What have the Cultural Citizens been up to?

13 June 2017

The Cultural Citizens programme is an initiative funded by Arts Council England with support from The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). It’s a pilot project that will give young people in areas of low cultural engagement across England increased access to arts and culture. The pilot is being delivered by Studio 3 Arts and Creative Barking and Dagenham, in partnership with the Barking and Dagenham

Cultural Education Partnership and commissioned by A New Direction.

Below, Steven Smith from Studio 3 Arts updates us on what the participating schools

and students have been up to.

In the last fortnight:

• 58 young people passed their Bronze Arts Awards – amazing work from Sydney Russell!
  
• 3 venues in Barking invited pupils from Eastbury to visit – Studio 3 Arts, The Boathouse and Broadway Theatre
  
• 7 more trips were booked for the summer term
  
• 52 more withies were used at Eastbrook
  
• 18 Arts Awards portfolio covers were designed at Dagenham Park
  
• 7 sessions on local mapping were delivered
  
• 23 different artists were researched at Robert Clack
  

Above Arts Awards portfolios are being completed in our Cultural Citizens schools

Fantastic work from Sydney Russell students to complete their Arts Awards - reflecting on their trips, the skills they have learned and what they want to do next in the world of arts. All the other schools are busy completing their portfolios for moderations happening this month.


Above: Eastbury students take part in a dance workshop with Big Deal at Studio 3 Arts

Eastbury school enjoyed their second trip with Cultural Citizens, meeting local artists and venues in Barking. They experienced dance, spoken word, improvisation and circus skills working with Big Deal artists, Roundhouse Collective poets and Living Room Circus. They were then treated to some fantastic performances from their artists and had a chance to speak to them about their careers and how to get into the creative industries. Studio 3 Arts has been happy to see a few faces back at Big Deal sessions since this trip!


Above: Sydney Russell students visiting the Barbican and taking part in design workshops

The Barbican once again welcomed Cultural Citizens as Sydney Russell explored the Japanese House exhibition, learned about design work with artist Carla Ferrari and watched the film ‘Speed Sisters' about the world’s first all-female racing-car driving team from occupied Palestine. Our documentary maker was there to capture some of the day, so keep an eye out for our film of the project coming in July.

Our student-led trips team have been busy booking in final trips before the summer

holidays. We’re looking forward to the following cultural experiences:

• 15th June - Robert Clack visit Giacometti exhibition at Tate Modern followed by a tour of the Cinema Museum
  
• 15th June - Sydney Russell watch ‘Tommy’ at Theatre Royal Stratford East
  
• 22nd June - Eastbrook have their turn exploring street art in Shoreditch with Alternative London
  
• 28th June - Eastbury visit Autograph ABP to view Mahtab Hussain’s exhibition ‘You Get Me?’ before starting their own street art adventure
  
• 4th July - Eastbrook make a visit to Alice’s Adventures Underground
  
• 5th July - Eastbury are exploring theatre options
  
• 6^th July – Robert Clack are heading over to The Vaults Theatre

And if all of this wasn’t enough, each school is also busy working with their artists to create something to share at our end of project Celebration Event. There are rumours of giant heads, living exhibitions, spoken word and even the return of the Cultural Gameshow… watch this space!

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Main image: Eastbury students trying out circus skills with Living Room Circus