Amongst a mass of initiatives to increase young peoples access to ‘culture’ and the Arts and supported by a growing body of research that creativity is an essential tool to the well being and (self?) development of a persons journey through life, the Arts Award stands proud but not perhaps too loudly applauding it’s own achievements since launching in October 2005.
Attempting to raise the Awards profile across the south east, Artswork (the regional agency for the awards in the south east) has been working with the Arts Council Englands’ south east office to run a series of masterclasses to promote and raise awareness of the Arts Awards.
Actor, Jason Hughes launched the first session back in September at the Brighton Dome and was such a hit that he has since become an Arts Award Champion. In March 2008 the equally charming Gareth Malone of BBC2’s ‘The Choir’ fame stepped up to the plate and delivered a really vibrant session in the Memorial Hall at Marlston School , West Berkshire.
In this world of ‘celebri-fanaticism’, where young people dream of achieving overnight celebrity over a more skilled approach to fame, it is refreshing to see TV personalities demonstrating that the Arts takes dedication, passion, commitment and hard work.
Does the Arts change lives as deeply as celebrity can? Well the body of case stories from the Arts Awards would certainly indicate that even low level participation in the arts can have a profound positive impact on young people. One young attender at the session at Marlston Hall, was so excited by her experience of joining the ensemble singing class and setting the old oak panels vibrating in the early evening victorian gothic gloom, that her key worker was in touch with Angela Turton from West Berkshire Cultural Services who helped co-ordinate the event the very next day.
“It is clear that last nights event has had a massive impact on *** and their self-esteem. According to her mum, her behaviour last night was remarkable and she even gave her mum a hug and a kiss before bedtime, which she hasn’t done for a very long time. I can’t stress how important this activity was for *** and without doubt she would benefit from getting involved in more activities of a similar nature and pursuing an Arts Award”. (Christopher H., Early Intervention Worker)
That same young person, who came with her two support workers and not knowing anyone else present, commented that not only had she had a great time singing with Gareth but that she had also made some new friends. Also present were students from Willinks School and their music teacher Gavin Hurley, who was particularly pleased that members of the school choir had the opportunity to meet and work with Gareth as it was watching the first series of ‘The Choir’ that inspired the school to start their own school choir.
Apart from the warm-up exercises both singing and drama orientated that Gareth led, encouraging those present to think about the future and where they might see themselves in twenty years time and how they planned to get there (rather wittily one group responded by presenting a tableau of a plane and another group saw themselves growing up to become footballers wives) there was a guest appearance from Lissa Harmon who performed a rendition of a Barbara Streisand classic. Lissa an emerging singer who has been blind from birth, was a member of Chicken Shed theatre company and now performs singing gigs across North London and was present to help introduce an ‘inclusive singing’ project which West Berkshire hoped some of the masterclass participants would be involved with. The idea is for pupils from West Berkshire schools with an interest in singing, to pass on their skills and knowledge by coaching and mentoring students from special needs schools towards an interactive public peformance. Film will be used to include those project participants unable to attend showing them performing the same music and played simultaneously with the choir at the event. Importantly, every young person involved in the project will also have the opportunity to gain their bronze or silver Arts Award. Project Manager, Jamie Read was able to introduce himself and start the recruitment ball rolling alongside two of the head teachers from the Special Schools that hoped to participate.
The synergy of participating in a singing masterclass with a TV celeb who also happens to be passionate about what he does and is committed to encouraging young people to engage in music: the solo performance of Lissa and the introduction of an exciting opportunity, gave the whole session a really strong vibe. The queue for autographs at the end was so long that at one point the Arts Award Co-ordinator thought she might have to drive Gareth all the way back to London, as it looked like he might just miss his train!
