Just the TicketThe Evaluation

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In September 2009, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) North West Region, were delighted to receive confirmation from NIACE and BIS, that their bid to the Transformation Fund had been successful. This meant that their innovative project ‘Just the Ticket’ could be designed and delivered over the coming six months.

Just the Ticket aimed to take 200 adult learners on unforgettable informal learning journeys that would widen their horizons both culturally and personally. Participation in Just the Ticket took learners away from their usual classroom environment and out into the exciting world of museums, art galleries, libraries, theatres and country estates, in and around Manchester and Liverpool.

The bespoke learning adventures were designed around an operational theme of travel and routes with various lines radiating out from either a Manchester or a Liverpool hub. They each had a distinct educational theme and incorporated between one and five cultural stops en route:

Seizing the opportunity to connect organisations involved in informal adult learning could have a transformational effect on people’s lives. Partnerships between institutions with exciting content, such as broadcasters and galleries, and groups with credibility within communities, can open up learning for whole new audiences.

The Learning Revolution DIUS 2009

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A SuMMARy oF ThE JuST ThE TICkET CouRSES

A CRITICAL EyE Participants on this course were instructed in how to write a theatrical or film review, taking in a number of performances at Liverpool Playhouse, The Royal Exchange Theatre and the Cornerhouse Cinema. As a result of attending the course, one of the learners now writes theatre reviews for the influential website: www.thepublicreviews.com

A STITCh IN TIME This course took participants to The Manchester Indian and Walls are Talking exhibitions at the Whitworth Art Gallery to create their own print interpretations, with a trip to Quarry Bank Mill where they produced samples of hand-woven fabric.

AFRo ModERN A creative course based around the Liverpool Tate’s current exhibition Afro Modern which saw participants produce art work, prose and poems inspired by the exhibits.

BEAT ThAT A musical history course centered on the Liverpudlian music scene and taking in the stunning Philharmonic hall and the Beatles tour.

CITy ESCAPE A Merseyside photography course during which learners photographed iconic city buildings and visited Antony Gormley’s spectacular sculptures on Crosby Beach. FIRM FouNdATIoNS A history course that gave participants a snapshot of Mancunian history through a series of illuminating talks and site visits which concentrated on the architectural and historic aspects of some of Manchester’s treasured buildings. Participants also visited the beautiful Little Moreton hall in Cheshire.

hELLENISTIC hEdoNISTIC A history course focusing on the hellenistic period, the time following the death of Alexander the Great, taking in the Liverpool Museum and Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

MEMoRy LANE A creative writing course based around the participants’ memoirs, some of which were recorded by BBC Radio Merseyside and included trips to The Conservation Centre and the Maritime Museum in Liverpool.

NuRTuRE NATuRE A course specifically designed to take learners with learning and physical disabilities out of their usual classroom environment in order to experience all things nautical and natural, with visits to the Maritime Museum and delamere Forrest.

oN TRACk This course was aimed specifically at learners from the Learning disability Resource Centre in offerton, Stockport. Eight adult participants attended workshops designed to unleash their creative potential which resulted in their designing and hand printing bespoke T shirts and badges based on a hip hop theme. They visited the Power hall at MoSI and the home Grown exhibition at urbis, where they made short three-minute videos.

REAL SuRREAL A creative writing course taking inspiration from the Surrealist movement, which encouraged participants to see things in a different way. The learners visited the Angels of Anarchy exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery, a performance of Pub at the Royal Exchange Theatre and a screening of Bady Minck at the Cornerhouse Cinema.

RECLAIM FAShIoN A fashion and textile course where participants learned innovative ways in which to recycle old garments by customizing and redesigning them, with a visit to the Walls are Talking exhibition at Whitworth Art Gallery and subsequent fabric printing workshop. This course will culminate in a fashion show.

RE: GENERATE This photography course enabled learners to photograph iconic buildings in Manchester and Salford: urbis, Chips (urban Splash), Imperial War Museum, the Lowry. Participants also viewed three current photographic exhibitions.

SALFoRd FooTSTEPS This short walking history tour of Salford, introduced people to the unknown history, and often overlooked architecture, of Salford.

SEW Good An artistic textiles course, where participants viewed the Asian Textile collection at the Whitworth Art Gallery, before trying their hand at surface pattern printing. They also made some lovely hand-made paper during a workshop at Lyme Park.

ThE dA VINCI ModE An informative course based around the da Vinci - The Genius exhibition at MoSI. Participants discussed Leonardo’s legacy and his continued effect upon everyday life. They visited Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Town hall, The Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Museum with the course culminating in a trip to the Trafford Centre.

