Zara Veerapen-Padayachy

Team Administrator

What's your role at 64 Million Artists and what do you love most about it?

I am Team Administrator at 64 Million Artists. What I love most about it is that I’m part of a team that is kind, generous, supportive and open-minded - the best kind of people to spend your working hours with!

How has creativity positively changed your life or the lives of those around you?

I have always found creativity to be super therapeutic. Whether it’s doodling away, scrapbooking or writing - creativity has allowed me to process my emotions. Heavy music has liberated me many a time from feelings of inner heaviness!

What is your superpower?

My superpower is bringing order to chaos. I am able to gather things up and make them make sense. Admittedly it’s not my favourite thing to do - but it does make other people’s lives easier so I’m grateful for it in that respect 🙂

‹ Back to our team

64millionartists

We are ALL creative 💥
We catalyse creativity across the UK through work in health, education, culture and with you.

To celebrate the launch of our Impact Report of #T

Thank you to #64MillionArtists two newest team mem

Earlier this year, we celebrated the 10 year anniv

Aksa Saghir, 64 Million Artists Programmes Adminis

👤 #TheWeeklyChallenge with William Warrener, He

This week we’re handing over to our next newest

👥 This May, we’re introducing you to two new

This month we’ve shared stories and connected wi

Maybe the table needs someone to lean on too? 🥁

🧺#TheWeeklyChallenge with @consettacademyarts 🧺
Consett Academy is a secondary school in Consett, County Durham in the North East of England. As well as a broad and creative curriculum, students have the opportunity to take part in lots of exciting arts-based activities beyond. They are currently journeying and exploring their way through Arts Mark with their student Arts Ambassadors. #ArtsMark is a creative quality standard for schools and education settings, accredited by @acegrams.
🍽 Their Arts Ambassadors have been creating their own recipe books around the theme of food, family and community. To share their experiences with other students, the Ambassadors held a ‘Poetry Picnic’ around World Book Day, exploring how writers use food in their poetry, as well as the language used to describe food. As part of the 'Poetry Picnic', students made 'Picnic Portraits' using the contents of their school (packed) lunches. Let’s give it a go ourselves!
🌟Consett Academy Arts also took part in The January Challenge earlier this year.
“We still feel the pang of COVID and it's a vivid reminder of the importance of the arts when balancing the rest of our lives with our personal wellbeing. It's all too easy to let the arts slip away out of day-to-day life, so taking part in the challenge kept the momentum going and took us to unimagined destinations!”

✨ #TheWeeklyChallenge with @riannapatterson_ 📖
👤 Rianna Patterson founded the Dominica Dementia Foundation at 18, in memory of her grandfather who passed away with Dementia in Dominica.
The Dominica Dementia Foundation is a youth-led dementia charity that supports families and care homes affected by dementia. Rianna received the Queen’s Young Leader award in June 2017 for her commitments to Dementia advocacy. Rianna is also an artist, illustrator and the film director of Dementia: The Island Journey, a documentary film on dementia in the Caribbean.
Here Rianna shares the inspiration behind this week's challenge…
“It is important to preserve intergenerational stories.
I made a couple new friends a few weeks ago in the waiting room of a train station as we were experiencing a delay with the train. A physiatrist, music artist, massage therapist, teacher (who is also an artist) and charity founder all in the same room, all of different ages. The conversations we had were so extraordinary that we decided to keep in touch. We met again and the energy was still the same and it inspired this challenge as I think it is important that we create something beautiful from the experiences we have, especially things that we learn from the older generation.
The rich history of someone's life needs to be preserved in some way, whether it is a poem, a short story or simply filming them (with their consent). We all have a story worth telling.”
—
🇩🇲 Pictured are members and supporters of the Dominica Dementia Foundation standing side by side against a mural wall after hosting an Island Tour, they hold up the Dominica flag. Rianna is pictured centre, holding the flag.

✏️ #TheWeeklyChallenge with @robbieswale ✏️
Here Robbie tells us more about his 12 minute method of writing and invites you to try it yourself this week!
Share your challenge responses with #64MillionArtists #TheWeeklyChallenge
Robbie uses this method to help his writing process for his books - one of which is ‘How to Start When You're Stuck’ written to help people get their ideas off the ground, it’s free on Kindle until 4th April. Visit https://buff.ly/3zk5E7i to get your copy.

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A list of thank yous

Thank you. This year was incredible for The January Challenge, and we couldn’t have done it without our fantastic community (that’s YOU!) Here are some thank you’s below to everyone from funding support to collaborators and beyond. • Arts Council England • Arts Council Wales • Esmee Fairbairn Co-creation groups/ collaborators: • WAHWN (Wales Arts…

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Share your story

Over the years, people have told us that The January Challenge has had a domino effect and inspires conversations and unique little moments in their lives. Now and then, an email pops into our inbox from someone saying just how much The January Challenge means to them. Which, as you can imagine, means…

How creativity helped me overcome perfectionism

How creativity helped me overcome perfectionism Ten years ago, my life changed unexpectedly. I was working in a place I loved, with people I thought highly of, making great things happen. But I felt flat. My body knew something was up faster than I could work out what it was. I began experiencing…

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