WELCOME TO SIMPLY Q

Please click on the video below to see some of the effects of social stigma.

We are a developing human rights charity working to eliminate social stigma and overcome prejudice and discrimination through creativity, meaningful occupation and rebuilding lives.

We are a non-government organization working with disaffected people in many areas of society - including the homeless, long term unemployed, mentally ill, the LGBT community, the disabled, and through our theatrical and cultural projects we help such people overcome social issues such as poverty, prejudice, intolerance, crime, social exclusion to find their way back into society.

Simply Q is a developing charity and as a missionary type charity run by its founder Stella Baker is the parent charity for Q, its subsidiary non-profit activist fringe theatre staffed by professional actors who serve as the production and administration base for all Simply Q projects. Simply Q is working to become a registered charity - registered by the UK Charities Commission - on the basis of the Charities Act 1983.

Our Mission Statement (pdf)

We have now set up the pilot for a new series of projects to eliminate social stigma among the homeless in London and to work to change public perception about the homeless. We are forming partnerships between established theatre professionals and the London's homeless who will be working together on a new wave of theatrical and cultural projects including the revival of a new interpretation of traditional fringe theatre in London using various venues throughout London including pubs, hostels, galleries, restaurants and shopping centres.

'There's really no difference' ia to be perhaps one of the biggest ever cultural projects involving the homeless and is being developed in partnership with homeless charities St Mungo's and Thmesreach and will feature formerly homeless people performing alongside established theatre professionals in performances all over London and elsewhere, where you won't be able to tell the difference.

The first performances are to be staged in London at the end of summer 2009 and there are plans for a US festival appearance of a theatrical group who include people who were formerly sleeping on the streets in London. This pilot will be financed from profits and donations from performances of Q Fringe theatre which start from Easter.

More details of their performances can be found on their website at http://www.q-fringe.org

DEGREES OF DISCRIMINATION

What is discrimination? Can it be measured? How does discrimination affect the victim? For the first time the effects of discrimination can be evaluated and measured in the Stella Baker Index. This is a brief questionnaire which can be used by any professional to assess and measure the impact of discrimination and its effects on the victim's life. It is based on a 100 point scale and measures impact in four main areas - physical, mental, emotional and social. It is available free of charge for anyone to download and use from the link below.

Click here to download The Stella Baker Index (MS Word)

HOMELESSNESS - CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF THE HOMELESS

We are pleased to announce our first project which is working with the outreach organization Outside In and St Mungo's to set up projects with residents and service users of St Mungo's hostels throughout London. Another homeless charity Thamesreach has also expressed interest in our work and we are hoping to extend our projects to include Thamesreach clients and service users throughout London. We are currently developing a project centring around theatre workshops and training but which will expand into a London wide cultural project with a primary focus on bringing together the many diverse skills, talents, abilities and knowledge of people who have been affected by homelessness and working with them - not just through giving them complete and unrestricted access to our productions but also exploring ways in which they can set up their own cultural projects and find new occupation and ways of helping them regain their own independence as a way of helping them find their own way back into society and by giving them the means to do so.

Click here to read more about what we are doing to change perceptions of the homeless

THE AMERICAN DREAM?

To underline the life-changing impact of our theatrical projects with the homeless and long term unemployed we are offering the opportunity of taking part in international theatrical festivals including in Canada and the United States in the coming year. It is therefore conceivable that someone who has been sleeping on the streets can become involved in a project which will take them to a festival in the United States, for example in Indianapolis, Chicago, or Orlando. This we feel is a very powerful motivating factor for someone considering whether to become involved in our projects. Typically a festival appearance in North America would last between a week and 10 days and be an experience which they will remember for many years. There are also plans to expand the charity to have a North American base in either Toronto or Chicago which in the future would offer similar projects, i.e. with the possibility of coming to London or the UK for festival appearances. If this happens Simply Q would become a trans-Atlantic charity dealing with social stigma and individual human rights.

OUR FIGHT TO SAVE THE TRADITION OF PUBS

The focal point of most of our theatrical and cultural projects are performances in pubs - one of the ideal places in the community where those who we help can find audiences for their work and creativity. We are prejudiced in favour of pubs to display our work for a simple reason - to help pubs by attracting an audience to enjoy an evening of entertainment in their local pub. Recent developments, including the widespread smoking ban and sales of cheap alcohol by supermarket chains, have hit pubs hard and many pubs face the threat - a very real threat - of closure. It is worth remembering that the pub is the focal point of the community, and we feel that by attracting audiences to see performances in pubs we can help in the fight to save pubs and hopefully inspire others to stage cultural and theatrical events in pubs to attract audiences, and for pubs, customers, by providing cheap and quality entertainment.

THE THINGS WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL TO OUR DEVELOPMENT

We are a developing charity and as such have very stringent policies when it comes to donations. Currently we are seeking to raise the £5,000 income we need to become a registered charity. At this current moment in time Simply Q is not publicly funded but relies on sponsorship and donations from private companies and private individuals together with income coming from workshops and performances staged by our subsidiary non-profit fringe theatre Q.

If anything right at this moment in time we desperately need equipment - old or obselete computers, a fax machine, halogen spotlights, cabling, extension leads, and old bedding (sheets) which enable us to set up projects with the homeless and the mentally ill.

As part of our strict policies over donations we would like to point out that donations obtained from private companies and members of the public do not incur any administration costs and go directly to our beneficiaries.

PARTNERSHIPS STILL NEEDED FOR OUR REFERRAL DATABASE

We are still developing our powerful database referral system and are seeking charities, organizations and professionals who are prepared to work with us helping people by way of mutual support. We desperately need an organization which deals with abuse and domestic violence, another which deals with substance misuse, and also legal advisors who specialize in discrimination, landlord/tenant and welfare benefits. This could be a firm of solicitors who handle Legal Aid cases. We would also like to hear from qualified psychotherapists and counsellors.