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| Natalie Smith: Director of Education |
Hi Chilly people!
Gosh my fingers are so cold this morning that they aren't doing their usual pace on the keyboard and I am a little late to publish - so this one will be short and sweet!
I have talked a little bit from time to time on the Cinderella Blog about what else we are up to at Arc, and a lot more in the past ten days since I started this one. As you know if you are reading, this blog is designed to take you with me on a regular journey around the things that are Arc. Our studios and what's happening there, visits to clients and partners, conversations with creatives and cleaners. The daily mundane and not so mundane deliberations and sometimes personal reflections on how I got to be here!
So in this spirit a bit about Natalie and the work she has been doing with her wonderful girls project Finding the Words.
After my Panto sabbatical I am now into week two of catching up with everything I need to do on development. The great thing of course is that there are lots of other projects in development that have all been happening in my absence too. So it was with excitement that I finally got to sit down with Natalie yesterday in the gap at the Malthouse Studios. Always a good place to sit comfortably on the sofas and listen, create and plan.
Since early last year when we secured funding from the Home Office and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Natalie has been leading and developing a very special project for young women and girls which has gone way beyond where we dreamed. And this is in large part to Natalie's passion for the project and most particularly for her commitment to the 40 or so girls who have been involved. We have also been tremendously supported by the Youth Offending Service and The Domestic violence Advocacy team in Barking and Dagenham and by almost all of the secondary schools and Children's Services.
Natalie is running with the project and is therefore much closer to the detail and I may ask her to write me a few lines to add into this blog when she has a moment ( if ever she has a moment?). But most impressively for me was to listen to her update yesterday and to see how much strategic energy, focus and commitment she has. She told me how she has now been invited to a number of key steering groups with the Met Police and with the Barking and Dagenham Youth Offending Service.
Nat was modestly telling me and with a tone of surprise in her voice that this girls project is being viewed as a model of good practice. What I am not sure she really gets though is that she is fast becoming a respected voice on issues of girls, gangs and teenage domestic violence! How wonderful is that for Arc?
Its a rich combination of Natalie herself out there with all our core values and practice and the real evidence from the young women on the programme. And because Natalie herself has over 20 years of experience and practice in working with young people in schools as a facilitator and actor she is well placed to share this with others.
The programme has been so exciting. It drew to it over 40 girls and young women aged 13-18, who found themselves attracted to it for a range of reasons. The themes we would be exploring were explicit - the fear and danger of getting involved in gangs, attraction to powerful bad boys, romance and sadly the ever increasing incidence of teenage domestic violence.
One of the most powerful things about the project from the feedback Natalie has had from the girls, is that they got a chance to work together as a female only group. This allowed an openness and sharing that created new bonds and friendships. In this setting the girls got to voice previously unspoken fears and experiences, some of which were heartbreaking. Natalie with the support of Neelofer as Assistant and Grace as Filmmaker created an all female environment to explore through a creative process these hidden things.
They worked together over a period of about five months on a weekly basis to explore through poetry, writing, storytelling and film these dark themes. But as well as tears there was much laughter! Together they worked to create an original film, helped by the conceptual and directional guidance from Grace. And this film, Finding the Words is a piece of work that they are rightly proud of.
The best thing about this project is also that the young women have become ambassadors and leaders in their own schools and have built links to their group friends in different schools. This goes a way to breaking down some of the postcode rivalries in Barking and Dagenham. The mistresstroke I believe in this project is that the girls themselves were allowed out of school to take the film to children in most of the Borough schools. This built enormous confidence, encouraged speaking in public and engaging in an authentic peer conversation about the core issues with both boys and girls in audiences as large as 300.
I went to a number of these presentations at Warren and Jo Richardson schools. It was so emotionally touching to watch these young women grow in front of my eyes, directed and supported so ably by Natalie.
The girls have been nominated for a Rising Star award in Performing Arts and the ceremony is in a couple of weeks. And to our delight the Borough Commander of Police, Andrew Ewing has chosen to give them each a Police Commendation. I am so proud of them all.
I want to commend Natalie for making this project a reality!
Its another small window into what Arc is and does. Our desire is to do our bit with the talents and skills we have in drama and film to support possibility, dreams and transformation in our borough, across London and nationally.
Have a great day and wrap up warm!
Finding The Words are Adele Star Adeyemi, Precious Ayebola, Thandiwe Banda, Jennifer Ezebuenyi, Jolene Hayford, Cherry-Kandi Hazlewood Tennant, Hazvinei Kamhono, Leonita Laurent, Ariana Sofia Lomba, Eliane Lopes, Natasha Mtetwa, Sefunmi Olatunji, Ebunoluwa Ore, Jemima Orija, Katherine Pirie, Phoebe Stephens and Sylvia Zaranek
Finding the Words Arc team : Natalie Smith - Project Leader
Grace Pluckrose-Oliver - Filmmaker
Neelofer Ajazmir - Assistant Project Leader Theresa Snooks - Communications and Design
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