An exercise to begin the Arts Award

In our last session Vicki introduced the forum group to an exercise she uses regularly with groups of all sizes, ages and abilities. Its great at identifying skills and areas of interest that the participants have. It is also is a way of identifying an individuals arts challenge that can be used in Bronze and Silver and other levels. When coming to evaluation it is a point to look back on a develop progress. The best thing about it is that its fun!


Materials needed: Something to draw with, Paper

1) Ask the group to draw around both their hands on one side of paper. If they have large hands they can overlap!

2) In one of the hands ask the group to write/ doodle/ draw positive things about them selves e.g. skills, their personality, what they enjoy. This can sometimes be an exercise within itself as some groups find it very hard to say positive things. You can suggest things to encourage them by telling them your own or ask the to ask someone else in the group to give them a positive point they've noticed about the person. Aim for a minimum of 5 things and 3 of those to be arts related.

3) In the other hand we create wishes for ourselves. Try to not call this a 'negative' or 'bad' hand. Changing the language to 'I would like to be a better listener' is more proactive than 'I am rubbish at listening'. Again make sure some of these are arts related.

4) The final stage is to discuss your 'hands' and find challenges. How this is done depends on the group; some groups may be willing to share with everyone, others may want to work with a partner or you on a one to one basis. The idea is to identify a goal or challenge for the individual that they feel comfortable about. This may jump out of the I wish hand, or it may be a combination of using skills they are already good at to achieve something new. For example many of our participants are great at drama but want to take it further by writing a script or directing. Others have combined feeling comfortable in the group with a new skill such as photography and photographed the group rehearsing and performing.

Enjoy the exercise and don't forget to revisit the hands when evaluating and reflecting!

GOLD TRAINING - An exclusive offer for Kent's Arts Award Advisers

Wide Eyed Theatre are delighted to invite you to train with us in Gold Arts Award at Gulbenkian in November. For a discounted fee of £75 you can attend the twilight session and up your Arts Award Offer. This is open to all advisers in Kent. For more info please contact vicki@wide-eyed-theatre.co.uk.

Gallery oppurtunity from an Arts Award Supporter

 
For anyone looking for an opportunity for young people to engage directly with with artist and gallery there is a a private exhibition viewing in Ramsgate next Thursday for young people. There's a chance to talk to the artist and meet the gallery director to know more about galleries. its a really good opportunity for anyone doing arts award or studying arts subjects. Click the link below to find out more.

http://artsawardvoice.com/magazine/events/inside-art-gallery

Artsbox, Objects, Stories and Puppets

In March we had two forums so we also welcomed Peter Morton, from Knuckle and Joint Theatre, to the second session with his great Puppetry workshop. Peter demonstrated some fun and interesting tasks on how to transform an ordinary object into something creative and imaginative.

Rose, from Artwork, provided everyone with fliers and leaflets and a look into the new 'ArtsBox' concept. ArtsBox is an online dropbox service whereby you can link and collate any photos, videos or imagery to portfolio's, viewed by a Moderator.

Please see our earlier post on signing up to Artsbox here

Peter lead the creative activity...

Using Objects:

1. Pass around an object, eg; an umbrella, a book, a shoe
2. Each person had to respond with "This is not a ...","It is a ..." In which people were invited to think creatively of a different object instead, i.e; "This is not a shoe, this is a ship, sailing in the sea".
3. Change the object for new ideas.
4. Pass around again without repeating and of the previous objects already mentioned.

Secondly, Peter split the group in two to create our very own puppets, simply out of a mug and a dish cloth. The key was to:

1. Accentuate the body stance with detail to movement and breathing.
2. To establish a point of focus on the puppet from the puppeteer/puppeteers. This enables the audience to focus on the puppet.
3. Add an objective; a daily routine for the puppet to move to i.e. getting out of bed, getting dressed, etc.
4. Change the object and do the same.

The outcome of the sessions were great and we look forward to welcoming everyone to the future Forum sessions.

