[Photo credit: Ellen Rostant]

Café Art – an organisation that connects homeless people with the wider community through art – turned to Kickstarter to raise £4,500 towards the £10,000 it will cost to print 5,000 calendars.

The campaign has raised more than £10,000 from over 500 backers – surprising organisers, with weeks to go before the fundraising deadline.

Café Art director Paul Ryan said media worldwide contacted organisers after AP ran an article about the campaign last week.

The Café Art 2016 My London calendar project has so far won interest from as far afield as the USA, Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand and Canada.

In July, 100 people affected by homelessness were handed Fujifilm single-use cameras and tasked to document what London means to them for a competition. The best images, plucked from more than 2,500 entries, are due to be published in the Café Art 2016 My London calendar.

The photos were shortlisted by a panel that included representatives of Fujifilm, The London Photo Festival, Christie’s and Amateur Photographer. The public then voted for their favourite images, 12 of which will be published in the 2016 calendar.

An exhibition of the best photos is due to take place at Spitalfields Arts Market in east London from 12-18 October.