Arts Explorers in Kirklees

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Arts Explorers in Kirklees
An exploration of the cultural ecology of a
single neighbourhood Birkby lies just outside
the centre of Huddersfield in Kirklees. It
houses a long established Asian heritage
community, newly arrived Eastern Europeans, a
white working class community, some families of
African-Caribbean heritage as well as students
and university staff. The programme was managed
by CapeUK in partnership with Kirklees Council.

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The process

• An audit of what was already happening and how
  people felt about arts and culture was conducted
  as a series of conversations with people who
  live and work in the area.
• The design and facilitation of a programme of
  activities was shaped by what we learnt and the
  people we met.

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Enquiry

• Can families uptake of arts/cultural activity be
  increased by providing low risk first steps at
  natural meetings places within the community,
  such as shops, playgroups and the health centre?

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The audit showed that it was the primary schools
and the Sure Start Childrens Centre that were
the trusted and neutral venues in this particular
neighbourhood.
The most effective way to reach the families who
wouldnt normally engage with arts and cultural
activity, possibly the only way in the time
available, was through the link teachers and
family liaison workers who were supporting them
in other ways.
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• First step sessions in 3 schools
• Weekly sessions for half a term
• Schools invited the families a mix of those
  already involved in family learning and those
  the schools wanted to draw in.
• Parents attended for one hour before the end of
  the school day and were then joined by their
  children. This encouraged parents to work at
  their own skills level in a shared creative
  activity with their children, rather than taking
  a support role.
• There were 65 participants in the 3 school based
  programmes

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• First step sessions at the Childrens Centre
• Activities were provided within a regular drop-
  in session where
• parents came to have children weighed and see a
  Health Visitor.
• A high proportion of the adults had limited
  skills in speaking English
• A skilled arts practitioner succeeded in
  building trust by initially introducing clay to
  the adults while supporting the childrens play
  in subtle but creative ways. The work with
  adults and children gradually merged in the
  final session families played together with light
  and shadows.
• There were 75 participants in the Childrens
  Centre sessions

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Second step Come and decorate the Birkby
palace Sessions were held on two occasions
over half term at the local community centre .
These were advertised through the schools,
Childrens Centre, library and in local shops.
The same artists who had led the
school/childrens centre sessions were involved
and this continuity proved important. Each
artist facilitated a different activity and the
artefacts created were used to decorate the
Birkby palace. Activities that encouraged a
free exploration of materials tended to be most
popular. However, there was also a good response
to more structured activities such a block
printing. 87 participants (23 adults and 64
children) attended the first session and 47 (12
adults and 35 children attended the second)
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• I cant get them out we havent even had
  anything to eat and its 2.30 pm. Theyre having
  such a good time. Parent with 3 of her own
  children and 3 she was looking after for the day.
• Weve really enjoyed this. There isnt usually
  anything like this to do in Birkby.
• My mummy made this.its brilliantlets hang
  it just there. Child 6 years
• What a shame it has to be taken down- the
  palace is beautiful.

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Later in the programme a third session was held
in the community centre. The entire space was
transformed with areas for large scale weaving,
model making and shadow play. These activities
were more adventurous than those of the earlier
sessions and it was noticeable that families who
had come on a journey with us participated
more confidently than some of those attending for
the first time. 115 people attended the
session - 82 children and 33 adults.
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• This was a very creative, exciting day not
  only for the children but also the mothers. I
  wish there was a lot more activities like this. I
  really enjoyed this. Excellent.
• It was lovely, fantastic. We would like more
  sessions like these around our area. Kids lived
  it very much and made octopuses and spiders.
• We all had a great time. We loved the OHP, it
  was a fantastic way for people to make their
  creations come alive. Thank you.

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Step 3 The Art Gallery Birkby Arts Explorers
transformed a large gallery space on a Saturday
in June. Photographs and art work from the
school and Children s Centre were also
displayed. The session was publicised through
the schools and in shops etc in Birkby. Very few
participating families had previously visited
the gallery, even though they were familiar with
the library in the same building. A range of
activities allowed participants to work on a
large or a small scale, to do something quickly
or to take more time and care. There was a mix
of family members -older siblings and quite a
few grandparents- and more fathers than at some
other events. 75 people attended- 28 adults and
47 children.

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I offered a cardboard box house building
workshop. Using large plain cardboard boxes that
participants could customise and create with,
design and decorate, all within a format and
structure that offered both large visible results
and detailed working opportunities. The youngest
participants loved playing inside them, whilst
the older ones could create their own spaces, add
their own features and develop their construction
skills. This activity worked very well to engage
with parents and children together. Chris
Squire, artist.
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Holden Liadin Cooke 2010
The schools and Childrens Centre sessions took
the theme of Places and Spaces - how we
personalise the places that we inhabit. The
theme anticipating the session at Huddersfield
Art Gallery which took place during an exhibition
by one of the artists involved in Birkby Arts
Explorers , Liadin Cooke. This theme did
successfully connect the first step sessions and
the activities available to families in the
gallery. However, on the day itself, no
connection was made with the arts works on
display. This was a missed opportunity.
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• Lots of fun and lots of variety. My son liked
  making a table for the big house and making a
  small house and having his hand painted and and
  and
• Good level of support. Not too arty, very
  practical.
• It was brilliant. I made a small red house with
  some prints. I enjoyed this day. Thank you.
• Superb family fun. We all loved it!

