The dust is settling on another really challenging year, and taking stock we can see some special moments of 2022 which may have gone unrecorded on our social media and newsletter! 

Our three Kickstart workers each wrote an article earlier in the year, but since then, long time participant, and now worker, Georgia Tyler has submitted and achieved her GOLD Arts Award, the first for High Peak Community Arts.  The award is a nationally recognised qualification which carries UCAS points (to go towards university entrance), and takes a lot of commitment and self discipline to complete – so well done to Georgia! 

Another long-time member of Film Cuts Club, Heather Wright, also achieved her Silver Arts Award at the same moderation, using the leadership section to direct a film for the first time.  Here they are pictured together in our cheesey certificate-giving ceremony!

We had a great day at Manchester Science Festival in half term, where, armed with our HPCA iPads, some of the young people decided to interview anyone and everyone involved in the festival.  First we saw Turn it Up: The Power of Music which featured examples of music technology through the ages (I spotted a Walkman just like the one I had in the 90s).  More impressively there were examples of the kind of assistive technology that can enable people with disabilities to be musicians – which gave us ideas for things we can buy in the future for music workshops.  The rest of the festival had more of a market-place feel, which allowed everyone to roam at their own pace, with interviews with scientists from the future, museum volunteers and even Sally MacDonald, Director of the Museum of Science and Industry!

Just as we were all feeling worn out, the movement piece on the top floor gave a relaxing end to the day.  In the subdued lighting of a warehouse room, a camera was picking up the movements of everyone there and beaming them back through the projector in a form of a cosmic light show.  I’d like to say everyone had a nap on the minibus home, but that was not the case.

Then on November 12^th we took a trip to Manchester’s Contact Theatre to see Touchy, from Liverpool-based youth theatre company 20 Stories High.  The show was a combination of five short films telling different, very personal stories from young people.  Then in the second half six young people from the company performed songs, rap, spoken word and dance, again telling a range of personal stories which were very moving.

The films are well worth a watch and are available online here:

https://www.20storieshigh.org.uk/show/touchy/

It has been lovely to get back to taking trips out of the High Peak – broadening young people’s horizons is an important part of engaging with arts and culture, and it has been sorely missed during the pandemic.  Reflecting on these experiences, especially for the 13+ age group help shape the direction of our own youth projects.