envision

The context

The organisation

ProjectBase is a contemporary visual arts organisation commissioning internationally established artists to work with local communities to present exciting and innovative projects.  The organisation is non-venue based with a remit to work in the county of Cornwall, and not in one specific location, urban setting or venue. This means we do not have a permanent exhibition or interaction space.
From 7 July to 2 September 2007 ProjectBase presented social systems, an exhibition of new works by international artists and artists’ collectives, at Newlyn Art Gallery, The Exchange, Tate St Ives and in the Public Realm.
ProjectBase aims to raise expectation of contemporary visual art in Cornwall and create a platform for critical debate. The Interaction and Communications Programme aim to make contemporary art accessible to a wide range of audiences, and specifically to target new, under-represented audiences. The Interaction programme aims to engage children, young people and intergenerational groups in the broadest sense and extends this aim to specifically target rural and urban areas that have limited access to the visual arts in Cornwall.
Our organisational partners include Newlyn Art Gallery, Tate St Ives and University College Falmouth, all of which are represented on the Board of Trustees.
ProjectBase currently has four full time staff and, up to August 2007, has engaged five volunteer interns. The organisation is regularly funded by Arts Council England South West and receives approximately £38,000 per year. Due to the organisation being project-led and funds being raised for specific projects, the annual turnover fluctuates. The annual turnover for 2006 / 07 are £143,092.54.
In the past twelve months the organisation has received support from Awards for All, Cornwall County Council, Embassy of Denmark, The Henry Moore Foundation and Penwith District Council. In addition the Interaction Programme has received support from Trinity Arts Award Access, Creative Partnerships, Creative Skills, engage, The Prince of Wales Trusts (Arts and Kids START) and The Services for Children Young People and Families.
ProjectBase is a registered Arts Award centre and in July 2007 supported six young people in receiving the organisation’s first Arts Awards at silver level. The organisation is currently piloting projects that support other Arts Award centres in the region.
In early 2007 the organisation received a Drawing Inspiration Award for the Big Draw Project undertaken in autumn 2006.

Website: ProjectBase

The situation

ProjectBase’s remit is a visual arts commissioning organisation for Cornwall. Historically, the organisation has worked primarily in the Penwith district of the county and worked in partnership with Tate St Ives and Newlyn Art Gallery to host art exhibitions.
Over the last eighteen months the organisation has developed and sustained a rolling Interaction Programme to support the development of new partnerships across the county and involve new audiences in our commissions and projects, including exhibitions led by our organisational partners. This is the first time the organisation has developed its own programme of learning and inclusion. In previous years different education teams at partner galleries have coordinated this work independently. By embedding a learning and inclusion programme at the heart of the organisation we have been able to involve audiences in the whole commissioning process and the continual development of a dialogue with artists rather than solely in the presentation of the final artworks during exhibition. The Interaction Programme has enabled the organisation to identify new innovative ways of engaging audiences and in particular young people and youth support agencies, involving them in decision-making and development of commissions. We have previously recognised that involving them in these processes empowers and informs the young people, our organisation and organisational partners.
This Art Ambassador action research project aimed at engaging and supporting young people, with English as an additional language and who have limited experience of the visual arts, in the process of action research and consultation relating to their experience of Cornwall as a venue for the visual arts and a location for international artists to respond to.
Newlyn Art Gallery were invited to work in partnership on this action research because the project planned to involve Eloisa Cartonera, an artist collective presenting a new commission as part of the launch exhibition at The Exchange, a new gallery being opened and managed by Newlyn Art Gallery, and with a new staff team. The partnership with the gallery aimed to make the experience for the young people welcoming and positive and in turn to share and support the development of a new education programme at The Exchange. ProjectBase, Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange wanted to encourage an open dialogue with young people to inform the provision of visual arts in Cornwall and in particular within their organisations.
The Equality and Diversity Service joined the partnership to discover more about creative consultation techniques and new innovative ways to deliver their work in breaking down barriers for ethnic minority groups in Cornwall. The Equality and Diversity Service wanted to gain insight into the experience these young people have of living in the county of Cornwall and to identify new innovative ways of collecting this information within their existing capacity and without increasing the demands on their staff. The organisation has been working with Poltair School for a number of years although with less contact in the last few years.
Poltair School have little history of working with a gallery or visual arts organisation. The school is currently undergoing renovation of many of its old buildings and this is increasing pressures and restricting the flexibility of the school timetable and staff. The Student Support Unit at Poltair School is recognised by The Equality and Diversity Service for succeeding in integrating ethnic minorities well within the school and in providing good support for young people who have English as an additional language. However there is a limitation on this support causing a need to find ways of consulting EAL students that has little or no impact on existing resources and capacity.

