Share your dreams and future aspirations

10 November 2014

The Creative Services Support Group (CSSG) in association with A New Direction is running an international project, aimed to examine young women’s future aspirations and thereby educating children in India and around the world on gender stereotypes and inequality issues.

The proposed exhibition, as part of the broader project, intends to present a selection of the letters written by young women and girls aged 14 to 18 in India and the UK on their personal hopes, dreams and aspirations for the future. These shall offer a glimpse into the mindsets and perceptions of girls from a variety of backgrounds and cultural influences.

Students in the UK will have the unique chance to contribute towards a significant element of the exhibition by writing open letters to the world covering their hopes dreams and ambitions about the future. These letters will be shared on a wider platform to provide hope and motivation to girls globally.

The exhibition will be held at Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi, India.

How can your school get involved?

We would like schools in the UK to participate in CSSG's initiative by encouraging girls to write letters about their own dreams and future ambitions and in this way contribute to a significant body of work being created in India around the central theme of aspiration.

The letters will be used in an Exhibition - “And still I rise” - to showcase the power of the female voice and the opportunities that exist for them. Additionally they will form a reference bank to be used as tools for discussions on gender inequality.

We will provide a report on the outcomes and impact of our project which will be shared with the participating schools as well as a lesson plan for the education programme allowing it to be implemented within the UK schools. The shortlisted letters from both India and the UK will be shared with the schools contributing to open up a discussion on gender. We are also hoping to take our Exhibition to London for Spring/Summer 2015.

If you would like to take part please see below:

1) Students participating should be aged 14-18 years
2) The deadline for sending the letters will be the 1 December 2014
3) The letters should be clear and legible preferably hand written
4) The letters have the option to be anonymous or if they would like to be identified then name, age and school would be required
5) The content of the letters should be specifically about their hopes, dreams and ambitions for the future and what they would like to change to achieve that. The letters should touch on each of these areas.
6) The letters should be addressed “Dear World”
7) The letters should ideally not exceed one A4 side
8) Doodles and sketches on the or around the letter are acceptable but should not form the body of the letter

For any further enquiries and to submit your letters please email Anand Kapoor

The Creative Services Support Group (CSSG) is a registered charity established to aid underprivileged young adults through skills training and mentorship within the creative sectors. CSSG believes that equal opportunities should be given to people regardless of their upbringing. It aims to break down the barriers to equality of opportunity, inclusion and human rights by focusing on providing vocational training within job placements to young adults from underprivileged backgrounds.

By working with A New Direction their aim to ensure that the exhibition gains a global perspective through the letters. They aim to connect arts and education in different parts of the world and share ideas globally to create a bank of teaching tools that will enrich learning experiences for young people.