Learning

Foreground has developed in-depth and meaningful relationships with the Educational sector including regional Higher Education institutions, local further education institutions and statutory education providers in Frome. For Independent State, Foreground’s key outreach artist Lucia Harley has been working both with local primary schools in education workshops, with vulnerable young adults and parents and with a group of eight teenagers to oversee their Arts Award programme and to achieve their bronze award by the end of the project.

Foreground are dedicated to involve young people who aren’t reached by conventional education work and who have little access to the arts as core group members through close liaison with these social agency partners.  

Statutory Education

Within Frome the organisers have developed key relationships with Frome Community College and a number of the First and Middle Schools in Frome to maximise the number and age range of students who have contact with the project and ensure the project’s worth at a number of key-stage levels. Education activities have been designed in collaboration with subject head teachers at these schools to ensure Foreground’s work can be fully accessed through cross curricular and creative learning initiatives that will see pupils participate in different activities during the project to explore core curriculum subject such as numeracy and literacy skills as well as in depth contact with Art and Design. The successful development of these relationships with educational partners increased the infrastructure for and understanding of the benefits of presenting contemporary visual art of national critical standing as a learning aid at different key stages of statutory education.

For Independent State, Foreground has again worked with schools it has established strong relationships with through Intervention/Decoration. These include Frome Community College, St John’s First School, Christchurch First School, St Louis’ Catholic Primary School, Vallis First School, targeted schools in the surrounding rural villages such as Leigh-on-Mendip and Mells Schools and children in less formal educational contexts such as pupils at St Dunsdans  (Medical Unit), Glastonbury.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further and Higher Education

Foreground has developed strong relationships with Regional Higher and Further Education providers specialising in visual arts, such as Faculty of Creative Arts, University of West of England and Bath Spa University. The curators have recruited a number of key interns to join the participant groups and assist on other areas of the project including marketing, artwork production and installation, education and outreach to increase their understanding and experience of possible areas of employment and professional practice.

 

Arts Award

The Arts Award is aimed at young adults you are keen to try new experiences in the arts and media and enables each individual to achieve a Level 1 national qualification. It’s all about seeing, trying, and doing new things in whatever part of the arts world is inspirarational. It involves  attending events, researching  heroes and sharing passions. Employers, universities and colleges know that Arts Award is a qualification that shows a high level of commitment and progress in the arts, and in developing new skills.

To gain a bronze award each individual has:

- Taken part in an arts activity - anything from dance to creative writing to beat boxing

- Attended an arts event of their choice

- Identified an arts hero or heroine, researched their story, and discovered how they got to where they are today

- Shared their skills by helping to run a workshop or by giving a demonstration to others

Each Arts Award participant has built a portfolio of their ideas and activities in their own personal style and format -be it making a folder or sketchbook, a video diary or website. The Bronze Award will usually take you about 40 hours to complete.The Arts Award is a nationally recognised qualification at levels 1,2 and 3. 

Lizzie French, one of Foreground’s key Arts Award participant has taken part in both young children’s workshops and has worked with vulnerable young parents and their children:

“The first workshop I helped with was a combination of singing and activities.  The young children made mini beasts attached to the end of sticks to take to carnival.  I was thrown in at the deep-end but had lots of fun! The third workshop I helped with was again very different from the rest.  We went to St. Johns school in Frome to work with the reception classes.  Instead of the mini beasts they were going to create things that they could wear to the carnival. Not only did they have lots of fun doing this activity, it also inspired them to create their own things with the left over material and there was also ideas from the teachers for other similar workshops. It was wonderful to see how enthusiastic the children were; it gave them a chance to show their creative side and to do something different from the day-to-day classroom routine.  The teachers also had lots of fun! Through this work experience I have also got involved in the arts award and these workshops will go towards one aspect of the bronze award.  As well as gaining valuable work experience I had brilliant fun helping out with the workshops and would definitely like to do some more.”