Why read this case study?
A multimedia project
- Involving many partners including a night club
- Young people from Social Inclusion Partnership areas participating.
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How did it start?
The project was developed and run by Aberdeen City Council's Arts Development Team and the dance development project, Citymoves. They collaborated with Aberdeen Art Gallery, Cultural Services Promotion, Community Development Team, Belmont Picture House, Exodus night club and Aberdeen City Centre Partnership.
Arts Development deliver a range of participatory arts activity which address the needs of the people of Aberdeen and fit with the council's Community Plan and local authority inclusion strategies and regeneration initiatives.
There is a studio and office base in the centre of the city, and a team of community arts officers who work in the regeneration areas.
Citymoves provides dance activity in their city centre studio and also through a programme of activities in schools and community projects.
Both Arts Development and Citymoves have a history of working with young people and wanted to build on their experience. They also both regularly receive requests from youth clubs and community centres for arts activity.
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How is it funded?
The Cultural Services Principle Officer awarded the project £15,000. This was money originally set aside for outreach work and the project responded to a range of priorities in the council's community plan.
They also applied to The Scottish Arts Council's 'Arts in the Community' fund whose criteria fitted with their project and were awarded £2,600.
Additionally they raised a range of 'in kind' support for their project including some transport, staff time (management, administration and delivery of film workshops) and venue hire including the Art Gallery, the dance and art studio spaces, the Belmont Cinema and Exodus night club. The value of this came to £9520. By July 2002 their budget was in place.
Budget
Total budget approx. £27,000 (this includes the £9520 in kind).
Key costs included:
- Professional artist tutors delivering the outreach taster sessions in dance, photography, music, film and fashion, and then the weeklong workshops.
- Artists were paid £20 per hour for contact time and £10 per hour for preparation and meeting time. The two dance tutors were from Belguim and the budget also covered their travel and accommodation as well as their fee.
- Materials and equipment hire were also significant aspects of the budget (including £1500 equipment hire and technical support for the final club night).
- Print and publicity costs came to £1950.
"The teachers rule, the dancers, they were friendly, cool and gorgeous"
Young person
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How is it set up?
Planning for the project began in August 2002 to start on 7th October. It was co-ordinated by a community arts officer based at the Arts Development Unit, working with community arts officers in the different regeneration areas to set up the programme.
They underestimated the level of co-ordination required for the project. The community arts officer responsible for co-ordinating the project was allocated one day per week but it actuality took four days per week.
Project Structure
The project ran in three stages:
- A series of outreach taster events in photography, dance, fashion, music and film were held at various community venues in regeneration areas of the city. (Young people attending the taster events were encouraged to enrol on the weeklong sessions being held at city centre venues.)
- A programme of intensive weeklong workshops held at central locations within Aberdeen City.
- A club night showcasing work produced throughout Synergy was held to mark the end of the project.
"They taught us fun activities"
Young Person
Timing
They held the one off urban dance tasters during the last week of the school term and one off multi-art tasters (photography, film, fashion and music) during the first week of the school October holidays. The weeklong workshops took place in the second week of the October holidays, with the club night at the end.
Venues
The taster workshops were held in regeneration areas. Venues were chosen taking into consideration availability, location, size, accessibility and numbers of young people currently using the facility. They included sports centres, community centres,youth clubs and schools. It was important that separate rooms were available for the multi-arts sessions to run successfully.
The weeklong city centre workshops took place in the Citymoves dance studio, Aberdeen art gallery, Whitespace (the Arts Development activity space), Exodus nightclub and Belmont Picture Houses education room.
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How was it publicised?
Schools
The arts development team spent a morning in Torry, Northfield and St. Machar academies to promote the project. This was done through the support of PSE groups, Community Learning and Development units, head teachers and their staff.
They set up a market place stand advertising Synergy. Flyers and programmes were handed out along with booking and consent forms. Contact details and a freepost address were also provided to encourage young people to reply. A video of dance projects was shown and the opportunity to make 'access all area' type passes was offered to engage the youths while they collected information.
Community centres and other agencies
Local community arts officers informed organisations about the project and how youngsters could get involved. Posters, flyers, etc. were distributed through the centres. Workers were also made aware there was a budget for transport and childcare facilities and to inform the arts development team of any requirements their young people had.
