July 2023
Robinson met with Great Yarmouth Refugee Outreach Services (GYROS) and Arts organisation ‘originalprojects;’ to conduct together a piece of photovoice project work in July 2023. GYROS was formed in 1998 to support the refugees and asylum seekers who came to Great Yarmouth during and after the Balkans war. Originalprojects; took over an empty Debenhams in the city centre and transformed the space into an arts hub, studio spaces, and a boxing gym.
GYROS works to advance the knowledge of organisations working with culturally and linguistically diverse clients, providing assistance to develop and promote good practice.
GYROS supports migrants and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities across East Anglia. Their activities include advice and advocacy on a range of topics, including UK rights, police, education, housing, benefits and debt (FCA accredited)
They offer free training including pre-ESOL and job search, and facilitate access to healthcare and other specialist services. They organise community events and local projects.
originalprojects; works with contemporary artists and communities in Great Yarmouth, co-creating ambitious objects, experiences and developmental activities that respond to the place and people, building relationships for a sustainable future.
They have developed a distinctive approach to working with artists in a range of local communities to explore relationships between generosity, creativity and place, and are key advisors on particular needs of East Anglian publics and collaborators in the next steps for the ABC project.
Together these organisations have collaborated with Robinson to conduct ABC upskilling and create work that will facilitate better understanding of local collectives – many of whom have recently arrived in the UK – via the lived experiences of people who live in Great Yarmouth.
The staff at both GYROS and originalprojects; participated in CPD training to learn how to use multimodal ethnographic methods for the purpose of consultation with local people, particularly to understand what is important to those with whom they work.