Taylor Wessing and St Mungo's

Our aim has always been to help the needy in our local community and promote education and opportunity therein.  We have chosen to support this charity in the local area, which is a homelessness agency and housing association offering support and care for vulnerable men and women in over 70 housing projects. 

St Mungo's provides over 1,700 people with a place to call home.  But shelter is just the first step.  The staff at St Mungo's are committed to helping people recover from homelessness by providing support to help themselves.  They offer specialist mental health and substance use support as well as a huge and varied programme of activities and learning opportunities. 

Taylor Wessing also has a long history of involvement with the Arts. As well as the National Portrait Gallery, we also have a long standing relationship with the Young Vic. We are pleased to be able to incorporate our involvement with the Arts into our community and charitable programme.

With support from Taylor Wessing during 2010, the Young Vic theatre, based in Waterloo, has developed a close relationship with a local St Mungo’s hostel which provides housing and support to vulnerable women in Lambeth. From accompanied excursions to the theatre, workshops, tours and talks both at the Young Vic and at the hostel, the Young Vic team have developed a special friendship between the women and the theatre.

We will look to build on our relationship with the Young Vic this year, and get involved in a further outreach programme with St Mungo's. This project is an integral part of the Young Vic’s wider "Taking Part" community engagement programme, and is designed to integrate, in particular, women into the local community, and offer first time theatre goers new experiences, opportunities and friendships.

The National Portrait Gallery has also previously worked with Taylor Wessing to deliver engaging community partnership projects responding to the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. We, and the NPG, will continue this partnership this year, developing and delivering new engaging projects with St Mungo’s.

The project will involve participants from St Mungo’s working with a professional photographer, discussing the photographs in the exhibition and discover some of the stories behind the images. Participants will then learn how to construct and compose their own images and work creatively with the contemporary photographer to create their own self-portraits using professional photographic equipment.

Taylor Wessing staff will be able to get involved in this project (as part of the Make a Difference Scheme).