Creativity, arts and culture are at the heart of the University of Southampton experience, whether in supporting your studies or offering a range of activities to enjoy in your down time, with world-renowned music and arts venues found alongside numerous creative communities.
Children and young people from across Southampton are at the heart of âConnecting Cultureâ, a ground-breaking project focused on addressing the question of how the cityâs thriving Cultural Quarter can enrich the lives of those aged five to 25.
The project begins this winter with an Artist-led âCreative Consultationâ with over 350 participants that will provide an insight into each participantâs individual experience of culture and collectively, it will form a picture for Southampton of how children and young people would like to engage in creative activity across the city.
The ‘Connecting Culture’ Consortium is delighted to announce that Southampton-based artists Nazneen Ahmed, Anna Carr, Faye Phillips and Natalie Watson have been selected to undertake the Creative Consultation.
âWe are thrilled to be working with Nazneen, Natalie, Anna and Faye. Each artist brings an extraordinary wealth of experience. Together their individual practices include dance, theatre, photography, stitching, writing and visual art, alongside a deep commitment to enable children and young people to develop their own creative voices and means of expression,â Louise Coysh, Associate Director, Arts and Culture, University of Southampton
The artists will work together with Dr Ronda Gowland-Pryde and the Research Team to devise, develop and deliver a series of workshops suitable for a range of ages and levels, taking place in different settings across the cityâs 16 wards. This vital work will inform the subsequent stages of the project, which overall will see young people produce a Young Peopleâs Manifesto and Map that will adopted by âChild-Friendly Southamptonâ and create a sustained programme that reflects their needs. The city-wide Creative Consultation will commence this winter and we will be working with our strategic partners to identify participating groups that reflect the cityâs population.
Led by University of Southampton, âConnecting Cultureâ is a two-year research project, supported by a ÂŁ75,000 grant from Arts Council England, involving a large consortium of arts organisations and child-focused services, to catalyse a new future in the arts.
Editors notes:
About the Artist-Facilitators:
Nazneen Ahmed is a writer and creative
writing facilitator and lives in Southampton. She writes fiction for children,
creative non-fiction and poetry for adults, all of which are often inspired by
the theme of migration, which was the topic of her work as an academic
researcher and historian at University College London and the University of
Oxford. She is currently Writer in Residence with the Southampton Stories
project at Southampton City Museums and has held residences at John Hansard Gallery
and Southampton City Libraries in the past. She runs writing workshops in
schools, libraries and community settings. She was selected for the 2016/17
round of Penguin Random Houseâs Write Now Live mentorship scheme for
underrepresented writers for her historical fantasy novel in progress which is
aimed at readers aged 11 upwards. She is represented by Louise Lamont at LBA
Books.
Anna Carr is a Southampton-based
socially engaged, multi-platform Theatre Maker, and Associate Artist at The
Point, Eastleigh. She trained at East 15 School
of Acting. Her work draws on cross-form devised, verbatim &
autobiographical approaches. She regularly collaborates with
professional artists and under-represented communities and has 8 yearâs
experience of facilitating a broad range of community groups.
Faye
Phillips is a visual artist and educator with a BA (hons)
degree in photography from Southampton Solent University. Since finishing
her degree in 2013, Faye has worked within the local community and a range of
settings across Hampshire and the South of England, delivering a variety of
high quality arts workshops to young people from diverse backgrounds. Faye
specialises in conceptual photography, visual art, book making and is a trained
Arts Award advisor.
Natalie Watson is a freelance contemporary dance artist. Since graduating from Chichester University in 2014 with a BA and MA in Dance, she has performed nationally and internationally with Michaela Cisarikova Dance Company (MCDC), Nexus Dance Theatre, Hayley Barker and DarkFest. Alongside performing, Natalie teaches and choreographs in wide range of educational and community settings such The Point, Fluid Motion Theatre Company, Newbury Corn Exchange and Zoie Logic Dance Theatre.
The Connecting Culture project strands
involve:
over
350 participants, aged 5-25, and Early Years families in a city-wide artist-led
Creative Consultation;
the
recruitment of 10 new âCultural Connectorsâ, a programme for young people aged
16-25 integrating âyouth voiceâ leadership and organisational
development;
the
commissioning of a series of new public artworks led by young people;
the
use of data gathered by the consortium, participants and partners to trial,
develop and shape activities for children and young people – now and in the
future.
The âConnecting Cultureâ consortium includes: Artswork, Art Asia, ArtfulScribe, âa spaceâ arts /
Godâs House Tower, Black History Month â Southampton, City Eye, John Hansard
Gallery, Mayflower Theatre, Mayflower 400, Nuffield Southampton Theatres,
SeaCity Museum, SOCOMusic, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton Central
Library, Solent Showcase Gallery, Southampton Music Hub, SĂN, Turner Sims,
Unity 101, Voice FM, ZoieLogic Dance Theatre.
Strategic partners include: Southampton City Council (SCC) Childrenâs Services
(Children, Young People and Families), Southampton Youth Forum, Southampton
Children in Care Council, Southampton Cultural Education Partnership (SCEP),
Southampton Education Forum (HE/FE), Virtual School Head, Primary Heads
Conference, Southampton Cooperative Learning Trust, Youth Options, No Limits
(Young People, Young Carers), Diverse City (Dorset/Bristol), Creative Youth
Network (Bristol); UoS: Public Engagement with Research Unit, Widening
Participation Department, Social Impact Lab.
The Project Research Team comprises: Dr Dan Ashton, Dr Seth Giddings, Dr Ronda Gowland-Pryde,
Professor Jo Sofaer, Dr Alan Wong and Louise Coysh as Project Manager.