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An East Midlands writing organisation has found the power of the pen surge over lockdown, with engagement in their work growing as a result.

Writing East Midlands (WEM), supported as part of Arts Council’s National Portfolio, has created a series of online activities including writing classes, digital newsletters and writing groups for both the over 55s and young people.

Since March, there has been an increase in people taking part and a really positive reaction to the new work created, including:

• Three of their competitions gaining a bumper number of entrants 
• The delivery of more than 66 online sessions between the end of March and end of July for children and adults aged between eight and over 80.
• Their website receiving greater amount of visitors with 26,000 visitors – 9,000 more than last year – and some videos gaining hundreds of views.

Henderson Mullin, Chief Executive, Writing East Midlands, yesterday said:

“One of the things we pride ourselves on is enabling people to connect through art and story. We’ve found how important this really is during Covid enforced isolation, and also in bringing together communities across other social issues which are top of our minds at the moment. We are delighted to continue providing services and experiences that people from all walks of life genuinely value.”

Peter Knott, Area Director, Arts Council England yesterday said:

“Writing East Midlands specialises in getting people of all ages inspired by the written word, helping them develop their own creative skills or simply enjoy the writing talents of others. 

“It’s brilliant to see that people right across the East Midlands used their time during lockdown to be creative and engage with some of these excellent writing programmes, gaining skills and igniting a passion in writing which will last long into the future.”

Credit: Gary Huddless/Writing East Midlands

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