Introducing Jord-ann!

Element Young Creative and Youth Champion Ben sat down with Jord-ann, our (not-so-new-anymore!) Programmes Lead, to talk all things creativity, youth work, and Element. Respect to Ben for transcribing this interview with such comedic flair!

BT: Ben - Element Young Creative extraordinaire

JRC: Jord-ann - Programmes Lead

MS: Maeve - Head of Programmes and Network

A Series of Unfortunate Questions

BT [In a serious tone]: I have to start with a serious question first. [Pause] What fruit is your favourite fruit, and why is it a banana?

JRC [In shock]: What fruit is my favourite fruit and why is it a banana!? Hmm…

BT: Exactly

JRC: My favourite fruit… I feel like I have to say banana now. So, banana… umm… and my fav-

BT [Interrupting]: This is known

JRC [In agreement]: This is known. Of course you already knew this, you’re a very intelligent person.

BT: Of course

JRC: and yeah, it is my favourite fruit because it is filled with potassium

BT: No, but seriously. Tell me about yourself. What should us, as Element Young People, know about you?

JRC: Ooh, okay. Well, my name is Jord-ann - if you didn’t know already. I’m originally from Derby and I’ve always been interested in the arts and drama and working with Young People. 

BT: How has working with Element been so far?

JRC: Working with Element has been a nice learning experience. I think, for me, I’ve been able to learn on the job, which has been nice and very practical and I think I’ve been able to learn more about myself and my creative inspirations and what I can actually do. I think I surprised myself in the short amount of time I’ve been here. But my experience has been, honestly, one of the best. Everyone has been so lovely and nice and welcoming and yeah, I feel like I’m starting to settle in now and find my feet. It’s like when ducks are on the water their feet are going like a million miles per hour, but now yeah. I feel like I’m calm now, I’m at the calm stage. So I’ve enjoyed myself.

BT [Short laughter]: I’m glad you’ve settled in. I think everyone’s really happy to have you. You mentioned that you’ve had some creative experiences, do you have any examples?

JRC: Oh, several! I’ll start with one of my face-to-face sessions. Being able to get creative with Young People and create a piece of art that you might not necessarily class as a piece of art, because a lot of Young People that we come across say they can’t draw, or they’re not creative and that is not true at all. Everybody that we get involved with or who takes part in Element genuinely comes up with some creative and wonderful pieces that you might not have necessarily thought up yourself, but with the face-to-face sessions, we’ve been able to do things such as marbling. We were able to create something visual that Young People can use to decorate their homes, to gift to somebody and for them to kind of push themselves and see their potential. Also, with drop-in on Fridays we meet a different variety of Young People and to get creative whether that is making something, such as artwork or origami or simply just having a discussion and playing games. Either way, it’s full of creativity and full of learning, which is nice.

BT: These are amazing answers. What would you say is your greatest strength?

JRC: My greatest strength? [Pause] Do you want me to be honest here? My greatest strength… [Ponders]

BT [In an encouraging way]: Feel free to brag, feel free to show off, this is your limelight, this is your moment!

JRC: The list is just so long [Chuckles all around]. I’ll give you my top 3 that come to mind. Number 1, I think I’m quite understanding, which always comes in use. Another strength is being supportive and being able to work in a team or on my own initiative. Thirdly, I would like to say, being approachable and open. I’d like to think people were able to come to me when they have a problem and I think I’m approachable and open and I guess that’s a strength as well. I guess not everybody has that.

BT: I know it can be quite difficult to toot our own horns and big ourselves up, but those were some really good examples. Good strengths.  What things, in terms of Element, are you excited for in the future?

JRC: The one that’s up and coming is probably next week, and I’ll finally be able to see the office and be in the office as a team. That’s one thing I’m looking forward to. I’m definitely looking forward to future trips with Young People and being able to see a showcase and do a physical showcase where we can see everybody’s work and I’m excited for the new opportunities Element has to come, working with new boroughs and people, I’m excited for it all.

BT: The whole shebang!

