A mentoring programme linking research, education, regeneration and community through the arts, involving partnership between cSPACE arts organisation, the University of East London, young people in further education and local schools.
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UEL students accompanied by mentee partners from Newham College of Further Education, facilitated workshops for children at North Beckton Primary school. In one class pupils worked on photos of the Olympics site and adjusting these to show the kind of environment they would like for their neighbourhood. To bring this activity closer to home, they also produced similar images for their own school, itself built on reclaimed brown field land.
UEL students presented portfolios at Newham College of Further Education and described their journeys into higher education. Following this the FE students followed their own project on the Olympic theme, creating posters that expressed their ideas on the proposed regeneration.
Participants visited the proposed site for the 2012 Olympics.
On a tour of Gunpowder Park in Lee Valley, centre director Tony Beckwith demonstrated how polluted land could be reclaimed to enhance the natural environment, and ways that artists could usefully intervene in this process.
When art activities take place, and particularly when they are in and for the public domain, the educational possibilities around them are immense. Over recent years the Cascade mentoring programme has captured some of these opportunities for students and local young people around themes concerning the regeneration of their local area. Participants produce artwork around a chosen theme, and a ‘two-way cascade’ of skills and support is created, from cSPACE to the university students, to young people, and finally to local children, each group supported by and engaged in learning experiences with the other. The overall effect has been the establishment of role models and identifiable steps into further and higher education for the younger participants while students have gained experience and skills through working with young people in the local community. The programme this year once again takes a theme related to the bid for a London Olympics, since this remains a topic of immense local, regional and international significance. The regeneration resulting from a successful bid would impact on the future lives of local young people in many ways, and even if not successful, offers an opportunity for them to develop ideas about the kind of future they would like to see for their area. The theme for this year is the potential environmental impact of the Olympic site regeneration.
During autumn 2005 Fine Art undergraduates from UEL worked with young people from Newham College of Further Education, attending sessions at their college and also introducing them to the resources of the university. In addition a number of the FE students accompanied the undergraduates to facilitate arts workshops for pupils in North Beckton Primary School. Over a hundred pupils between the ages of 8 -10 produced their own visual ideas on the potential environmental impact of the Olympics on East London, and made cards to present to London 2012 with special requests for both the event and its legacy. These workshops not only offered structure and information to support the ideas of the young participants, but also introduced new art making processes into the classroom.
The older students benefited from research and information provided by the London East Research Institute, London 2012, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, multi-media artists and local Olympic athlete Tony Cesay. Presentations were held at the university, FE college and school. Students also visited the proposed Olympic site, witnessed first hand how environmental improvements have been handled to date in the Lee Valley, and were introduced to ways that visual artists have responded to these issues. The FE students followed their own project on the topic, and UEL students are producing work around the theme as one of their course modules.
Central to the success of such initiatives is the ongoing support of all participants. Regular briefing and feedback sessions have been provided through cSPACE, building on extensive experience of similar projects. The programme is developed and managed by cSPACE director Loraine Leeson and co-ordinated by Anne-Marie Pereira de Mello, a former graduate student who herself gained skills and experience through this scheme.
A further partner in this year’s programme has been Gunpowder Park, an arts centre situated in the Lee Valley, just north of the proposed Olympic site. Gunpowder Park will be hosting the Cascade exhibition during March 2005, displaying artwork produced by all Cascade participants. The exhibition will offer both a celebration and a critical look at the Olympic site proposals for 2012 from the perspective of those destined to experience the future impact of any plans made by its organisers today.
cSPACE, December 2004
© 2004·05
Stressed out in Stratford by Lennie Pothecary and Carly Crittenden: Our roving reporters found that opinion on the ground in East London doesn't always match the positivity of the 'Back the Bid' lobby. >>
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