PURFLEET-based arts organisation Kinetika has been very busy working to develop online projects in response to Covid-19 and the lockdown.

It has rescheduled Thurrock's annual T100 Walking Festival will happen later in the year but for now everyone can get creative by joining Kinetika's project for May; making mandalas which will feed into the design and ideas for the festival.

Mandalas in Hinduism and Buddhism are artworks of various designs symbolizing the universe. In T100 2020, Kinetika aims to use them to bring communities together; to reflect on the issues they face and look for potential solutions whilst making beautiful pieces of art together from locally sourced materials.

The purpose of designing a mandala is to meditate on the challenges faced now, to raise awareness, and inspire people to think about alternative futures, possibilities and the potential for change.

Kinetika's artists have designed a mandala pack which can be downloaded from the T100 website. The pack aims to inspire people to think about the future using a series of creative ideas that will help them imagine solutions and feed into the design of the mandalas that will be created during the festival.

May Mandalas launches online today (Monday, 4t May and culminates in an interactive finale week with daily activities encouraging participants to share online beginning 25 May, which is half term.

During the finale week, each day will focus on a specific aspect of the overall theme - inviting participants to make mini mandalas whilst reflecting on issues we face today and our connection to the environment. How can we change our behaviour and make a difference. Collecting items from around the home, from the garden or from a daily walk, everyone can make a mandala. The themes are:

Mon 25 Tide Turning - collect pebbles or shells on a daily walk, and create a mandala from natural materials.

Weds 27 - Make do and Mend – have a spring clean and get creative with ceramics, glass or other neglected items.

Fri 29 - Renewal – make a mandala to create a natural habitat in a garden, on a balcony or window box.

Sun 31 - Imagination Our Nation – How can we creatively imagine our future?

Show Kinetika what matters to you and help Kinetika to think about what other materials it could use for mandalas by creating one using things around the home such as clothes, old magazines, food packets.

Kinetika's annual T100 Walking Festival will now take place in September. This year a series of mandalas will be created at locations along the walk routes as a response to the theme of the festival which is T100 Calling – asking participants to creatively reimagine their futures . In preparation for the festival, the launch of T100 Calling has moved online with a mini project everyone can get involved with at home: May Mandalas.

Katie Beadle, T100 manager said 'This new online programme of activities and events will prepare us for the walking festival rescheduled for 12th – 27th of September. It is an opportunity to be Inspired, to Reflect, to Make and Do.

"Participants can use it as a tool to think about their own values and the action they can take within their local community. The May Mandalas will become a springboard for reflections and promises to act - moving us from individual to community; from personal to environmental.'

The mandalas will be displayed in a gallery on the T100 website and shared online in a special facebook group. To find out more, download the pack and get started designing, click here.