envision

The context

The organisation

ArtSway is the contemporary visual arts venue in the New Forest, Hampshire. ArtSway sup-ports the development, display and distribution of new work by artists, and offers creative educational opportunities for audiences. ArtSway is one of the first National Lottery capital projects, funded through Arts Council England. The gallery was designed by architect Tony Fretton (Camden Arts Centre, Lisson Gallery, Quay Arts) and opened in 1997. Almost unique in the UK as a dedicated white space for the visual arts in a rural environment, ArtSway has developed a reputation for innovative exhibitions, such as the New Forest Pavilion at the 2005 and 2007 Venice Biennales. For more information go to: www.artsway.org.uk

ArtSway is an Arts Council England South East regularly funded organisation. ArtSway also receives funding from New Forest District Council; Hampshire County Council; Sway Parish Council; Foundation for Sport and the Arts; Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Ernest Cook Trust. ArtSway also collaborates with a number of organisations to deliver its residency pro-gramme – such as: Goethe Institut; Autograph ABP; Chinese Arts Centre; Arts Institute at Bournemouth and Milton Keynes Gallery.

There are four full-time members of staff: Director; Curator, Exhibitions and Education; Mar-keting and Press Officer and Gallery Manager. There is also a part-time bookkeeper and a rolling intern programme and placement programme. ArtSway’s annual turnover is £355,813.

The situation

What problem or opportunity was the project intended to address? Why does that matter? (For instance, if the problem was limited influence by young people on the gallery’s pro-gramme, say why the gallery saw that as a problem.)    
Prior to receiving funding from envision ArtSway had very little creative educational/ partici-pation opportunities to offer young people between the ages of 14 and 21. We had begun a relationship with Wessex Youth Offending Team, and had a longstanding partnership with Youth Options – with the intention of providing creative opportunities to young people from difficult backgrounds, alongside our programme of workshops for local schoolchildren. ArtSway was motivated to want to consult with young people in general to discover their needs and aspirations for visiting and working with a contemporary visual art gallery. ArtSway feels that providing constructive opportunities for young people will serve to educate them as to the possibilities of enjoying the visual arts, and how they can effectively participate by visiting a gallery, volunteering, or partaking in creative workshops.

The idea

The original aim of generator was to work with a broad cross-section of local schools, youth clubs and youth organisations (such as Youth Options). The focus of the project shifted to solely working with ‘hard to reach’ young people – such as young offenders, in essence young people who were very unlikely to attend a gallery, and perhaps felt disenfranchised from becoming involved. The aim was also to develop our youth policy and to offer creative opportunities for young people.

The project

Planning

How was the project developed (e.g. identifying the artists, the ideas for content, contacting the participants, to what extent were the young people able to influence the planning? etc.)?
The first task was to meet with the relevant leaders from ISSP and Youth Options to discover what they felt would be the best creative opportunity for the young people in their care. ArtSway’s Exhibitions and Education Officer suggested two artists that were ideally suited to lead a series of workshops: Steve Lewis and Roy Brown. Steve had experience of working with young offenders, and Roy with working with young people from a variety of back-grounds. These artists were selected out of discussions with ISSP and Youth Options.
Once the workshop leaders were selected, both met with the organisation they were as-signed to: Steve Lewis with ISSP and Roy Brown with Youth Options. Planning sessions with the young people were arranged, followed by setting dates for four consecutive workshops per youth organisation over a four-week period. The content of the workshops were dis-cussed during the planning sessions, in collaboration with the young people, with ideas and content continuing to evolve over the four-week period of the workshops.

Delivery

How did the project itself happen? How many sessions, who came, what was done? Did plans have to be changed, if so why and how? Don’t forget basic information like project dates.
The project mainly took place at ArtSway, with 7 sessions at the gallery and one at the Mel-bourne Centre, a Pupil Referral Unit in Southampton. The workshops at ArtSway took place in the education room, media suite and in the galleries themselves, as well as outside in ArtSway’s grounds. There were two planning sessions that involved the young people: one in Southampton with ISSP (30 March) and Winchester with Youth Options (24 May). There were a total of 8 young people form ISSP (this number fluctuated from week-to-week due to some being arrested or sentenced to prison), and 4 from Youth Options. There were also a number of staff members from both organisations – approximately 5 from ISSP and approximately 6 from Youth Options – these numbers also fluctuated over the duration of the workshops. There were 8 workshops in total – 4 for ISSP (18 and 25 April, and 2 and 9 May) and 4 for Youth Options (13, 20, 27 June and 4 July).
The plans for the workshops did not change – although due to the agitated behaviour of some of the young people from Youth Options, it was suggested at one point that they with-draw from the project. This did not happen, and they completed the project.