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The majority of the courses in Manchester were designed to include current and touring exhibitions. This meant that participants were part of the ever changing cultural scene in the city and lent vibrancy to the course contents.

In Liverpool however, a different model was employed, whereby permanent collections became the bedrock of the courses. A new partnership with National Museums Liverpool proved very successful and beneficial to both parties with promising results for future collaborative work.

National Museums Liverpool was pleased to be able to deliver a variety of learning sessions and activities for several ‘Just the Ticket’ courses. It brought new audiences into our venues and enabled people to connect with the museums and galleries on a deeper level.

Kenn TaylorCommunities Worker - Families and AdultsNational Museums Liverpool

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CuRRENT ANd TouRING ExhIBITIoNSINCLudEd:

Afro Modern Tate Gallery

Anderson and Low: Circus Lowry

Angels of AnarchyWhitworth Art Gallery

Art and Advertising: A Creative Fusion Lowry

Bady Minck and MimackCornerhouse

da Vinci: The Genius MoSI

don McCullin: Shaped by WarIWM North

Ghost Stories Liverpool Playhouse

home Grown: The Story of uk hip hopurbis

Lewis’s 5th Floor: A department Story National Conservation Centre

Pub and 1984 Royal Exchange Theatre

Walls are Talking Whitworth Art Gallery

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INCREASING ACCESS To INFoRMAL AduLT LEARNING

Our ambition is for every adult to be able to access and benefit from a wide choice of informal adult learning. Like many services and opportunities available today, some people find them easier to access than others. (Learning Revolution DIUS 2009)

WEA has a long tradition of working with hard-to-reach, disadvantaged adults who are often on the fringe of society. For some, access to informal adult learning may be impeded by lack of information as to when and where courses take place; lack of confidence in one’s abilities to attend learning opportunities that may be perceived as ‘highbrow’; and lack of monetary resources to pay for entrance fees and theatre tickets. WEA acknowledged that getting out and about may be a big step for some learners, especially those who are marginalised or who lack the confidence to travel on public transport. The Just the Ticket project addressed these concerns by marketing the courses to communities, centres and organisations frequented by non-traditional learners. They also provided public transport tickets and travel training, or organised mini buses where necessary, in addition to ensuring that every participant had free entry to exhibitions, theatre performances and film screenings. In this way, no-one who wanted to attend a course was excluded by lack of opportunity or funds. over 30% of participants had never attended the cultural venues before and 53% were new to adult learning.

I enjoyed meeting participants with very different backgrounds, and who had not been on a WEA course before…It was my impression from the way they worked and the feedback given directly to me that the course helped some of the participants back into a learning process, and helped others to overcome barriers in relation to creative writing. The variety of the programme meant that the course formed a social context, a ‘meeting place’, in which new learning took place.

Merethe Damsgaard Sorensen Reel Surreal tutor

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JuST ThE TICkET TRAVELLERS

In setting up Just the Ticket, WEA determined to target a range of disadvantaged people that included women from BAME communities, people with disabilities, men, the elderly, people recovering from substance abuse and homelessness and younger people between the ages of 18-25. The project was successful not only in reaching these groups but also in fostering good integration between the target learners and those for whom this kind of cultural activity is the norm. In total 212 learners attended 21 Just the Ticket courses within four months.

Just the Ticket was very successful in attracting non-traditional, hard to reach learners. In particular, over 71% of participants were unemployed, 37% were men, 31% were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, 34% over 50, 12% 19-24 and 22% classified themselves as disabled.

“Just the Ticket has been fantastic for the homeless and former homeless people who use the Booth Centre. It has been a really accessible and fun way to get people into learning. The courses were really well designed, interesting and inspiring. It was really good that they included going to local places - many homeless people have never been to these public buildings, museums and galleries and feel that they are not for them - until they go and then they are very happy to go again on their own. It was also good that the courses were short, this makes it easier for people who can, at times live quite chaotic lives and find it difficult to commit to year long courses. People were very pleased with what they achieved, it was a great confidence booster. Everyone who took part is very keen to do more!”

