THE JANUARY Challenge 2022 culminates on the 31st of this month and author Derek Owusu is encouraging everyone to get involved.
Running throughout the whole of the month the project, from arts organisation 64 Million Artists, has been providing opportunities for budding artists and creatives to get involved with online, producing self-portraits from household items, collaging a view from your window or writing poems inspired by a single word.
Last year saw more than 50,000 people take part, including adults, children, workplaces, community groups and schools, and ideas for challenges, which are submitted by members of the public aged from six to 86.
Part of the cohort of creative collaborators who designed the fun, quick and free daily challenges which are available, Owusu told the Voice there was no barriers for entry in art.
“One thing that is good about 64 Million Artists is that they are visible, people can see,” he enthused.
“A lot of the time people realise there is no barriers to entry but in your mind you create those barriers of ‘I need to do this or that or I need to be this type of person,’ and so on.
“Talking about writing specifically a lot of young writers will say they can’t call themselves writer until they have done so and so. But that’s not true.
“I think with the January Challenge it makes it so people realise that they are a writer, they are a painter, sculpter or whatever. Just because you haven’t put anything out yet doesn’t mean you are not that thing.
“It’s about getting the message out there that though it may be perceived that there are barriers to entry, there are none.”
This January, there are three themed programmes to choose from:
o We are Human – 31 challenges to explore the senses, the natural world and what makes us human.
o We are Culture – 31 challenges to explore our identities, cultures and communities
o We are Connected – 31 challenges to explore what happens when we create together
Owusu is an award-winning writer and poet from North London who’s book, That Reminds Me, was the first published on Stormzy’s imprint, #Merky Books.
In 2019, he collated, edited and contributed to SAFE: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space, an anthology exploring the experiences of Black men in Britain.
Full interview below:
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