Funded by the National Lottery, Culture Club Magazine is a digital magazine that started in April 2020. It seemed the best way of keeping the community connected, engaged, involved and participating. During the first lockdown we needed to reach out and show the community they matter, their stories matter and their experiences matter. The issues were weekly and had stories from the people of Cumbria, informing them about what is happening with Cumbria’s diaspora. Stories covered arts and craft, cultural and religious events, recipes, MCC’s progress, refugee stories, poetry, world/local history, the Black Lives Matter movement, Race 2B Conference 2020, life in lockdown and even a lockdown wedding. Culture Club Magazine became one of MCC’s main focus points.

We have included articles on Community art programmes, as well as MCC’s Tina Borgia writing ‘Lockdown Lifestyle things to do’ which introduced new ideas to keep families occupied and entertained throughout lockdown. We also informed them about organisations like CRAG bidding for City of Sanctuary and MCC signing the Peace Pledge Declaration (2020)

The magazine is a team effort and stories are collated by marketing and many contacts known to the organisation and final editing done by Saj Ghafoor. The Culture Club magazine is a way of reaching out and sharing, showing our care and compassion.

The response to the magazine has been so phenomenal and encourages the need for us to continue sharing Cumbrian stories.

As a charity, we have to raise funds for local projects and core costs. Activities we deliver are:

Culture Bazaar – An annual multicultural event in Carlisle that averages 4,000 visitors over the February half-term weekend.

During Covid-19 Lockdown, we have produced Culture Club Magazine online, to share experiences, knowledge & skills to keep connected and raise awareness of the cultural diversity in Cumbria