The idea

The original idea for the research was to explore new and effective ways to give young people with English as an additional language a voice in the visual arts in Cornwall. This aimed to be achieved through: meeting with partner organisations; identifying young people to participate; developing relationships with partner organisations and young people; discussion with young people in order to develop a plan of actions; delivering this plan of actions in partnership with the young people; and by continually reviewing the program and listening to the young peoples views and implementing suggestions.
This original idea was predicted to provide ProjectBase and The Exchange with information to inform future programming, policy and strategy and in particular to inform the continuous development of the Art Ambassador scheme at ProjectBase, and The Exchange's plans to develop a youth led space in the gallery building. The project creates an open dialogue with young people, involving them in the current situations of these organisations, listening to their ideas and observing their participation in order to recognise their response.
The partnership with The Equality and Diversity Service provided opportunity to identify young people speaking English as an additional language and who are currently living in Cornwall.  The partnership also provided opportunity to gain insight into best practice and build on their experience of working with ethnic minority communities. There are populations of EAL families that are relatively unseen throughout Cornwall, predominantly being migrant families who come for employment, often being sent from factories in their home countries to jobs in this country. The language barriers faced by the young people vary according to their countries of origin, their previous education, how long they have been in the UK and the language skills of parents.
The intention of the action research was to initiate a dialogue with these young people that would inform all organisational partners as well as provide potential starting points for sustainable partnerships that enable young people to have a voice in the visual arts in their county.

The project

Planning

Having previously recognised the value of involving young people in our programmes and planning ProjectBase were interested in continuing to explore youth led approaches to interacting with artworks, artists and arts organisations.
As the lead organisation, the Interaction Programmer at ProjectBase undertook the role of Project Manager and employed a Freelance Evaluation Coordinator to be involved from the planning stages of the project.
At this stage we recognised that we wanted to continue to engage young people we had not previously worked with and who have previously had very little access to the visual arts in Cornwall. In particular we were interested in exploring ways we could work in partnership with organisations that support young people recognised as minority groups. For this reason we began a dialogue with The Equality and Diversity Service.
Through initial discussion with The Equality and Diversity Service, Poltair School was identified as having a large number of students with English as an additional language, of which the majority spoke Portuguese as a first language and met envisions’ age requirements. Through these early discussions ProjectBase were keen to identify and address the aims of these partner organisations.
In order to fulfil their organisational remit The Equality and Diversity service aim to discover more about how EAL young people feel about living in the county of Cornwall. They were also interested in exploring new processes for gathering this information and consulting these young people effectively, whilst being creative, sustainable and innovative.
After these initial discussions contact with Poltair School was made through The Equality and Diversity service and followed up by ProjectBase. The school were interested in taking part in the project and agreed to attend an initial planning meeting.
Newlyn Art Gallery were invited to join the partnership as the partner venue and in order to increase their outreach and involve young people in the work of their organisation. The gallery also attended the initial planning meeting.
After all partners had agreed an interest in the project an initial planning meeting took place attended by representatives from all partner organisations. The meeting provided an introduction to the work of each partner organisation and their reasons for joining the project. It also allowed partners to identify the main aims of the project and confirm a plan of action. At this first meeting the following decisions and recommendations were made:
Recommendations
♣    A diverse and mixed language group is more inclusive, less likely to reinforce existing barriers between EAL and EFL students in isolation and more likely to provide an alternative way of working with EAL students.
♣    Involving Argentine artist collective Eloisa Cartonera will enable EAL young people to communicate in their first language and therefore may increase their understanding of the artwork, artists and project.
♣    The school are best placed to identify ten participants who would work well together because they know the young people well.
♣    For continuity of the project and the continuous professional development of all project staff it is important that there is one recognised lead contact from each partner organisation and the same member of school staff that attends all project sessions.
Plan of action
♣    Ten full day sessions to take place over ten consecutive weeks in the summer term.
♣    Project sessions to take place in the gallery and at school.
♣    Poltair School to identify a group of ten young people from years 9 and 10 some of whom will be recognised as EAL students and others EFL students of mixed gender.
♣    Poltair School to commit to providing one teaching assistant to support all project sessions and review meetings.
♣    The Interaction Programmer at ProjectBase to continue to lead the project as Project Manager.
♣    The Project Manager in collaboration with education staff at Newlyn Art Gallery to identify a project facilitator.
♣    All project staff to commit to attending regular review meetings to take place one third and two thirds of the way through the project and a final evaluation review meeting after the last project session. The purpose of these meetings would be to identify what has taken place, observations made and a plan of action in how to move forward or make relevant changes to any pre-planned activity.
♣    Content of the project sessions to be kept loose and aim to provide starting points for a variety of dialogues whilst allowing young people to lead the focus and direction of sessions.
♣    Young people to experience working directly with artworks in the ProjectBase launch show social systems and with artist collective Eloisa Cartonera.
After this meeting and through further discussion with the project facilitator it was decided that beyond introducing the artists and researching the exhibition the outcomes of project sessions would not be defined. Instead they would be left open to take shape through decisions made by the young people. In this way the project would be planned as it developed.
In these early sessions and through out the project the young people would be encouraged to play an active role in recording their responses, ideas and thoughts through a variety of means including an anonymous project log book, individual disposable cameras, visual questionnaires and interviews coordinated by the evaluation coordinator.

