Worcestershire Arts Partnership Blog

Friday 31 July 2015


Please find below and attached information on the Gallery 37 summer youth arts training programme which is looking for creative partner organisations to support the delivery of the project in 2016.

 

 Gallery 37 Foundation

Creative Partner organisations call for Expressions of Interest:

Deadline 17th August 2015

The Gallery 37 Foundation is calling for expressions of interest from potential creative partner organisations for the youth arts training summer 2016 programme of delivery.

1. Background

 

The Gallery 37 Foundation is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and a registered charity, with a mission focusing on enabling disadvantaged young people in Birmingham to fulfil their creative potential through engagement with the arts. Gallery 37 was initiated by Birmingham City Council (BCC) and has a fourteen year track record of success. Its activities are coordinated through the Culture Commissioning team at Birmingham City Council.

The Gallery 37 summer programme was delivered in Birmingham from 1998 until 2012 with over 50 partner organisations involved in its development and delivery. The programme has supported over two and a half thousand unemployed young people in Birmingham into further education and employment. In recent years the Gallery 37 Foundation has in recent years focused on commissioning targeted programmes of work to support the creative engagement of looked after young people and young carers.

2. Gallery 37 2016

 

The Gallery 37 Summer Programme 2016 will be an accredited, creative youth training project which targets NEET young people aged 16 – 25 years from Birmingham. Its aim is to re-engage and inspire young people through the arts, providing an understanding of the opportunities that exist for creative and cultural engagement as well as the potential pathways through education and training and into creative careers.

We would like to hear from arts organisations, across all art forms, with an interest in helping us to deliver this large scale, high profile programme of activity for four weeks during August 2016, across a range of central Birmingham locations.

The Gallery 37 summer programme will be delivered and promoted as part of Creative Future 2016, Birmingham’s Year of Arts and Young People. It will support the Creative Future model of engagement, providing opportunities for young people to occupy the roles of audience members, participants, creators and leaders and enable the deepening and broadening of cultural experience, both within and beyond the duration of the programme. It is also intended to serve as a very visible platform for the creativity of young people in the city, inspiring audiences with ambitious, high quality artistic outcomes to be shared in public spaces through exhibition, performance and multi-media channels.

Gallery 37 2016 will be developed and delivered in partnership with a steering group of young people and with arts organisations large and small in order to support the progression of participants, introduce them to new approaches to creativity and to connect them to the wider cultural life of the city.

Creative & Employability Skills Training

 

The programme will provide the opportunity for young people to engage in creative skill development, working with professional artists and arts organisations and at the same time develop employability skills and an understanding of employment opportunities within the creative sector.

Young people will work in art form specific groups, five days a week for four weeks, responding to a creative brief established at the outset of the programme. The programme will culminate in a weekend of public sharing of the participants work across the city, supported by a public programme of drop in, family, creative workshops delivered by emerging practitioners with the support of young trainees.

The young peoples’ creative skills and understanding will be developed within the Arts Award qualification framework which will sit alongside a structured, accredited programme of wider employability skills training. An individual learning plan will be developed with each participant to support their ability to make considered choices with regard to training and cultural engagement both during and beyond the programme.

Recruitment

 

Working in close partnership with a network of recruitment partners, including the Birmingham Careers Service, the programme will support young people not in education, employment or training and prioritise those facing barriers to participation, including young people with disabilities, those from a Local Authority care background and young carers. Dedicated support workers will be employed by the programme to provide additional assistance for participants. A training allowance will be paid to all participants and travel passes issued to remove barriers to engagement and ensure the widest possible cohort of young people.

Opportunities Week

 

An important element of the Gallery 37 Summer Programme will be Opportunities Week which will offer participants the chance to find out more about the training and employment opportunities open to them as well as ways of continuing their engagement with the arts and cultural life of the city. Opportunities week will be delivered in partnership with a range of agencies and organisations offering support services, information, training, apprenticeships, creative engagement and/or employment opportunities to unemployed young people.