Amanda Croome from the Booth Centre, Manchester

overall age demographics New to Adult Learning

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REduCING BARRIERS

The project was clearly successful in enabling the target groups to participate. This seems to be for a number of key reasons:

Courses were free with no entry •requirementsTransport was arranged and •provided freeLearners were given good pre-•course information which included information about venues, support available and transportPaperwork was kept to a minimum•Tutors were encouraging and •supportiveCourses were contemporary, •innovative and inspiringThe quality of learning provided •through the cultural venues was excellent with fantastic exhibitions, workshops, resources and skilled staffGood use was made of existing •WEA community contactsNew learners were recruited via •extensive e-marketing through WEA community networks

overall Ethnicity demographics

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TRANSFoRMING ThE WAy PEoPLE LEARN ThRouGh TEChNoLoGy

Digital technology is becoming central to our daily lives. New technologies are changing the way people learn and interact with each other. The internet allows people to come together so that distance is no barrier. Technology will continue to offer innovative new ways to learn, and bring learning opportunities to people who would otherwise not have access to them. (Learning Revolution DIUS 2009)

From the outset, Just the Ticket aimed to integrate technical skills and new technologies into courses in a very simple manner. Learners had access to digital and video cameras on all courses using them in a variety of ways to document their experiences, create art work and record their views. Some of these were then displayed on www.weacreative.org.uk. The dedicated website provided a platform to celebrate learning and showcase work such as poems, photographs, theatre and cinema reviews and photographs of craft work. Not only were the skills of learners extended but tutors and partners also participated developing their skills with digital technologies. The resulting website is attractive, informative and provides an excellent portal not only for learners but for cultural venues and tutors to display work and make links.

ThE WEB PoRTALJoining a group or finding out about opportunities can be difficult, because there is no single online point of access where people can find out what is available. Often people simply don’t know opportunities exist or where to go to find out about them. (Learning Revolution DIUS 2009)

As it evolved www.weacreative.org.provided a forum for collation of a variety of learning information: courses, events, exhibitions, jobs, volunteering opportunities from a wide range of cultural and educational organisations. Learners could find progression information and ways to keep involved with learning. Twitter proved to be an invaluable source of real time information, providing updates on exhibitions, talks and cultural opportunities such as a call for non-professional actors to appear in the production of 1984 at the Royal Exchange Theatre. These opportunities were added daily to the news section of the website. WEA even recruited and put on a course suggested by one of weacreative’s Twitter associates who suggested a course called A Critical Eye. This course took participants to theatres and cinemas in both Manchester and Liverpool, while teaching the art of theatre and film review writing.

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ThE LEARNING REVoLuTIoN

People participate for enjoyment and are driven by their desire for personalfulfilment or intellectual, creative and physical stimulation. (Learning Revolution DIUS 2009)

Just the Ticket provided immense opportunities for learners to be creative, in a non-prescriptive way. Learners were stimulated to produce poetry, they made hand-made paper turning it into collages, they printed designs on material and made them into cushions or bags, they wrote reviews of films and plays, they made films and took photographs. Learners could choose how, when and if they wanted to capture their starting points or record their learning. Individual passports were used to collate whatever learners wanted to record. Some learners didn’t use them while others found them a positive record of their experiences. Many used film to record aspects of their learning. Paperwork for learners was kept to a minimum to reduce barriers. The emphasis was clearly on enjoyment, participation and learner-centered activities. This not only led to the acquisition of new skills, but also to a marked increase in confidence and a desire to attend further events and other Just the Ticket courses. The project has been very successful in encouraging new adult learners (47%), with 30% stating that they had never visited the cultural venues previously.

The quality of workshops, exhibitions and events provided by the cultural partners was excellent and this has inspired learners to want more. The North West clearly has a tremendous number of excellent cultural and historic venues providing informal adult learning opportunities. WEA also utilised the skills of local artists and artisans, who supplemented the input from WEA’s tutors, to provide creative and inspirational workshops.

Going to art galleries, theatres, art house cinema and museums meant you didn’t feel you were in a classroom being lectured at but experienced pleasure at engaging with art. I’ve been back to every venue since and dragged others along to their unexpected enjoyment.

David DenneheyLearner Traveller of the Year

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ThE NExT STAGE oF ThE JouRNEy FoR LEARNERS?

For the low-skilled and under-confident, informal learning can be an important stepping stone to further learning and a more skilled future. (Learning Revolution DIUS 2009)

Learners’ progression was encouraged throughout the project. Further educa-tional opportunities were identified on www.weacreative.org.uk. Many learners expressed a desire to continue study-ing informally or to enrol on related courses to gain qualifications. Several progressed from course to course within the Just the Ticket project. Some successes include: A learner from A Critical Eye, who is now writing theatre reviews for the influential website www.thepublicreviews.com. one par-ticipant on the Re: Generate course has enrolled on a photography course at Manchester College, while three of his peers are now supplying photographs to illustrate articles for the Salford Media Partnership magazine.

