Yesterday I met my new mentee through Arts Emergency. I’m excited to be mentoring her across the next year especially as we have a shared passion. I’ve also recently been matched with a new mentee with UAL for the next six months. In addition, for the first time in a long time, I currently have a mentor myself via the Group for Education (GEM), and I have just started setting up a pilot mentoring programme internally at Tate with Creative Society as a partner. So this week the theme is definitely mentoring!
GEM Training Session, Young People – Career Opportunities and Progression Routes into the Sector
I am running this event for the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) on Wednesday 3 March - advertised as follows:
“This past year has been particularly difficult for young people with both COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter affecting mental health and well-being, along with the unpredictability of future study and employment opportunities.
Consultant for Arts Education and Evaluation Rachel Moss will use her experience in setting up paid traineeships, evaluating young people’s programmes, and as a mentor for young people, along with her What Next? Research report for Tate’s Routes In Programme, as a springboard into looking at how we can support young people into the sector workforce.
This 2-hour course will include: What do we mean by young people? What careers support is already on offer for young people? What is enabling change? What steps do the sector need to take to address the gaps? The session will be delivered via interactive presentation and discussion along with time to create actions for you to take away and implement in your own organisations.”
Take a look at the event details & book a place here
Clay Station Traineeship 2017, Art on the Underground in collaboration with A New Direction and Create Jobs. Photos: Benedict Johnson, 2017
Reflecting on 2020 & heading into 2021
For myself (like most people) 2020 has been a difficult year. Museums and galleries (like many other industries) have been hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdowns with venues closing, opening, and closing again a number of times. As a freelancer I am not attached to one organisation so have not been involved in the difficult planning for safe visiting of audiences inside buildings. However, I have needed to adapt with clients disappearing, work being postponed and engagement work moving online. I am proud that I have been able to continue working from home alongside home schooling and other family difficulties. I completed the research for Tate’s Routes in Programme, mentored a young person remotely, evaluated a number of online programmes and also ran online training for a few new clients.
Moving into 2021 being in tier 4 will be difficult and with COVID-19 numbers rising. However with vaccines beginning to be rolled out I am hopeful for myself and the sector moving forward, providing there is government support. I will be continuing to work with Freelands Foundation, The Photographers’ Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery and Art on the Underground, as well as mentoring again with UAL and for the first time Arts Emergency. In addition I’ve been approached to run a training session on young people’s career opportunities and progression routes into the sector for the Group for Education in Museums (GEM). This is the area of work I am particularly passionate about and follows on from my research for Tate.
After the unpredictability of last year who knows what will happen in 2021 but I do hope that everyone in our sector can take the opportunity to look after themselves because well-being, as well as funding, will be key for our resilience moving forward.
Mentoring for Arts Emergency & Being Mentored via GEM
Back in October I attended mentor training with Arts Emergency. Earlier this week I found out that I have been matched with a mentee and I am excited that I will be meeting them online in the New Year; maybe even in person as the year progresses! For more information about Arts Emergency take a look here.
Next year I will also be a mentee having signed up to the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) Mentoring Programme. I see mentoring as a two way process and learn a lot as a mentor, but having freelanced now for the past 5 years it feels like a good time to reflect upon my own practice. For details about the programme check here
Fair Museum Jobs Careers Summit
This week I’ve sat on a panel at two Zoom sessions as part of the Fair Museum Jobs Careers Summit. If you haven’t heard of Fair Museum Jobs (FMJ) take a look here.
“Fair Museum Jobs is a grass roots, collective movement. Our objective is to establish a better standard (‘The Manifesto’) for museum job recruitment based on these principles of fairness, transparency, equity and inclusivity. We believe recruitment based on these principles is fundamental to creating a museum sector that is resilient, relevant and representative of all society.”
The FMJ team is made up of six individuals working in the sector and this week they have been joined by lots of speakers for an amazingly wide range of sessions for their Fair Museum Jobs Careers Summit.
I have been excited to join two of the panel discussions as a speaker - firstly on Making your application processes fairer & more accessible, and secondly What’s it like to work in museum learning? I am also attending two of the sessions to listen to the speakers - one on Unions in the heritage sector, and the other on Anti-racism in museum recruitment.
Most of the sessions will be available as recordings online at a future time so keep an eye open on their website #FMJSummit
Making your application processes fairer & more accessible panel Zoom discussions
Delivering Zoom workshops
Having been a participant or evaluator on many Zoom workshops it has been fun to do some delivery too. Last week I delivered a session for Tate at the Routes In Network meeting, presenting the key findings and recommendations from the summary report of my research, What Next? Supporting young people from under-represented backgrounds into creative careers at Tate and across the sector.
