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Common Good Comics
Paul Bristow • Jul 08, 2020
Stories that matter...
Glasgow Caledonian University and Magic Torch Comics CIC have secured £76,300 funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, for a two year project which will share stories of social enterprise and community action.
Common Good Comics will work with organisations from across Scotland to record oral histories and explore community archives and then present the material in two comic collections which will be shared in schools, online and at comicons and other national events.
Magic Torch Comics director, Paul Bristow, explains
“I’ve worked in and around social enterprises for most of my life, Magic Torch Comics CIC was developed as a social enterprise – our focus is generally history and literacy. A few years back, we were asked by Professor Michael Roy at GCU to adapt a case study in comic form, and it just seemed a great way of sharing stories about the good work of organisations. We’ve been working on getting this project off the ground since then.”
The project also wants to help groups tell their own story and maintain their own archives more effectively. Dr Gillian Murray from Glasgow Caledonian University Yunus Centre for Social Business is part of the project team, recording and sharing oral histories.
“The opportunity to collaborate with social enterprises and community groups to tell their stories in a way that supports them to take ownership of their history and heritage is really exciting. The current crisis means this is a particularly challenging time for the social enterprise and community sector, we hope that sharing stories of how people came together in the past will be uplifting and empowering for groups and organisations today.”
The project builds on the work already undertaken by GCU Archive team in pulling together a Social Enterprise Collection as GCU Archivist Carole McCallum explains.
“Archives are peoples’ stories and the social enterprise and labour history strands of this project will be inspired by the material we already hold in GCU Archive Centre. Giving voice and vision to these stories opens up our heritage to new audiences and allows people to better understand and take pride in their own story. As well as a hands on connection with the material we will be sharing our skills, offering basic training in caring for and digitising records to the communities involved. We are delighted to be part of this cross domain team and look forward to learning from the project as much as giving to it.”
Caroline Clark, Director Scotland of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:
“The appeal of comics span the generations so what better way of telling the stories of one generation to another. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery, communities will be inspired to record their diverse social histories for others to learn from and enjoy.”
Work on the project has just started, with a number of organisations already signed up to tell their story, but the team is looking for more groups and organisations from across Scotland to get involved.
“We are ideally looking to work with groups who have a bit of history behind them, who have been around for a while, maybe forming to deal with unemployment during the 1980s or who took part in a specific piece of community action – there are lots of stories out there and we are ready to listen.”
To find out more and get involved, check out our new project page.
MTC Project Blog
Earlier this month, we were asked to produce some artwork for the Afrowegian Project , imagining an Afro-Futurist version of the story of real world cycling superhero, Marshall 'Major' Taylor. The comic display panels form part of an exhibition by the riverside in Glasgow throughout October. You can read more about the work of the project and how to get involved. We're looking forward to doing some more collaborative work with Afrowegian's Jim Muotone, down in Inverclyde over the next few months.
Earlier this year, our director Paul Bristow spoke to Tall Tale films as part of CVS Inverclyde's Digital Open Studios project. Check out the short video below to hear Paul chat about storytelling, communities and his creative process for his own writing and his work with Magic Torch Comics CIC. You can also see his fairly messy home office under the stairs...
Back in 2019, artist Mhairi Robertson and myself, spent some time with a group of women in Glasgow, who told us about their experience of the asylum process, and the welcome they had found in Scotland. The project was pit together by the Poverty Truth Community, and the women all wanted to focus on the positive things that had happened to them since arriving, and the actions that other could take while in the process. A booklet of their stories, which also shares information on the support which is available for people, was launched during Refugee Week 2021 at an online event. The book can be downloaded for free on our website or read on our ISSUU page . A narrated version of the book, recorded by one of the women is also available to view and there is a short preview below.
Magic Torch Comics CIC are asking local young people to get involved in creating a science fiction adventure comic online. The comic, Starbound, is part of our ‘Outside The Box’ project, supported by National Lottery Community Fund. Over the last year, the project has delivered online workshops and involved young people in creating comics about life in lockdown and a collection of spooky stories for Galoshans. For this project, we wanted to do something a little different. It’s a choose your own adventure comic, where local people help create and shape the story on instagram. Every Monday evening, a short video will introduce the story so far and offer people choices for what happens next. People have 24 hours to vote, the artist creates the page and the next week we choose again, spinning the story off in unexpected directions each time. Right now, it’s still impossible to deliver face to face workshops, but if you’ve been online learning all day, you maybe don’t want to come to another online workshop in the evening. So we wanted to provide an opportunity that was easy for everyone to engage in, whatever way they want. Some people might just vote or comment on the story, or email in ideas, other people might want to get more involved and share their creations which we’ll then put out on the blog or in the weekly workshop videos. Although the focus of the project is comic storytelling, we want people to get involved in other creative ways. We’ll have story prompts and tips in the weekly workshop videos, there’s a whole world to explore, so we hope people will get inspired to create and share all sorts of work – Minecraft builds, music, moments of drama – whatever you like. Part of the reason we decided on science fiction was to open up possibilities to imagine. The last few months have been really confined, and it’s easy for your imagination to become confined too, so we wanted to help people break out of that a bit. Starbound launched on Monday 8th March on instagram , there's a new story vote every week. People can get involved on Magic Torch Comics Instagram page or by submitting ideas and suggestions directly on the project page .
About us
Magic Torch Comics CIC
Company Number SC568827
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07757 112 332info@magictorchcomics.co.uk27 East StreetGreenockPA15 2RL
info@magictorchcomics.co.uk
27 East Street
Greenock
PA15 2RL