Tiffany Pinkstone, Rainbow Ho and Alexandra McMullen of the Make it Better programme; 

Photographed by King Fung (Hong Kong Tatler)

 

"Anxiety is like a blanket that covers these children,” explains Alexandra McMullen, project manager of the Make it Better programme, an initiative of the Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) designed to help the underprivileged children of Hong Kong through art-based therapy. Initiated by the SAF in March 2015, Make it Better is the organisation’s first social responsibility project here and the first of its kind in the city.

According to the Society for Community Organization, one in four children in Hong Kong live below the poverty line. In collaboration with local charities and community centres, the SAF runs courses for children ranging in age from kindergarteners to teenagers, most of who live in Sham Shui Po cage homes and are recent migrants, primarily from Mainland China.

The SAF, established by Yorkshire-born art collector Howard Bilton (its chairman) and Tiffany Pinkstone (a director) in Hong Kong in 2003, is best known for the annual Sovereign Art Prizes it runs in Asia, Africa and Europe. Additionally, the foundation runs art-therapy projects in some of the most impoverished areas of Asia. Since its inception, the SAF has also raised more than US$4.5 million to help children who are victims of human trafficking, hard labour, sexual abuse, drugs or violence.

At a Make it Better workshop in Tai Wai, children craft 3D models of their local community;

Photographed by Michaela Giles (Hong Kong Tatler)

In Hong Kong, each Make it Better course consists of three 10-week sessions of weekly two-hour workshops, during which classes of 12 to 15 children are guided by an art teacher and volunteers through activities such as painting, collage making and shadow dancing. Each workshop has been carefully designed to teach developmental skills on themes such as self-awareness, culture, community, environment, health and career.

Last summer, Make it Better also launched its first ever two-week summer camp, during which children (“many of whom have never been outside of an urban environment,” notes Alexandra) were taken on a camping adventure in one of Hong Kong’s country parks, spent time completing a service element at an elderly home and, of course, engaged in plenty of art activities.

“We try to develop a sense of self within the child and an appropriate self-confidence,”

— Alexandra McMullen

The permanent staff and volunteers at Make it Better are also aided by students from the University of Hong Kong’s Master of Expressive Arts Therapy programme, a social-work course directed by Rainbow Ho, who has been involved with the project from the outset. Rainbow holds degrees in biology, anatomy, social work and social administration, and is also a passionate dancer—whether it’s ballet, jazz, ballroom or hip-hop. Rainbow, who represented Hong Kong in dancesport at the East Asian Games and the Asian Indoor Games in 2005, realised that by combining her scientific and creative passions, she could pioneer an alternative way to help those in need.

At a Make it Better workshop in Tai Wai, children craft 3D models of their local community;

Photographed by Michaela Giles (Hong Kong Tatler)

“Art can help you to understand more about yourself and the world, and bring beauty into your life and the lives of others,” Rainbow says. “In therapeutic approaches, we adopt a non-judgemental attitude. We allow students to have more space to express themselves, and we can demonstrate empathy through language and our physicality.”

Tiffany describes how many of the children Make it Better works with are socially and linguistically isolated, riddled with anxiety and lacking in self-confidence. In an attempt to put children at ease, classes are well-stocked with materials to minimise any potential stresses caused by sharing. A strong volunteer-to-child ratio also ensures every child gets plenty of attention, which is something they are often craving. All adults stay seated in order to be physically on the same level as the children who, conversely, are not required to sit—they can stand to do their artwork or even lie on the floor.

“We try to develop a sense of self within the child and an appropriate self-confidence,” says Alexandra. Not bravado, but just a sense of ‘This is my community; I deserve to be here; I belong here.’”