Gallery 37 Plus represents the expansion of the Gallery 37 Birmingham model to five new locations in England. In 2005 Youth Music established a partnership with the cities of Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, the Roundhouse in Camden, London, Newark and Sherwood District Council and the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham and approached the Young People’s Fund – managed by the Big Lottery Fund – to support arts summer programmes based on the Gallery 37 Birmingham model in 2007 and 2008. Funding was provided to Youth Music to help more than 600 young people over the two years. In each place there is a local Gallery 37 Plus co-ordinator responsible for developing the strands of the programme:
The Roundhouse, Camden, London
Projects
Digital Arts + Music
Film + Music
Through music, film and digital arts 30 young apprentices embarked on an artistic and personal journey. They quickly realised that their lives do not have to be predetermined by their class, culture, race or any other dimension that they feel is holding them back. What distinguishes Gallery 37 Plus from many other programmes is that it is not conceived in isolation. It has a start, middle and an end but the ending is very much about new beginnings.
A noteworthy achievement of Gallery 37 Plus is the fact that it has raised participants’ expectations of themselves. For some it has been about producing a portfolio, for others it has been about having the confidence to be themselves. The Roundhouse feels inspired and privileged to have shared in their journeys and to stay in touch providing support and advice into the future.
Barbara O’ Brien - Gallery 37 Plus Co-ordinator
Newark & Sherwood
Projects
Dance + Drumming
Film + Drama
jewellery Making
Photography + sound
Gallery 37 Plus was a journey that transformed the lives of young people from the Newark and Sherwood area, many of whom had a range of challenging issues in their lives. This four week programme gave a time for respite, a time to focus outside those issues and to interact with people on a different level. Gradually the focus became Gallery 37 Plus where skills were developed, social interaction became easier and individual contributions were seen to empower the whole group. Artists were challenged almost daily and rose to those challenges by adopting new ways of working and positive relationships were formed. Partnerships were vital for the project to succeed and our collaboration in the formative days gave us a strong base for the whole programme. Key workers from Youth Services supported every young person and this meant that artists were free to focus on creativity, a key element to the success of Gallery 37 Plus.
James Parkinson - Gallery 37 Plus Officer
Bristol
Projects
Media
Music Production
Design
Gallery 37 Plus enabled us to explore the existing youth arts in the city and to discover that there is a gap between the starter and developer level activities and further education and career opportunities. Gallery 37 Plus was able to bridge that gap and give our young people a real insight into what is available to them, help them to develop their skills and confidence so that they can progress and support them in accessing those next steps.
Bristol has a number of flourishing creative industries like Aardman, BBC, E3 Media, Hope records, Endemol and arts organisations such as Colston Hall, Arnolfifni and Picture This Moving Image. The programme was designed with this in mind and focused on media, music and design. We saw Gallery 37 Plus as a chance to engage these organisations with the excellent ongoing youth arts activity and reveal the Bristolbased talent on their doorstep. This summer was a first step in building these partnerships. As well as getting professional artists to work on the programme, a number of people gave their time to come and speak to the young people about their field. We hope that the work produced will enable us to build stronger partnerships with these organisations and that we can develop work placement opportunities with these companies next year.
Lerato Dunn
Gallery 37 Plus Officer
Leeds
Project
Film Production Visual Arts
Music Fusion Dance
Fashion Textiles
3D Music Production
Theatre Journalism
Young people had the chance to get involved in a variety of arts projects including fashion design, journalism and media, contemporary dance and graphic arts. The groups also had the chance to find out about careers in the arts from professionals working within organisations such as Yorkshire TV, Phoenix Dance Theatre and Leeds Metropolitan University. Integral to the recruitment of young people who could gain most from Gallery 37 Plus was the support of a developed referral agency network including such organisations as Archway, Connexions, Leeds Youth Homeless Forum, the Future Pathways Team and Leeds Gypsy and Traveller Exchange. The support of these and other agencies ensured that as many of our target group of young people as possible found out about Gallery 37 Plus.
Eighty-one young people successfully completed Gallery 37 Plus this year and completed their Bronze Young People’s Arts Award. A showcase event took place to a packed audience on 15 August at the Carriageworks Theatre including drama, dance, DJing, MJing and live musical performance. Exhibitions of the work produced by four of the groups were displayed in two galleries in the Carriageworks building.
Samantha Blackburn
Gallery 37 Plus Co-ordinator
Oldham
Projects
Drama + Dance
Film + Photography
Urban Music Making
The ethos for Gallery 37 Plus Oldham 2007 was all about being young people led. The art forms were selected by our Gallery 37 Plus Young People’s Steering Group. The apprentices chose and created the content for, and performed in the final production. They also staffed the venue in front of house roles. The key word for the Gallery 37 Plus programme is ‘apprentice’, and in Oldham it was made very clear that the selected young people would be entering an arts-based apprenticeship that required good attendance and respect for workplace colleagues. All the apprentices understood this and enjoyed the experience of working in a professional arts environment.
Our team of professional artists quickly earned the respect of the young people, which created a sense of loyalty, friendship and commitment within each team of apprentices, and later across the whole group. As well as learning new skills within their chosen field, the apprentices worked across art forms, which gave them a real understanding and respect for the bigger picture, learning how artists collaborate and achieve high quality work. This work was able to come into being because of the diverse skill sets of the artists and their commitment to the young apprentices who, in their turn, were willing to completely engage with the project and who showed amazing talents once they were given the opportunity to be creative.
Julie Ashforth
Gallery 37 Plus Co-ordinator