Summer School for learning disabled people

Headway Arts proudly present Into the Unknown...
A summer arts project for learning disabled people about dealing with change
PLACES ARE NOW FREE thanks to the CNL Young People's Fund

Into the Unknown will give people the chance to try out fresh ideas & experience new situations. Through creative arts workshops people will explore life skills to help them move forwards and make transitions - whilst having lots of fun along the way.

Monday 11th August - movement & dance
Tuesday 12th August - visual art & music
Wednesday 13th August - drama & role play
Thursday 14th August - drama & stagecraft

For: learning disabled people aged 16+
Cost: FREE thanks to the CNL Young People's Fund
Venue: Headway ArtSpace, Blyth

Call or email to book: 01670 351962 / admin@headwayarts.co.uk

Flyer: http://www.headwayhq.co.uk/PDF/IntoTheUnknown-2014.pdf

Creative Arts Courses for Teachers, Youth Workers and Educators

Our 2015 courses offer an exciting opportunity for organisations to develop the skills and competencies of their staff, adding a European dimension to their work and building their overall capacity. All the courses will be a practical exploration of methodology and techniques giving participants the opportunity to learn through hands-on creative activity.

The new Erasmus+ programme offers opportunities for organisations to apply for funding for these courses. Headway Arts have worked on European projects and partnerships since 2006 and were a Winning Visionary of the Future during the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009. We are happy to assist any organisations wishing to apply for one of our courses.

For further information please contact us at admin@headwayarts.co.uk

CoCreation: the process of working together towards a common creative product

6-10 July 2015

Exploring the impact and uses of a CoCreative approach participants will develop skills in a variety of artforms and working methodology. The course will include:

- practical workshops in visual arts including painting, textiles & sculpture techniques
- producing artworks within a group setting
- the sharing of creative ideas and methods of sharing as a cooperative group
- seminar exploring examples of co creative European projects
- examining transferable skills & reflective evaluation
- creative recording techniques
- a cultural visit to an arts venue

Participants will explore Headway Arts' award winning 'Co-creative' methodology defined as 'working together towards a common creative goal' developed during a highly successful European partnership.


Whose work is it anyway?: Encouraging a user-led group

20-24 April 2015

A practical drama course working alongside Seven Stars Theatre Company this course will invest participants with a variety of skills to use with their groups.
The course will include:

- group exercises - working with drama
- practical workshops exploring user-led working
- seminar exploring facilitated group techniques and fresh approaches to working with groups
- 'working towards positive redundancy' - handing control to the group
- visits to user-led arts groups
- shadowing/active learning within practical sessions with tutors
- creative recording and evaluation of work

Seven Stars are Northumberland's Learning Disabled Theatre Company producing high quality theatre performances to audiences around the region.


Every Picture Tells A Story
Exploring the potential for cross cultural communication through drama, visual arts, movement and music.

26-30 January 2015

Building on a successful European partnership project this course will explore creativity using non-verbal art forms, working on the translation of stories from verbal to non-verbal whilst retaining the story's original meaning and message. The course will include:

- practical workshops in drama, shadow puppetry, movement and music
- the sharing of a local folk tales and how these can be retold non verbally
- the use of storytelling techniques as a communication tool
- a 'storytelling' evening with local storytellers
- seminar exploring common themes and imagery in storytelling
- exploring different/international methods of storytelling including the use of objects and locations to devise story.

The participants will explore the differences and similarities in our traditional tales whilst developing their communication and practical arts skills.


Lighting The Way  
Using creative arts techniques to engage community groups.

2-6 March 2015

Working within the creative arts to engage community groups in cultural activity this course will explore how lantern festivals can bring diverse groups of people together and will include:

- practical arts workshops: learning step by step how to make willow & paper lanterns
- seminars exploring how to engage people in community celebrations, particularly those who are considered 'hardest to reach'
- action learning: how to create an outdoor celebration
- an exploration of the use of sustainable and environmentally friendly materials
- creative recording techniques

The participants will work together to create lanterns and a small scale celebratory event which puts learning into practice.

Creative Arts Courses for Teachers, Youth Workers and Educators

Course fees €595 per person
Accommodation: €400 for 4 nights in single room including breakfast
Total: €995 per person
Meals and transfers from and to the airport are not included but can be provided upon request.

All courses are in English.

