The workshops...
My project idea was inspired by the work experience I did with my youth club and the local primary school. I decided to ask at my old school if I could do a series of workshops for a small group of kids who, like me, are interested in graffiti.
I asked my advisor what he thought and he agreed that maybe I could do it as an after school club for a few weeks in the term. He said the best thing for me to do was to talk to someone at the school and see if they would be interested.
We agreed the Assistant Principle would be the best person to ask about the idea as she makes decisions on all the after school clubs. I know the Asisstant Principle well because she is a PE teacher and has helped me with my football practice, so it was easy to get to talk to her. She was really happy with the idea and suggested I get in contact with the head teacher for the Year 7's because she knew of some work being done with a small group of boys that were causing trouble at the school.
Following a meeting with the Year 7 teacher, it was agreed that I could do the workshops as long as I had support from an attending adult, so I asked if my advisor would be able to support me, which he agreed.
After the meetings I worked out a plan for the workshops, including:
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What I would need to do to set up the workshops?
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What I would do during the workshops?
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What I would do with the finished pieces?
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How I would know the project was successful?
Set Up
At the meetings it had been agreed that I could run 6 workshops for a group of 6 kids aged 11 years old. The workshops would be on Thursday's from 3.30 to 5pm
I worked out a lesson plan for the sessions, thinking of the following:
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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:
I wanted to show the group why graffiti is so interesting to me, where it comes from and what it means to some of the most famous artists. I also wanted to look into what the actual rules of graffiti writing are and at the end of the project everyone will have an idea how to do a good piece of graffiti, created their own tag and have tried to complete a burner at least once.
Here is a detailed action plan for the sessions:
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MATERIALS:
The main thing I would need to buy was the spray paint. I asked Alfreshco what they would recommend and they told me the cheapest brand they had in stock and how much they recommend I get. This was a big expense, which I knew I couldn't afford, so I asked my advisor what I should do.
As a result I started to search for potential funding opportunities. Luckily Cambridgeshire County Council were offering a small bursaries grant near that time, so I asked my youth club if they would help me get the grant. They got in contact with the council and I filled out the form with my advisor's support. I was amazed when I was told we had received the full amount. Below is a copy of the application form and the response we received from the council.
Following your recent application for small grant funding for Girton Youth Project (attached for info), I have great pleasure in informing you that your application has been successful for the full amount of £145.
The next step would be for you to provide me with an invoice with the relevant bank details where the funding would need to be paid. I attach a template invoice you can use, if you haven’t already got one, you just need to fill in the bits highlighted in red and return to me. If you were able to do this by e-mail, it would mean I can process this quicker for you.
In addition, the Area Partnership is keen to know more about how their funding has helped and we would request that your group sends us a letter and/or photos when your activities have taken place, in relation to where the funding has helped. This will be shared at our Area Partnership meetings. If this is possible and when available, please send this to the address outlined below or e-mail:
Many thanks
Dee
Denise Revens
Children’s Trust Manager
Strategy & Partnerships
CC1003, Castle Court
Cambridge, CB3 0AP
However, I also needed some additional materials, both to paint on and to protect the surrounding area. Because I didn't have a budget for the workshops, I knew I would have to ask everyone else how they could help. Luckily both the school and the youth club helped as much as they could. Below is a full list of the materials I needed, the cost and how I went about getting it all:
With all this arranged I went back to my advisor to see what else needed doing. He told me that when he arranges workshops he had the child's welfare to consider and showed me the policy that he is bound to by his job. I've put a copy of it below.
He also said that I would have to think about a DBS check as I am working with children and gave me the form to fill out to get one done. I now have a DBS number that I can use for 3 years. The last thing he advised me to do was a Risk Assessment. This is because the materials I was using can be dangerous. Here is a copy below.
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LESSON ORGANISATION / TASKS TO BE CARRIED OUT:
Because I was doing a project at school I was able to ask for their help on a lot of things. The year 7 teacher organised:
An art classroom for us to use
A computer to watch the video on session 1
Paper and pens for the first 2 lessons
Delivery of the boards
She also got in contact with the parents of the kids that wanted to be involved to get their permission.
How it went!
In truth, I found the workshops quite difficult. Although the group did engage well throughout the sessions it was difficult to keep them concentrating on what we were doing for the whole time.
One of the group really struggled to be part of the group and didn't get inspired from the beginning, which meant that by the 3rd session he was getting bored and didn't come back after that. Also, one other of the boys was more intersted in messing about, which became hard when he started to annoy others in the group. I was grateful for the help of my advisor with this. We both agreed that telling the teacher about this behaviour would be the best thing to do. He was told by her that if he didn't behave, he would be taken off the project, so he was better after that.
Despite that, the other four did seem to really enjoy the whole process. They really thought about a cool tag and how to write it. They also wanted to get into the painting and were happy to refine their work instead of getting bored.
The best part of the workshops was that two of the group were really inspired. and made some real effort with the piece of work. They really listened to my suggestions and advice and wanted to produce a good piece of work. The whole group was also really interested in the bigger graffiti scene and what current artists were out there at the moment. They quizzed me on my opinion on the politics of graffiti and whether I agreed with spraying on walls without permission.
A major part of the workshop was to get the finished pieces hung on a wall at the school. When we finished the school was so impressed with the finished work, they were very happy to agree to this and each board is up in a school corridor.
What happened after!
I was asked by the Assistant Principle to spray paint her office wall. I decided to do a cartoon character and the words Inspire and Succeed which I did after the project was finished.
My advisor told me that I could offer a free place to each of the young people involved at the youth club's next graffiti workshop at Alfreshco, which was to take place later in the summer holidays. Out of the group, 4 attended. Inspiring them even more to see some of the artists I have met doing this award.
feedback
Below is a list of comments taken from each participant on the last session. Also there are copies of some emails that were received once the project had finished:
"I thought it was sick."
"I love it, I want to do it all the time!"
Seriously, I've learned so much! I didn't know about how people got tags and stuff. I definately want to do the summer workshop."
My son, Tomas XXXXXXX, came home with a letter from IVC regarding a 'Graffiti painting day' on the 5th August. Unfortunately he won't be able to make it as we're on holiday but he wanted me to let you know.
I just wanted to thank you for the Graffiti workshop which you recently ran at IVC. Tom thoroughly enjoyed it and it had a really positive impact on him.
Kind regards,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Just want to say a big thank you for what sounded like and looked like a great day yesterday!
XXXXXX and XXXXX loved it, and now want me to have the phone number of the shop in Longstowe … do they have a website?
They really enjoyed the day and it’s inspired them, especially XXXXXXXX who was put off art galleries at an early age (over load) he said he thought it was art but not how he used to think art should be.
Kind regards
XXXXXXXXXXXX
teachers comments
Good afternoon. I just wanted to say a huge thanks for the workshops. The students really enjoyed themselves and got a lot out of the experience.
I have sent emails out about where we can hang the boards and am waiting for a response. I can definitely say we would be interested in running this again next year.
Kind Regards
Miss Hayley White
Student Manager - Year 7
Impington Village College
New Road, Impington, Cambridge, CB24 9LX
Review and reflections
Here is a video of what I thought of the project as a whole.