Welcome to the Newham Mosaic Project. The Newham Mosaic project started in September/October 2023 with funding by Arts Council England. This funding ended in April 2024 but a Newham Mosaic community remains. Its purpose is to be a platform for creativity, connection, communication and collaboration for community groups and individuals in Newham.
The principles and practice intended in the Newham Mosaic community have been inspired by the principles and practices espoused by Brazilian educator Paolo Freire:
- Community and Personal Empowerment.
Newham Mosaic has its roots in the provision of community education, community support and community events. We wish to continue providing these in ways that lead to community and personal empowerment.
- A Dialogical and Collaborative Approach.
We aim to provide community education, support and empowerment in a dialogical and collaborative way. This means we talk as a community about what we want and how we want it to happen and we share the responsibility for making it happen.
- A Problem Solving Community.
We want to encourage people to participate in a problem solving community in which we learn from each other and work out solutions to problems together. We want to go beyond the ‘agent-patient’ relationship where there is an agent or agency that acts upon or treats a passive patient. In education Freire spoke of the ‘banking model’ where students passively receive information.
- Praxis: Reflection and Action.
Freire spoke about ‘Praxis’ the cycle of reflection and action. Newham Mosaic can become a space for local community praxis wherein we are not simply reacting to circumstances but but reflecting on circumstances and action.
- Mindfulness.
All the above – Empowerment, Collaboration, Problem Solving and Praxis are served by Mindfulness.
“mindfulness is here to share with us … the good news that .. there’s nothing more powerful than our attention .. the power we have to place our mind, should we choose to accept it and cultivate it at will where we want to place it as opposed to being dragged around you know by every other sort of temptation out there and narrative about what we all need and what I need to be better look better etc etc”
~ Rhonda Magee
Established as a collaboration between Our Community Cares and Netstorms Limited, with the help of Culture Within Newham, Newham Mosaic and this website is now being managed by Gavin Sealey of Netstorms as a community platform for creativity, communication and collaboration.