In addition, I facilitated a workshop for the Museum Futures trainees at the British Museum covering some of the topics in my Tate research and seeing which were most relevant to them. We also looked at what it’s like to be a freelancer, thinking about both the benefits and challenges.
I am really passionate about expanding the progression routes for under-represented young people into the sector so I was also pleased to recently attend a training session with Arts Emergency with the plan that I mentor a young person for them next year.
Summary Report for Routes In Young People’s Programme 2020
The final summary report that I wrote for the Tate Routes In Programme has now been shared with the Routes In Network members and is publicly available. This research was commissioned to foreground the next phase of the Routes In programme. It explores what careers support is already on offer to young people in the sector, what initiatives are enabling change, and where the gaps are. It is written for Tate, and for the Routes In Network, but some recommendations will apply or will be able to be adapted by other organisations depending on their resources. I will be presenting the research at a sharing session with the Routes In Network members in a few weeks time, with a chance for them to ask questions and to feed into the future plans for Routes In based on the recommendations from the report.
This report is now available to download from Tate’s research centre for learning website here
New clients & new Contracts
I am very pleased to be back - post COVID-19 lockdown - to evaluating the DEVELOP Programme for The Photographers’ Gallery, and the Voices that Matter Women’s community project for the Whitechapel Gallery. I am also excited to be working with Freelands Foundation again, finalising the plans for a forthcoming trainee role.
In addition I am working with the British Museum for the first time, running a Zoom session for their Museum Futures Trainees, focusing on routes into the sector and on becoming a freelancer.
Evaluating from Afar
It’s been an interesting experience moving my evaluation of participatory projects from face to face to online over the past month. For digital events I’ve been posting questions in the chat box, carrying out observations and using Zoom polls. In addition I’ve been trialling platforms like Padlet (for young people to share their experiences and to connect) and Mentimeter (for questioning, voting and generating word clouds with groups). As things move forward it will be interesting to see whether digital events stay popular, most likely as part of blended learning. I for one have been enjoying the ease of engaging from home, both as an educator/evaluator and as an audience member.
Summer Family Fun
This year rather than our usual month-long trip to France we did a two week camping trip to visit family around the UK along with day trips out from London. With vulnerable family members to consider, we have on the whole stayed outside with lots of walking, cycling, pony trekking and swimming in lakes, and even the sea! In addition we have embraced outdoor heritage by visiting National Trust and English Heritage properties, amongst other attractions, including:
Eltham Palace - a firm family favourite after the last visit when we were wowed by the Art Deco interiors of the Palace and the adult dressing up area. This time we visited before the building had reopened so we were able to explore the gardens which we didn’t have time for last time. English Heritage provided family trails, with noticeboards as a reminder along the way, which definitely added to our visit. My children and their friends also detoured off into the long meadow to spot grasshoppers, butterflies and other insects;
Osterley Park - another place we usually visit in summer as a half way point to meet friends and as we have never been in the house our visit was similar to last time. We took the play trail through the woods and had a great view of the House. Only the rope swings had been tied up and weren’t to be used this time;
Chiswick House and Gardens - again we just explored the gardens, not the house, with friends who live near there. We were impressed with the size of the gardens and the statues we spotted especially as this is accessible for free - a great resource for locals during lockdown;
Owl Sanctuary & various Farms - we camped on two different farms with the first also having an owl sanctuary, at Red Lion Farm in Haughton near Stafford. The staff kindly opened up early for us as we had to head off and we had a personal tour meeting owls with names like Frodo and Bilbo, and one called Molly that featured in a Harry Potter film! The farm animals varied from cows, horses, ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs, to alpaca and even Meerkats;
NorthBay Heritage Railway - in Scarborough we enjoyed taking the heritage trains from Scalby Mills to Peasholm Park with the chatty train driver filling us in on the history from when it opened in 1931. We also tried out the historic water chute at Northstead Manor Gardens - lots of fun but we got rather wet;
Scarborough castle - we loved the calm of the castle in comparison to the hectic South Beach below with it’s great views and headland space. As this was another English Heritage property we did the family trail again and even played a game which reminded me of What’s the Time Mr Wolf and Grandmother’s Footsteps from my childhood;
Cinder track - from Scarborough to Whitby there is a track that follows the route of the disused railway, that you can cycle or walk along and it is relatively flat. We cycled from Scalby to Hayburn Wyke where we stopped for lunch in the pub there before visiting the nearby waterfall and cove;
Sculptures along Scarborough beaches - there are a number of statues including ‘Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers' by artist Ray Lonsdale, based on a retired miner who turned out to also be one of the first soldiers to relieve the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of World War II. It represents all the normal people that were pulled out of an ordinary life and made to fight for their country;
Beverley Minster - sadly you can only look at the exterior of the Minster at present unless you attend a service. I was looking forward to finding my Great Uncle Lesley Gabbott’s name on a plaque inside as he fought for a local regiment in World War 1 but we will have to go back.
