Lead Partner: The Wayland Partnership and Creative Arts East
Description
This action research project is now complete.
The Wayland Partnership, the development partnership for Watton and its surrounding villages had identified through some research that there were tensions between those people who had moved into the area more recently and people who had been living there for many years. They felt that there was an opportunity for a project that could look at some of the real life stories behind the headlines that so often appear and begin to educate the settled community, starting with the young people, about the real facts, figures and motivations for some of the newly established migrant population in Watton.
The Partnership approached Creative Arts East, the arts development organisation for Norfolk, and together developed a project to engage different sections of the community. This was also seen as an opportunity to develop a model for joint working which could be rolled out to other areas, and on this basis a wide range of funders provided financial support.
Summary
Main aims of the project:
· To promote better understanding and communication between the indigenous population and recently settled migrant workers and migrant families.
· To provide opportunities for young people at risk of disengagement from learning to research and develop a creative project focusing on personal stories of migration and change.
· To provide positive creative and learning activities for young people from Wayland over the summer holiday.
· To provide an opportunity for Wayland Community High School to form links with other schools and community groups in the area.
· To provide a focus for joint working and co-operation between a number of organisations and agencies working in the Wayland area with shared interests.
The project focused on individual stories of being uprooted and what ‘home’ means, concentrating on the current community profile of Watton and attempting to portray the positive experience of, and reasons for, leaving and address the negative aspects also associated with this. Overall the project placed emphasis on educating the settled young people within Watton to help create a positive experience for newcomers.
Stories were researched, recorded and interpreted by young people from the Wayland area using a range of art forms with the support of a team of professional arts practitioners, and presented to a wider public through performances and exhibitions. The core group of participants were young people from Wayland Community High School, some of whom were selected by staff on the basis of agreed criteria such as disengaging from education, at risk or under-performing and others who self-selected following participation in taster sessions.
All of the participating Partners – the school, CAE, Breckland Council, the Youth Council and the Wayland Partnership are keen to disseminate the project through their networks as widely as possible. CAE have used the project as a Case study for presentation at National events and the Wayland Partnership have promoted it through the Market Towns network regionally and will do so nationally at the end of this year. The project has been well promoted on Radio Norfolk and we have a local radio station (Wayland Radio) soon to get its full license and we are beginning to work with them in promoting all the migrant community activity.
A full report detailing the learning outcomes of the project can be downloaded below.
Contact Details
Jan GodfreyThe Wayland PartnershipWayland House High StreetWattonNorfolkIP25 6ART: 01953 883915E: contact@wayland.org.ukWebsite: http://www.wayland.org.uk/
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Final Report - Leaving Home Project.pdf | 109.43 KB |