Thanks to the funding from Hackney Grants we were able to continue our work during the Coronavirus pandemic, by running online sessions with selected participants between the age of 8 and 9 years old in collaboration with Hackney Ark.

We sent our participants a kit with a ‘build your own’ theatre and other art resources to get them started on their creative journey. We then had a series of weekly Zoom tutorials with an art, drama and music facilitator to support the participants learning.

Watch the video below to see one of the participants beautiful creations.

Monument Valley 3

It is for him a great time to socialise with clear focus and intentions and ambitions in doing work, a special time dedicated to him, the continuity of engagement and the continuity of work is fantastic. It has been fun and positive for him. Especially in the education/social vacuum that has is lockdown

Mid project comment from parent.

She has learned more about theatre and scripts and music. Editing video too. The Artburst team is very supportive and enthusiastic.

Mid project comment from parent.

Workshop Type:
Messy fun for under 5’s with speech, language and communication needs. Join the friendly team from Artburst for 90 minutes of storytelling, movement, drama inspired by the Museum’s dolls houses. The workshop will include basic signing and a speech therapist will be present throughout.

Age Range:
Under fives with their parents/carers

Duration:
90 minute workshops

Capacity:
15 children in the morning and 15 in the afternoon

Themes:
Home Sweet Home

Booking & Cost:
Sessions are FREE, but space is limited.  Call 020 8510 0220 or email amy@artburst.co.uk to book a place.

Artburst has run three strands of the Family Explorers programme for the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green since March 2010. The aim of Family Explorers is to create fun, interactive educational experiences that encourage parents or kinship carers and children to learn together.

Wondertots

These sessions are for under 5s and their parents or carers. Wondertots sessions are 90 minute workshops that integrate art, music, movement and drama. The session includes story telling, parachute, dancing, singing, painting and craft making. These weekly workshops are based on the museum’s collections as well as visiting exhibitions. Morning sessions are targeted at bringing Bengali families into the museum and using it as a local resource and afternoon sessions are open access.

Wordburst

Wordburst sessions run daily during the school half term holidays and aim to ignite a passion for reading through family learning. The workshops are designed for 5 – 11 year olds who stay for the day with their parents or carers and learn a short performance, as well making an item of costume and set. At the end of the workshop they perform a short play to the general public in the museum’s gallery space.

Show & Tell

Mapping Hackney Stories is an exciting literacy transition scheme that brings literacy learning to life for Year 6 pupils. Artburst worked with Victoria Park Books and a Steering Group including individuals from Hackney Learning Trust to raise funding, develop and deliver a pilot for the project in Spring/Summer 2012.

Based on an illustrated map of the writers and stories of Hackney, the project takes local places, people and narratives as a starting point for pupils to explore literacy through their relationship to the local area.

A pilot for the project was completed in July 2012, involving Year 6 classes from Kingsmead, Lauriston and Grasmere Primary Schools in Hackney. The project included a 14-lesson scheme of creative literacy work that was led by teachers in the classroom and visits to the Geffrye Museum, Hackney Archive and local Libraries for custom-built sessions.

During the project, Artburst also ran 3 workshops over 6 days at each of the 3 schools. These action-packed sessions focused on working with 10 children from each class with the lowest literacy levels or levels of engagement in literacy learning. Over 2 days they worked as a team to devise their own stories, inspired by authors from Hackney’s history, create shadow puppets, and record their stories read out loud, with music to accompany them. One the last day each shadow pupet play was filmed. These 3 film were then screened to all children involved in the project, teachers, parents and project partners, at a Celebration Event at Dalston’s CLR James Library in July 2012.

The films can be viewed here:

The Dog That Found It’s Way from Darren Michael on Vimeo.

The Crash from Darren Michael on Vimeo.

Runaway from Darren Michael on Vimeo.

