Transcript Arts Explorers in Kirklees

Arts Explorers in Kirklees
An exploration of the cultural ecology of
a single neighbourhood
Birkby lies just outside the centre of
Huddersfield in Kirklees.
It houses a long established Asian heritage
community, newly arrived Eastern Europeans,
a white working class community, some
families of African-Caribbean heritage as well
as students and university staff.
The programme was managed by CapeUK in
partnership with Kirklees Council.
The process
• An audit of what was
already happening and
how people felt about arts
and culture was conducted
as a series of conversations
with people who live and
work in the area.
• The design and facilitation
of a programme of
activities was shaped by
what we learnt and the
people we met.
Enquiry:
Can families’ uptake
of arts/cultural
activity be increased
by providing low risk
‘first steps’ at natural
meetings places
within the
community, such as
shops, playgroups and
the health centre?
The audit showed that it
was the primary schools
and the Sure Start
Children’s Centre that
were the trusted and
neutral venues in this
particular
neighbourhood.
The most effective way to reach the families who wouldn’t
normally engage with arts and cultural activity, possibly the
only way in the time available, was through the link teachers
and family liaison workers who were supporting them in other
ways.
First step: sessions in 3 schools
•Weekly sessions for half a term
•Schools invited the families –a
mix of those already involved in
family learning and those the
schools wanted to draw in.
•Parents attended for one hour
before the end of the school day
and were then joined by their
children. This encouraged
parents to work at their own skills
level in a shared creative activity
with their children, rather than
taking a support role.
There were 65 participants in the
3 school based programmes
First step: sessions at the Children’s
Centre
•Activities were provided within a
regular drop- in session where
parents came to have children
weighed and see a Health Visitor.
•A high proportion of the adults had
limited skills in speaking English
•A skilled arts practitioner succeeded
in building trust by initially introducing
clay to the adults while supporting the
children’s play in subtle but creative
ways. The work with adults and
children gradually merged; in the final
session families played together with
light and shadows.
There were 75 participants in the
Children’s Centre sessions
Second step :
‘Come and decorate the Birkby palace’
Sessions were held on two occasions over
half term at the local community centre .
These were advertised through the schools,
Children’s Centre, library and in local shops.
The same artists who had led the
school/children’s centre sessions were
involved and this continuity proved important.
Each artist facilitated a different activity and
the artefacts created were used to ‘decorate
the Birkby palace’. Activities that
encouraged a free exploration of materials
tended to be most popular. However, there
was also a good response to more structured
activities such a block printing.
87 participants (23 adults and 64 children)
attended the first session and 47 (12 adults
and 35 children attended the second)
“I can’t get them out – we haven’t even had
anything to eat and it’s 2.30 pm. They’re
having such a good time.” Parent with 3 of her
own children and 3 she was looking after for
the day.
“We’ve really enjoyed this. There isn’t usually
anything like this to do in Birkby.”
“My mummy made this….it’s brilliant…let’s
hang it just there.” Child 6 years
“What a shame it has to be taken down- the
palace is beautiful.”
Later in the programme a third
session was held in the
community centre.
The entire space was
transformed with areas for large
scale weaving, model making
and shadow play. These
activities were more
adventurous than those of the
earlier sessions and it was
noticeable that families who had
‘come on a journey with us’
participated more confidently
than some of those attending for
the first time.
115 people attended the
session - 82 children and 33
adults.
“This was a very creative, exciting
day – not only for the children but
also the mothers. I wish there was
a lot more activities like this. I
really enjoyed this. Excellent.”
“It was lovely, fantastic. We would
like more sessions like these
around our area. Kids lived it very
much and made octopuses and
spiders.”
“We all had a great time. We
loved the OHP, it was a fantastic
way for people to make their
creations come alive. Thank you.”
Step 3: The Art Gallery
Birkby Arts Explorers transformed a
large gallery space on a Saturday in
June. Photographs and art work from
the school and Children ‘s Centre were
also displayed. The session was
publicised through the schools and in
shops etc in Birkby.
Very few participating families had
previously visited the gallery, even
though they were familiar with the
library in the same building.
A range of activities allowed
participants to work on a large or a
small scale, to do something quickly or
to take more time and care.
There was a mix of family members older siblings and quite a few
grandparents- and more fathers than
at some other events. 75 people
attended- 28 adults and 47 children.
I offered a cardboard box house
building workshop. Using large
plain cardboard boxes that
participants could customise
and create with, design and
decorate, all within a format and
structure that offered both large
visible results and detailed
working opportunities. The
youngest participants loved
playing inside them, whilst the
older ones could create their
own spaces, add their own
features and develop their
construction skills. This activity
worked very well to engage with
parents and children together.
Chris Squire, artist.
