It has often been the subject of conversation at SSE about how what the organisation does, and what the effect is on social entrepreneurs, is best communicated through their stories, their journeys and their words. Fortunately, with thanks to a great Media Trust initiative and the amazing production skills and efforts of the team at Project Monster, we were able to make a new promotional video which goes some way to doing just that; via Andre, Junior, Tom, Charles and more.
The video will be shown on the Community Channel tonight (April 12th) at 6.30pm; or you can watch it now below :0)
We've known for a while that SSE students build relationships and contacts and networks that are practically useful on the programme: indeed, that's a key outcome (our most recent data shows that 90% have kept in touch with contacts made during the course, and that these have helped in tangible ways; i.e. not networks for networks sake, but joint work, funding, volunteering, advice, introductions etc).We also know that partnerships form on the programme in different ways. Sometimes, though, it's difficult to track those outcomes and demonstrate the good work that emerges.
Three SSE Yorkshire Fellows, Jay, John and Justine, have partnered to work on an intergenerational project. They don't appear in this video themselves. But the results of their partnership and collaboration do; enjoy:
OK, so it's completely freezing, travel is chaotic, and the economic picture is gloomy for many. But there are beacons of light amidst the gloom; some of our SSE students are just that, and that's why we're proud and delighted that Andre Hackett, who's on our London programme currently, and his co-founders have been surprised by a TV programme with free billboards to promote his business (London Mobile Studios)...and sustain his brilliant youth work. A well-deserved Christmas present, and a welcome bit of warmth and light. Enjoy:
It seems to have been one of the busiest periods of activity I can remember here at SSE. Barely time to get the head up from the various Big Society initiatives, new forthcoming evaluation or social franchising programme that I've been immersed in.
One of the worst bits about that is that you miss out on some events and SSE Fellow-related things you would normally go to. I was particularly gutted to miss Catch 22 Magazine's reception the other night over at ITN to celebrate the second anniversary of their Academy programme.
Tokunbo (that's him on the left in the photo) and his team do a stellar job, have genuine credibility, and really deliver on their promises; something which is at times too rare in the social enterprise space. Read the annual report for more info on their achievements (and their honesty about the challenges), and to admire their design work too. Or, watch this short video: 6 minutes very well spent. Congrats from all here.
Nice to see this column by Lucy Siegle in the Observer magazine asking if social entrepreneurs can be green. Of course, many social entrepreneurs do work to a triple bottom line of financial, social and environmental. And a fair number of our latest SSE Fellows from Liverpool SSEall do so; sadly I couldn't be at their graduation, but this video by SSE Fellow org Brava Design, is the next best thing. Enjoy:
It's one of the great privileges of working at SSE to keep in touch with and follow the progress (and be able to assist) the alumni of the programme (or SSE Fellows, as they are known). Recently at the residential down in Dartington, an SSE Fellow from our 2007-8 programme, Jim Pope, helped us out with the delivery of the event.
I hadn't seen Jim for a little while; when he was with us, he was piloting and testing out using drama and theatre in prisons to good effect. So it was great to hear that Jim has kept at it (persistence being a key attribute of an entrepreneur), and has now started a theatre company (with co-founder Philip Osment) called Playing On. Playing On is a theatre company but also has a social purpose: to create new, professional theatre through work with disenfranchised young people from a wide range of backgrounds and circumstances to tell the stories of those who are seldom heard.
And the first evidence of that can be seen at the Roundhouse Theatre in Camden from November 12th-27th with their first play, Inside. SSE will be going along, and would encourage you to as well if you can for what promises to be a really powerful work about prison life. More details/buy tickets here. Or watch the promo below to hear from Jim about the play.
SSE Yorkshire + Humber assembled a great group of social entrepreneurs for their first programme. Unfortunately I couldn't make their graduation a few weeks back, but here's a great video by one of the new SSE Fellows, Justine Gaubert, which does as good a summary of SSE's approach from a participant's perspective as I've seen. Enjoy.
A couple more videos to share with you all, from the Cornwall and Hampshire SSEs respectively.
The Cornwall video was shown at their recent graduation, and features interviews with the student social entrepreneurs as they come towards the end of their programme.
This Hampshire video features some of their social entrepreneurs on project visits, which is a key part of the SSE programme, giving the students a chance to not only hear from a social entrepreneur about how they've developed and grown their organisation, but to do so in an environment or at a location that brings that to life.
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