100 Ways To Say Goodbye
This ongoing project is made up of a series of creative activities related to death, dying and the celebration of life.
“Having somewhere which was so inclusive and accessible with people who understand grief was really great”
Phase 1
Phase 1 began in 2021 as part of the Tide Mills Festival in Newhaven, East Sussex – a celebration of Ancestry that took place in an abandoned village.
There were several strands to our participation:
- We collaborated with a local choir to create the closing ceremony of the Festival.
- We designed and led ‘Life Handover’ workshops end-of-life preparations,
- We conducted interviews on loss and grief,
- We produced a sound piece, ‘Lily’, written & narrated by Sarah Delmonte, with music by Zakaria Haffar.
- We organised a Death Cafe and hosted a gratitude workshop for young adults living with cancer.
Through the project, we developed creative skills and fostered important partnerships, notably with Aura and Shine Cancer charity.
Part of The Tide Mills Project, organised by LYT Productions In partnership with Aura and funded by TNL Communities Fund and Arts Council England.
“Thank you! I’ve got ADHD (and I suspect ASD-Autism Spectrum Disorder) tonight felt emotional and wonderful and like I belonged (for once)”
“It was a really safe and generous space and was such a meaningful experience for me”
Participant in ‘Gentle sewing for grieving people’ workshop.
Phase 2
Phase 2 focuses on delivering arts-based workshops for people experiencing grief, facing death, or providing care.
We conducted a community consultation on grief & disability, including interviews with people directly affected by these issues, and delivered 51 creative events taking place in Bristol, Slough, Stocken, Eastbourne, Brighton and online.
In collaboration with Brighton Death Collective we commissioned Sarah Delmontè, Laura Elliot, Nu McAdam, Mary Deliso, and Nadine Wild-Palmer to create a series of cultural and creative activities that use arts and creativity to come together and celebrate communities, places and people that are no longer with us.
WORKSHOPS WE OFFER
Vigils for Full Lives
Created by and for people living with disability, who often have many peers dying, as an additional post-funeral event.
Writing Through Grief
Creative writing tasks including ‘create your own eulogy’, using the audio story created in phase 1 as an example.
Create your Funeral
Over 3 sessions, participants design their own funeral based on the 5 senses.
Drawing for Mortals
Life-affirming workshops exploring our relationship with mortality through the Still Life drawing of dead animals.
The Life Handover Meeting
An interactive space to think about end-of-life wishes and improve well-being in the face of death through creative drawing activities.
Me & My Bones
Creative drawing activity sheets in a graphic-novel style, adapted from The Life Handover Meetings, for participants facing a terminal diagnosis.
These workshops are aimed at death-related festivals and events, funeral businesses and community programs. All events are inclusive and available for disabled and neuro-diverse participants.
“Laura was very supportive and gave me a newfound appreciation for the body I am in and new ideas to approach grief and mindfulness”
– Participant in ‘A Love Letter to my Skeleton’ workshop.
OTHER OUTREACH ACTIVITIES WE OFFER
Death Cafes
We organise & collaborate with existing events to deliver mini versions of our workshops.
A new family-friendly Theatre show + workshop for schools & community centres, written & performed by Nadine Wild Palmer.
An exhibition of Artwork – UNSPOKEN SORROW – showing the drawings made during the Drawing for Mortals, an audio installation inspired by the community consultation,