Delivery

As planned the project ran over ten sessions. Each session took place over the duration of a full school day as follows:
♣    6 June 2007    -    Practical workshop and dialogue in school    
♣    13 June 2007    -    Practical workshop and dialogue in school    
♣    14 June 2007    -    Practical workshop and dialogue in school    
♣    20 June 2007     -    Practical workshop and dialogue in school    
♣    4 July 2007     -    Practical workshop and dialogue in school    
♣    5 July 2007     -     Gallery visit to The Exchange
-     Participation in artwork with Eloisa Cartonera at The   Exchange
♣    6 July 2007     -    Preview visit to the opening of social systems at Tate St
Ives
-    Participation in performance artwork with Surasi Kusolwong at Tate St Ives
♣    11 July 2007     -    Gallery visit to Newlyn Art Gallery
♣    18 July 2007     -    Participation in artwork with Eloisa Cartonera at The
Exchange
♣    19 July 2007     -    Participation in artwork with Eloisa Cartonera at The
Exchange
The action research was initiated by visual images and examples of artworks by social systems artists and artist collectives to create an open dialogue. All sessions used a variety of communication methods and learning styles, incorporating audio, visual, kinaesthetic, verbal and sensory based activities, with the aim of embracing a diverse mix of needs and in particular to overcome language barriers. The young people were supported to communicate in all and any language (verbal and non-verbal) they could speak and work together to create a shared understanding of ideas. Through these activities project staff recognised a need for some young people with English as an additional language to receive additional support and a Portuguese language teacher was employed to support the remaining six sessions.  
The gallery visits provided stimulus for dialogue and opportunity to experience art galleries and art works in situ. The gallery visits also provided opportunity to interact with international artists and artist collectives (including Eloisa Cartonera, Hassan Hajjaj and Surasi Kusolwong) and actively participate in international artworks (including a performance by Surasi Kusolwong and the opportunity to join the Penzance Cartonera working collaboratively with Eloisa Cartonera). Participants and project staff using photography, audio recordings, text and visual work documented these processes. Throughout, this material was used as a point of reference for change or addition of thoughts, ideas and experience.
At times attendance was affected by outside activity including: work experience placements, off site activity with the Emergency Services and school activity week. Due to the time scale of the project and the delay in starting the project it was difficult to change project dates therefore on these occasions some young people were unable to take part in project sessions. However four out of ten young people decided to attend project sessions despite having paid to do other activities during activity week, one of these young people was previously identified to have poor attendance.
Attendance improved over the period of the project, with two young people attending all sessions, four young people missing only one or two sessions, and only two young people missing up to five sessions. With the exception of one young person, who was absent for medical reasons, all young people attended the last two sessions.

Outcomes

Impact on participants

Changes in behaviour include:
♣    Increased integration of different nationalities – Comment from one EFL participant stated that he would never normally collaborate with Portuguese peers. Observation from school staff noticed marked difference in the quality of contact between EAL and EFL participants.
♣    Increased confidence particularly in communication – EAL participants were observed by school staff to communicate with each other more frequently than they had done before, with staff previously citing divides between certain groups within the EAL community. School and project staffs have noticed EAL participants to use / speak English more frequently and EFL participants to use non-verbal communication methods as the project progressed. Also a number of both EAL and EFL young people commented that they found communication easier after the project and that they felt more confident about talking and expressing their opinions.
♣    Visiting galleries and going to new places – The majority of the group have stated that they would like to make return visits to galleries. One participant, who had previously stated ‘I’m not one of those who goes into galleries’, has already independently taken his whole family to visit Newlyn Art Gallery, The Exchange and Tate St Ives.
♣    Increased participation and involvement from the majority of young people – This has been observed by all project staff in different ways, one example being noted as ‘all participants have shown enthusiasm and confidence in approaching gallery invigilators and others to ask questions and share ideas’.
♣    Improvement in attendance – In particular one EAL participant, previously at a pupil referral unit and known as a poor attendee has made a notable transition to integrating with Portuguese and English communities during the project with attendance improving significantly over the duration of the project.

Changes in attitude include:
♣    New interests in visiting galleries and working with arts organisations – The majority of participants have stated that they would like to continue to collaborate with ProjectBase and partner galleries in the next academic year.
♣    Increase in confidence and happiness of young people – Lead teaching assistant on the project team has made many positive observations about the outlook of participants, for example: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mike smile so much’.
Development of skills, knowledge and experience include:
♣    Increased understanding of the visual arts – The young people discussed, responded and contributed to artwork of international significance collaborating with international artists.
♣    Using new processes and methods – The young people have participated in new ways of working.
♣    Undertaking new experiences – Participants have met international artists, collaborated with them and visited art galleries.
♣    Exposure to new ways of working, thinking and learning.
♣    Exhibited artwork in a pubic art gallery – Participants accepted the invitation to join the Penzance Cartonera and collaborate with Eloisa Cartonera; this has included contributing artwork to Eloisa Cartonera’s project space at The Exchange. All young people took up this opportunity, many taking their country of origin or Cornwall as a theme for this work.
♣    Skill and ability in communication between young people.