The project received a fantastic response from both pupils and teachers, with the Artburst workshops really raising the enthusiasm for their literacy topic when the children involved returned to the classroom. They also felt a real sense of ownership over the films they created, and the pride they felt at the Celebration Event when the films were screened was clear to all involved!

To find out more about the project you can go to the Mapping Hackney Stories website.

Mapping Hackney Stories was supported by funding from The Ernest Cook Trust and The Equitable Charitable Trust.

Workshop Name:
Artburst Minis

Description:
Artburst Minis are integrative arts workshops for Early Years children and their parents/ carers that tour in 6 lead Children’s Centre’s around the Borough of Hackney and run during school term times. There are 20 spaces available for each block of Artburst Minis, with 10 spaces reserved for families with SLCN. The sessions involve storytelling, art, drama, music and movement with a Speech and Language Therapist present and Makaton signs used to reinforce language learning.

Objective:
Sessions are aimed at supporting children in developing their speaking and language skills before they begin school and in helping parents identify ways of supporting their child’s language learning.

Age range:
2 – 5 yr olds

Duration:
90 minutes

See the timetable below.

Artburst has a residency at Heathermount The Learning Centre. We have worked at Heathermount for several years, and this year our residency will run across 3 terms. Heathermount is a specialist school which caters for children and young people, aged 5-19, who have a range of autistic spectrum conditions and Aspergers syndrome. The school is non-maintained and owned by The Disabilities Trust.

Each term will feature a different creative project:

Term 1: Shadow Stories

A film project with the students, based around the literacy unit they are studying and topic work. During the project they will write a script, make shadow puppets, and create and perform a short shadow puppet play which will be screened at the end of term for friends and family.

Term 2: Recyclatron

Pupils will create an interactive dragon costume made out of recycled objects and linked to ‘green issues’ explored in class. They will also create a soundscape to accompany the ‘Recyclatron’ and their work will be shown in an exhibition showcase at the end of term.

Term 3: The Art Cube

With the students we will build a giant word out of cubes, spelling out Heathermount’s slogan ‘GREAT’. This word will feature in the school’s sensory garden and will be made out of different tactile materials.

Artburst delivered the regular Making SENse workshops at the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. The workshops were designed to welcome parents with children who have special educational needs and explore how museums and galleries can support their child’s special developmental needs. The programme aimed to develop the family’s familiarity and confidence within a museum setting, utilising existing displays, interactive, and resources to maximum benefit.

‘Speak Out’ is a 3-year programme tailored for young people in Hackney who have speech, language and communication needs. The ‘Speak Out’ programme is supported by The
Big Lottery Fund, Reaching Communities grant and is funded from January 2011 to January 2014.

The project is run in partnership with Hackney Speech & Language Therapy Service. The project runs in 2 strands Artburst Minis and Make A Play.

Workshop Name:
Speak Out Make a Play

Description:
Speak Out Make a Play is a programme of one day taster workshops in the Easter half term followed by 1 week-long integrative arts workshops for Year 6 students in the Summer and then the Autumn school holidays During these workshops students will devise, design and create a play in 5 days with support from a team of Artburst facilitators and a trainee Speech and Language Therapist. At the end of the week students perform a play to family and friends. Plays are based on well-known children’s story books such as James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. The plays are filmed and then screened at the popular Hackney Picturehouse.

Objective:
The project is to support the transition to secondary school for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

Age Range:
Year 6 students (10 – 11 yr olds)

Duration:
Taster days – 1 day
1 week  (5 days)

Watch the promo film:

See the timetable below.

Workshop Name:
Artburst Minis

Description:
Artburst Minis are integrative arts workshops for Early Years children and their parents/ carers that tour in 6 lead Children’s Centre’s around the Borough of Hackney and run during school term times. There are 20 spaces available for each block of Artburst Minis, with 10 spaces reserved for families with SLCN. The sessions involve storytelling, art, drama, music and movement with a Speech and Language Therapist present and Makaton signs used to reinforce language learning.

