London City Airport has named the latest local recipients to be awarded grants from its £75k (US$105k) Community Fund.
In the latest round of funding, £35,940 (US$50k) has been allocated to 12 local groups and community organisations covering eight East London boroughs, including Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Southwark, Lewisham, and Barking and Dagenham.
Each organisation has been awarded a grant of up to £3,000 (US$4,000) in line with the Community Fund’s aims to build stronger, safer, and healthier communities, create pathways to employment, engender more sustainable and greener communities and raise the aspirations of East Londoners.
Nazmin Begum, community engagement and sustainability manager at London City Airport, said, “Now in its third year, the Community Fund is a key aspect of the airport’s support for our local boroughs in East London. We are really pleased to award this funding to such an impressive and diverse range of local organisations, who are delivering vital projects to raise the aspirations of East Londoners and build stronger, safer, and healthier communities for all.”
Successful grantees that have secured funding in this latest round include the Learning Revolution Trust, a charity established by Newham College that aims to remove the financial and social barriers to further education and employment.
Martin Cumella, chair of The Learning Revolution Trust, said, “We are pleased to be working in partnership with Newham College of Further Education and the Newham Chamber of Commerce to support 20 unemployed young people so that they can acquire the skills and work experience that they need to get back to work. Their job prospects have been adversely affected by the Covid pandemic and this funding will provide small grants to help individuals to participate in training to get them ready for work.”
Funding has also been awarded to Disability Sports Coach, a charity based in Southwark that empowers disabled children and adults to engage in regular sports and physical activity.
Peter Ackred, CEO of Disability Sports Coach, said, “We are delighted to receive this generous grant from the London City Airport Community Fund. The funding will help us to reopen our network of Community Clubs for disabled people in Hackney, Lambeth, Southwark and Tower Hamlets following their extended closure due to the Coronavirus crisis, helping to ensure disabled people are not left behind as society reopens.”
Alongside the Community Fund, the airport has committed to supporting East London’s recovery from Covid-19 by launching a London City Helpers employee volunteering programme, establishing a new youth mentoring scheme, assisting with food bank donations and deliveries, and donating laptops to local schools to support students with their online learning.
Anne Hardy artwork – Destination London
Today (Aug 4th), London City Airport unveiled its first ever public art commission – Destination London, by renowned East London artist, Anne Hardy.
Located in the West Pier arrivals corridor, the commission, which will be in place for two years, transmits a message of optimism and positivity from nature, providing a unique welcome to the Royal Docks and its diverse and vibrant cultural scene as City Airport once again connects travellers from across the globe to the heart of London.
Curated by The Line, East London’s public art walk running between Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and The O2, Destination London aims to communicate a vivid sense of the layered histories of London, expressed through the diverse but often overlooked botanical life found around London City Airport.
Presented as a series of imagined and atmospheric landscapes through a sequence of 4 large photograms, the works are made with a cameraless technique in a darkroom through the manipulation of light and materials on paper.
Hardy commented, “The Thames connects us literally to the past, and to the trade and people who have travelled here over its surface. The surrounding landscape of tidal flows and post-industrial development forms a kind of archaeology in flux, which holds within it a parallel botanic universe of international plants. Many of which were brought here by people; for food and connection to home cultures, as well as for trade and botanic research.”
Neil Dillon, marketing director of London City Airport, said, “Anne Hardy’s work brings a new and exciting cultural dimension to our International Arrivals corridor, with its vibrant colours giving off an air of calm and projecting feelings of wellbeing and positivity from nature, as we emerge from the pandemic.”