I would like to thank all of the staff for making our visits thoroughly enjoyable. I am sure that it has been difficult for each attraction to work out the best approach to be able to reopen post the COVID-19 lockdown. Booking in advance has been no problem and having limited numbers of people has actually made our visits more enjoyable. We are planning to return to visiting museums and galleries soon but having a summer of relatively good weather has definitely been a bonus for staying safe!
Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers by artist Ray Lonsdale
Research for the Routes In Programme at Tate
Since last autumn, I have been working freelance for Tate carrying out research for their Routes In Programme which is a legacy project of their National Circuit programme and has three strands as follows:
Institutional Change - championing diversity and inclusion within Tate including the Young People’s Programme being part of the Learning Recruitment working group;
Routes In Network - involving a wide range of organisations working with young people in a careers focused way, and creating an ongoing dialogue to share best practice about how we can work together to enable progression routes in particular for those who are underrepresented;
Public Programmes - for young people (and parents) to raise awareness and understanding of career opportunities within the arts whilst supporting them on their progression routes.
Routes In began in 2017 and three years in it was identified that research needed to be carried out to make recommendations for the next steps of the Programme with the focus on these three questions:
Section 1: What’s already on offer to young people 15-25 years?
Section 2: What’s enabling change in the sector?
Section 3: Where are the gaps?
The research consisted of a number of stages as follows:
Online research to set the current scene of youth provision within London and beyond;
Conversations with staff at targeted organisations including The Creative Society, Creative Access, Flow Associates, Create London, Creative & Cultural Skills, Ambitious About Autism and Tate Liverpool, with many other staff not responding to requests to connect during the COVID-19 lockdown due to other priorities or being on furlough;
Consultation with young people via an online meeting with a small group of Tate Collective Producers (TCPs) along with some Tate Learning staff;
Liaison with Routes In Network members including some co-facilitating at face to face Routes In Network meetings, and an online survey completed by 20 members during the COVID-19 lockdown; this was originally to follow an online meeting where the key ideas from the research were going to be introduced which had to be postponed due to other priorities, in particular the impact of Black Lives Matter;
Meetings with Tate staff in particular Rachel Noel, Convenor: Young People’s Programmes, and Peju Oshin, Curator: Young People’s Programmes;
Disseminating the research to three different audiences, by:
a. writing an overall report for Tate;
b. compiling a summary report for the Routes In Network members covering key findings and recommendations;
c. making suggestions for digital content hosted on the Tate website aimed at young people (and parents).
Once the summary report is designed up and ready to share publicly I will add a link here. I have enjoyed carrying out this research as this is an area of work I am particularly passionate about. I look forward to presenting the findings at a future Routes In Network meeting, and then being involved in making actions as part of the Network moving forward.
Lockdown - art & Craft Activities
We have taken part in lots of art & craft activities during lockdown, focusing on those that use everyday materials so are easy to do at home whilst avoiding using computers or printers where possible. These are some of our favourite activities:
Creating a rainbow for our window along with lots of other families - we spotted over 200 rainbows locally during our walks at the start of lockdown;
Invitation to exchange - sharing a Paper gift photo & a Sculpture play image on Instagram @invitation_to_exchange (led by artist Marysa Dowling);
Social distance structures (see photo below) - one of the fun family activities on the Zabludowicz Collection website;
Firstsite artist activity packs - a series of packs you can download from the Firstsite website featuring activities devised by famous artists;
Animation model making - how to make rabbits with an Aardman animator as part of Camp Bestival stay at home Easter sleepover website;
Big family press - we love the sessions at the South London Gallery (SLG) and have continued to make booklets referring to their online resources here.
In addition we have done lots of arts & craft activities at home - sometimes led by myself and sometimes child-led - such as making clay Pokemon with a colourful clay set we were sent as a present, mask making, learning to French knit, stop motion lego animation, and lots more! Along with music and getting fresh air, arts & crafts has been key to helping us all with our wellbeing whilst staying at home.