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CASE STudy

david dennehey, the Just the Ticket Traveller of the year attended four Just the Ticket courses and encouraged people from the Booth Street Centre to come with him. david first enrolled on to the Reel Surreal course in december 2009. he came to every session and took part with wit and enthusiasm! he also recruited other new learners to join the course – participants who were new to WEA and, more importantly, new to adult learning.

Since then he has enrolled on three other JTT courses: Re:Generate, the da Vinci Mode and A Critical Eye. he has produced a fabulous stop animation video of his poem Molly Bloomsnight, written theatre reviews and taken some great urban photographs.

david in now interested in becoming WEA’s first Cultural Ambassador to help other WEA learners on their informal adult learning journey.

david’s prize is a five day residential Arvon Foundation poetry writing course in hebden Bridge.

Elaine Hutchings: Just the Ticket Project Manager

LEARNERS GAVE AN INdICATIoN oF ThEIR NExT STEPS WhICh INCLudEd:

“Visit the art gallery more and other galleries when I can.”

“Set up a blog – write reviews and get noticed.”

“To enjoy my own area of history and walks e.g. Maidencastle.”

“To go back to college, thinking of doing voluntary work.”

“keeping my new found creativity ‘on the boil.”

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ouTCoMES PRoBLEMS ChALLENGES ANd PRACTICALITIES!

The most obvious challenge was designing, delivering, completing and evaluating the project within the six months timescale. In the end all outcomes were achieved with the exception of training four Cultural Ambassadors. This proved too difficult to accomplish within the timescale although one Cultural Ambassador has been identified. The project delivered 21 courses, with 212 learners from a range of backgrounds. Each course identified a participant to receive a prize of a beautiful book. A ‘Traveller of the year’ was awarded a superb prize of a five day writing course with the Arvon Foundation, and a fantastic celebration and evaluation event was attended by 95 people at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.

The project enabled different approaches to be explored and raised a few challenges:

TRANSPoRTJust the Ticket aimed to encourage participants to utilise public transport to enable them to plan and travel independently to cultural venues in the future. Travel routes were planned to all destinations and information given to participants. This was reinforced with transport information and links on the www.weacreative.org.uk website. In two cases travel training was carried out by GMPTE.

different forms of transport were utilised during the project: buses, minibuses, trains, trams in Manchester, community transport and coaches. Interestingly, the majority of learners on the Reel Surreal course either cycled or

walked to the course venue. The type of transport selected depended on the destination and timings. For example, women on the ‘A Stitch in Time’ textile course in Rochdale travelled to the Whitworth Art Gallery in Central Manchester and Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, a National Trust property in Cheshire. Although the Whitworth Art Gallery is accessible by train and bus, the journey would have taken too long to allow women to return in time to pick up children from school. using a minibus provided by Rochdale Community transport at a reduced cost helped overcome this problem. This method could also be used by the group in future as the service is subsidised and therefore affordable. on the whole, travel by minibus was more popular than by scheduled bus or trains.

Travel sometimes proved problematical. Ticketing, particularly when traveling across boundaries from Liverpool to Manchester, was difficult. The cost of transport for many people would be an issue in trying to access venues in the future. Some groups are particularly reluctant to travel on public transport. For these groups, confidence would need to be built up over a longer period of time with shorter local journeys first and improved travel training and information. Transport is also much more difficult to organise in the evening as the frequency of services falls. one solution would be to visit matinees, for example, rather than evening performances.

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CoNFIRMING NuMBERSAnother challenge, particularly when tickets for performances had to be purchased in advance, was people cancelling at the last minute or not turning up. Some learners thought of the courses more as a drop in – attending some events and not others. Establishing the group first before attending workshops may help avoid this in the future.

“It was disappointing when people didn’t turn up for theatre performances without informing us as tickets had already been paid for and were then wasted.”Amanda Smith Just the Ticket Administrator

To sustain the work in the future, a returnable deposit system could be used although this would no doubt deter some learners. In some cases it may be possible to develop arrangements with venues on a sale or return basis.

CouRSE STRuCTuRESThe most successful courses were those where the tutor had been fully involved in planning beforehand rather than being asked to teach at a later stage. Courses were also more successful when there was a clear classroom base in which to meet and work, between trips to venues. Some courses were too ambitious with too many activities included and too much time spent travelling. This seemed to put some learners off.

“In future it would be better if tutors were more involved during the planning process. The course needed a set venue for the classroom sessions to promote continuity.”James Brady ( City E-Scape)

This would support developing the provision locally within communities and then enabling participants to plan and develop the course as they build up confidence.

