26 June 2023. WBI invited local artist Michelle Ezeuko (former Artist-in-Residence at Aspex Gallery) to facilitate a Vision Board Workshop for our current Employment Support for Migrants cohort. The Workshop was organized to creatively empower our participants to visualize their future and map out their next career steps.
Planning the future can be a daunting task. We teamed up with artist and an immigrant to the UK herself, Michelle Ezeuko, to further support our Employment Support for Migrants participants in their professional development, by enabling them to tap into their creative potential:
“Using art can be a really empowering tool, as it gives you a sense of agency back.” – Michelle Ezeuko
The workshop started with the question: “Who or what inspires you and why?”
This prompted participants to share personal stories and reflect on their sources of inspiration or admiration.
The discussions livened up as the group of participants felt safe and comfortable to share their experiences of being lifted up by a personal hero when they were in low spirits.
It was also heartwarming for us to hear WBI’s Director of Community Engagement Anita David mentioned by the participants as a role-model for her dedicated work to the community and mentorship.
One participant named themself as a role model to a bout of enthusiastic reactions from the rest of the group. The facilitator emphasised self-belief as an important step to achieve any goal in life.
After the poignant discussion, our workshop host, Michelle, introduced the participants to the concept of a Vision Board and to the free Canva-app, which participants used to produce their own designs.
Michelle explained why having a visual guide can be such a confidence-booster and a reminder to stay motivated, connecting ourselves daily with our aspirations. Her views reflect findings in the neuroscientist field, which have shown that:
“Looking at images on a vision board primes the brain to grasp opportunities that may otherwise go unnoticed. […] The brain assigns a higher ‘value’ to images than written words on a ‘to-do’ list, and the more you look at those images, the more those images move up in importance.” – Dr Tara Swart
[Canva Vision boards made by some of our participants]
At the end, each participant was asked to name one practical action they were going to take in order to move closer to their set targets.
“Rather than keep waiting, we need to do something, take the steps, even if this means only going outside for a walk. Otherwise, nothing will change.” – participant quote
Enthusiastic feedback from the participants reflected how useful they found the workshop. They left feeling optimistic and hopeful for the future.
Considering the scale of global and local issues we are up against, from socio-political displacements to economic struggles, it is easy to think in ‘worst-case-scenario’ terms, but Michelle reminded everyone that: “we need to make more space in our minds for imagining that the best can happen, too!”
We are grateful to Michelle for delivering the workshop with such compassion and infectious positivity. We also warmly thank our programme partners from WEA and City of Portsmouth College for working with us to improve migrant access to education and employment.
