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Arts Council England
Banner: Norfolk Arts Partnership youth democracy project with Loddon Youth Club, to gain isights into aspirations young people have for the community and to inform local democracy initiatives across Norfolk.
Artist: Norfolk Arts Partnership
Photographer: Adam Shawyer

Postcard - At the still point - grass and ribbon
Norfolk Arts Partnership's arts based tourism initiative - postcards designed by artists to encourage visitors to Norfolk.
Artist: Ann Christie Photographer: Ann Christie
Blueprint

Norfolk Arts Partnership

Creative Change

A collaboration between Norfolk County and District Councils and Arts Council England, East, this three year programme has now been completed.

The Creative Change programme has successfully demonstrated the ability of the arts to address and deliver change in relation to social and community agendas. (see evaluation summary in Documents list below)

Themes for seven projects were agreed with Norfolk's local strategic partnerships:

  • Breckland: improving mental well-being
  • Broadland: reducing the fear of crime
  • Great Yarmouth: improving social cohesion
  • Norfolk-wide: developing creative activities for older people
  • North Norfolk: reducing crime and anti-social behaviour
  • South Norfolk: giving young people a voice in local democracy
  • West Norfolk: raising aspirations


In addition, a training programme provided development for artists and non-arts professionals.  And a cultural tourism initiative aimed to raise the profile of Norfolk’s arts and to demonstrate how the arts can boost the economic value of tourism in the county.

‘Inspiration’ - Improving mental well-being - Breckland Council

Raising the profile of men’s health is an aim of the Local Strategic Partnership Community Plan for Breckland 2005/15.  Free-of-charge creative activities were offered via GP referral to provide patients with a positive course of action to reduce mild stress, anxiety and depression.  Teams of professional artists worked on the initial projects in Swaffham and Thetford.  While these were not well attended, subsequent workshops in Swaffham and Dereham were promoted to a wider audience and had regular attendance.

The artists ensured an informal friendly atmosphere which encouraged participants, who might be feeling high levels of anxiety or low self-confidence, to attend.  The high ratio of artists to participants meant that group members had the flexibility to decide what type of art-form they were interested in exploring.  The artists have established themselves as an independent group and have already raised funding to continue the sessions.



‘Teen Ages’ - Reducing the fear of crime - Broadland District Council

 ‘Feeling safe’ is one of the key themes of the Broadland Community Partnership’s vision for Broadland 2004/14.  Research suggested that tackling mistrust between the generations was effective in reducing the fear of crime.  The focus of this project was on building understanding and empathy between young people and older people, producing valuable insights into the similarities and differences between teenagers now and fifty years ago.

The project began at Norwich Castle Museum, with further workshops at the Youth and Community Service’s Sprowston Resource Base.  The Broadland Older People’s Partnership recruited the ten older people who took part.  The team of artists ran a series of cross-arts based sessions resulting in a multimedia travelling exhibition and workshops which visited schools and community venues across Broadland district.  Some of the artists are planning follow-up projects with Norfolk Museum Service and other agencies.


 
Mix @ St Georges’ - Improving social cohesion - Great Yarmouth Borough Council

Social cohesion is a priority of the Great Yarmouth Local Strategic Partnership Community Plan - ‘Great Yarmouth 2020 Vision’.  The Borough has over 2,000 residents who might consider themselves part of an ethnic minority.  This Creative Change project aimed to help St George’s Theatre Trust to engage with a wider range of local residents through arts events.  However, after three performances it became clear that St George's would need to be closed pending structural repairs. 
A specially-commissioned review of existing arts provision in Great Yarmouth highlighted the unique range of heritage seaside arts and entertainments venues in the borough.  This is contributing to the development of arts policy in Great Yarmouth in a much broader way than originally envisaged.  Norfolk Arts Partnership is also planning to work closely with SeaChange, Great Yarmouth's arts development agency, to promote participatory arts activities involving young people and their family members across the community.


 
‘Out of the Box’ - Developing creative activities for older people - Norfolk County Council

‘Out of the Box’ aimed to develop new ways of delivering creative activities in residential care homes, based on needs identified by a conference for care home managers hosted by Norfolk County Council.  ‘Out of the Box’ was fundraised for and managed by Creative Arts East on behalf of Norfolk Arts Partnership. Four artists worked with older people at Benjamin Court Day centre in Cromer to pilot the creative activities, which included drawing, painting, puppet making, singing, rhyming and movement. 

