Notes from Helen Renwick (Arts Manager) Wandsworth Borough Council and Jonathan Kennedy (Executive Director) TARA Arts presentation for the London Culture 2012 conference, 8th December 2010, at the Lost Theatre.
Wandsworth Borough Council & TARA ARTS working toward London 2012.
Wandsworth: Our Planning
GLOBAL Opening Ceremony & Games
NATIONAL Torch Relay
REGIONAL Cultural Festival
LOCAL Cultural Celebrations
Identify relevant opportunities to present work
Maximise existing events: eg WANDSWORTH ARTS FESTIVAL and TARA ARTS' SAILING TO BRITAIN.
TARA ARTS - SAILING TO BRITAIN
The project, from inception through to outputs
THE IDEA:
Lascars = sailors from Asia and Africa used extensively on British ships. Many eventually settled in London. A fabulous metaphor for creating a new society and nations converging in London, Olympics theme.
THE PAST 18 MONTHS:
Secured partners – National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Theatre, Croydon Clocktower & Wandsworth Arts and Education services.
Secured funding – London Councils, HLF and Wandsworth
Recruited the project team and participants.
Researched stories and developed the performance methodology – including oral history interviews, archive visits inc Old Bailey & maritime object handling sessions.
Presented performances – Greenwich, Croydon & Wandsworth
Marketing strategies that worked for the project
RECRUITMENT
Key role Participation Officer
Direct contact – individuals, community orgs, schools across London and through partners networks.
Focus on summer workshops programme
INSPIRE mark and associated kudos helped leverage HLF funding.
RETENTION
Over the past 18 months into the project over 523 participants, 60% BME
Strong sense of ownership of the Lascar stories by the young participants
Dynamic and challenging opportunities including curating a Lascar exhibition for the Museum of Croydon, learning aerial performance skills as in the rigging of a Tall Ship, making theatre for performance.
How young people were engaged/involved in the project?
Initial consultation on the idea with TARA ARTS’ youth group
Taster workshops linked to the Story of London Festival & Open Weekend
Participants formed Steering Group
The Research & Development phase including learning theatre and Heritage skills – visiting an archive, interpreting the findings and translating it into making theatre.
Intensive rehearsals with Tara Arts’ project team to transform a disparate group of young people into a capable performance troupe.
TARA ARTS: Sailing to Britain
What we know of the past 18 months and what next as we work toward London 2012.
Vision - A Local Value to London that is Global in its vision, linked the Olympics mission.
Transferable & scalable - and can scale up as our ultimate aim to is stage the show on a boat sailing up the River Thames.
Sustainable & Strategic - major partners notably the National Maritime Museum
Legacy – the partnerships, performance & young participants contribution to uncovering & making public the hidden stories of Lascars.
Wandsworth Council:
Support ongoing and existing work in the borough
Work together to maximise the opportunity that it gives us
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