Outcomes

Impact on participants

What change did the participants report? What changes did the artists or other professionals involved observe? Are there any concrete results (i.e. changes in behaviour such as coming to the gallery independently) as opposed to changes in attitudes or developments in their ideas?
Many of the participants reported a new appreciation for contemporary art, and many felt they were more comfortable in visiting a gallery and a few indicated that they would return in the future. However, the questionnaire’s often proved contradictory results – with one participant claiming that his experience of coming to ArtSway was ‘dull’, ‘fun’ and ‘not for me’. Most participants stated that the gallery was welcoming and friendly, and that they would like to know more about contemporary art, and creative opportunities (please see appendix, section 1 for more details).
Two young people from ISSP did in fact return to volunteer after the workshops had been completed (please see appendix, section 2). Unfortunately – one of these young men was recently sentenced to two years in prison, and the other has since left the care of ISSP. Working with ISSP has been incredibly rewarding, but the most frustrating aspect of the project was retention, and being able to encourage the young people to return to the gallery. Many are wary of becoming involved, perhaps due to their social background.

Impact on others involved

Did the partners, artists, educators, gallery staff or other people involved in the project re-port any changes in their thinking, attitudes or intentions. Again, have there been any concrete results?
Once generator was complete, Lorna Digweed, Youth Arts Coordinator for the Wessex Youth Offending Team sent a report to ArtSway (appendix, section 2) describing the impact of the workshop on the young people form ISSP. She ended her testimonial by stating:
“Overall, the project gave all young people involved a new experience and made them think about art galleries and artists in a new way. The project paved the way for other arts pro-jects and gave the young people the confidence to participate. “
Becky Pollard, Director of Services (Support) at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Youth Options commented after the project had finished that:
“Despite one or two members of staff's (from the school) reservations, I feel the boys got a great deal from the project - and it was great for them to work with Roy.”
Both artists selected to run the workshops had prior experience of working with young of-fenders and/ or young people with behavioural problems or from Pupil Referral Units. In gen-eral, the attitudes and intentions of educators and gallery staff did not change; the main – and most important change – was with some of the young people involved. An example of this is one participant, named Luke from ISSP who in response to a questionnaire set by ArtSway commented that he would probably go to another gallery in the future, and would like to ‘go to a graffiti exhibition’ (please see appendix, section 3).

Institutional change

Has the gallery adopted or planned to adopt different practices or procedures as a result? Have any of the other organisational partners been influenced in their work?
Due to the short turn-around time in developing and realising the generator project from being awarded funding – it is still a little too early to gauge which direction ArtSway will take in the future with regards to providing a youth friendly environment. However, the aim is to continue to work with ‘hard to reach’ young people and develop a more youth friendly policy for ArtSway, and to continue our research by working with schools and youth clubs. The support from envision has, however, been invaluable and has allowed ArtSway to undertake a sustained period of intensive research that it would otherwise not have been able to undertake.

Lessons learned

What worked and what didn’t

1)    In general, the young people quickly became comfortable in the gallery context, and felt able to comment and provide opinions on the gallery and the artworks on dis-play.
2)    The creative workshops – thanks to effective workshop leaders – were engaging and stimulating, and allowed participants to express themselves in a creative manner.
3)    ArtSway was able to develop an effective working relationship with Wessex YOT/ ISSP and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Youth Options, and contributed to and en-hanced their programme of events for young people in their care.
4)    The planning sessions with each organisation outlined the main priorities for both strands of the project, and what outcomes were to be expected.
By giving responsibility to the young people for using expensive and sensitive camera equipment during the workshops engendered a sense of trust. Also – using some equipment in unusual ways, or ways the young people had not experienced previously, was successful. Examples of this was Roy Brown projecting images of the young people on to the walls of one of ArtSway’s galleries, so they could draw around them and create stencils.
The project – as it was intended – was a reasonable success. However, one significant prob-lem was the retention rate of young people from ISSP. The four creative workshop sessions saw more-or-less the same participants, but not long after those ended many of the young people involved were either arrested for new crimes, were sent to prison or left ISSP. This has made it difficult to gather reports and questionnaires – and also to gauge any intentions form young people to return to ArtSway independently.
The proposed ‘round table discussions’ were considered – in consultation with ISSP and Youth Options – to not be practical. This was due to the perceived lack of confidence in-group discussions demonstrated by many of the young people, and the lack of personal es-teem in their own educational abilities. However, it was decided that the discussions would become part of a question and answer session with each participant – either led by a work-shop leader (such as Roy Brown), ArtSway’s Education Officer, or someone in authority from ISSP or Youth Options. In most instances, the latter approach made the young people feel more relaxed and readily able to give constructive feedback.

