By Georgia Gill | Admin Assistant
As we come to the end of the first quarter of 2024, we've been reflecting on some of the changes we have seen in our organisation, as well as the generous outpouring of support from all of you!
As of the beginning of February, our dedicated Director of six years, Rachel Bird, stepped down after 12 total years with The Forgiveness Project.
During those years, she curated and mapped new paths for our work, showing great commmitment and integrity, and has been an integral part of a re-shaping of our charity. We wish to express our appreciation and gratittude to her for all that she has put into the organisation.
Since then, our Founder, Marina Cantacuzino, has returned to the work in collaborative leadershi with our Creative Lead, Sandra Barefoot. Together as a small team, we will continue to use personal stories to shine a light on restorative solutions, working in new and creative ways with those who have rebuit their lives following harm or hurt. Our purpose is to demonstrate how individuals and groups can break cycles of pain, reach across division and see humanity in others.
Certainly, the first few months of this year have offered us ample opportunity to do so! From the release of series 2 of Marina's BBC 4 Radio Show, 'Forgiveness: Stories from the Front Line', to face-to-face community dialogues in Northern Ireland, we have seen a drastic change in the style of work that is calling us. We remain just as responsive to ongoing events, particularly the disastrous news arriving out of Palestine, on which we reflected with a screening of Esther Takac's film 'The Narrow Bridge', after which Marina hosted a panel and was joined by Magen Inon, who lost his parents in the October 7th attacks, and Julie Siddiqi, founder of Together We Thrive, a platform for Muslim women, and the Together for Humanity Campaign.
We have also been looking to engage audiences abroad, particuarly in Australia where Sandra, alongside RESTORE facilitator Ruth Chitty, are collaborating for the Conversations with Shame symposium and workshops in Sydney. These events invitie practitioners interested in and working with the dynamics of shame, with a special focus on those working in prisons, human trafficking, counselling and chalaincy.
Over in the USA, where we see our F Word Exhibition is as popular as ever, Marina is heading out for a Mid-West book tour celebrating Forgiveness: An Exploration from the 16th to the 29th of April. For more information, do take a look at our Substack page!
Lastly, we are delighted to announce our collaboration with long-time storyteller, Jacob Dunne, on the world premier of 'Punch', written by James Graham as a stage adaptation of Jacob's book Right from Wrong. We are incredibly excited to be working alongside Jacob to co-deliver post show discussions exporing the themes of the play, accompanied by 'The F Word Exhibition' in situ. Do check out our Substack again for more updates!
As we continue into 2024, we are gearing up for more work and new changes, for which we are incredibly enthusiastic! We thank you for your continued support for The Forgiveness Project – we couldn’t do this work without you.
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