Social distance structures
Lockdown - exploring our surroundings
As well as embracing the virtual world, we have also been making sure that we engage with the real world with lots of walks and cycling, as well as spending time in our garden in the lovely sunshine. We value the outdoor space we have at home including a grassy area, a trampoline and a paddling pool.
Beyond our house we have been revisiting favourite places, including Norwood Park with it’s country walk, and Crystal Palace Park with it’s dinosaurs and sphinxes. We have noticed the new in the familiar - a hidden pathway along the side of a local park, and a sign telling us that a family was killed by a bomb during World War II not far from the nearby parade of shops. We have been looking out for rainbows in windows (as well as making our own) and stopping to chat with friends on their doorsteps (at a distance of course).
We have also discovered a new little wood within walking distance that is always quiet and has become a bit of a haven for us all. You can look out for the nine wooden markers that create a trail, or visit the giant bug hotel, or try to identify the wide variety of trees. Interestingly there is an area within the wood where you can see the remains of the basement of a row of terraced houses. This beautiful place is called Dulwich Upper Wood, not far from Crystal Palace. We will continue to go here beyond lockdown and I am even tempted to find out about their volunteering opportunities.
Remains of a terraced house basement within Dulwich Upper Wood
Lockdown - digital Resources
Like many families we have been embracing the virtual world during lockdown with the kids intuitively knowing what to do, more so than the adults! As well as virtual museum tours and online school work these are some of our favourite resources:
Theatre - we have been loving Little Angel Theatre’s miniature puppet performances of the Jon Klassen trilogy, starting with I Want My Hat Back and they have also posted up videos explaining how to make your own puppets;
Coding - my kids have been working remotely with Grandad on ScratchJr and Logo learning the basics of coding, a good skill for the future;
Drawing - we love #DrawWithRob where children’s author and illustrator Rob Biddulph does a video masterclass explaining in simple steps how to draw one of his book characters such as Gregosaurus & Sausage Dog;
Stories - lots of authors are reading their stories online, with our favourites being Oliver Jeffers Stay at Home Story Time and David Walliams Elevenses. In addition, chapters from the first Harry Potter book Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling are being read by lots of famous people starting with Daniel Radcliffe who played Harry Potter in all of the films;
Yoga - my kids were less keen on Joe Wicks’ daily workouts but they love Cosmic Kids Yoga which I have found useful myself for stretching in the mornings. Each yoga session is themed including lots of different animals, Pokemon, Harry Potter and Star Wars;
History - we love Horrible Histories so have been enjoying the weekly Homeschool History audios with Greg Jenner on Radio 4;
Bubbles - finally we have discovered Samsam Bubbleman who has been posting weekly bubble workshops starting over Easter weekend as part of the Camp Bestival Stay at Home Easter Sleepover. My two kids have become enthusiastic bubbleologists learning to blow massive bubbles, bounce bubbles and blow bubbles through their hands. The secret is in the bubble mixture!
In addition, we have taken part in lots of art activities posted up by art galleries, which I will write about later.
Gregosaurus by Thomas (aged 6), me (aged 46) and Robert (aged 8) #DrawWithRob
Lockdown - Virtual Museum Tours
I am a big fan of seeing the real - art, objects and architecture - at museums and galleries. During the COVID-19 lockdown we initially missed our family visits but we have since been exploring the wide range of online museum tours. We are lucky of course that we have digital access and admittedly not all families do. Here are some of our favourite virtual tours (many via Google Arts & Culture):
This Guardian article is a good place to start highlighting 10 of the World’s best virtual museum tours including links to the Guggenheim, Bilbao and the Musée D’Orsay, Paris;
The Hermitage Museum - apparently you can take up to five hours to explore this site and as sadly I fear I may never get to visit this it’s great to explore both the building and its contents;
The Louvré - this tour works well as you can click on the captions for more information about each work, it did test my French though. You can also try it in VR mode;
The Courtauld Gallery - my boys chose some favourite paintings by Cézanne & Van Gogh and also enjoyed using the menu to ‘teleport’ between rooms, as they put it;
Kettle’s Yard - this has been the highlight so far for me. I cannot work out why I have never been in person to this beautiful light-filled house full of art. I will definitely be visiting post-lockdown.
I know many people have said they are suffering from digital overload and I agree in many areas but not with these virtual tours which have helped all of us to get our museum and gallery fix the last month or so!