Posters and fliers
Remaining flyers, posters and programmes were distributed through city centre shops and agencies, such as Multi Ethnic Aberdeen Limited, SACRO and Aberdeen Young Peoples Project. Synergy was also promoted though the programme of workshops published for Citymoves and WhiteSpace.
Press releases were sent to the publicity and promotions unit of Aberdeen City Council to forward to the editors of local newspapers.
Young peoples involvement with publicity
During the weeklong workshops the community development team organised members of the Youth Action Committee and 'Listen,Young People Speaking Project' to patrol the Belmont area to hand out information to young people.
Booking Places and organising young people
All places had to be booked. Parental consent was essential. Bookings for the tasters were made in response to publicity and with the encouragement of the community arts officers and youth workers. Places on the weeklong workshops were booked by the young people at the taster workshops, or through follow up by the community arts officers after the tasters.
Prior to the weeklong workshop all young people were contacted personally to ensure that they would be present each day and knew what would be expected of them.
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What did they do?
The activities were led by professional artists who had experience of working with young people in community settings, and included workshops in music, film, street dance, photography and fashion. Young people were encouraged to try an activity they had not done before.
(I liked) "working with dancers from a professional company and trying out different things"
TASTERS
Dance Tasters 7th - 10th October, two hours in the evening.
five x Urban Street Dance tasters took place. Advertising emphasised hip-hop and break-dancing styles to encourage young males to participate. In total 65 young people took part, and many booked onto the art taster events on the following week. Several were interested in participating in the dance weeklong workshop.
Documentation of the Urban Street Dance tasters was carried out by the film education worker. He encouraged young people to help him with filming the sessions when they were getting tired or distracted.
Multi Arts Taster Events 14th - 17th October
Four x each workshop, lasting for two and a half hours. Several activities were being offered at the same time at each of the event venues.
Film Making Tasters
Participants were shown clips from classic films demonstrating how different emotions and atmospheres were created without spoken word. Using the space around them the group had to decide on a story. The methods of filming that were explored earlier were used to create atmosphere and tell the story without speech. They then edited their footage. As the group could not work on this part together the youngsters took turns filming and interviewing young people participating in other activities at the event. Numbers were restricted to a maximum of ten in each group. All places were filled.
Photography Tasters
Using digital cameras and a laptop the young people took photographs of each other. The group were shown different methods of manipulating the original image on the computer. Many of the young people had little experience of photography or design packages.
Final images were projected onto the walls where the activity was taking place, printed onto tattoo paper and also printed on photographic paper to be taken home.
Although only 16 young people initially booked onto the workshops, in reality about 100 young people were involved as they were attracted by the activity once it was happening and they saw the creations.
Music Tasters
Many young people had expressed great interest in accessing music workshops. When booking onto the class they described themselves as having some experience, but unfortunately many did not possess the skills for the sessions to work as planned. This was the least successful taster as the activity was not planned for participants skill levels and the tutor did not have the right experience to respond to the situation.
Fashion Accessorising Tasters
Fabric interlining was used to make bandanas, belts and cuffs for the body. Many other materials, beads, feathers, fabric pens, iron on transfers, ribbons etc were available for use.
During the taster events, badge making and identity tags were offered as a quick activity for participants to try out or if their work was completed in another area.
In total about 65 took part, but many additional youngsters got involved by making badges and identity tags.
During the taster events, badge making and identity tags were offered as a quick activity for participants to try out or if their work was completed in another area.
In total about 65 took part, but many additional youngsters got involved by making badges and identity tags.
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Weeklong workshops
"I liked taking part in Synergy because I made new friends and learnt new steps" Young person
Dance Week : 10.30pm - 4pm , October 18th - 25th
The workshop was led by HUSH HUSH HUSH, an international dance company whose work utilises urban dance styles in theatrical practice. Young people worked with them, involved in the dance, the direction and content, to produce a final performance for showcasing at the club night. Only four of the participants had attended a dance workshop at Citymoves before.
24 participants
Fashion Week: 11am - 3.30pm , 21st - 25th October 21
Working closely with the dancers, a brief was set. Masks, bandanas and distressed t-shirts were required for the dance performance. A variety of different printing methods were employed along with sewing to complete the brief. Many of the group had never used a sewing machine before but by the end of the week skirts, trousers, tops and accessories had been made. 23 participants
Photography Week 11am - 3.30pm , 21st - 25th October 21
This workshop linked into the BP National Portrait Award, which was on display at Aberdeen Art Gallery during the project. None of the participants had visited the art gallery before. The group discussed the exhibition in terms of how a portrait can inform you of a persons' identity.
