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| Introduction |
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Brief information on the current programmes of work that Heads Together is developing. Contact us if you want more information on on any aspect of our programmes.
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| A space to float |
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Leeds International Pool was built in 1967. Just over 40 years later its closure provoked a public outcry. Not just because of the architecture (a Poulson building) but because of the strength and diversity of the community that used the Pool and fears that would be lost as the replacement pool was to be built outside of the city centre. A space to float documented swimming in Leeds at this time of change. The resulting dvd has sold hundreds of copies - available from Heads Together for £10. |
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| Two Villages |
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Conisbrough and Denaby are two South Yorkshire villages. There used to be a coal mine but that closed years ago. So what's it like living there now and what hope for the future? Heads Together teamed up with the Education Action Zone and placed artists in all the local schools whilst others worked out in the local community. An immense amount of creative work was created - thoughts and ideas on the identity of the Two Villages. The book of the same name was published in the summer of 2005: "For years, people have said that Consisbrough and Denaby are at the end of something, at the end of the pits, at the end of industrialisation, at the end of a way of thinking and working. This book is the beginning." Ian McMillan, writer and broadcaster |
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| Making A Brew |
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Continuing our long relationship with East Leeds, we are happy to have been invited to develop creative work with one of the most successful Sure Start projects in the country, based at East Leeds Family Learning Centre in Seacroft. We worked with Sure Start to develop creative ways to communicate their achievements and inititiate discussions about what it is about the ethos of the project that has created such a profound impact. The book was published in April 2006 - "Making a Brew - a story of Seacroft, of Sure Start and of what happened when the two came together. Read about the launch - pdf file |
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| UNITY |
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UNITY is the generic name we use for our work with refugees and asylum seekers. In 2005 we ran a one week radio station, UNITY radio - working closely with the Leeds Refugee Forum and hosting the UNITY Cup Festival - a prestigious football tournament for teams of refugees and asylum seekers from all parts of Britain. In 2006, we organised another UNITY broadcast as part of Refugee Week. In the summer of 2007, we worked with Education Leeds to create podcasts with young new arrivals attending literacy summer schools. Our work with Leeds Refugee Forum continues to develop a creative communication strategy |
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| ourselves,
our lives; Wilthorpe and the world |
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Citizenship is a curriculum development for all schools – even for an infants school like Wilthorpe in Barnsley. As part of the Creative Partnerships initiative, we have developed a programme of work using photography and the visual arts with all the children at the school and working closely with staff and parents. Three years on, the work continues apace and is being studied by Kate Pahl from Sheffield University School of Education: "The creativity was missing; we were just delivering what was in the curriculum. Now we think all the time about using creative approaches. We have broken out of our bounds" June Bradley - Headteacher at Wilthorpe. You can see Kate's full report - Looking with a different eye. We are now working on the book. |
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| A space for myself |
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Using the experience developed from working with Wilthorpe, we are working with a cluster of nursery schools in Bradford under the Creative Partnerships umbrella there. The work has included a whole range of creative work - visual arts, photography, outdoors work, video and designing spaces - and taken on different focuses designed to make sense for each nursery eg working with parents, under 3s. It has also included training events across the cluster - with hundreds of staff coming together to share their experiences |
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| The corners of Crosby |
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Heads Together have been working in partnership with the Crosby Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder in Scunthorpe. Our initial residency in June 2006 indicated that communication was the key within the community and since then we have been working with residents to develop ideas for creative means to improve communication – everything from community radio to specially commissioned noticeboards. |
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| Your voice: Your future |
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Richmondshire is in North Yorkshire - 500 square miles. loads of sheep as well as one of the biggest garrisons in the world; soon to become a 'super garrison'. In 2005 we worked with Richmondshire District Council, creating an exhibiton with young people across the district - "blue sky sheep and stunt bikes" - that directly influenced the new Youth Strategy. In 2006 we went back to see what had developed from the strategy: encouraging young people to use audio to investigate the different themes of the strategy. What they find out was broadcast on local radio and informed the Council's ongoing committment to providing appropriate services for young people - including the setting up of a Youth Forum. |
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| Meltdown - the story of the West Yorkshire Foundries |
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There has been a foundry on Clarence Road in Leeds since the 1920s. In 2004, the last-remaining aluminium plant in the country closed with the loss of over 600 jobs. Heads Together workied in partnership with Amicus, the manufacturing Union, to record this key part of the country's industrial heritage. The project involved many of the remaining workforce and looks at their plans and aspirations as well as the industry that is leaving them behind. The book, Meltdown, was published at the end of 2004 with an exhibition at Leeds Industrial Museum. There is a linked website, fettling with a message board where former workers keep in touch and an education pack for schools. |
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| Making It Happen |
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As our work develops in Kirklees, we have started to work with Dewsbury Pathfinder Team. They wanted to do some consultation with young people ... but not just another consultation exercise. We worked on a short project called "Making It Happen" where we worked with young people from different parts of their area to identify what they wanted to change and then to come up with plans of how to make those changes happen. The young people were up to the challenge and a new kind of partnership has been forged to make it happen. |
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| Kirklees Schools and Communities |
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We have worked with schools across the District including a project with Huddersfield Art Gallery using the Mary Martin exhibition as a starting point for work linking maths, design and the visual arts for schools from the Shelley pyramid. We also co-ordinated "Unplugged" - a staff training day in the summer of 2005 for 100 teachers working creatively in schools throughout Yorkshire. In Newsome, we are working with a community group to create a communal space that adds to their environment - A Secret Garden" |
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| Home Zones:
The UK Experience |
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Because
of the success of our work in the Methleys, the government has committed over £30 million pounds of funding to creating Home Zones in the UK. Heads Together, working with Transport 2000 and the Children's Play Council, first made a video about Home Zones in the Netherlands and Germany back in 1998. We have now been funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to create a video documenting the process that neighbourhoods are going through all over the country as they redesign their own streets to give pedestrians priority. Now on sale through CPC |
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| Common Threads |
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We have
worked closely with the Centre
for Creative Communities over the past six years and are delighted for our work to be featured as part of their "Common Threads" series of international seminars. Heads Together has also featured in a British Council publication profiling models of good practice in what they term "Arts and Culture for Development". We have also been visited by practitioners from "The Ferryman" - a Belgian organisation doing extensive work in schools and by representatives of the Western Australia Department of Education and Training who are looking to develop a creative communities strategy in the region |
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| Zoom, Zoom,
Zillmere |
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Brisbane City Council were interested in working with Heads Together to run an ambitious creative community development project in one of the suburbs of Brisbane. A team from Heads Together spent three months in Zillmere, making a film about the place, the people, identity and aspirations. At the end of the project, we closed off the main drag, brought in a big screen and put out the chairs. 500 residents came... all ages, all cultures, and saw themselves on the silver screen. The project received national media attention in Australia and, on our return, we were pleased to receive an export award for our efforts. |
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