Looking at Van Gogh’s Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear as part of the Courtauld Gallery’s virtual tour
Museum Hour - guest host again
Museum Hour takes place on Twitter on Monday nights 8 - 9pm. It is regularly hosted by a team of four people working in various museums but they also invite guest hosts to propose subjects to discuss. On Monday 20 April I was the guest host, focusing on evaluation. You can follow the promo tweets and then the conversation via the eight questions I posed by clicking on the various date links below. Thanks to #MuseumHour twitter.com/museumhour for having me!
Promos:
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 18/04/2020, 20:00 Join us on Monday 20 April at 8pm (UK time) for #MuseumHour with freelancer @particip8tion focusing on the topic evaluation after recently overhearing someone say: 'Evaluation? Why are we doing this? Who is it for anyway?' Hit 'like' if you'll be joining in on Monday! pic.twitter.com/ot9tHI1UYL
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 19/04/2020, 20:00 To get ready for tomorrow night's #MuseumHour discussion focusing on evaluation with me @particip8tion take a look at this Evaluation Guide for Community Arts Practitioners
by #CreativeVictoria bit.ly/2VoTDJa pic.twitter.com/yyLwiH7knq
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 08:00 To get ready for tonight's #MuseumHour discussion focusing on evaluation with me @particip8tion take a look at The Cultural Learning Evidence Champion's Handbook by @theRSAorg bit.ly/3bdGitV pic.twitter.com/3d4cReMaZQ
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 19:00 This is your 1 hour countdown to #MuseumHour tonight with me @particip8tion focusing on evaluation pic.twitter.com/a37Xyl8oPm
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 19:56 This is your 5 minute countdown to #MuseumHour tonight with me @particip8tion focusing on evaluation. Grab a cuppa, get yourself comfy and be ready to chat... pic.twitter.com/KMHxGjRtaw
Questions:
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 20:00 Q1. Welcome to #MuseumHour focusing on evaluation hosted by me, freelancer @particip8tion Today is in response to me overhearing someone say: ‘Evaluation? Why are we doing this? Who is it for anyway?’ To get us started how would you define ‘evaluation’? #MuseumHour
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 20:05 Q2. What kinds of evaluation methodologies have you been involved in within museums & galleries thinking about both the quantitative & the qualitative? Either as an evaluator or as a participant #MuseumHour
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 20:15 Q3. Who is your evaluation for? Which stakeholders? Why are you actually doing it? #MuseumHour
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 20:20 Q4. What is the most important thing you have learnt from evaluation? Has it ever given you that ‘eureka’ moment? #MuseumHour
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 20:30 Q5. Who carries out the evaluation in your organisation? Is it in-house or do you bring in external evaluators? What do you think are the pros & cons of each? #MuseumHour
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 20:35 Q6. What usually happens to your evaluation reports? How are they actioned & by whom? (Hands up who has forgotten about an evaluation & left it on a shelf to gather dust ) #MuseumHour
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 20:45 Q7. How do you see the future of evaluation? Is there something you’d like to see more of or less of? Have you seen any innovative evaluation approaches you’d like to share? #MuseumHour
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 20:50 Q8. During the COVID-19 outbreak with museums being closed & staff remote working, have you individually or as part of your organisation been evaluating/reflecting on your current practices? If so in what ways? Are you approaching this in a different way to usual? #MuseumHour
MuseumHour (@museumhour) 20/04/2020, 21:05 Thanks to everyone who joined in tonight & to @museumhour for having me as a guest host. Apologies for any missed tweets - they came thick & fast! Please feel free to continue the conversation with me @particip8tion #MuseumHour pic.twitter.com/Yc5zVFLhT1
Mentoring for UAL
I’ve recently started mentoring a student for the University of the Arts London (UAL). Our first meeting was over the phone as I had a cold and with the COVID-19 outbreak I will continue to mentor virtually. It feels like a good time to be mentoring a young person. I suggest everyone signs up to be a virtual mentor during this difficult time.
For more information about the UAL mentoring programme take a look here
Sankofa Schools poster project
Last week, I spent a day in Westminster City School with artist Shepherd Manyika co-facilitating a workshop for Art on the Underground inspired by Larry Achiampong’s commission at Westminster tube station. We worked with 22 x Year 10 students from across London and from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
Shep began with a quick fire drawing activity rotating around a large table to get students warmed up, to get to know them, and to free them up from owning their work. Then we introduced Art on the Underground, Larry Achiampong’s commission and Shep as a practicing artist. Using sketchbooks, Shep took them through a mapping exercise using words thinking about their journey to school that morning from waking, and then overlaying with a drawing.