Arts Award Advisers Forum: 26 March 2014

How to become a Supporter

The last Arts Award Forum welcomed Rose Kigwana who is the Programme Manager for Arts Award. Rose covers the South East and is connected with the Arts and Cultural sector. She helped to explain how to become a Supporter with a step-by-step guide. During the session, Rose went into fine detail about what it meant to be an Arts Supporter, with all the additional information of what it entails.

The best place to start is here with this short guide.

So what are the pros of being a supporter? If you are an arts venue or heritage organisation you can attract more visitors by displaying the supporter logo on events which are suitable for Arts Award participants alongside talks with experts and artists, exhibitions and more. By offering discounts and incentives to groups you can join the Arts Award Supporter map to promote your centre to schools and groups undertaking the award in your area.

The activity comprised of the group splitting in two; each group were asked to discuss and plan a hypothetical situation, e.g, how one School or Youth group can be a Supporter to others; where they would start, and what the plan of action would be. The two groups were then asked to report back to each other to share ideas.

The Gift of Gold

Our last forum welcomed artist, musician and facilitator Peter Cook. Peter lead a thought provoking session stimulated by GOLD! We listened to music, viewed pictures and played games before launching into the main activity.






I always find other people's games really interesting and have 'borrowed' 3 of Peter's already.









One great game for warming up was 'Pass the Clap':

Group size: 5 or more players Group age: 5 up (may need to be adapted)

1) Ask the group to stand in a circle
2) Start off a clap that gets passed around the circle from player to player, you can slowly build up speed. Make sure it is passed consecutively and no one claps too soon!
3) Introduce the two clap rule. If someone claps twice on their go the clap gets sent the other way around the circle (Peter advised us to only let each person use this once or it tends to get stuck).
4) If the group get the hang of it introduce the 3 clap rule. If a player claps 3 times on their go the clap skips the person next to then and jumps to the next player!

A great simple and fast paced focus game.



We continued the session exploring poetry and comparing our feelings on Gold to the actual award.



We really got into discussing how gold is a precious gift, showing maximum effort and dedication. It is also a gift that is passed on the next person. This is exactly one of the aims of the Arts Award, in creating young creative leaders to pass on their gifts to the next generation.



We discussed how the progression of Bronze, Silver and Gold could be used in this way to pass on experiences between groups. If you were running them simultaneously, in schools for example, you could have the groups delivering to eachother i.e. the taking part of bronze could be a project run by silver or gold particiapants.

 

Thanks to Peter's diversity as an artist and facilitator, we were easily able to grasp sing cross art forms from poetry, to drama to music. This really relates to the challenge set in Gold Award in participants finding  new art form or challenging their existing one.

What is the value of Gold?

February's Arts Award Forum

Wednesday 26th February
5-7pm
@ The Gulbenkian

Join us for an evening of creativity, inspiration and Gold!

On Wednesday 26^th February, Wide Eyed Theatre will be joined by the talented Peter Cook who will be leading a fascinating workshop on the value of gold. Come along and explore the representation of gold using music, poetry, drama and colour!

Book your place today through the Gulbenkian's website. You can join in the fun!

We will also be joined by Leanne Macdonald, Artswork, who will be showing participants how to use the new Artsbox to get their Arts Award evidence together.

This is February’s Arts Award Forum and it is open to one and all. Not only will you have the opportunity to experience an inspiring workshop, but there will also be the chance to share ideas with other Arts Award Advisers, including our resident Advisers, Vicki and Emma of Wide Eyed Theatre.

Do you have questions about the Arts Award?
Do you want to learn some creative skills?
Do you want to be inspired?

The value of gold materialises when it changes hands, and that is what the Arts Award is about: Passing on something valuable.

And bring a friend! Thanks to our brilliant location in the Gulbenkian, there is room for all. Free to attend, but please book in advance so we can supply materials for everyone.

Come and create with us.
Come and learn with us.

Best wishes,
Wide Eyed Theatre