Suggestions for improvements by participants included:

“Running it in one city at a time to reduce the travel element.” (A Critical Eye)

“See theatre etc during the day as evening travel and gap before performance too long.” (Real Surreal)

“Regular venues, less travelling time and more time spent on computers.” (City E-scape)

“during a visit, perhaps longer could be spent looking and discussing particular objects and possibility of handling or closer inspection of some items.” (hellenistic hedonistic)

CuLTuRAL AMBASSAdoRSJust the Ticket aimed to train four Cultural Ambassadors to help provide links between learners, partners and venues. So far, one person has been identified who is interested in this role in the future. Potential exists to extend this idea if the JTT approach can be sustained.

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New partnerships developed •between WEA and cultural and historic venues and community contacts that can be sustained in the future

Just the Ticket courses attracted •diverse learners from non-traditional groups many of whom had not attended cultural venues before

Learners reported that courses •were exciting, interesting and stimulating. They engaged people and provided new experiences

Existing WEA tutors •stated that they enjoyed the experience and it has enthused them to want to do more by taking their learners to new places and designing new courses

New tutors with creative back-•grounds were introduced to WEA

Greater awareness of issues •around transport developed, as well as contacts to provide subsidised provision and travel training

Resources produced by cultural •venues that can be utilised in the future

The www.weacreative.org.uk •website has great potential for future use to identify opportunities for participation in informal adult

learning and showcase learners’ creative work

digital technologies skills improved •for learners and tutors

Local artists were employed to run •workshops at cultural venues who can be utilised in the future

Employment demographic

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ThE oNWARd JouRNEy – IdEAS To TAkE FoRWARd

There is no doubt that there has been some real success emerging from the Just the Ticket experience. The challenge will be how to embed this approach into standard WEA provision utilising core funding. The project funding was crucial in subsidising the cost of workshops and tickets at cultural venues and the cost of transport. The average additional cost per course was £600. In taking this forward possible ideas to consider include:

Seek external funding to develop work further, possibly from the heritage Lottery or the Arts Council to subsidise the cost of workshops within venues and transport

Co-funding provision with museums, libraries, theatres and galleries and community partners

developing educational resources linked to permanent collections that can be utilised repeatedly within WEA classes by WEA tutors

developing links with local cultural venues such as Touchstones in Rochdale thus reducing travel costs from outlying places

Mapping community transport available in localities that can be utilised at a lower cost

Seeking grants for individuals to attend courses from local trusts or community partners e.g. The Arvon Foundation

developing www.weacreative.org.uk to be a forum for showcasing work from all WEA courses and advertising informal adult learning opportunities

developing links with Community Learning Champions schemes, WEA Learning Revolutionaries and Take Part initiatives to encourage participation

Linking JTT courses to other externally funded provision e.g. Afro Modern looked at the origins of slavery. This could be linked to issues around racism and citizenship for BAME communities today within the Take Part Champions programme

developing tutor skills to link to future and permanent exhibitions within cultural venues

WEA offering £100 bursaries to groups wanting to plan a JTT course to contribute to costs

In essence, the Just the Ticket project achieved its aims enabling WEA to provide inspiring, and often life changing, educational opportunities for over 200 adults in the North West Region. The funding enabled different models of delivery and approaches to be explored which proved effective in attracting non-traditional learners into adult learning, with 30% visiting the cultural venues for the first time. Just the Ticket was successful in developing new partnerships between WEA and cultural venues that enriched the experiences of all stakeholders. The challenge remaining is how to continue this exciting journey into the future.

WEA NW Region would like to thank learners, tutors, partners and cultural venues for their participation in Just the Ticket and hope that we can work together again in the future.

For more information about Just the Ticket contact Elaine hutchingsehutchings@wea.org.uk 0161 277 5409or go to www.weacreative.org.uk.

Workers’ Educational AssociationNorth West Region Regional officeSuite 405 Cotton Exchange, old hall Street, Liverpool L3 9JR. Telephone: 0151 243 5340 Fax: 0151 243 5359

Manchester office4th Floor Crawford house, oxford Road, Manchester M13 9Gh. Telephone: 0161 277 5400 Fax: 0161 274 4948

Email: northwest@wea.org.ukWebsite: www.nw.wea.org.ukRegional director: Greg Coyne

Workers’ Educational AssociationRegistered Charity Number: 1112775. Company limited by guarantee in England and Wales no: 2806910.Registered office: 3rd Floor, 70 Clifton Street, London, EC2A 4hB

design by ultimate holding Companywww.uhc.org.uk

Photography byGill Moorewww.gillmoorephotography.co.ukElaine hutchings

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