It will also provide a platform for other individuals and youth led-organisations, including Gallery 37 alumni, to share information and ideas about cultural engagement and their own progression pathways. Opportunities Week will be a vital way by which we help to ensure that those engaging with the programme have the contacts, information and inspiration they need to identify clear goals and make progress beyond the programme.

CPD for Emerging Practitioners

 

The Gallery 37 summer school programme will not only support disadvantaged young people but will also incorporate a programme of accredited training for emerging artists

wishing to develop their participatory arts practice. These ‘Shadow Artists’ will support the lead artists employed by our partner organisations, in the delivery of the programme, whilst at the same time working towards a qualification for Creative & Cultural Practitioners working with Young People. The Shadow Artists programme is an important means of building capacity within the sector and the multi-tiered structure helps to support young people’s progression pathways in future years.

Artists training

 

An artist’s training week will take place immediately prior to delivery of the training programme for young people. The artist’s training week will be designed to equip all artists, both ‘Shadows’ and ‘Leads’ involved in delivery of the programme with key information and knowledge about the content of the Gallery 37 programme and effective ways of working with young people from a wide range of backgrounds.

Public Profile

 

The Gallery 37 Summer Programme 2016 will play an important role in promoting a positive image of young people within the city. By basing delivery in the city centre cultural venues and holding a high profile showcase and day of public family workshops, it delivers a message both to Birmingham residents as a whole and to the young people participating that we value their contribution to the life of the city.

3. Creative Partner Requirements

Gallery 37 is looking for partner organisations to develop and deliver the creative content of the summer programme. Working in one or more art form area it is intended that each creative partner organisation will lead activity with a group of 20 young people for four weeks, Monday to Friday, throughout August.

Each artistic team would be expected to deliver high quality creative content whilst supporting young people to work towards an Arts Award qualification. Arts Award Advisor training will be delivered during Artists Training Week to ensure that all Artists (including Shadow Artists) have a thorough understanding of the Arts Award framework. In addition a dedicated Arts Award Co-ordinator will be employed by the Gallery 37 programme to provide support for all project groups.

Although not all funding for the programme has yet been confirmed we are seeking to raise approximately £15,000 for each artform project and anticipate a total of five projects across the programme. This budget will cover artistic, material and venue costs (for the delivery of activity) and days spent in support of development and planning of the programme. We welcome expressions of interest from those wishing to deliver joint, cross artform projects with more than one organisation.

We are seeking partner arts organisations that can demonstrate:

 A track record of delivering innovative and ambitious creative work to a high standard with young people from a wide range of backgrounds

 An open approach to partnership and a commitment to innovative, collaborative ways of working with young people and other organisations, including training agencies and creative industry employers

 Capacity to support the development and planning process from December 2015 through to creative activity in August 2015 and evaluation following completion of the delivery phase

 Skilled artistic staff and facilitators with experience of working with the target age range and young people from challenging circumstances

 An understanding of how engagement in culture can support young peoples’ wellbeing

 Up to date policies and procedures and a clear understanding of and commitment to the protection and safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults, diversity, equal opportunities and health and safety

 A commitment to professional development of staff and artists

 

Timeline

October 2015 Recruitment of project manager

October 2015 – July 2016 Development of partnerships & action planning

Jan – Aug 2016 Establishment of and planning with Gallery 37 Youth Board

June & July 2016 Targeted recruitment of young people

May – June 2016 Recruitment of shadow artists

July 2016 Delivery of Gallery 37 training week for Lead Artists and emerging practitioners

Aug 2016 Delivery of Gallery 37 participatory programme

Aug 2016 Final Showcase weekend and delivery of public workshops

Sept/Oct 2016 Moderation of accreditation

August - September 2016 Monitoring and evaluation

Creative Partners expressions of interest must include:

 Organisation name, address, telephone and email details

 Name and role of main contact

 A brief description of the main activities of your organisation (250 words max)

 Brief description of experience of working with target groups (250 words max)

 Brief description of how you meet the creative partner requirements (500 words max)

 

For any informal enquiries please contact the Culture Commissioning Service on 0121 303 2434

Please submit your expression of interest in writing by 5pm on Monday 17th August to: Arts.Team@birmingham.gov.uk





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