Mask Up Initiative
An initiative to encourage mask wearing; to promote mask wearing and to help communicate messages of health and safety, and reduce the spread of Covid-19
Making Face Coverings Fun
Markmark have been developing strategies to encourage wearing face coverings in public spaces. Throughout lockdown we have been working with Arts Fresco and Darlington Borough Council to make masks more manageable. We use characters and comedy we bring the message alive.
We found in Darlington that the community engaged with the humour which seemed to counteract the negativity surrounding ppe. If you make masks funny and fun then people engage with them more and they become less alien. So from something rooted in performance ‘Mask Up!’ has developed into a strategy that helps local authorities deliver advice on well being and safety.
Local authorities, BIDS, councils and organisations can use ‘Mask Up!’ to encourage the use of face coverings in public spaces. They can work with us to distribute masks; to offer information and to connect with the public in a fun and engaging way.
Creative Comedy
Markmark Productions is a company specialising in outdoor arts and we have been working towards providing activities that not only entertain but also inform and educate the public. Called ‘Mask Up!’ the initiative aims to work with local high street officers, council events teams and BID officers to promote masks and safety in public spaces. Humour can do this in an engaging but non-threatening manner.
Comedy also has beneficial effects on physical and mental well-being. Laughter draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. It is known to strengthen the immune system, boost mood, reduce pain and protect the body from the damaging effects of stress.
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“Markmark’s ‘Mask Up!’ characters are the ideal solution to animating the town centre in a socially distanced way. Merriment in masks!”
Darlington Borough Council Events Team
The New Normal
Rubbing alcohol sanitiser on our hands, navigating around one-way systems and chatting to shop staff who stand behind clear plastic screens is the “new normal” on high streets the length and breadth of the country. Mask wearing is more common too since the World Health Organisation (WHO) published it’s advice: –
The general public should be encouraged to wear masks where there is widespread transmission and physical distancing is difficult, such as on public transport, in shops or in other confined or crowded environments.
Whilst necessary these measures affect the social fabric of our communities and make high streets feel very alien to some. Our high streets are not the ghost towns they were at the start of the lockdown but neither are they the places we knew before the virus hit. Life is trickling back to town centres, slowly, but people need to feel that they are safe and also they need help to understand the need for the restrictions and encouragement to adopt them.
The Covid-19 pandemic isn’t just a physical health issue; it’s a mental health issue too. The main psychological impact initially was a rise in rates of stress and anxiety but the imposition of quarantining, shielding and self-isolation has seen many more reports of loneliness and depression. Getting out and about and making social contact with others within the context of our daily routine is vital to restoring mental well being and having the right guidance to facilitate that is key.
Markmark started developing ‘Mask Up!’ earlier this summer when it became clear that we were going to be living with Covid-19 for some time to come. A fast moving pandemic with the subsequent need for rapid changes in government advice has inevitably led to some confusion about restrictions. ‘Mask Up!’ has been developed in collaboration with Arts Fresco and Darlington Council to address these complex demands and provide reassurance for the general public as they try to get back to their normal routines. We have all been delighted with the outcomes.
Distanced Walkabouts
Los Skankos
Waiters You Want To stay Clear Of.
These hilarious waiters sing and promenade around the streets with their marvellous but moldy menu.
Los Skankos A family of musical Mediterranean waiters scour your festival for customers for their putrid pizzas and polluted pasta whilst serenading the crowds with their stunning songs from Sorrento.
Edmund & Hilary
Exploring humour in post Covid environment.
Dressed in tropical kit and pith helmets these two ‘Gentlemen Explorers’ are here to amuse and bemuse the indigenous population. Upper lips have never been stiffer!
Chefs de Chansons
Baking bliss and grilling glee. These happy singing chefs are here with sizzling smiles to bring some happiness back to the streets.
From the country that brought you baguettes, berets and brie we present these patriotic, partisan pastry-chefs. This team of patriotic partisan pastry-chefs from Paris are our recommendations for food and drink fayres, cabarets of cuisine and gastronomic galas.
‘Le jour de gloire est arrive!’
HMS Punnafore
This show is aimed at bringing laughter and song back to public spaces.
‘HMS Punafore’ This Victorian Masterpiece has been beautifully butchered
and blatantly blended and is now a prancing, promenading, maritime, musical comedy. The boat and its crew are trying to perform Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore but it doesn’t quite go according to plan. A seafaring spectacle that sings and dances its way around town centres, streets and festivals. A case of high Cs on the high seas!
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