idea of learning about other cultures, and especially teaching young people in Liverpool about the people who come to their city and why.

Natalie concluded: “We worked with young people members of the Ukrainian Support Group to understand the message they would like to include in our packs, which was ‘we are different, and we are the same’. At workshops in local schools and libraries, we worked with more young people to develop the themes of unity and understanding, asking young people what sort of things they would like to know more about other young people from different countries. Young people said they wanted to learn about clothes, recipes, music, language, games, and we have since worked with members of the Ukrainian Support Group to create fact sheets and resources to put in the pack based on these topics. Plus, to add to this, we’ve also been awarded additional support to provide face to face workshops from the HAF fund Liverpool. This will allow us to bring the spirit of Eurovision to many schools and community centres across Liverpool.

“Ultimately, we’re really excited and looking forward to highlighting more about the Project in the coming weeks and months as it develops whilst sharing and sending our love and thoughts to Ukraine. Our city and the people of Ukraine are going to become a whole lot closer forever after this.”

 

STAY UPDATED

Latest Blog Posts

Book a Consultation

Fill out our booking form and a we will get back to you to arrange the details of your consultation.

"*" indicates required fields

By clicking 'Book Consultation', you consent to the terms outlined in the privacy policy.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.