MS: Is there anything you feel you’ve learned from Young People since starting at Element?

JRC: Yeah, I have actually. One thing that springs to mind is that it doesn’t really matter what you’ve been through or gone through or facing in life, you can still achieve. We’ve been working with lots of Young People from all different backgrounds and experiences. Some people may have children, some may be single parents, it’s all different. I think everyone shows such strength and such admiration. It’s quite nice to see that it doesn’t matter that you might not have had the best start in life or you might not be in the best predicament, whether that’s mentally or financially or physically. There’s still that hope and that determination and the living for now and enjoyment, I think that’s something I’ve learned from the Young People. It’s very inspiring for me to know that people are so young and yet so strong and have a lot to offer and to give when it comes to being creative or just being here and having a purpose and it’s nice to know that a lot of you are working towards your purpose or finding your purpose. So yeah, for me that’s something that I admire about all the Young People I’ve encountered. [In a louder tone] That’s including you, Ben!

[Everyone laughs gleefully]

BT: Okay, I have a question, it’s quite good, so be ready, be prepared. Maeve knows where this is going. [Intense pause for comedic effect] What is the best flavour of tea?

JRC: The best flavour of tea… bombshell-

BT: To give you an idea, there’s your mint, your camomile, your-

JRC: I don’t drink tea but if I did-

BT [In shock and rage]: D-did you just say you don’t drink tea!?

JRC: No, I don’t. I don’t really drink hot drinks, Ben. [MS giggles as BT gets up and leaves the room] Don’t leave! You’ve- [BT slams the door and JRC and MS continue laughing]

MS: Ben has left the building. Ben is back in the building. What’s your favourite tea, Ben? 

BT: Right, I’ve gotta think about this, because I might offend teas. So if you’re a cup of tea listening to this. The golden standard is obviously English Breakfast, also known as black tea. I also like some green tea, if you make it right and allow the kettle to cool after it’s boiled so you don’t burn the tea but my third favourite tea is peppermint tea because it’s my calming tea. I also love camomile and honey.

JRC: What about you, Maeve? 

MS: I love mint and I grow some on my windowsill so I can just take handfuls of it and I also love camomile, like you Ben, lemon balm is also really nice. I love tea bright green, from like the plant and people are like eww

BT: People are like how do you do that? It’s loose leaf tea!

MS: Yeah [Laughs]

BT: They say it has to be in a tea-bag otherwise it’s not tea!

MS: It feels like such a pre-covid important question because I feel like all my job used to be on a friday was asking people if they want tea and just continually asking people who didn’t drink tea, if they want tea. Which would probably be you, Jordann. There’d be so many people that’d say I only drink tea if I get offered it. It would only be in drop-in and people’s sugar intake would just be jokes, it was just so much.  Like some people had like 8 sugars.

JRC: I do eat biscuits, of course I eat biscuits, I mean. Who doesn’t love a good biscuit? Even though I don’t drink tea. My go-to biscuit is a custard cream

MS: Ahh good, you’ve redeemed yourself [BT sighs in relief]

BT: I am happy you said custard creams

MS: We had lots of biscuits at the Christmas party. 

BT: Speaking of that Christmas Party, I have in my phone case the Polaroid from the party [pulls out a Polaroid picture from his phone case] and it’s signed from Elo, Maeve and Alex

MS: Yeah I can’t wait to use the Polaroid again

BT: My favourite part of Element is running the projects and thinking the projects are going to go horribly but then they go amazingly smooth 

JRC: I think you can surprise yourself when you take a session and you’re quite apprehensive about how things are going to go, then it works out really well. It’s like, what was I worrying for? That was a piece of cake

BT: Oooh cake, Jaffa cakes

MS: Yeah

JRC: Okay, my last question for you both is: if you could describe Element in 3 words, what 3 words would they be?

BT: Basically, Art Therapy

MS: I would say, energetic from doing lots of doing lots of activities and all the people’s different energies. I would say flexible because things change quite a lot and we have different ways of doing things and then I’d say community/family, because family is a word used and community is definitely how I think of it