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The Accreditation Team Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea supports young people aged 13-25 to achieve a range of accreditations including the Arts Award. It works with participants at youth clubs and projects that are run by or in partnership with the borough’s Youth Support and Development Service. |
Centre: Accreditation Team Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London
The borough works with vulnerable young people, NEETs, young dads and those on a ‘Goals to Achievement’ course, as well as anyone who shows interest in completing the Arts Award.
There are currently twenty five young dancers working towards Bronze through the ‘Just Dance’ project, 15 young film makers working towards Silver and 5 young people starting their Gold Awards. Many more are likely to start their Bronze and Silver award through a number of summer projects.
Approach
To achieve their Arts Award young people engage with a variety of art forms, including film making, visual arts, photography, stencil art, music, dance and drama. They are supported in regular sessions to prepare their portfolios.
Jane O’Sullivan, a member of the Accreditation Team, is a trained Arts Award adviser and works directly with young people as an arts practitioner on many projects. She also supports other artists and youth workers to lead on the arts delivery, whilst remaining as adviser to the young people. Jane is currently supporting less experienced Arts Award advisers to deliver Arts Award.
Taking Part
Because participants complete their Arts Award in a variety of different settings, their experiences and the kinds of activities they take part in vary immensely. Particularly successful have been a number of projects with professional film makers from the Transient Film Exchange. During these projects, participants from a wide range of backgrounds with varied abilities have taken part in all aspects of film making.
One film, created with a knife crime theme and filmed on an estate, won the borough's prestigious Apollo Award for best arts project. Five of the crew members from this project won another award at the 2009 Ability Media International Awards in 2009 and went on to form their own film company ‘Crazie Productions’ for young people with disabilities.
Learning
The Chelsea Film project brought together young people with and without disabilities to work together on a film. Participants kept records of their learning by taking photos and made a mini documentary about the film-making process, which all contributed towards their Arts Award portfolios. Mid way through the project the group took a trip to the National Theatre, to gain some ideas and help them complete their Arts Award portfolios. The project as a whole enabled participants to learn about film making techniques and also to learn a lot more about each other.
Adviser Jane O’Sullivan found that incorporating the Bronze and Silver Arts Award has given the participants an extra focus to their work. Through the Arts Award, young people were given the challenge to go beyond what they already know, develop their skills and reflect on what they have learnt. The qualification also encouraged participants to work creatively in a group setting and reflect on their learning and achievements.
Cultural links
Young people worked with professional film makers from the Transient Film Exchange every week as part of the Chelsea Film Project. Through this partnership some participants became involved in the V&A project, where they made a film to promote the museum to other young people. This was screened at Channel 4, where the participants were able to network and make a number of connections with other industry professionals. One connection led to tour of the BBC studios and sets to see how television programmes are made.
Funding
The projects run and supported by the Accreditation Team are funded either through the borough or from specific pots of money such as the Youth Opportunities Fund, which is a fund that young people can apply for within the Borough.
Moderation
Adviser Jane O’Sullivan says ‘at first I was terrified of moderation, but the moderators have all been really supportive and helpful offering excellent feedback and suggestions. I now look forward to the sense of relief and achievement I get when all the portfolios or folders are sitting there ready to be looked at by the moderator. The young people enjoy the opportunity to come in and get their hard work recognised’.
Comments
Jane commented that the Arts Award is a great framework to support young people's learning and achievement in the arts as well as being a really effective tool for excellent youth work.
Stephanie describes how completing the Bronze and Silver Arts Awards has helped her:
‘Doing my Bronze and Silver Arts Awards has been a very exciting journey. When Jane introduced the Arts Award to me I was so excited because it meant I could do what I love, which is filming, and get accreditation for it.’
‘It also pushed me to learn more about filming and other roles connected to it. By doing my Arts Award it added so many more layers to projects. For example, for the Bronze Arts Award you had to research and write about someone who inspires you. This made me think more about my own film career and reminded me about where I am coming from. This helped make the path clearer for where I am going to.’
‘The Arts Award has made me feel proud of all the work I am doing. It has also made me act more professionally. I have had so many amazing experiences like meeting people from the BBC and actually asking my audience what they think of my work.’
Stephanie, Silver Arts Award participant
