Headstart 'does' London Fashion Week, and visits Olympic Park....

3 March 2011

These are just a few of the activities and projects that the Headstart groups have been involved in over the last few weeks. Catch up below and access blogposts and some stunning images.

Headstart Development Day

On Monday 21 February members of all the Headstart groups (CREATE Programmers, Constant Pictures, Photo Posse, Social Media Journalists) attended a development day at the Shoreditch Trust Offices in Hackney. The purpose of the day was to provide the group with the opportunity to meet with Alex Finlayson and Justin O'Shaughnessy to learn about why the Trust was set up, how it is run and to learn about their developing plans regarding the Shoreditch Festival 2011.The group was taken on a guided tour of the local area; presented with an explanation of how the Festival relates to the Trust's objectives of encouraging community cohesion, developing innovative opportunities for community participation, celebrating local heritage and inspiring pride in the area. The development day allowed the Headstart group to come together and think collectively about what their offer to the Festival might be and a deadline for the 10th March has been set to present their ideas to Alex and Justin.

Photo Posse

In response to a brief from the British Fashion Council, a group of our young photographers took to London Fashion Week to document the events. The group attended high profile shows at Somerset House on both Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 February armed with their cameras and some pointers on what to shoot.Through the British Fashion Council's brief Photo Posse members were tasked to:- capture images of the latest trends being exhibited- document 'Street Style' in the courtyard of Somerset House- shoot products in an interesting way- provide a visual translation of trends spotted at the events found on the streets of London.A selection of images produced by the Photo Posse members for The British Fashion Council from London Fashion Week can be found on the London Fashion Week Facebook page however a full set can also be found here

CREATE Programmers 'Host Boroughs' Event

The Host Boroughs event on Wednesday 23 February was the first of the CREATE Programmers' events for 2011. Listed as part of the Discover Young Hackney Festival, the event was programmed by young Londoners for young Londoners and provided a platform for new and emerging artists and performers to showcase their talents. The Village Underground in Shoreditch was brought to life with host Travis Jay and a line up of live performances including Maverick Sabre, Encore, Holly Watson (winner of the 'I'm In' Discover Young Hackney talent contest), Ambassodors of Dhol, True Tiger, No Limit and The Firm/Ebonessence.

On the night attendees were entered into a prize draw to win a day's studio time at the Reb Bull recording studio, Puma trainers and Nandos vouchers!The day's preparations for the event and the perfomances in the evening were recorded by members of Constant Pictures, Headstart's group of young filmmakers, who will be producing a documentary for the CREATE programmers.Congratulations to the CREATE programmers and Edna Pletechero for putting on such a well organised event and a big thank you to all the performers and contributors on the night.

Social Media Journalists

For an hour on Wednesday 23 February the Social Media Journalists and a few A New Direction staff were taken on a tour of the Olympic Park. With little expectation of what they might see the Social Media Journalists equipped themselves with flipcams and boarded the tour bus. Find out what they had to say about what they saw on the tour, their opinions before and after and how they feel now that they have seen the developments. Two of our Social Media Journalists documented the tour and provided some insight on their views and opinions, click on Jake's blog for a video diary and find out what Miranda had to say on her blog here.

Headstart is A New Direction's programme for young Londoners (aged 15-25) preparing for creative and cultural employment, click here to find out more.