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2020: The Year That Was

Fin Ross Russell 6 January 2021

We Are Boundless

Despite the new lockdown in the UK we’re doing everything we can to draw down from some new year energy for 2021 and are more committed than ever to keep reaching you our audiences, the young adults we create unique cultural projects for and our wider community of 15-25 year olds.  2020 was a year we’re not keen to relive in many ways but there was also so much we achieved and are proud of.  Just before we closed the virtual office for the Christmas break we asked members of the team, our Advisory Group and our Board to help us reflect upon the year that was and over the coming days we’re going to be sharing those with you here.

Whatever 2021 has in store for us all, we know that we’re going to get through it and so from all of us at Boundless here’s to everything we can achieve together.

#BigBoundlessEnergy

Fin is one of our Advisory Group members and was part of the team that created U R Not Alone our first #BoundlessHappening

There will never again be a year like 2020, thank god! If the global pandemic thing wasn’t in itself enough to tip your sense of sanity and hope over the edge, allow me to point to our societal failings around race, the economic recession ominously approaching and the long-term mental health scars that we will bear for years to come.

I was one of the original members of the Boundless Advisory Group and so I am extremely passionate about the work the company is doing to represent 16-25 year olds. However, I also know that since moving away from London, it has generally been more difficult to engage directly with the work that the company does. That all changed on March 19th when Rob suggested that we meet on Zoom and I was initially confused as to exactly what Zoom was. Since then, everything has been a bit of a blur, we met at 3 pm on Monday almost every week since and the connection I have with my fellow group members strengthened so much. I got to learn about everybody else’s skills and practice, I got to have something to look forward to during a period of my life that felt so empty and miserable, I got the chance to be inspired again both by Rob and the rest of the Boundless Team who have taught me new things every week.

Then we did some things that were utterly unthinkable. We separated out a Boundless Advisory Group fund and did exciting things with it to expand and develop our individual practices. We built a strategy for the group that highlighted participation as a commitment to be taken seriously. We even managed to develop a Boundless digital online happening (well, us helping group member Cherry Eckel).

As I write this on December 12th 2020, I have no idea whatsoever what 2021 will bring. Rather than a resolution, I tend to give each year a theme in advance of the year starting. 2020 was the year of growing roots (a theme that came true but not in the way I expected). 2021 will be the year of spreading wings, soaring to the highest heights and not being afraid to look down. After the binfire that has been this year, I am not scared of anything anymore because all my wildest fears came true this year. In the face of the darkness though, team Boundless have been there and they’ve helped me believe and get me back on my feet and live to fight another day. I don’t know what 2021 will bring, but I know that the sky is the limit for us at our stage of connectivity, our hunger to be part of something bigger than ourselves and a team dynamic we accidentally stumbled upon but that I now couldn’t imagine living without. There will never again be a year like 2020, thank god! Because even if we don’t realise it now, 2020 was the year that saved us all.

Fin sent in this very 2020 picture from a deserted Edinburgh Airport

There are lots of amazing people who make Boundless, including the team, our Advisory Group of 15-25 year olds and our board of trustees.  You can find out more about them here and get in touch by dropping an email to hello@boundlesstheatre.org.uk

We know that Covid-19 is presenting a great number of challenges to young adults and we’re here for you.  Through our work, creative initiatives or just as a supportive space to listen we want to hear how we can better serve you.  Now isn’t a time for standing on ceremony and we’re going to be rolling out more ways to connect with our community through 2021.

Read 2020: The Year That Was by Natalie Chan