Impact on others involved

The Equality and Diversity Service (Partner):
♣    Recognise the benefits of working with the visual arts to contribute effectively to their existing remit – The organisation has stated that they would like to continue working in partnership with ProjectBase to use action research and the visual arts as a tool in meeting their own agenda.
♣    Recognise that mixing EAL and EFL students in the same working group promotes an inclusive and positive environment that is still able to understand individual needs and learning requirements, and significantly reduce the sense of isolation and exclusion – This will continue to be explored through further work in partnership with ProjectBase.
♣    Informed decision-making contributing to organisational strategy and in particular how strategy can be more flexible and positively support time management for its staff.
♣    Recognise the importance of staff continuity over the timescale of a project – This has been embedded in the new organisational strategy.
The Exchange The (Partner):
♣    Working in partnership with a variety of agencies has enabled the gallery to increase its outreach and work with communities it would otherwise be unable to due to geographic location.
♣    Pooling resources and experience in a multi-partnership approach has enabled the gallery to exceed existing capacity.
Poltair School (Student Support Staff: Teachers and Teaching Assistants):
♣    Recognise the value to students and in particular the increase in integration between EAL and EFL students - The student support unit has stated that they would like to continue working in partnership with ProjectBase in the next academic year.
♣    Improvement in students well being and attitude to work has exceeded the expectation of staff supporting the project – The lead teaching assistant has shared her enthusiasm with other staff by presenting the project and updating staff at weekly staff meetings. The Student Support unit will also present the project to others through a display in school in the autumn term.
♣    Recognise the flexibility that non-venue based arts organisations like ProjectBase can offer – ProjectBase have been able to work around the school timetable, staff capacity and have built transport costs into project budgets.
♣    Recognise the value of working with arts organisations in school before visiting galleries - In particular this is felt to have benefited EAL students by strengthening the context for any gallery visits.
♣    Recognise continuing professional development of their own staff in providing one staff member to support all project sessions rather than a variety of different staff members. The continuity of experience for one person provides a greater understanding of the project methodology, aims, objectives, outcomes and impact, and greater support to participants.
ProjectBase (Project Manager, Evaluation Coordinator, Interaction Facilitator)
♣    Recognise new ways in overcoming language barriers in working with EAL young people and in particular through inclusion of additional project staff specialising in language support at all sessions – This has provided project staff with opportunity to recognise informal discussions about the project that we would otherwise be unaware of. It is also recognised that the inclusion of this role brokers social difference between all participants and decreases peer pressure to translate for each other. It is also noted that prior to the inclusion of the EAL support teacher, EAL students worried about not being able to catch up on other school work they were missing, with the inclusion of the EAL teacher greater value was given to learning in the project and less worries about missing other learning opportunities. In the future ProjectBase will build this cost into project budgets at the start of projects.
♣    Recognise that providing opportunity for EAL young people to collaborate with international artists who share the same first language helps to overcome language barriers - ProjectBase will continue to recognise the first languages spoken by international artists they commission and the benefits to EAL communities speaking these languages in Cornwall.
♣    Recognise the value of working in school before visiting galleries - In particular this is felt to have benefited EAL students by strengthening the context for any gallery visits.
♣    Recognise that EAL students who are new to the UK may have different experiences of learning and education that differs from the English national curriculum - We have discovered that schools in Portugal teach using didactic methods with much less opportunity for personal reflection and interpretation.
♣    Recognise that mixing EAL and EFL students in the same working group promotes an inclusive and positive environment that is still able to understand individual needs and learning requirements, and significantly reduce the sense of isolation and exclusion – This will continue to be explored through further work in partnership with The Equality and Diversity Service, in particular we will look at ways we can work with EAL young people through our existing Art Ambassador partners across the region.
Eloisa Cartonera (International artist collective)
♣    Recognise the experience has provided them with a richer and more vibrant experience of communities in Cornwall.

Institutional change

The school concludes the impact of the action research project to be positive for participants and staff have expressed desire to work further with these methods and with ProjectBase. It is important to note that ProjectBase is the first arts organisation that the School Support Centre has ever worked in partnership with.
♣    The Equality and Diversity Service have used information from the project to inform decisions made in developing their organisational strategy, particularly addressing the need to be more flexible and manage staff time more efficiently. The Equality and Diversity Service would like to continue developing the partnership with ProjectBase.
♣    ProjectBase will use information from the project to become more inclusive to individuals with English as a foreign language. In particular we will consult with The Equality and Diversity Service and Art Ambassador partner schools in order to engage more EAL students in the opportunities we have available to them.