Next steps

How have the outcomes impacted upon the organisation / your future work? How will the organisation use and build on this action research?
The research gathered so far from generator is somewhat narrow as it focuses on only one particular section of perceived young people – those that are ‘hard to reach’. ArtSway’s intention is to continue to work with Wessex YOT and ISSP, and also Youth Options. This will take the form of further consultation with leaders from youth organisations – and to try and identify further creative opportunities that would benefit the young people in their care. For any research from generator to be balanced and of relevance, it is intended that ArtSway continues its work with local schools – to effectively gauge the overall needs of a range of young people from a range of social, educational and economic backgrounds. Once this is done and research is evaluated, ArtSway intends to convene a youth advisory panel to assist with the development and delivery of creative and interactive opportunities for young people.

Images

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Appendix

•    Section 1: Questionnaires by young people and supervisors from Youth Options.
•    Section 2: A testimonial report from Lorna Digweed, Youth Arts Coordinator, Wessex Youth Offending Team.
•    Section 3: A written report by ‘Luke’ from ISSP.
•    Section 4: A rough edit of ‘A Life of Grime’ – a documentary film made by young people from ISSP.
•    Section 5: A disc containing 10 images – 5 from the ISSP workshops, and 5 from the Youth Options workshops.

7    Statistical information for envision’s Grants for the Arts Activity Report
7.1    Where did your project take place?
Did your activity happen in a specific place (or places)?
    a    Your activity happened in a specific place (or places)
If your activity happened in a particular place, please give us the address and postcode of
where most of your activity took place.  
Full address
ArtSway, Station Road, Sway, Hampshire

Full postcode    S    O    4    1        6  
B    A

If the place where your activity happened does not have an address (for example, it was in a park), please tell us where it took place and give us the name of the lo-cal authority area instead.
      

Other places where your activity happened
If your activity happened in other places, please give us the postcodes of each place.  If any of the places do not have a postcode, please give us the name of the local authority area instead. We have made space for you to give details of up to five other places.  Please use a separate sheet if you need more and write ‘See attachment’ on the first line below.

Full postcode or local authority area: SO14 3AY
Full postcode or local authority area: SO23 9EF
Full postcode or local authority area: SO14 5FB
Full postcode or local authority area:      
Full postcode or local authority area:      

If you have filled in part a, go to question 3. If part a is not relevant to your activity, please fill in part b.

    b    Your activity was not specific to a place
If your activity was not specific to a place, please give details. (For example, ‘This activity happened across a wide area or across a region’, ‘This activity took place on the internet’ or ‘We produced a publication’.)



7.2        How many people do you estimate benefited from the activity?
Please give an estimate for your activity.

‘Taking part’ means doing the activity. ‘Audience’ includes people going to an exhibition or performance, and people getting access to work that is printed, recorded, broadcast or on the internet.

This activity    Number
    
Artists    2
    
Others taking part    20
    
Audience         

7.3        What are the age ranges of the people who benefited from your activity? Mark all relevant boxes.
    
     
 All age ranges
    
 
 Children under five
    
 
 Children (five to 11)
    
X     Young people (12 to 15)
    
X     Young people (16 to 19)
    
     
 Young people (20 to 24)
    
     
 Adults (25 to 64)
    
     
 Adults (65 and over)

7.4    Was your activity directed at, or particularly relevant to, any of the following groups of people? Please mark any relevant boxes.
    
     
 Disabled people
    
X     People at risk of ‘social exclusion’ (not being able to take part fully in society because of, for example, poverty, prejudice or isolation)
    
    
     
 Asian or Asian British (includes Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani
 or any other Asian background)
    
    
X     Black or Black British (includes African, Caribbean)
    
     
 Chinese
    
     
 Any other ethnic group
 (Please describe below in no more than 10 words.)
    
      

7.5    Please give details of the results of your activity.

This activity    Number
    
Number of performance or exhibition days         
    
Number of new products or commissions*

         
    
Period of employment for artists (in days)    12
    
Number of sessions for education, training or taking part. ‘Taking part’ means doing the activity (Divide the day into three sessions - morning, afternoon and evening. A ‘session’ is any one of, or part of one of, these. For ex-ample, a half-day education workshop would be one session.)    
    20