PFP’s Big Heart at the V&A

Image: Music Facilitator Simon plays a drum and a Young Leader holds the Big Heart in the V&A courtyard, June 2025 (photo © V&A)

On the 21 June, Play for Progress team and young people once again headed to the V&A for our workshops in the beautiful courtyard garden of the museum.

This event was part of the Refugee Week celebrations and PFP staff and young people joined together to showcase our charity's collaborative artistic spirit in sessions combining music, art and poetry. 

A special part of this performance was a Big Heart the young people made in sessions guided by our brilliant dramatherapists Theo, Nina and Myriam. 

The central creative idea developed by the young people was heartbreak, represented in a heart puzzle in 4 pieces, that is joined back together through the 4 themes they connected to Play for Progress: Sharing, Caring, Love, and Community & Communication. These were represented in different languages and with different figures.

Theo, PFP's Head of Therapeutic Practice said:

““Young people showed really high levels of creativity, trust in the process and excellent ability to collaborate. I could see the excitement in their faces and animated sharing of ideas, and their anticipation of the next step. It was moving to see the young people’s trust in the group and their creativity, and also their respectful consideration of each other’s ideas.

It was also wonderful to witness their sense of pride over the finished artistic work. Many young people in different moments pointed at different figures on the heart and told us -or other PfP people- “this is me” or “I drew this”.

And, of course, it was humbling to hear the words that young people associated with their experience at PfP: caring, sharing, love, community, and communication.””

We look forward to returning to the museum as part of Refugee Week next year. And keep an eye out for an opportunity to see the Big Heart in person next year, potentially at an exhibition - more info coming soon….