Lessons learned

What worked and what didn’t

Working with a mixed EAL and EFL group - This helped to build bridges between groups who by the admission of both school staff and participants do not usually mix.
♣    Embracing participants’ first languages at all stages of the project - This helped to break down barriers between EAL and EFL students with each gaining further understanding of the others language and becoming more familiar in using alternative communication tools.
♣    Working closely and collaboratively with international artists - This increased participants’ confidence in making artwork and of understanding contemporary art.
♣    Researching artists and artworks before visiting galleries – This process created a sense of expectation and anticipation in participants. Many of who were excited about meeting the artists and planned questions to ask them. This research also provided a strong foundation to build the rest of the project on.
♣    Employing the EAL Support Teacher – After several sessions it was recognised that all participants were finding the project methodology and youth led approach a new and at times challenging way of working in the school environment. The subject of contemporary art and artists was also a new experience for the majority of participants. In addition to this EAL participants were communicating primarily in a language foreign to them. Employing the EAL support teacher provided a mechanism for EAL students to gain further understanding and express themselves further.  
Particularly successful sessions included:
♣    A workshop involving English and Portuguese words being translated by participants and project staff. The words were written in both languages one on each side of the same piece of card and then made into stories. The activity explored artworks involved in social systems.
♣    Presenting artwork produced in school-based sessions to Eloisa Cartonera at the Exchange, and including this in their project space. Participants were able to present their work in their first language with translation support for others form the EAL support teacher. This gave participants a sense of ownership and a belief in the quality and value of their work.
What didn’t work?
♣    Imbalance of seven EAL to three EFL participants - On occasions where some EFL participants were absent through sickness the imbalance was apparent. On one occasion, where only one EFL student was present he became very withdrawn from the activity.
♣    Project activities clashing with school timetable - It was acknowledged that numbers were directly affected on two occasions by pre-arranged school activities.
♣    Geographic location - The school is based over 60 miles away from the gallery and therefore travel time is over an hour. Therefore on gallery-based session over two hours of the day is needed for travel reducing the contact time available with project facilitators. On occasion the Interaction Facilitator and artists from Eloisa Cartonera travelled with the young people providing informal contact time.
♣    Having a variety of teaching assistants supporting the project - During the first sessions in school the nominated teaching assistant supporting the project changed as many as five times in one day. This was due to commitments to other young people, the existing school timetable and exam invigilation. All partners acknowledged this was not ideal and the school were able to address this issue and provide the same staff member to four out of five gallery visits.
♣    Limited use of space within the school: Due to building developments on the school site, the school could not provide the same space for any project day. This meant a room change had to be made at least once during every school based session contributing to disruption in the set up and delivery of activity.
♣    Completing written questionnaires - Due to the variety of first languages spoken, and the differing ability and confidence with the English language, difficulty arose in completing written questionnaires. In an attempt to overcome this, participants were able to complete their questionnaires in written word or orally in interview with the Evaluation Coordinator, supported by the EAL support teacher. This meant the Evaluation Coordinator was not always aware of how questions and responses were being translated. Most young people gave little attention to what questions were being asked when answering multiple-choice questions.

Next steps

ProjectBase will use information from the project to become more inclusive to individuals with English as a foreign language and in particular to develop our Art Ambassador scheme. We will continue to develop the partnership with The Equality and Diversity Service in order to inform best practice, identify EAL young people in Cornwall and broker existing and new partnerships with schools in Cornwall.
This research has enabled us to create a strong foundation for building a sustainable Art Ambassador programme at Poltair School, whom we had not previously worked with, and we are keen to work with the school to develop this further involving other young people at Poltair.
All project partners will share the findings of the project with staff at their organisations. Poltair School will celebrate the project through an in-school exhibition of artworks made during the project in the autumn term. The Equality and Diversity service will disseminate project findings at a regional exhibition in October 2007 as part of Black History Month. ProjectBase will use the project as a case study disseminating the research to arts and education organisations in the region.

Appendix

Appendix 1 –  Partnership Agreement Copy
This agreement applies to the organisations and project partnership as identified below.

LEAD ORGANISATION:            ProjectBase Cornwall Ltd.
        
Main contact:                   Georgina Kennedy, Interaction Programmer    
    
_______________________________________________________________

PARTNER ORGANISATION:           Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange
Main Contact:        Claire Lloyd, Deputy Director and Learning & Inclusion Manager

PARTNER ORGANISATION:           The Equality and Diversity Service
Main Contact:        Ginny Harrison-White, Head of Equality and Diversity Service and Marten Holmes

PARTNER ORGANISATION:    Poltair School     
Main Contact:                       Stephen Watkinson, Head of Student Services
                       Lesley Warrick, Support Worker Student Services
_______________________________________________________________

PROJECT TITLE:    Art Ambassadors – ProjectBase, Newlyn Art    Gallery and The Exchange    
        
PROJECT START DATE:             1 February 2007     

PROJECT END DATE:               31 July 2007

DATE OF ISSUE:               26 April 2007
_______________________________________________________________


1.    Project
The project is an Art Ambassador project at ProjectBase in partnership with The Equality and Diversity Service, Poltair School, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, with support from en-vision and engage. The project aims to fulfil the objectives of all partners as outlined in the project brief. The project extends its aim to develop sustainable relationships between participants and partner organisations.

