A VOICE TO TELL OUR STORY
More than 300 children, 10 primary schools, 4 artists, 1 amazing project – A Voice To Tell Our Story.
Working with researchers from the University of South Wales and artists from North Devon, this exciting 3 year project, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, aimed to help the next generation in our communities to speak up, listen well, and have fun working together and learning through the arts.
The result? The creation of 12 original stories brought to life through the use of illustration, photography and film.
Since the start of 2020 Beaford Arts have been delivering ‘A Voice To Tell Our Story’ with Key Stage 2 pupils from 10 primary schools including Pilton Bluecoat, each school was allocated 25 full days of working with professional artists in school.
This two phase project explored storytelling in four artforms aimed at developing learning through the arts and inspiring greater confidence in speech, language and communication.
The first phase of the project involved storyteller Lisa Schneidau introducing storytelling as an artform through the sharing of stories and artist Caroline Preston exploring how art can be used to help evolve the stories.
During the second phase the classroom was converted into a studio space and photographer Dave Green and filmmaker Matt Biggs set about supporting the children in bringing their stories to life through the use photography and film.
The result of the project is the creation of 12 original stories…see Pilton Bluecoat's images below of what they’ve been up to and to meet some of their story characters.
Pilton Bluecoat Academy’s Stories:
A War and a Wonder (5JH)
It’s 2045, and Isla is bored. She accidentally flies her magic carpet under a rainbow and finds herself on a Scottish island back in 1940, meeting Jacob, an ex-Navy hero who is hiding from the world after the death of his brother on a warship. Isla uses her time-travelling carpet to help Jacob meet his brother again. Isla and Jacob are both given inspiration by the lake to do something really useful with their lives.
Tea-strainer Trouble (5MR)
Charlotte finds an old tea-strainer on the beach, but Bob discovers it is a tea-strainer with magical powers and it drags him back to a dark past where he was implicated in a fatal gas explosion. Together Charlotte and Bob time-travel back to prevent the explosion from happening, and Charlotte wins her very own Bake-Off in the process.