Holden
Liadin Cooke
2010
The schools and Children’s Centre sessions took the theme of ‘Places and Spaces’ - how
we personalise the places that we inhabit. The theme anticipating the session at
Huddersfield Art Gallery which took place during an exhibition by one of the artists
involved in Birkby Arts Explorers , Liadin Cooke.
This theme did successfully connect the first step sessions and the activities available to
families in the gallery. However, on the day itself, no connection was made with the
arts works on display. This was a missed opportunity.
“Lots of fun and lots of
variety. My son liked making
a table for the big house and
making a small house and
having his hand painted
and… and… and… “
“ Good level of support. Not
too ‘arty’, very practical.”
“It was brilliant. I made a
small red house with some
prints. I enjoyed this day.
Thank you.”
“Superb family fun. We all
loved it!”
Final step: The Theatre
Two performances by a puppet theatre company were arranged
at the Lawrence Batley Theatre near the centre of Huddersfield.
The tickets, for which no charge was made, were distributed
through the 3 schools and the Children Centre. Priority was given
to families that had attended other events
160 tickets were ‘signed for’ but , on the day, quite a few families
did not attend. The make up of the family groups differed from
that at the other events , with more instances of two adults
attending (two parents or one parent and a grandparent or much
older sibling).
Only one family had visited the theatre before as a family
group, but several children had been to see a play with
their school. One father commented that he had lived in
Huddersfield all his life but hadn’t know the theatre existed.
The response to the performances was very positive; the
children were clearly engaged and keen to look more closely
at the puppets at the end of the show. Parents talked
about how much their children had enjoyed it and some
said that they would come again. A few older children
showed an interest in the drama club at the theatre.
96 people attended the performances.
Main findings
There was a high level of uptake of the four ‘first steps’ courses
of activity – a total of 154 individuals from 69 families. The
programme as a whole attracted 462 individuals from 160 families.
The composition of the families was very varied. Of the who
participated, 74 were family members other than parents - for
example grand parents, aunts and uncles and older siblings.
Families attending more than one event often did so in different
configurations on each occasion.
Five families attended almost every Arts Explorers events. They
did not know each other at the start of the programme but had
become familiar by the end. As a direct result of her involvement,
one mother applied to the local F.E. College to do an art course.
Main Findings continued
A higher percentage of the families who had participated in the first steps
sessions attended the art gallery event than the community centre events,
despite the latter venue being within the neighbourhood . Artwork created by
families during those first step sessions was displayed in the gallery and perhaps
this suggests that a personal connection was more of a pull than physical
proximity. This links with a more anecdotal finding that familiar faces – knowing
who would be at an event - were as important as familiar places.
During the interviews conducted with participants and the more informal
conversations that took place at events, many parents reported that they
wouldn’t know where to find out about cultural events in Huddersfield.
However, 17 families from the Birkby neighhourhoood who had not been
involved in the first steps sessions attended the event at the art gallery. They had
found out about it through the schools/children’s centre and by word of mouth.
This suggests that there are alternative publicity channels for cultural events that
could reach into a community such as Birkby.
Other learning
Arts Explorers in Birkby also set out to explore whether interaction
between families from different cultural groups could be encouraged
through arts activities. Although there was contact and conversation,
the emphasis placed on interaction within families probably reduced
the interaction between families. However, at the art gallery event, a
teenager attending with his family was asked what he thought of the
day. His immediate response was that it was good because it had
brought the community together and they were meeting new people.
‘Digital Arts Explorers’ – a mechanism for enabling families to
record images and comments on their cultural experiences was set up
on the Kirklees Virtual Learning Platform. Although there was an
initial positive response, this did wane. It was evident that such a
mechanism for recording and reflecting would need to be strongly
embedded throughout a programme in order to succeed.
Other learning continued
The programme set out to provide contexts in which families worked
together but at their own skills levels – an approach taken from family learning
provision within the adult and community education sector. The artists’
experience of working with adults and children together was critical to the
success of this approach. We found that many small factors influenced the role
that the adults took in relation to their children. For example, the families to
arrive first at the art gallery session were those who’d been to previous events.
They automatically started ‘making and doing’ alongside their children and
other adults arriving took their cues from this. At that event we had no
observers – only participants. In contrast, at one of the community centre
sessions, spare chairs that were usually packed away were left in a line along a
wall. Several adults sat down, keeping an eye on their children but not
participating. In addition, we modified our idea that ‘shared endeavour; own
skills level’ was the best approach, as we observed families moved fluidly
between this mode, parents supporting children and children supporting
parents.
The legacy
 CapeUK is in the process of applying for
funding to undertake a second phase of
activity in Birkby and to adapt the approach
for a community on the outskirts of Preston,
Lancashire.
 The experience of Arts Explorers is informing
CapeUK’s work on family learning in Yorkshire
and the North West.