Funding for the courses (and travel and accommodation) is available through Erasmus+.
The deadline is 12 March 2014. If you need help with your application contact us at admin@headwayarts.co.uk

Stitches and Threads: My personal Journey through Traditional Handicrafts

Traditional textile handicrafts are on a long journey. Where that journey will end is anyone’s guess. Traditional handicrafts were once necessary, useful, crucial, but the advancement of new technologies and changes in current lifestyles has altered all that. Where does that leave their future? As an artform? A tourist attraction?  Will young people take on the mantle? How can we engage them? Should we engage them? Should we save the art or the craft? Is it a choice or can we save both? Should we save neither?
 

Earlier this year I was given the amazing opportunity to research these questions whilst undergoing an in-service training visit to Nicosia, Cyprus. The trip, funded through the Grundtvig programme, was led by Anazitisi Cultural Centre based in Nicosia, and included participants from Romania, Germany, Greece, Finland and UK.

We began our visit looking at various textile handicrafts and how they were used in our own organisations. Many of the participants were teachers so there was a lean towards the educational use but the overwhelming image was of its use in engaging small children, teaching not only the craft but the associated skills it brought along with it. I have always been interested in textiles and was looking forward to not only increasing my own skills in this area but also ways it could be used in my work.

We followed a long desk-bound day with a warm sunny day in Lefkara learning traditional lacemaking patterns and stitching techniques with lace maker Rita Charalambous.  How much better can it get? Our wonderful host gave us her skills, expertise, patience and a fabulous traditional Cypriot lunch. It took all day but I left Lefkara proudly clutching my small piece of lace, inspired and hopeful that I would be able to reproduce the technique back at home. Whilst stitching and learning we spent the day discussing the future of traditional crafts in Lefkara. It was a bleak conversation. Rita doesn’t see a future for Lefkara lace and despite it being a vital tourist attraction for Cyprus and the only form of income for many people, it is definitely in decline. Young people do not have the time or inclination to sit and make lace and it is a poorly rewarded craft. To compete with cheap foreign imports the lace makers must charge prices well below the worth of their product and it takes many hours to create. There was no persuading Rita that lacemaking could modernise to make it more attractive to young people. In her mind it was done this way and that was the only way.

 
The following day we visited Julia Astraiou, a Cypriot artist who uses traditional weaving techniques and patterns to create contemporary artworks. It was inspiring to see how the traditions could be kept alive in this way but even Julia admitted she struggled to engage the younger people. And something was lost. The designs didn’t seem as important in this context. Similarly, a visit to an exhibition ‘Beyond Dress Codes: From Traditional Costume to Contemporary Fashion’ showed an exciting new way to contemporarise and make useful traditional designs but was it necessary? Do the designs mean anything anymore?

It wasn’t all doom and gloom. There are exciting new initiatives taking place: The Cypriot authorities have set up studios for traditional craftspeople enabling them to continue their crafts. They pay them for their work and sell these to tourists through craft shops. They display not only their work but their working methods, preserving the artform whilst enhancing the local tourist industry. My view is that traditional designs evolve – they didn’t exist 200 years ago and probably won’t exist 200 years from now - but the craft can be and should be maintained. Perhaps not as a vital part of life as they once were, but as an artform or a method of enhancing other artforms; a skills base with skills learned through doing these crafts being transferred to other areas. I definitely left Cyprus feeling there is still a place for these traditional handicrafts, wherever in the world they may be. 

Fran

Springboard

**places still available**

Springboard is a new course for those who want to try a different pathway back into employment. It's about being creative, working together, finding out what you want to do and where you want to go, and giving you the confidence and motivation to help you get there.

Lack of confidence and motivation often arises from long term unemployment or from the combination of problems you face when trying to make the first step. Springboard will give you the chance to develop your confidence and also learn many new skills, all of which you can transfer to other areas and which will help you move towards your chosen goals.

The course is free of charge and will offer 15 people a unique opportunity to build the skills required to progress to further training or volunteering towards future employment.

Springboard will consist of 24 sessions running between 16th April and 26th June. The sessions will run from 10am till 3pm and will initially take place at St. Cuthbert's Church Hall, Blyth.

Workshops will include confidence building, communication skills, introductory IT, CV writing and more.

If you're over 18 and unemployed and would like to come along, please get in touch with Headway Arts on 01670 351962 or admin@headwayarts.co.uk.

Supported by the European Social Fund, Skills Funding Agency, Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.

Please note: Attending this course will not affect benefits. Springboard is an optional course running from 8 to 12 hours per week maximum. If you have job interviews or appointments you are free to attend them.

More information:
Course Structure: Springboard Flowchart
Welcome note & dates
Flyer