Objective:
Sessions are aimed at supporting children in developing their speaking and language skills before they begin school and in helping parents identify ways of supporting their child’s language learning.

Age range:
2 – 5 yr olds

Duration:
90 minutes

See the timetable below.

Workshop Name:
Speak Out Make a Play

Description:
Speak Out Make a Play is a programme of one day taster workshops in the Easter half term followed by 1 week-long integrative arts workshops for Year 6 students in the Summer and then the Autumn school holidays During these workshops students will devise, design and create a play in 5 days with support from a team of Artburst facilitators and a trainee Speech and Language Therapist. At the end of the week students perform a play to family and friends. Plays are based on well-known children’s story books such as James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. The plays are filmed and then screened at the popular Hackney Picturehouse.

Objective:
The project is to support the transition to secondary school for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

Age Range:
Year 6 students (10 – 11 yr olds)

Duration:
Taster days – 1 day
1 week  (5 days)

Watch the ‘Best Bits’ Film, screened at the Hackney Picturehouse:

See the timetable attached.

Shadow Stories from the Streets of London

Working in collaboration with The Museum of London, with funding provided by The Goldsmiths’ Company, Artburst worked with three SEN schools in a shadow puppets film project.

Between April and July 2016, seven classes from Oak Lodge, Drumbeat and College Park schools developed their very own unique shadow puppet films inspired by the Museum of London’s collections. Each class worked collaboratively in shared story building to create the script, puppets, backdrops and sound track to their films.

The project culminated in a celebratory ‘Grand Premiere’  in which all seven films were shown in the Museum of London’s Weston Theatre. There were even Oscars! All the participating students were invited along with their teachers, support staff and parents.

Again, a huge Thank You to The Goldsmiths’ Company, without whose support this project would not have been possible.

Oak Lodge School (KS3) – The Boy Who Went to the Palace

Oak Lodge School (KS4) – Captain Oak and His Evil Finger

Oak Lodge School (KS5) – Max and the Magic Shoes

Drumbeat School (KS2) – Justin and his Big Boots 

Drumbeat School (KS2) – Speedy and Sparkle: Adventure Back in Time 

College Park School (KS3) – Tony’s Big Adventure 

College Park School (KS3) – The Prince, the Knights and the Food Fight 

Workshop Name:
Artburst Minis

Description:
Artburst Minis are integrative arts workshops for Early Years children and their parents/ carers that tour in 6 lead Children’s Centre’s around the Borough of Hackney and run during school term times. There are 20 spaces available for each block of Artburst Minis, with 10 spaces reserved for families with SLCN. The sessions involve storytelling, art, drama, music and movement with a Speech and Language Therapist present and Makaton signs used to reinforce language learning.

Objective:
Sessions are aimed at supporting children in developing their speaking and language skills before they begin school and in helping parents identify ways of supporting their child’s language learning.

Age range:
2 – 5 yr olds

Duration:
90 minutes

Venues:

• Woodberry Down Children’s Centre
• Tyssen Children’s Centre
• Linden Children’s Centre
• Daubeney Children’s Centre
• Ann Tayler Children’s Centre

Workshop Name:
Speak Out Make a Play

Description:
Speak Out Make a Play is a programme of one day taster workshops in the Easter half term followed by 1 week-long integrative arts workshops for Year 6 students in the Summer and then the Autumn school holidays During these workshops students will devise, design and create a play in 5 days with support from a team of Artburst facilitators and a trainee Speech and Language Therapist. At the end of the week students perform a play to family and friends. Plays are based on well-known children’s story books such as James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. The plays are filmed and then screened at the popular Hackney Picturehouse.

Objective:
The project is to support the transition to secondary school for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

Age Range:
Year 6 students (10 – 11 yr olds)

Duration:
Taster days – 1 day
1 week  (5 days)

Watch the ‘Best Bits’ Film: