Create
Create is a dynamic charity that uses the creative arts to help transform the lives of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people in our society. Using leading professional artists - such as musicians, dancers, writers and actors - Create develops and delivers an extensive, UK-wide programme of education & community activities across all art forms
Empowering young people to contribute to a fairer, safer, more tolerant, more caring society in the areas we serve is at the core of our corporate responsibility stakeholder programme. Create designed a project specifically to team up students from a mainstream secondary school, Parmiter’s School, Garston, with a special secondary school, Breakspeare School, Abbots Langley, both serving the Watford area.
The Harlequin, Watford, supported the project, “sound:images”, designed to break down barriers, build friendships, enhance life experiences and increase self-fulfilment for two sets of young people. The project consisted of two elements, photography and music.
The photography sessions were held over 3 days, led by photographer, Ian Atkinson. Sixteen pupils, 8 from each of the schools, were paired together in the workshops and explored The Harlequin shopping centre, using it as a backdrop for the photo shoots. All pupils learned creative techniques featuring the architecture, movement, shoppers and employees of the centre using different methods, including blur, focus, macro and flash. During the final workshop a selection of images was chosen by consensus and passed on to the music group.
The music workshops then took place over 6 full days. Working with 22 pupils from the two schools they were led by Lucy Forde, accompanied by fellow musicians, Jessica O’Leary (violin) and Jonathan Thorpe (percussion). All undertook to create music and lyrics to accompany the images chosen from the photography sessions. A wide variety of instruments from around the world were used to produce the musical pieces.
All the hard work culminated in 2 joint performances by students of Parmiter’s and Breakspeare schools on 16 July 2010, hosted by The Harlequin in the malls. The shows met with an emotional and rousing response from the audience, including guests, Dorothy Thornhill, The Elected Mayor of Watford, parents of the students and shoppers.
In accordance with our desire to include employees into our programmes, seven volunteers from Capital Shopping Centres Group and The Harlequin gave time to the project. Volunteer, Chantal Boyle, said “It was so powerful and emotional, absolutely beyond my expectations, not just the music but the photos too. The concentration of the children and the pride in their faces with everyone applauding - you just can’t get better than that.”
