Highlights of Year April 2010 to March 2011
Highlights of Fleet Arts work from April 2010 to March 2011
This year has seen the completion of a number of long-running programmes and projects. We also started new work which excitingly included an international exchange with Italy. During the year both the Management Committee and the Turn it Up steering group reviewed our past and recent work and planned for our future direction.
It has been a busy year and the key things that stand out are:-
- the celebrations of the Threads and Re:connaissance local memories projects
- another successful young bands tour - with a different format and called ‘Gigit’
- the Turn it Up (TIU) young musicians exchange, mentioned above, with an organisation called Taurus based in Cirie just outside Turin.
Fleet Arts also built on our arts and heritage work through delivery of the Take One Pot project as part of Enlightenment! The project looked at the use of flowerpots in original floor and ceiling construction of Belper North Mill and other mills in Derwent Valley. We worked with young people from Belper School in a cross curriculum project which included history and science, and made a scale model complete with hand-thrown replica pots.
The Mills and Chimneys project - which was started by music workers Julian Butt and David Gibb, in conjunction with Derbyshire County Council’s Literature Festival - has continued and developed. It has fed into our aspiration of extending our music work through cross-music-genre projects as well as linking music to the arts and heritage strand of our work and we are now fund-raising for a joint project involving the Mills and Chimneys Ensemble and Viva Orchestra. Their first collaboration will be performed as part of the Derby Folk festival in October 2011.
The TIU programme, which works across Derbyshire and Derby City, has continued to be developed and co-ordinated by Julian Butt. The visual arts & other projects are co-ordinated by Sarah Laman. Jane Milward has supported all the work through administration and finance, as well as working on specific elements of projects, such as the massive task or transcript proofing for the Threads and Re-connaissance projects.
The TIU training programme has had many positive outcomes – with past trainees becoming experienced workers and new trainees still joining the organisation. Much of our work has continued to be delivered by freelance workers from our pool of experienced arts workers and
workshop helpers plus a number of volunteers, all of whom are appropriately checked. Workers new to the organisation have lead part of the Threads and Re-connaissance projects as well as
becoming involved through the Italy exchange and other small projects, including a one-off rubbish recyling sculpture project with Cromford Mills.
We have worked in partnership with many other organisations and agencies to deliver both this type of one-off and a number of larger or longer projects. These have included:
- family workshops linked to the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site
- children and young people’s workshops focusing on visual art and crafts, funded by Belper Town Council and the completion of the ‘Avit‘ programme focusing on music performance skills in collaboration with the Derbyshire County & City Music Partnership and funded by Youth Music.
We have also run programmes of work of differing lengths with long-standing partners including:
- Derbyshire County Council ‘s Looked after Children summer music activities
- workshops for disaffected young people through YISP
- workshops Wilsthorpe Community School, which included some peer mentoring. Here the relationship continued to develop and at the end of the year we started a Transition Project (transition from primary to secondary school) using music and peer support.
In addition to workshops we provided performance opportunities regularly, in conjunction with Derby Live, at the ‘Evolution’ gigs at Derby Assembly Rooms. Other performance opportunities, which were linked to workshops, have been run through a range of festivals including:
- street music and dance at Draycott Festival
- performances and workshops at both the Derbyshire Literature Festival and the Big Book Bash
- Spray Art and Puppetry workshops jointly managed with Wash Arts for the Ilkeston
Festival.
An unsuccessful application was made to Arts Council England for National Portfolio status however work on applications to other trusts and funds continues - both as partnership applications and Fleet Arts stand-alone.
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