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After lots of hard work and running around, the exhibition was launched at The Square Chapel centre for the Arts in Halifax West Yorkshire on 22nd June 2010. We had the pleasure of the company of the Deputy Mayor of Calderdale and his lovely wife, who presented the young people who were able to attend with their certificates.
Members of the public, people from Education, parents, carers and staff all came together to celebrate the launch with speeches and presentations from particpants. It was a lovely evening and we received some great comments. The exhibition ran until 27th June, and when we had to take it down, staff at the Square Chapel said that members of the public had commented on what a fantastic body of work it was and that the collage of Tom should be permanently exhibited. This will happen as there will be a place for the exhibition at our school.
We would like to thank everyone who took part and hope that all the young people have enjoyed the project, and that the skills they have learned will benefit them in the future.
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Ok we only had 4 weeks left to finish everything so Bob has been working really hard to get the photos and creative writing to the printers. We are printing all the work 2’x3’ (old measurements, I know!) and they’re going to look outstanding. We’re putting together a booklet of all the stuff that doesn’t make it to the printers and that will also be on display.
Posters and invites have gone out to the great and the good, we hope lots of people will come along to see our hard work. Thanks to the people at First Light (Media Box) for the funding for this, and to Bob and Jackie and John for passing on the skills. Mostly though, thanks to all the young people who have worked so hard to make this happen! Looking forward to seeing you all at the launch on 22nd June.
I’m putting some samples on the blog to whet your appetite folks, please do come and see the exhibition!
The buffet has been chhosen by the PRU guys, so lots of sarnies and sausage rolls coming our way. Each group is allowed to bring some guests so we are expecting to have about 60 people at the launch. Hope they are all hungry!
That’s it for now, will post again after the launch with some party pics!
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Hi all,
This month we have concentrated on the podcasting and poetry as we only have a few weeks left.
The Yr9 Media group had a ‘debate’ with the older people which we recorded as a podcast, and this will be included in the exhibition. The title was ‘Youth in the Spotlight’ and it was hosted by master Media Wizard, John Bradley. They discussed all kinds of issues like capital punishment and society as it is today and how it was 50 years ago. It makes really interesting listening!
The Project Challenge group have discussed a grafitti project and one of the young people, Chris, wanted to bring his little baby girl in and do some art work about her. Bob took some fantastic photos of them together and they will definitely be in the exhibition! scot came up with some sketches under the title ‘Hudz not thugz’ which pictured cartoon older people with ghetto blasters and in hoodies and jeans. Unfortunately he is leaving the project soon so he may not be able to complete the grafitti, but his little sketches are great.
Cody has been hard at work with her photo album and Chloe is working on her poetry too. Cody is a really proliffic writer and her poems cover loads of different subjects. She’s putting other photos in her album too of her family and friends, it’s really coming along nicely.
We have a new young lady joined the GALYIC group who is very passionate about homophobia and has written a strongly worded piece on what she thinks about homophobic people. It may be a bit too cutting and er… honest for the exhibition but it is really interesting to see how strongly she feels about it all. She has also designed us a great poster for the event.
Eve set to work on designing our postcard invi,tations. They look great and hopefully we will get them out next month. we want to invite as many educational and council representatives as we can to our launch, which will be on Tuesday the 22nd June at The Square Chapel Centre for the Arts in Halifax West Yorkshire. The exhibition will run from 22-27th June. Its free to enter. Please come and have a look if you are in the area! the Square Chapel is right across the road from halifax train station so its really easy to find.
the Vocational skills are still pasting away with the glue sticks and cutting up the little squares of photos, they have to be commended for their perseverance!!! Jackie has helped them complete their ‘when I get older I want to be..’ and Bob is doing some photos of them with items that represent the jobs they would lkie to do. Its all good!
We really are very proud of these young people and the work they have achieved. Not long to go now!!
Cheers everyone!
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So here we are in March and the project is coming along nicely. The Vocational skills students are persevering with the huge collage of Tom. its 4ft by 4ft and made up of hundreds of photos of the rest of the group in various shades of grey. Its going to be brilliant when its done. Mrs Gould (the form teacher) says its doing wonders for their team working skills, and hand to eye co-ordination. It represents team working too, as we all need to work as a team to complete it, and the whole team is pictured in it!
The GALYIC girls are developing their photography skills and have brought in items they think demonstrate who they are and what they are about to inspire their photography. Violins and feather boa’s abound! They are discussing homophobia and how it’s dealt with at their school. One of the girls was told by her teacher that she should just try to ignore her bullies and the staff would deal with the problem when her exams were over. Obviously she was very shocked at this attitude and wants to get this issue sorted out before her exams start. She feels this project will help raise awareness. Between them the girls have discussed making a film about homophobia and how isolating it can be. They have created a photo-storyboard. We don’t know if we will have enough time to make a film, but it’s something to think about for future projects.
The girls invited an older person to come along and be interviewed about what it was like for him as a gay teenager in the 50s and 60’s. They recorded the interview as a pod cast. This gentleman was from a strongly Catholic family and had a very strong faith, but had to make a decision between his faith and his sexuality at a young age. He went through some difficult times and eventually he turned away from his faith, but this affected his whole life and he really struggled. Later on however, he rediscovered his faith and has become a practicing Christian once again. He lives with his partner and is very happy, and says that there was a time when he thought he would never be happy again. They also interviewed a transsexual young person who talked about the struggles she faced because of her culture and society as a whole. This was also recorded as a pod cast and we really appreciated the frank and candid way these people spoke about their experiences.
I think it has opened the girls eyes as to the difficulties people face in our ‘modern’ society. They have discussed these issues with others from the group and we are really proud that these young people feel that our project provides a safe environment where they can discuss these things without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. The staff on the project are learning things as well, and it really opens your eyes as to the kinds of difficulties that teenagers and young people have to deal with.
The young people from the PRU (pupil referral unit) are also producing some great work. Cody has written lots of poems in her own time which she has put in the album that Jackie gave her. She is decorating them with photos and stickers. it will look great when its finished. Robson and Nathan continue to use photoshop to manipulate their images. The end results are great.
The Project Challenge young people have joined our project now as we had a few people drop out. These are young people who are classed as NEET (not in Education, Employment or Training) and they are aged 16-19. They all have various issues, some are homeless, some dropped out of school without qualifications, some just can’t find work. if you want to find out more about the training provider go to www.projectchallenge.org.uk They have shown an interest in using our equipment and trying out photography etc. We hope they settle in as they are a bit older than most of the other young people engaged on the project.
Finally our Older people and year 9 Media Club are really gettting their teeth into their discussions-they have looked at a case of a Huddersfield shop keeper who was murdered recently and the way it was reported in the press. It’s amazing how the use of language can automatically put a slant on the way you see the people its describing. The tabloid newspapers use language like ‘yobs’ which automatically makes you think they are ‘bad’. Granted in this case they were, but there are very few stories in the press about the good things that young people do. We all agreed we’d like to see more positive reporting regarding young people. What was also interesting was when the two generations discussed these stories, their views were very similar and no one was condoning or trying to defend the poor behaviour of the young people involved. However, Ivy, one of our staunch older supporters did say that you could think all young people must behave like this if you just believed what you read or saw on TV, but she knows from working on other projects with RVHS that it’s only a small amount of young people who do.
We plan to record some of our debates and put it together as a pod cast for the exhibition.
Ok, I’m signing off for now. We’ve eaten all the bourbons, so better go to the shop for some more. If nothing else, the biccies will keep us together!
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