2.    Partnership - ProjectBase
ProjectBase will lead the partnership and manage the project through: coordinating project sessions; coordinating and managing evaluation and review; managing budgets and finance; and supporting communications between partners. ProjectBase will contract a freelance Project Facilitator and Evaluation Coordinator.

3.    Partnership – Newlyn Art Gallery Management
Newlyn Art Gallery Management are project partners and will support the project by providing: access to galleries and exhibition; a cash contribution of £1000; Deputy Director and Learning & Inclusion Managers time as support in kind. The Gallery commits to supporting evaluation and review processes, contributing to the planning of the project and attending review meetings.

4.    Partnership – Equality and Diversity Service
The Equality and Diversity Service are project partners and will support the project by providing: a cash contribution of £1000 and a staff member to support the young people during project sessions and attend review meetings on behalf of The Equality & Diversity Service. The Equality and Diversity Service commit to supporting evaluation and review processes, contributing to the planning of the project, attending review meetings and in partnership with Poltair School are responsible for identifying the young people who will participate in the project.

5.    Partnership – Poltair School
Poltair School are project partners and will support the project by providing a member of Student Support Services staff at all project sessions as support in kind. In addition to this Student Support Services at Poltair School commit to supporting evaluation and review processes, contributing to the planning of the project and attending review meetings.

6. Finance
Income

engage - envision
2500
Newlyn Art Galleries Management
1000
Equality & Diversity Service
1000
TOTAL
4500

Support in Kind
Cash Equivalent
Poltair School Staff Time (based on 12 days at £25,000 pro rata)
1150
The Equality and Diversity Team Staff Time (based on 12 days at £25,000 pro rata)
1150
Newlyn Art Gallery Education Officer Time (based on 12 days at £24,000 pro rata)
1100
ProjectBase International Artist's Time (based on 2 artists for 2 days at £300 a day)
1200
ProjectBase Interaction Programmer Time (based on 12 days at £20,000 pro rata)
950
TOTAL equivalent to
4600

5.    Documentation
    ProjectBase may record student participation in the project by taking photographs or film of the activity. Written permissions will be sought before any photographs or films are taken. ProjectBase, the partners and the project funders (engage and envision) may use these photographs to support evaluation, and in promotional materials which can include websites, printed material and advertising.

Agreement signed by all partners.

Appendix 2 – Evaluation Plan

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Revised February 2007


Aim

The aim is to give young people from Poltair School, with English as an additional language, a voice in the visual arts in Cornwall.

Objectives

By meeting with the partner organisations and identifying the young people.

By developing relationships with the partner organisations and the young people.

By discussion with the young people in order to develop a plan of activities.

By delivering this plan of activities in partnership with the young people.

By continually reviewing the program and listening to the young peoples views and implementing suggestions.







INDICATORS

PROPOSED METHOD OF  COLLECTING DATA
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLECTING DATA
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANALYSISING THE COLLECTED DATA

Prior to Project Sessions
Staff have all met

Minutes of initial staff meeting to be made including info on who is in attendance (Initial meeting with staff from ProjectBase, the equality and diversity service, the school, Newlyn Gallery’s education officer and the project facilitator)
Project Coordinator
Project Coordinator

Staff and young people have met

Minutes of meeting to be made including info on who is in attendance (The identified group of young people have an initial meeting with the staff they will work with on the project)
Project Coordinator
Project Coordinator
During Project Sessions
Initial audit of current experience and young people’s knowledge of who is involved and what they do
A questionnaire, probably a visual one, is used to gather information about participants and staffs understanding of the roles of the different partner organisations
Project Coordinator and Facilitator
Discussion between young people, facilitator, coordinator and all support staff

Young people understand aims and objectives of project
The young people can answer questions about what we are doing
Facilitator
Facilitator, young people and all support staff
Session plan is developed in conjunction with the young people and staff

Agreement is reached for the project activities which encapsulates all the requirements of the partners and which the young people are happy to take part in
Facilitator
Facilitator, young people and all support staff

Sessions are carried out and young people attend sessions

Register (in the form of pre-printed lists of all staff and participants who could be there so that names can just be ticked off) and including record of time/date/location of session, aims and objectives for session

Staff project diary – giving an overview of what happened during the session

Register – Facilitator






Staff Project Diary – all staff present during all or part of a session
All project staff

Evaluation is carried out as agreed by young people and staff

To be decided by young people

Young people and staff
Young people and staff

Post project sessions
End of project audit of young people’s experiences, including changes in confidence and understanding of project partners roles
Repeat of initial questionnaire at the end of the project
Project Coordinator and Facilitator
Young people, facilitator and coordinator and all support staff

Young people make suggestions about ways to improve the experiences they have in galleries and of arts organisations based on their involvement and experiences through the project
Method to be decided by young people during project
Young people and Facilitator
Young people, gallery education staff, facilitator, coordinator and support staff

Changes are implemented based on young people’s suggestions
To be recorded in written document, photos and / or power point presentation and shared with all participants and project staff
Gallery education staff
Young people


Appendix 4 – Summary of visual questionnaires (completed on session 1 and 10)
START OF PROJECT:
These questionnaires were completed by all participants at the beginning and all but one at the end of the project (due to illness).
The young people used words and images to complete the questionnaires with some developing their own codes (such as smiley / sad faces) to respond to the logos.
One questionnaire was completed mostly in Portuguese and did not get translated.

