Y Pwyllgor Diwylliant, y Gymraeg a Chwaraeon

Adolygiad Polisi: Cyfraniad y Celfyddydau a Chwaraeon at Adfywio Cymunedol

Willows High School Multi-Arts Project

Project Description

Context

This project was linked to, and took place in the period leading up to, 'A Sense of Place’ - a 4-day conference event taking place in Cardiff from 24th - 27th November 2003, that aimed to investigate, question and shed light on concepts of 'displacement’ and 'integration’ in Europe, through the intellectual focus of the role of the arts, culture and media. The experience gained during the project fed into the conference to help ensure that the event was rooted in the concerns and realities facing displaced people.

Aims

The objective of the project was to use the medium of video to provide an opportunity for a mixed group of children to explore and reflect on the experience of arriving in, and coping with living in, a new and unfamiliar culture. The project enabled local children to gain some idea of the reality which faces displaced children who have been arriving in their school - with some of whom they may have even developed a friendship without understanding or knowing much about their particular circumstances. Mutual understanding between displaced and local children was developed through the process of working on the project and through devising and discussing the artistic work which was produced. This included drama; painting; video production; dance; three-dimensional artwork. In this way the project engaged with the issues facing young refugees and asylum seekers in three ways: firstly the participants worked together on the production of a variety of art forms which expressed and portrayed (from first hand experience) the experience of young displaced people; secondly the video made by the participants will be shown to school-age children in and around Cardiff as a means of increasing their knowledge and understanding of the issues confronting young refugees and asylum seekers; thirdly a video documentation of this project will be made available to school teachers and governors to introduce to them the potential effectiveness of using the arts to work with displaced children.

Project Details

The project took place at Willows High School located in Tremorfa, Cardiff, from Jul 21^st - August 1^st. Activities began with a series of devising, drama and writing workshops during the last week of the school summer term as a way of engaging with the children before they disappeared for the holidays. The project was based in the Performing Arts Centre at Willows, and had the staff support of Ali Franks, drama teacher and deputy centre manager. From July 28^th until August 1^st there were daily sessions and arts activities leading to the creation of a video document which was edited and finished by August 8^th., and shown at the school to a group of children and parents. The project was devised and delivered with the professional support of facilitators from Valley and Vale Community Arts, a Bridgend-based group who have a broad experience of using video in their work with disadvantaged groups. They worked with the assistance of Sobia Iqbal, Princes Trust development worker. (A brief report by Sobia about the project is attached) The project aimed to give a group of young asylum seekers and their local peers the opportunity to work together to produce a range of material about identity and cultural diversity. Using different art forms the participants were able to express personal experiences and explore stereotypes. Thirty children made up of local children and those from displaced families, took part in the first part of the project and about fifteen children in the second part. The process aimed to teach new skills, facilitate creative expression, and increase confidence and mutual respect between the local and displaced children. The video document was shown at the 'A Sense of Place ' conference and will also be distributed to schools across Wales who are themslves hosting children who are asylum seekers.

