Arts Factory ‘Feel Good Friday’ Project

Arts Factory is an independent development trust in the Rhondda Valleys which came into being in 1990 with the aim of building a strong community in this deprived area. Through its delivery of innovative projects on the ground, Arts Factory seeks to include the most marginalised people in its work.

One such project was Feel Good Friday, which took place at Trerhondda, Ferndale. The idea behind the project was the need to bring a 'feel good element' to Ferndale for an afternoon, to be enjoyed by surrounding communities.

On 30 October 2009, Feel Good Friday showed the great ways people can feel good locally in the Rhondda Valleys, through a variety of enjoyable and relaxing activities.

Health-enhancing activities were held side by side with artistic endeavours. Activities on offer included reflexology, Indian head massage, pumpkin carving, mosaic making, face painting, hair and beauty, nails, scary monster makeup, smoothies, hot dogs and biscuit decorating.

The day was not all about relaxation however - representatives of Dragonsavers Credit Union also attended, and assisted in opening a number of new adult and junior savings accounts. Visitors to the event learnt how credit unions offer ethical services for people who want to support their own community through saving.

Feel Good Friday was a youth-led project. This gave young people a great opportunity to prove themselves capable of planning, organising and carrying out an event of this scale. They were able to demonstrate their talent, motivation and determination to see the project through to the end.

This was a great learning opportunity for these young volunteers, who developed many skills through the process, including awareness of procedure and health and safety concerns, budget management, sourcing and acquisition of materials, advertising and promotion for the event, and meeting and greeting of guests at the event.

Feel Good Friday proved to be a tremendous success.  In fact, more visitors came than had been anticipated! The youth volunteers had a de-briefing meeting the week following the event, and in their evaluation of the event they agreed that there were lessons to be learnt if such an event were to be replicated: more activities could have been made available for the very young children and more vigilance could have been used when collecting entrance fees at the door. But these lessons do not take away from the event’s great success.

An other beneficial outcome of this project was the opportunity it created to bring the older and younger generations together in the community for the common purpose of learning to de-stress, relax and enjoy daily life more. By having younger and older people working together to achieve goals, this event helped the community to become more inclusive.

Feel Good Friday generated positive publicity in the media, with the local Valleys newspaper, the Rhondda Leader, reviewing the day: ‘Judging from the tremendous community response to this event, good feelings abounded. One hundred people aged 2 to 65 joined in the fun, indulging in a variety of 'feel-good' activities on offer.’

Feel Good Friday was a community event which brought together around fourteen youth volunteers and eight adult volunteers in its creation. Six or more outside organisations have also been represented in the event.

Other community organisations in Rhondda Cynon Taff also offer similar events to the public. These events are important in the community for promoting social cohesion and a spirit of common purpose.

To volunteer with the Youth Programme at Arts Factory, contact Sarah Slye at sarah@artsfactory.co.uk