The Foyer for the Island, in partnership with the Quay Arts Centre, recently successfully obtained funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Awards for All scheme to work with a group of residents (16 – 25 year olds), enabling them to learn new skills to develop a short animated film for a public screening.
Eleven Foyer residents seized the opportunity to work with Thomas Hicks, a prolific artist, animations specialist and film maker and good friend of VB, Ergo Phizmiz, an inventive composer, performer and dj, for five days in January this year.
The young people were encouraged to experiment with sound, music, art and movement, beginning at Quay Arts, where they gained inspiration from Tom Hick’s exhibition ‘Dark City, Lonely Circus’, then continuing activity at The Carnival Learning Centre in Ryde.
One of the residents working on the project has since been joined in workshops for Medina High School’s 6th Form students held at Quay Arts, to develop his own portfolio.
The resulting short film, based on the theme of ‘Carnival’, will premiere at a special event to be held at Quay Arts on 19 March 2009 (by invitation only).
Comments from some of the Foyer residents: ‘It has opened my mind to different mediums and how interesting this has been and I may do some more.’
‘I enjoyed the film, seeing how the Simpsons and flash film work.’
‘It has been cool being involved in animation and drums’.
‘Art gives you freedom through expression. It is linked to freedom. There are no rules to art; if there wasn’t art I couldn’t do my crazy dancing. There would be nothing unique.’
Project Supported by:
Awards for All (Heritage Lottery Fund ) & the Arts Council’s Enquire Programme.
Enquire is an exciting national programme of projects that engage children and young people with galleries, contemporary visual arts and artists. Enquire projects are organised collaboratively by gallery educators, artists and teachers.
They have the aim of exploring, assessing and articulating the special learning benefits to young people of working with contemporary art and the gallery space, and the programme offers extensive formal and non-formal CPD for all the professionals involved.
