5 down, 5 to go and this one is close to the heart. A reflection on how you can play your part in the communities you belong and having a purpose broader than the numbers.

A phrase that is oft-used and seldom in the same for everyone but what does ‘playing your part’ mean to you?

• Supporting a cause you believe in?
• Being an active participant in your community?
• Building a longer lasting legacy?

The list of potential answers is as endless as the number of people it could apply to. But what of FortyTwo? Where do we feel we want to ‘get involved’ - as our much touted company value states? I suppose we can break it down into two key categories:

Our Purpose - To help support and nurture the next generation of creatives. Supporting students, schools and related practitioners where we can. Even bought a building to help deliver something tangible - a physical Creative Hub. Have we fully carried out our plans?

No, not by a long way. Post Covid and recent global clusterf**ks has made that difficult, so we’ve had to slow down the pace (and the spending) but the plans are the plans even if the schedule has been stretched.

However despite this, we’ve still spent a lot of time and resource doing what we can though - much of it on the quiet but we know and so do those we work with.

The second category and just as important are those causes and organisations the individuals as in the team want to support?

• Non-profit and social enterprise
• Schools/College/Uni
• Community Groups
• Start-up Culture
• Creative support
• The choices are deep and wide.

The important part, is that the team feel they can spend time supporting a cause they believe in, in a way that makes a difference and that they can bring the rest of us along with the ride. James Erwin being on hand to help our local community, Jill Montgomery with supporting schools, Sam Longmire supporting young creatives like INTL and Gina Urquhart taking part in a wider creative business initiative - just a handful of the many things we believe in.

Playing YOUR Part - it has to be personal important to the individual as much as it is to the company. Good CSR begins by building an internal tribe of believers. I hope we’ve proved our commitment so far, but there is much, much more to come…

And remember, however you do this, you will probably start in your own backyard, in the community’s and segment of life you belong. You can’t cover it all and can’t be for everyone but you can be an influence and serious contributor - it’s up to others to do the same.

How are you ‘getting involved and playing your part’?

If you want to know more about our plans for our Creative Hub or fellow you can contribute - let us know, we’re eager to get more people involved.

— Mark

mark@fortytwo.studio.

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