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Final step The Theatre Two performances by a
puppet theatre company were arranged at the
Lawrence Batley Theatre near the centre of
Huddersfield. The tickets, for which no charge
was made, were distributed through the 3 schools
and the Children Centre. Priority was given to
families that had attended other events 160
tickets were signed for but , on the day, quite
a few families did not attend. The make up of the
family groups differed from that at the other
events , with more instances of two adults
attending (two parents or one parent and a
grandparent or much older sibling).
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Only one family had visited the theatre before
as a family group, but several children had been
to see a play with their school. One father
commented that he had lived in Huddersfield all
his life but hadnt know the theatre existed.
The response to the performances was very
positive the children were clearly engaged and
keen to look more closely at the puppets at the
end of the show. Parents talked about how much
their children had enjoyed it and some said that
they would come again. A few older children
showed an interest in the drama club at the
theatre. 96 people attended the performances.
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Main findings

• There was a high level of uptake of the four
  first steps courses of activity a total of
  154 individuals from 69 families. The
  programme as a whole attracted 462 individuals
  from 160 families.
• The composition of the families was very
  varied. Of the who participated, 74 were family
  members other than parents - for example grand
  parents, aunts and uncles and older siblings.
  Families attending more than one event often did
  so in different configurations on each occasion.
• Five families attended almost every Arts
  Explorers events. They did not know each other
  at the start of the programme but had become
  familiar by the end. As a direct result of her
  involvement, one mother applied to the local F.E.
  College to do an art course.

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Main Findings continued

• A higher percentage of the families who had
  participated in the first steps sessions attended
  the art gallery event than the community centre
  events, despite the latter venue being within the
  neighbourhood . Artwork created by families
  during those first step sessions was displayed
  in the gallery and perhaps this suggests that a
  personal connection was more of a pull than
  physical proximity. This links with a more
  anecdotal finding that familiar faces knowing
  who would be at an event - were as important as
  familiar places.
• During the interviews conducted with
  participants and the more informal conversations
  that took place at events, many parents reported
  that they wouldnt know where to find out about
  cultural events in Huddersfield. However, 17
  families from the Birkby neighhourhoood who had
  not been involved in the first steps sessions
  attended the event at the art gallery. They had
  found out about it through the
  schools/childrens centre and by word of mouth.
  This suggests that there are alternative
  publicity channels for cultural events that could
  reach into a community such as Birkby.

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Other learning

• Arts Explorers in Birkby also set out to
  explore whether interaction between families from
  different cultural groups could be encouraged
  through arts activities. Although there was
  contact and conversation, the emphasis placed on
  interaction within families probably reduced the
  interaction between families. However, at the
  art gallery event, a teenager attending with his
  family was asked what he thought of the day. His
  immediate response was that it was good because
  it had brought the community together and they
  were meeting new people.
• Digital Arts Explorers a mechanism for
  enabling families to record images and comments
  on their cultural experiences was set up on the
  Kirklees Virtual Learning Platform. Although
  there was an initial positive response, this did
  wane. It was evident that such a mechanism for
  recording and reflecting would need to be
  strongly embedded throughout a programme in order
  to succeed.

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Other learning continued

• The programme set out to provide contexts in
  which families worked together but at their own
  skills levels an approach taken from family
  learning provision within the adult and community
  education sector. The artists experience of
  working with adults and children together was
  critical to the success of this approach. We
  found that many small factors influenced the
  role that the adults took in relation to their
  children. For example, the families to arrive
  first at the art gallery session were those whod
  been to previous events. They automatically
  started making and doing alongside their
  children and other adults arriving took their
  cues from this. At that event we had no
  observers only participants. In contrast, at
  one of the community centre sessions, spare
  chairs that were usually packed away were left in
  a line along a wall. Several adults sat down,
  keeping an eye on their children but not
  participating. In addition, we modified our
  idea that shared endeavour own skills level
  was the best approach, as we observed families
  moved fluidly between this mode, parents
  supporting children and children supporting
  parents.

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The legacy

• CapeUK is in the process of applying for funding
  to undertake a second phase of activity in Birkby
  and to adapt the approach for a community on the
  outskirts of Preston, Lancashire.
• The experience of Arts Explorers is informing
  CapeUKs work on family learning in Yorkshire and
  the North West.

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