The four artists then created ‘art boxes’ packed with resources for creative activities.  The county-wide tour to eight care homes in both the state and independent sectors began in October 2007, following training of care staff by the artists.  An introductory session is led by one of the artists with care staff with participants. The box contains activities for weekly sessions during the following month, led by care staff, with a new box delivered at the beginning of each month for a four-month period.  Creative Arts East is keen to build on what has been achieved and the work has been supported by Norfolk County Council Adult Social Services.


Reducing crime and anti-social behaviour - North Norfolk District Council

Community safety is a priority of the North Norfolk Community Strategy. The aim of this Creative Change project was to show how arts activities can have a positive impact on the behaviour of young people thought to be at risk of offending. The project focussed on two groups in the North Walsham area: young people aged 8-13 recommended by the Youth Inclusion Support Panel (YISP) and young people aged 14-16 attending a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) at the Douglas Bader School in Coltishall. 

The team of artists introduced exercises designed to develop group work, to build confidence and self-esteem and introduce performance skills.  Using dance, drama and video, the projects culminated in two performances at Sheringham Little Theatre.  The project highlighted the benefits of using the arts with young people.  Participants had a valuable experience of working together through the arts and were keen to continue drama activities after the project.  Drama training was also given to members of the Youth Offending Team across Norfolk.


‘pARTicipate’ - Giving young people a voice in local democracy - South Norfolk Council

Providing young people with opportunities to engage positively in the democratic process is a priority of South Norfolk's Community Strategy 2004/07.  The aim of ‘pARTicipate’ was to develop an effective way of consulting young people about their local area - Loddon - using the arts to express their views and ideas.  The artists worked with a group of young people using photography, video, printing, and the spoken and written word to ascertain young people's perceptions of their village, together with changes they would like to take place.

After canvassing views from other young people using sound recording, a message board and cameras, the group produced a 'blue print' map - ‘Loddon: through young eyes’ - summing up the perceptions and aspirations of the 106 young people consulted.  Following the pilot project, several of the artists established themselves as an independent group named Channel (www.channeleast.info).  Further proposals for consultations with young people were developed, including a project in Wymondham which attracted funding through the Local Network Fund.


 
‘Raising aspirations’ - Improving the aspirations and achievements of young people - Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk

The Creative Change theme endorsed by the West Norfolk Partnership is improving the aspirations and achievements of young people, focusing specifically on the communities of South Lynn, helping to provide integration between the existing community and new ones that will be part of the regeneration of the area. The project allowed a group of pupils in their last year of secondary school to spend time away from the classroom exploring their own personal aspirations through creative collaboration. 

Four artists worked with a group of twelve Year 11 pupils to produce artwork in a range of media including felt collage, puppetry, photography, mask-making, painting and dance music.  The project was successful in sparking participants’ self-confidence and self-esteem, and helping to keep them engaged in school.  Work from the project was exhibited at the South Lynn Centre and the Green Quay Centre in King’s Lynn.  Participants received achievement awards including Arts Awards and Youth Achievement Awards and most went on to gain places at college.

Further information

The arts-based tourism initiative aimed to raise the profile of Norfolk's arts offer, and to demonstrate how the arts can boost the economic value of tourism in the county. An arts section has been created on the Norfolk Tourism website:
http://www.visitnorfolk.co.uk/norfolk/norfolk-nap.aspx

For further information about the cultural tourism project, please contact:
Fiona Muller
Arts Tourism Co-ordinator
Norfolk County Council
Tel: 01603 222096;  email fiona.muller@norfolk.gov.uk

The Norfolk Arts Partnership was hosted, on behalf of all the partners, by Norfolk County Council.  For further information, please contact:
Jenny Bevan, Arts Support Officer
Norfolk Arts Service
County Hall
Norwich
Norfolk NR1 2UA

Tel:  01603 638124, email: Jenny.Bevan@norfolk.gov.uk

Parent Project:

Projects

Documents

Art forms

  • Cross-artform

Themes

  • Out of school provision - 16
  • Work based training for artists
  • BME communities/ people
  • Arts and older people
  • Rural communities
  • Arts and health
  • Criminal justice

Interventions

  • New ways of working with LAs
  • Training - artists
  • Training - non artists

Target groups

  • Artists
  • Local authority staff
  • Local authority members
  • Secondary school age (11-16)
  • Older people (60 plus)
  • Health promotion clients
  • BME communities
  • Rural community groups
  • Clients of criminal justice system

Venue

  • Norfolk
Further explanation of arts|generate categories