Context for Project

Cardiff hosts an increasing number of young asylum seekers who arrive in the city either with their families or in some cases alone. They are often 'dispersed’ to Cardiff very shortly after their arrival in the UK, with little or no prior knowledge of the area’s geography, social history or culture. Whilst children are usually absorbed relatively quickly into the school system, they can experience a profound feeling of isolation and dislocation, combined with the insecurity of not knowing whether their family’s request to be allowed to remain as residents in the UK will be granted. These difficulties may be compounded by traumatic experiences which children have experienced before coming to this country. An additional obstacle to their experiencing some 'sense of place’ during their stay is negative stereotyping of asylum-seekers in the media, and the unwelcoming attitudes which may be expressed by members of the host community - as a rule caused by ignorance or misconceptions which have been encouraged by the less responsible sections of the media. Community arts organisations such as Valley and Vale have produced a solid body of evidence to show that that a shared creative activity which acknowledges and values their experiences and culture is an excellent way of building confidence for children who experience anxiety or low self-esteem. Such an activity would also help to build bridges of understanding and tolerance with their peers from the host community. This project used a hands-on approach to video scripting, direction and production processes as a means of working in an inspirational and empowering way with mixed groups of displaced and local children at Willows High School which is located in Adamsdown, Cardiff, where there is a relatively high number of displaced children due to the location of the Adams Court asylum seekers reception centre in the vicinity. There follows a selection of statements from some of the children who took part in the project: Hayley Gallagher (13) a pupil at Willows said:- 'I’ve enjoyed making friends with the asylum seekers. Now that I’ve heard some of their stories I feel really sorry for them and at least I now understand a bit about what they have been through. I’ve really enjoyed making the films which uses dance as a journey - they were all different in their own way - everyone seemed so frightened’. 'You get the opportunity to meet new people. I don’t think I would have approached one of the Asylum Seekers before but now I’ve realised what nice people they actually are’. This was said by Shona Innocent (13) who took part in the project. Samia Hussain an Asylum Seeker said ' I like everything we are doing in this project. The British kids are really nice and I will carry on being friends with them after the project is finished’. And Fay Haji also an Asylum Seeker summed it all up perfectly:- 'I loved everything about the project. I have learnt that we have to share everything’. There follows two extracts from a writing exercise carried out by the project participants. Journeys Most people enjoy journeys, but some don't, because maybe they are sick. People who are doing a journey are always very tired and most of them are refugees. Refugees are leaving their countries, they are always very stressed when they are on their journey because they don't know where they are going to and who they can trust, so their journeys are very tiring an stressful and scary. At the same time they are happy because they have escaped from trouble. Most of all the refugees have stress because they might have left their families and friends behind. For those who don't understand why refugees are here, it is because of problems. Refugees are human beings like all others, they are not here because they want to be here. Everybody likes to be in their own country. If people think we steal their money they are wrong. Please for god sake understand. Refugees find it hard to be left out. Be like their sisters or brothers. They really are under a lot of pressure. If you can understand that, I think the refuges will be very grateful. Thanks in advance Rosi, 13 asylum seeker Willows High School Differences and similarities between local girls and asylum seeker girls: "We like the same music, go to the same school, watch TV , we like dancing and we are all girls, we don't have the same religion, speak the same languages, we have different personalities and wear different cloths, only a few of us cover our hair, we have different colour skin, eat different food and come from different countries, some of us only eat halal meat, we all like chips. It was interesting finding out about each other, we learnt, not to judge each other by the way we look". Sami, Rosi, Rhoda, Hely, Cloe Willows High School A Personal Perspective from a Project Staff Member My involvement in the project stemmed from a discussion with Steve Garrett, the event organisor of 'A Sense of Place’ conference, at the New Young Europeans exhibition at the Old Library a few months back. I was a Development worker with The Princes Trust-Cymru work with young disadvantaged people and had been interested in working with Asylum Seekers myself. I approached Steve and discussed the idea of a video project in Willows High School in Tremorfa, Cardiff as from previous meetings with the Education Welfare Officer at the school I knew there were quite a large number of young asylum seekers at the school. This was mainly due to the close proximity of Adams Court which is where new arrivals to the Country are placed. Valley and Vale Community Arts were brought in to deliver the video side of the project. They also brought in someone with special expertise in Theatre Forum to work with the young people involved in conjunction with 2 drama teachers from Willows on drama pieces. The group of young people was a mix of local children with asylum seeker children. We had expected approx 20 young people to take part and though the first day was a bit thin on the ground where the children were probably unsure as to what the project entailed, by the 2^nd day and the rest of the week more and more young children came along to take part. As I had only met with Valley and Vale to discuss the project once beforehand I did not know what to expect myself so I fully expected to rely on Valley and Vale quite a bit to tell me what to do. But with 30+ kids running riot the majority of the project was ran using each adults own initiative!! Even at 25 years of age I am constantly told by other young people that I look about 18 years old so I think a lot of the kids involved assumed I was just another one of them taking part. Almost straight away I was 'accepted’ by the young Somali children as all those of this origin taking part in this project were Muslim like myself. On the 2^nd day as I walked in to the hall I was greeted by 'Assalam’u’alaikum’ which translates as 'may peace and blessings be with you’. This is a greeting normally given to elders and those who are respected so when I was greeted by this in the morning I was delighted! The project was planned on a day to day basis. The first day was mainly playing games and everyone getting used to each other. It was also a good opportunity for us adults to get to know the names of the kids. The second day and the rest of the week was spent doing a mixture of things including 3 world maps showing the good, the bad and one with photos of the kids on showing which part of the world they come from. The kids also worked on a theatre forum piece which they performed in front of another class, an opportunity to show off their dance and break dancing skills, an opportunity to sing songs in their mother tongue (even I had a go!!) and lots more! The 2^nd week was spent mainly doing one-to-one interviews, working on the two parachutes, more drama pieces and getting footage for the final video. Two hip-hop artists and a dancer were also brought in to work with the kids on a rap piece and dance piece. All in all I felt that the kids got a lot out of the project. The asylum seekers got the opportunity to talk about their experiences openly in front of the British kids without being afraid of what they would think. I think the reason they felt comfortable in doing this was because in a way they felt a sense of ownership of the project as they knew it related to them. It was heart warming to see the local kids mixing in with the asylum seekers and asking them questions that adults would probably feel uncomfortable in asking. That’s the beauty of working with kids, theres none of that having to be politically correct all the time and being wary of offending others. I think the highlight of the project was walking in one day to find Rosie (an asylum seeker) sitting on laura - a local girls lap. They had never spoken prior to this project starting but the bond that had developed between them was so special you knew that they would be friends for the remainder of the time they would both be in the same school. I felt that the aims of the project were achieved. For me the project was all about integration. I wanted to see the two groups of kids who are almost always segregated - even in school - working together and most of all having fun! For me it was about breaking barriers and misconceptions and hearing true experiences from the people affected themselves and not twisted false versions that we so often read about in the press. After speaking to the local kids they all said they had enjoyed the experience and would remain friends with the asylum seekers and for me that’s what its all about.