Early Years Creativity

KINDLING CASE STUDYEARLY YEARS IN SOMERSET@ Take Art

KINDLING CREATIVITY,SUPPORTING THE SECTOR@ Take Art

Kindling aims to build partnerships between Arts and Cultural organisations and the Early Years Sector, developing creative and critical thinking for Somerset’s under 5s, advocating creative excellence and disseminating experiences at a national level. We also offer strategic support and brokering to enable funding opportunities for Somerset’s under 5s and their families to experience excellent art.

Funded by the Arts Council England to be the first point of contact for Early Years creativity in Somerset, Kindling was set up to increase the breadth and the awareness of Early Years creativity in the county. We also offer training and signposting for artists, practitioners and arts organisations; and deliver a regular programme of cross artform workshops and courses with partners such as SCIL, Forest Schools, Children’s Centres and arts organisations.

Through our pathfinder status and membership of Early Arts, Kindling aims to highlight exemplary work from Somerset and around the UK. We work in collaboration with Somerset’s arts education partnership Spaeda, as well as arts, play, health and education teams across the county.

Kindling is based at Take Art and managed by Early Years creativity specialists, Caroline Barnes and Gina Westbrook.

www.kindlingsomerset.orgwww.takeart.org

Photo Credits: Rod Harris

KINDLING CASE STUDYEARLY YEARS IN SOMERSET@ The Octagon Theatre with Take Art

@ The Octagon Theatre, with Take Art

The Octagon Theatre in Yeovil has been one of the key Somerset Arts Organisations to actively develop its relationship with the Early Years sector and has a growing reputation for its family friendly policy, which has been sparked through a strong partnership with the Take Art project, Little Big Bang.

Lead Creative Practitioner Hannah Lefeuvre has worked directly with The Octagon on Little Big Bang, initiating regular dance workshops that celebrate grandparents and children and support The Octagon’s keen interest in inter-generational work.

International Early Years theatre shows by ‘De Molecula’ from Spain and ‘La Baracca’ from Italy have been programmed alongside the more traditional but equally popular performances of Little Red Hen and The Gruffalo. Hannah and The Octagon have also created welcoming pre-show foyer activities, where children can play with the hen’s oats or discover woodland ornaments from the Gruffalo’s home, interactions which help to build a sense of welcome and familiarity.

In April 2011, The Octagon and Take Art hosted The Bigger Bang Symposium, examining ‘creativity in the early years, the role of the artist practitioner in Early Years settings and their relationship with the wider arts community’.

The Bigger Bang included workshops, international performance and research presentations from the Little Big Bang project, and was attended by 70 local and national artists and arts organisations, Early Years practitioners, policy makers and specialists. More information about this event can be found at www.takeart.org

www.octagon-theatre.co.uk

LITTLE ELEPHANTS AND BIGGER BANGS

Photo Credits: Hannah Lefeuvre & Philly Page

KINDLING CASE STUDYEARLY YEARS IN SOMERSET@ The Regal Theatre with Take Art

GOING UP THE HILL ON A TRAIN TO THE THEATRE @ The Regal Theatre with Take Art

As part of the Little Big Bang Associate Programme, Lead Creative Practitioner Hannah Lefeuvre joined with children and practitioners from Little Vikings Children’s Centre in Watchet and The Regal Theatre in Minehead for a day of adventure, discovery and new experiences.

Journeys both fantastical and real became the theme of the day, which began with a steam train ride from Watchet to Minehead. Familiar faces and landscapes looked different when seen through train windows, ‘the flowers we saw’, ‘the steam coming out’. At journey’s end was a visit to The Regal Theatre in Minehead, where Hannah and the children recounted the story of their trip on the train, retold in dance and movement under lights on the stage.

“I loved watching the reaction of the children to different music.” Peggy’s mum

“This has made us realise how much we would love to have an artist working more permanently with us. ” Helen May, Little Vikings Children’s Centre

The Regal Theatre in Minehead has a strong commitment to working with Early Years and was also part of the KinderGardens Early Years festival (2008 & 2010).

The Little Big Bang Associate Programme brings Somerset Art Promoters and Early Years specialist artists together to offer new creative experiences for local families and communities.

www.regaltheatre.co.uk

Photo Credits: Richard Tomlinson & Gina Westbrook

KINDLING CASE STUDYEARLY YEARS IN SOMERSETWith Take Art

IN THESE LITTLE MOMENTS, WHOLE UNIVERSES ARE BORNWith Take Art

To help increase creative opportunities for children and families across Somerset, Take Art’s Little Big Bang project has brought creative professionals into key Somerset Children’s Centres to work holistically as part of their professional teams. Four artists have worked with three Somerset catchment areas or ‘constellations’ - a digital and visual artist, a dance artist, a theatre practitioner and a mark making practitioner.

One of the aims of the project is to explore and define the role of the Lead Creative Practitioner working within a Children’s Centre. A central part of this role is the development of links between Children’s Centres and the arts community, links that raise the quality and quantity of creative arts and cultural engagement. Dr Susan Young, of the University of Exeter, is evaluating the project to maximise its potential to inform national practice.

The project was also set up to help encourage and develop a child’s ability to think and live creatively. The Little Big Bang team have used their experiences to define the essence and importance of creativity;

A creative thinking person sees possibilities, secret paths through the jungle, rainbows in puddles and purses in pig’s ears. They see cities and vast savannas, where other people see rubbish tips and sand pits. They see opportunities and potential, instead of brick walls and limitations. Creativity itself can be found in simple everyday scenarios; a child playing inside an empty box, splashing in a puddle, the tangles in a piece of string and the stories they tell us at the end of the day. Creativity is the intention and inspiration behind the marks in clay, the paint strokes, the finished photograph.

Little Big Bang aims to present an environment in which children can explore their full creative potential through play and encouragement; so that creative thinking becomes an intrinsic part of their everyday lives.

www.takeart.org

Photo Credits: Richard Tomlinson

KINDLING CASE STUDYEARLY YEARS IN SOMERSETWith KinderGardens & Take Art

HOMEGROWN THEATRE SHARES THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE With KinderGardens & Take ArtThe KinderGardens Festival enlists national and international theatre companies whose work, directed specifically at the under 5’s, aims to assist learning development through music, dance and drama.

KinderGardens has been a collaborative venture supported by Take Art along with rural touring organisations nationally, including those from Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. KinderGardens 2010 was a roaring success in Somerset, 44 performances for the under 5’s involved close to 2,000 people, over 1,500 were children.

Four theatre companies performed in a wide range of community spaces across the county, from the art centres in Bridgwater and Taunton to theatres in Yeovil and Frome and Children’s Centres and village halls from Shepton Mallet to Watchet.

The programme included performances by ‘Tell Tale Hearts’ and ‘Brown Paper Packages’ from the UK, ‘La Società della Civetta’ from Italy and ‘De Molecula’ from Spain.

‘Brown Paper Packages’ is based here in Somerset and is supported by Take Art’s Start and Theatre Services. Produced by mother and daughter team, Jane and Hannah Lefeuvre, the show Favourite Strings unravelled the possibilities of transformation; engaging with children at all stages of learning through their connections made with the use of string. Take Art Theatre played an advisory and dramaturgical role during the making process.

By contrast, ‘De Molecula’s’ Parapapel intertwined expression through body movements combined with the use of basic Spanish and English, allowing children to make connections between sounds, language and actions, with nothing but a roll of paper.

www.takeart.org

Photo Credits: Jim Lefeuvre