NEWLYN ART GALLERY:
6 responses clearly showed this was understood to be an art gallery the majority did this with an illustration of a painting.
1 response was unclear (illustration probably is indicating art work but can’t be certain).
1 response was in Portuguese and has not been translated.
3 responses indicate that the participant does not know anything about the logo.

ENGAGE:
3 indicated they did not know what this was.
1 explained they had never heard of this but knew if gave money for the project.
7 indicated they knew this organisation helped to fund the project, mostly with drawings of money - wads of notes!

POLTAIR SCHOOL:
All participants knew this one with responses often mentioning the sports status of the school and one stating ‘pupils that take part get an education’.

PROJECTBASE:
4 respondents said they didn’t know this.
1 is in Portuguese and has not been translated.
2 simply wrote ‘job’.
1 mentioned they knew ‘Miss Georgina’ works for this organisation and that they would be involved in a project with them.
1 said they work with young children.
2 said they recognized the logo.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY SERVICE:
5 said they did nott know what this was.
1 linked it to social services.
1 said it helped people with disabilities.
1 said it helped young people in need.
1 gave no response (they had erased their response).
1 drew an illustration of a family.
1 drew a child being fought over (perhaps suggesting this organisation removed children from families).


END OF PROJECT:
The end of project questionnaires were completed by all the young people who were present at the last session. In contrast to the initial questionnaire there are hardly any illustrations on these. Some of the young people have answered the questionnaires very briefly and quickly whilst some display a clearly and more knowledgeable understanding of the organisations.

Newlyn ART gallery:
A number of the young people described Newlyn Art Gallery as ‘Doctors gallery, Penzance’, this is perhaps due to the nature of the show they had experienced at the gallery (Christine Borland In Practice). The descriptions included:
‘It’s got a new area’
‘This is a gallery that exposes sculptures paintings and manual work of artists’
‘A gallery which has books but has other types of galleries and in which we can see things’ (translation from Portuguese)
‘It’s a place where people can see sculptures, paintings and other things relative to art’

ENGAGE:
3 state they do not know who engage are, and none state that they are funders for the project.

PROJECTBASE:
Some list both ProjectBase and Equality and Diversity Service as organisations that help families and young people.
1 says this is a project to make things with cardboard (perhaps in relation to the Eloisa Cartonera project where the space is built from cardboard).
‘It’s where people produce ideas and construct their own projects and help the projects of others’.
Everyone gave a response indicating some understanding of this organisation.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY SERVICE:
5 said they do not know this one.
4 said this organisation helps children and families.



Appendix 5 – Summary of envision questionnaires (completed in session 10)
These questionnaires were completed on the final two visits of the project at The Exchange. Nine out of ten young people completed the questionnaires. Two of the support workers (Teaching Assistant and Portuguese support teacher) also completed a questionnaire.

Q. 1 ABOUT THE GALLERY
Have you been to Tate St Ives before?
NO                     9
NOT SURE              0
YES                    1
NO ANSWER            1

Who with?
WITH PARENTS OR FAMILY    1

Tick three words that best describe this place                
BORING                0
EXCITING                4
COMFORTABLE            0
SCARY                1
FRIENDLY                3
WELCOMING            6
UNFRIENDLY            0
POINTLESS            1
FUN                    5
NOT FOR ME             1
DULL                    0
INTERESTING            9
CONFUSING            1    
POSH                    1            
COMPLICATED            0            
ADD YOUR OWN WORD:            
INTERACTION            1

Q. 2 ABOUT THE PROJECT
What did you do in the project?
Generally most stated that they researched the artists and worked in school making art works and then worked with Eloisa Cartonera in the galleries.

What about the art project…
HOW GOOD WERE THE ARTISTS?        
Not at all            0
Not very            0
OK                4
Fairly                2        
Very                5

HOW INTERESTING WAS THE ART WORK?
Not at all            0
Not very            0
OK                4
Fairly                3
Very                4

HOW UNUSUAL WAS IT TO YOU?
Not at all            0
Not very            0
OK                5
Fairly                3
Very                3

HOW INVOLVED DID YOU GET?
Not at all            0
Not very            0
OK                5
Fairly                5
Very                1    
    
HOW SPECIAL WAS BEING INVOLVED?        
Not at all            0
Not very            0
OK                2
Fairly                5
Very                4

What was the best thing about the project?
A number of participants mentioned working with the artists and visiting the galleries as well as having fun and going to the beach!

