Each pair of young people from our different schools chose different experiences that they wanted to share with their peers, and spent some time reflecting on their cultural experiences and on the responsibility of spending the micro-grant.
Read on to hear from the two students from Dean Trust Ardwick about their visit of 24 young people to Z-arts earlier this month:
How did you spend the money?
After experiencing the MADE Creative Leadership Programme throughout this academic year, we decided to spend the money given to re-visit a session that we already experienced during the programme: visiting Z-arts – an arts and theatre centre for children and families. We had a fun experience interacting with the history of the building and learning about how the workers took their experiences working there and using it to be better leaders and improve. During this trip to Z-arts, we explored the venue, observing paintings and abstract designs in the welcome areas, and then we explored the Adventures in Wonderland exhibit. This installation and experience give life to the art on the pages and to the story of Alice in Wonderland, with 3D models of the wildlife and landscape in the book brought to life. The staff gave us time to explore the area and interact with models and select areas references from the book with costumes and roleplay with. After exploring the exhibit, we made our way to a workshop room where we met with staff that made and designed the models used in Adventures in Wonderland. They created a workshop for the group to create a model of the mushrooms used in the exhibit with cardboard and other materials until we created a small replica.
Why did you choose to do this activity?
We chose this activity as we both enjoyed our session at Z-arts when we visited as part of the MADE Creative Leadership Programme. We enjoyed the tour across the venue and the leadership activities during the day and thought-provoking conversations about serious topics. These had a lasting impression on us. For our next visit, we wanted to do a more art-focussed activity. That’s why when planning the trip to Z-arts, we wanted to make sure that we did an art-focussed workshop and we decided on doing a sculpture-focussed workshop.
What areas of creative leadership did your activity cover?
Our activity covered many different areas that we looked over during the MADE Creative Leadership Programme, including: leadership, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication.
What did you enjoy about the activity?
I enjoyed creating the model specifically, using the straw and wires to make the roots for the mushroom was interesting on top of the paper mâché and other materials that were available. These materials gave root to a lot of interesting designs and allowed creative people to add more depth to their models from people using creative colour schemes to make some really amazing models.
How has your experience as Creative Leaders helped you make decisions leading to this activity?
My experience as a Creative Leader has given me multiple opportunities to explore art related areas across Manchester and given me a more in-depth appreciation for the art and culture in this city and its history. I’ve met lots of experienced cultural professionals across museums and galleries and seen all types of new genres of art that I’ve never witness before and experimental artists that have drawn my attention. I’ve met a lot of interesting and funny people during this programme, meeting new and fun types of personalities. In learning leadership skills and exploring different social topics, I hope that this programme with MADE will hopefully provide meaningful opportunities in the future and fun interactions in the art community.
“This was a really fun experience.” – Year 10 Pupil
“The Adventures in Wonderland was an amazing exhibit.”– Year 10 Pupil
“I actually didn’t expect that to be that fun.” – Year10 Pupil