We all walked to Westminster tube station - thinking about our journey along the way - to see Larry Achiampong’s commission which is a reinterpretation of the iconic London Underground Roundel in pan-African colours with 7 designs throughout the station. We spent time looking for the different designs, choosing a favourite to draw, and thinking about how each one makes us feel. The students used words like camouflage, jungle, tiger and unity. We also discussed how public art in a tube station differs to seeing art in a gallery.
Afterwards, we did some sketching in Parliament Square focusing on shapes and colours in iconic London or British designs such as buildings, street signs, buses, uniforms and telephone boxes.
After lunch, we shared our sketchbooks from the morning and each student started to map out a poster design in response to a brief with two parts:
the redesign of an iconic London or British design in a way that changes its meaning and makes you feel more represented both culturally and personally;
the idea of ‘sankofa’ - using the past to prepare for the future.
We shared some of the students initial designs and talked through the next steps before ending the day. The students will continue working on their designs for the next few weeks both at home and at school, before submitting them with one being selected as a winner to be designed up as a poster to be displayed in Westminster tube station for a month.
For more information about Larry Achiampong’s commission does Art on the Underground see here
Talking about Larry Achiampong’s commission. Photo: Benedict Johnson
Reflecting on 2019
As we head towards the end of 2019, here are my work highlights from a busy past year:
Arts Evaluation - I started doing more evaluation of education projects during 2019 with new clients the Whitechapel Gallery (focusing on their Voices that Matter Women’s project) and Little Angel Theatre (interviewing staff at ten theatre venues across the country along with teachers at their local primary schools for their Take Flight touring programme). I also began the third year of evaluating the DEVELOP Young People’s Programme at The Photographers’ Gallery, writing the annual evaluation report of the Public Engagement Programme for Art on the Underground, and working with new client the Empathy Museum to collate their existing evaluation into a report presenting future recommendations;
Arts Education - I continued to deliver arts education activity for Art on the Underground with a family event, a poster project for LSBU and tours of Linder’s commission The Bower of Bliss at Southwark tube station for local colleges and community groups. Alongside this, I delivered CPD for arts educators at the Courtauld Gallery, and primary teachers at Little Angel Theatre. I also wrote two teachers’ resources for the Royal Academy focusing on ‘Stories’ for Key stages 1-2 and ‘Sculpture’ for Key stages 3-5 based on artworks in their permanent Collection, in line with their building redevelopment;
Progression Routes for Young People - I continued my formal mentoring in 2019, this time with an amazing Young Freelancer from the London Transport Museum, alongside continuing catch ups with my previous mentees. I shared my experiences of setting up paid traineeships at a Youth Programming Symposium hosted by The Photographers’ Gallery, as well as at a session on the Alternative Models for Arts Education module for the Art & Design in Education MA at the Institute of Education. In addition, I joined the Engagement Advisory Board at the Horniman Museum as their youth specialist, and I ran a training day for the Museums Partnership Reading to support them in actioning their Youth Engagement Strategy and working towards developing a Youth Manifesto. This was also the year I did a call out at the engage conference for arts organisations to come together to share and support each other on employment progression routes for young people into the arts sector but instead found out about and joined the Routes In Network hosted by Tate which led to becoming employed by them to co-lead some network sessions, and I’m currently beginning to carry out some research to help them decide on their next steps.
I’m looking ahead to 2020 working with both existing and new clients, so watch this space…
Teacher Twilight session
Last Thursday I ran a teacher twilight session for Little Angel Theatre as part of the Take Flight project evaluation I have been doing for them this year. We had a good mix of teachers from local schools and across London, covering those working with primary and SEND pupils.
The event started with an icebreaker of throw the question (on anything the teachers currently find challenging around participating in arts activity at their school), followed by a tour of the amazing puppet theatre, including behind the stage and the puppet making studio.
We then focused on a brainstorm and discussion around barriers to engaging in external arts activity, what they would like to see on offer from their local theatre venue in the future, and how the venues could help to break down these barriers.
In addition a SurveyMonkey questionnaire is open until the end of 11 December 2019, with the chance to win a £50 M&S voucher in a prize draw for all who complete the survey here
Findings from these will feed into the Take Flight final evaluation report in addition to interviews with the ten touring venues across the country - in areas of low arts engagement - and their local primary schools, as well as interviews with staff at Little Angel Theatre.
For more information about the Take Flight project, funded by Arts Council England, visit here
Brainstorm around barriers to arts engagement