Impact Arts

Following on from our post at the
start of the lockdown, where we heard from some of the Glasgow Youth
Ambassadors first impressions of the current situation, we spoke to a couple of our Edinburgh members, Dylan and Ivy to see how they were finding it.

Dylan talked to us about his about his
initial feelings of lockdown and how things changed as the weeks went on;

“Well, at least during the
isolation I suppose was nice not rushing around to go to appointments, or
commitments of any other kind. I mean, don’t get me wrong: I enjoy
DJ’ing at The ATIK, DJ’ing at Crew, working with Impact Arts, and helping out
with the events in general, and all my other commitments, but as you can see, I
have quite a lot on, and it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming and
disorienting! When you have all these places to go it can be quite frankly
a bit exhausting. So it was good to have a bit of a break at
least and try to adapt to life indoors; I mean, it seems to be
helping calm down the entire coronavirus pandemic anyway…

Equally, though it is kind of
frustrating that our commitments have been cancelled because of the coronavirus,
but it makes us realise that it could be worse. I’m still certainly preparing
myself for when I return to any of these commitments when the coronavirus dies
down, which I should have plenty time for anyway. Talking of which, with
self-isolation, it has kind of helped encourage me to try and work on things I
usually probably wouldn’t have enough time for, so that’s one positive thing I
suppose. I’ve been working a bit more on the things I’m
passionate about, like aspects of art and creativity, music in
particular.

I’m still keeping in touch
with Get2gether during isolation, and we are already discussing the
ideas for the next event at the ATIK – We’ve also been discussing what we
can do in the meantime, and I’m preparing myself for the next event as
well. I’ve also been lyric writing (i.e. for raps), and just
generally listening to music and looking to discover new types of music, drawing, script-writing, character-design,
etc.

I hope everyone is
keeping safe – stay indoors unless you’re going out for essential
reasons.”

Ivy also talked to us about her experiences
at the start of the lockdown and how she is feeling more recently;

“How would I describe my first few
weeks of lockdown? In a word… disheartening. I was keeping safe, staying
inside, and going online to make new friends. But I very quickly learned that
this was nothing more than an endless vacuum that systematically sucked away my
happiness. It was only after letting go that I finally realised what I was
missing… my real friends. But genuine friends that I could rely and depend
upon. Who I love and care for deeply. Who I knew genuinely cared when I had a
problem.

Let us fast-forward to week 8 of lockdown. Tim shares his screen on Discord as we sit around playing Jackbox
Tv. We laugh as Chris puts funny answers down in Quiplash. Cringe at the
difficulty of the questions on Trivia Murder Party. Well, I say difficulty. We
know the answers, however, it is a bit hard to answer correctly when you have
been forced to cut a finger off as a part of a Penalty Game. Particularly when
that is the one needed for correctly imputing Tanzania. But it was a communal
struggle, shared by all those gathering here this day, endeavouring to crush
one another and be the last one standing… as we friends always do. It felt
amazing. We weren’t in the same room obviously, but hearing each of us as we
laughed, cheered, and threw shady comments at one another, warmed my heart.
Gave me hope that I will see them again soon, smiley, happy and safe.

Though lockdown has been far from
easy – it has been challenging, anxiety-inducing and frustrating in equal
measure – it would have been far worse not having friends, family and loved
ones there to support me. So, to my friends, I say thank you. Know that
you have my love and I will always be there to support you.

To everyone reading this at
home; stay safe and know that you are never alone. If you ever need a friend or
someone to talk to, please know you have a friend in me!”