They used black and white photography using manual cameras, and digital photography to capture their portraits of identity and 'Citylife'. The group moved around photographing themselves at various locations in the city centre. They also photographed members of other groups within the project. They processed black and white film and manipulated digital images.
Six participants (numbers restricted by equipment resources).
Music Week 11am - 3.30pm , 21st - 25th October
The music workshops were problematic. As the taster sessions had not worked as hoped they conducted last minute recruitment of young musicians, and ten were found. Then, the tutor became ill on day two and couldn't continue. Two new tutors were found. Next there were musical differences amongst the group, causing some to leave the project. Amazingly the remaining group worked together and performed at the club night. Four-ten participants.
Film Week 21st - 25th October
Due to the demand for places on the workshop it was decided to run two projects, one for younger people and one for older people in the morning and afternoon. Numbers had to be kept to 10 in each group due to limited facilities. Group one, the younger of the two groups, were to make a short silent movie, with group two making a documentary style film on the theme of Citylife to include interviews with participants from other groups.
The film projects did not go to plan as unfortunately this tutor also became ill on day two. The young people were invited to take part in the other projects that were running until he was able to return. Several joined the fashion workshop at the art gallery.
With the tutor off, filming did not begin until Thursday. It was decided to let the youngsters enjoy the two days left working on their own ideas. 20 participants
Challenging conditions
Atrocious weather caused unexpected problems. It ruined plans for a drop-in information van and damaged the dance studio floor. Luckily the dancers were quickly relocated. The weather conditions also made it unsuitable for the photography group to spend much time outdoors taking pictures.
"I liked how we got to do a show on Friday 25th October"
Young person
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Exodus Night club and Public events
The opportunity to show or perform the work produced was an important factor of the project. The club night at Exodus was very special because it was for other young people to see the work ' no adults! 160 young people were counted and some had travelled from Stonehaven, and other surrounding areas. Young people were attracted by the chance to be in a nightclub they couldn't normally access, by free drinks and crisps and by the opportunity to see their work:
- Fashion - the young designers performed a catwalk of their work
- Dance - the young dancers performed the piece they had devised
- Films made by the young people
- Photographic work by the young people
- Music - young musicians performed 2 covers of Nirvana songs.
A hugely successful night with no trouble - an impressive accomplishment for all involved.
Additionally there were separate performances for family and older friends of the films at the Belmont cinema and of the dance at Citymoves studio.
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How was it evaluated?
A detailed evaluation report has been written by community arts officer who co-ordinated the project. Ongoing feedback was received informally from staff, artists and participants as well as questionnaires being filled in by the young people.
The problems in delivering music opportunities has highlighted the need for music development in the regeneration areas.
Success
Over 400 young people were involved in Synergy. Many had not believed the young people had the confidence to attend city centre venues, or the focus to commit to a weeklong project. This belief was proved wrong.
"I think the teachers were very nice and ace! They had lots of experience and we had a laugh"
Young Person
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What's next?
High Impact
A number of the young people involved in the dance residency are now regularly attending classes at Citymoves. One of the young people is now involved with members of the arts development team in planning a youth arts project in her area, and two of the young people took part in auditions for a BBC Children's TV programme and have been invited through to the next stage of auditions in Glasgow.
The film education worker from The Belmont Picture House is setting up a young filmmakers project with the participants from Synergy as founding members. Many of the group now regularly attend the film club at the Belmont Picture House.
Other participants have become more involved in arts projects within their own community and attend centres more regularly with friends made during Synergy.
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What are the key issues for a project like this?
The level of co-ordination required was underestimated and created very heavy workloads for those involved. It was a lot of organising for three weeks activity, given staff resources. Imagine what you think you might need in terms of staffing, then double it!
- Illness of staff and bad weather during the project caused problems because it was such an intensive short period of activity. Where necessary young people were offered an alternative project to be involved in. Plan in strategies for dealing with potential crisis.
- Understand the skill levels of your participants and ensure your artists have the skills and experience to work with them.