What was the worst thing about the project?
Some young people mentioned they did not enjoy the school based sessions; a number said there was nothing bad about it; one was concerned about missing school lessons and one of the staff said it was not always clear what was going on because plans had to change. One young person was concerned about the possibility of economic failure for the artists.

What could we do better next time?
Responses included: more variety of activity; avoid clashing with school activities; one wanted to be based at school more; one wanted more time on the project and more time out of school; working with more artists was suggested by a couple of participants.

Q.3 ABOUT YOU
Has the project made you feel differently about anything?
NO                    2        
NOT SURE                 1
YES                    7
NO RESPONSE            1
If yes what?

How much did you learn about…
COMMUNICATION
Not at all            1    
Not very            1
OK                2
Fairly                5
Very                2    

WORKING WITH OTHERS
Not at all            0
Not very            1
OK                3
Fairly                4        
Very                3

BEING RELIABLE
Not at all            1
Not very            2
Ok                3
Fairly             3
Very                2

USING COMPUTERS
Not at all            5    
Not very            2
OK                3
Fairly                1
Very                0

BEING CREATIVE        
Not at all            0
Not very            1
OK                2
Fairly             1
Very                7

LEADERSHIP
Not at all            3
Not very            2
OK                2
Fairly                2
Very                2

After the project how confident are you about…
TALKING ABOUT IDEAS
Less                 0
The same as before    8
More                3

SHARING YOUR OPINIONS
Less                 0    
The same as before    9
More                2

CONTEMPORARY ART
Less                 1
The same as before    5
More                5

THINKING OF NEW IDEAS
Less                 1
The same as before    1
More                9

BEING CREATIVE
Less                 0
The same as before    2
More                9

VISITING NEW PLACES
Less                 0
The same as before    1
More                10

What would you do differently next time?
‘Involve English students from school who’re interested in art’ (EAL support teacher)
A number of young people identified that they would talk more and get more involved in group work:
‘Talk to people’; ‘get more involved in group work’; ‘I would talk more to other people and share ideas’.
‘Decrease the travel time in the project’ (Teaching Assistant
Some young people suggested working with more artists and making more gallery visits.

Will you come to Tate St Ives again?
YES                    4    
MAYBE                7
NO                    0

Will you go to other art galleries or projects?
YES                    4
MAYBE                7
NO                    0

Appendix 8 – People involved in the project
♣    Project Manager - Georgina Kennedy, Interaction Programmer, ProjectBase
♣    Evaluation Coordinator – Dodie Bridges, Freelance Interaction Facilitator, ProjectBase
♣    Project Facilitator – Stacey Righton, Freelance Interaction Facilitator, ProjectBase
♣    International Artists – Fernanda Dagostino, Javier Barilaro, Ramona Leiva from Eloisa Cartonera
♣    Support Staff - Teaching Assistants, Poltair School: Lesley Warrick, Rachel MacNaly, Matthew Robbins, David Turnbull, Mrs. Holland, Chris Phillips, Mr P Robbins, April Marshall, Vanessa Cormack
♣    EAL Support Teacher – Jane Richardson, Freelance
♣    Main school partner contact - Steve Watkinson, Head of Student Support, Poltair School
♣    Main venue partner contact – Claire Lloyd, Learning and Inclusion Manager / Deputy Director, The Exchange
♣    Main E&Q partner contact – Martin Holmes, Support Worker, The Equality and Diversity Service

Appendix 9 – Funders
♣    Main Funder: envision - engage’s pioneering programme supporting galleries to develop innovative ways of working together with young people aged 14-21, supporting organisations and young people, to share ideas, expertise, resources, and create opportunities for young people to have a genuine role in shaping gallery practice.
♣    Partner Match Funding: The Equality and Diversity Service: Children, Young People and Family Services; Cornwall County Council – The organisation is placed within the School Improvement Team of the Local Education Authority and aims to Promote inclusion and celebrating diversity.
♣    Partner Match Funding: Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange - Newly refurbished Newlyn Art Gallery and new art space The Exchange, Penzance
present national and international contemporary art including that produced in the region.

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 took place in a specific place
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
Poltair School
Trevarthian Road
St Austell
Cornwall

Full postcode
P
L
2
5

4
B
Z

Full address
The Exchange
Princes Street
Penzance
Cornwall

Full postcode
T
R
1
8

2
N
L


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 local 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: TR18 2NL
Full postcode or local authority area: TR26 1TG
Full postcode or local authority area:
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
4


Others taking part
10


Audience
10

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)


10
 Young people (12 to 15)



 Young people (16 to 19)


4
 Young people (20 to 24)


10
 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





 Black or Black British (includes African, Caribbean)



 Chinese


x
 Any other ethnic group


Young people who speak English as an additional language from Portugal, Africa and Spain.

7.5    Please give details of the results of your activity.

This activity    Number


Number of performance or exhibition days
5
Number of new products or commissions*

Period of employment for artists (in days)
10
Number of sessions for education, training or taking part. doing the activity (Divide the day into three
20
Number of performance or exhibition days