Steven's Review for Arts Award

STEVEN

What did you experience?

The experience I had was a sense of feeling a very intense and dramatic, but also entertaining piece of Theatre and performance. You felt an warmth of emotion wash over you from when the play began until the ending curtain started falling, as it encaptured you and become part of your life and we became part of their lives, experiences and their sad but in no doubt eventful journey.

What did you like?

I liked the intensity of it, how the scenes transitioned and how good the designs of the sets were and also I loved the characters, in how they acted and performed so well, and so real, really making you feel like they were experiencing and going through that personal journey with them. But what I enjoyed the most was the story, the script, what happened within, and the journey we went on with the characters which really made it feel powerful, wonderful and quite beautiful to watch.

What could be better?

I don’t really think anything could have been done better, as I thought it was an excellent performance, from start to finish.

Would you recommend it and why?

I would definitely recommend it to others, but will say at times it can be quite hard to watch, and some scenes are emotional. But in terms of mental health I think it’s a good play to watch, as you can maybe grasp more understanding, and see where we have come from in terms of treatment and how we see mental illness, but generally all round it was a well performed piece which many others would enjoy and benefit from seeing I believe.

Megan's Review of La Boheme for Arts Award

MEGAN

What did you experience as audience member?

La Boheme at the Grand Theatre Leeds

Wednesday 7 May 2014

What did you like best and why?

I really liked the interior of the building on the inside, it looked beautiful. I also did enjoy the opera but just didn’t really understand it properly.

What do you think could have been done better?

I didn’t really like the fact that I had to look at the subtitles on the side of the stage so kept missing bits of the opera.

Would you recommend it to others?

I would recommend it to older people 25+ or people that like that sort of stuff but wasn’t my cup of tea really.

Kirsty's: Planning an arts event review for Arts Award

KIRSTY

Planning my arts event

In January 2014 as part of my involvement on The Fresh project – which is a volunteer programme in Leeds, I was invited for free to see a opera at the grand theatre in Leeds.

I really enjoyed the performance, it was the first time I had seen opera, so I asked Space2 Leeds who run The Fresh project to let me know when or if any more free tickets for opera were on offer.

In February Emma from Space2 told me about La Bohem tickets, I asked if I could go again as I knew what expect and thought would enjoy it.

What did you experience as audience member?

La Bohem, Opera North, Wednesday 7 May 2014

What did you like best and why?

I liked the music because you always knew what was coming next, whether it was sad or happy.

I liked the fact that it wasn’t in English, because even though I didn’t understand the words I still understood the story.

The set design was interesting – the cafe scene was on wheels and rotated and it didn’t even look like anyone was moving it etc it was really clever. I thought all the characters were amazing I would definitely go again.

What do you think could have been done better?

I don’t think there could be anything better about the opera La Boheme it was really good.

Would you recommend it to others?

I would definitely recommend this opera to anyone who enjoys performance.

Amy's Arts Review for Arts Award

AMY

What did you experience as audience member?

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

19 March 2014

What did you like best and why?

I liked the moving horse sculpture because you could see it from everywhere. I liked the colourful sculptures too as they stood out from the others and the green grass. The sculptures with different parts/toilets and baths on were werid but fun as they brought out the fun side of sculpture.

What do you think could have been done better?

More toilets around the place and clean the animal poo off the grass areas.

Would you recommend it to others?

Yes as it was fun and interesting about the different arts.

What did you experience as audience member?

La Bohem, Opera North, Wednesday 7 May 2014

What did you like best and why?

I went to the opera to see La Boheme. I liked the atmosphere and hoe the actors could get everyone laughing and how the music changed with the story from how it got sad or happy or excited.

I liked how you could follow the story line even though it wasn’t in English.

I also liked how they changed the set before your eyes.

The actors were really good and made you laugh but you new when to stop laughing when a sad bit came on.

The building is amazing.

What do you think could have been done better?

The only thing I didn’t like is that if you looked at the screen to show you what they was saying for too long you missed what was going on, on the stage.

Would you recommend it to others?

Yes because it was an amazing experience.

Last session - films to watch on youTube

This is what we watched on YouTube for our last session - harking back to the very first meeting we had when Lucy showed a sprinkling of ideas.

Short film - Parents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6_583_o54U

Short film - Teenagers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP8psM4LWXk

Pes - Fireworks 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bmpFCwZbwM

Bob Dylan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM0Vs3MEOZc

Five Second films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u4kwkWXrAU 

It's all about perception...

10 Facts About Benefits Britain

Posted on February 3, 2014 by oliverjamesuk

1)      A TUC survey showed that people think around 41% of benefits go to the unemployed, the real figure is 2.6%.   (1)

2)      42% of the Welfare Bill goes to pensioners, 21% goes to people in low paid work.   (2)

3)      Nearly 80% of JSA claimants stop claiming within 6 months.   (3)

4)      Of the 7.8 million families receiving child benefit, 1.2 million have more than two children.   (4)

5)      A TUC survey found that people think around 27% of welfare is lost to fraud – the real figure is only 0.7%, around £1.2 billion.   (5)

6)      Around £17 billion of benefits that people are entitled to goes unclaimed every year.   (6)

7)      Immigrants are 60% less likely to claim benefits than a British-born person.  (7)

8)      64% of families receive benefits – that’s 20.3 million families.   (8)

9)      The UK spends 12% less on benefits per head than France does, and 19% less compared to Germany.   (9)

10)  93% of new Housing Benefit claimants in 2010 and 2011 came from working people, as UK housing costs are the 3^rd highest in Europe.   (10)  (10)

Graphics from the Centre of Welfare Reform

Check this out - it's fascinating

http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/graphics-diagrams/

Tax avoided v Benefit Fraud - interesting

Tax V Benefit Fraud Graph Excellent

Posted on February 12, 2013 by JJ

Hans and Eva Rausing Photograph Alan Davidson WireImage

Rowson Pass the Buck Blame the Poor Welfare Reform

£16 Billion of benefits people are entitled to go unclaimed every year

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Arts Awards update

I would add for my part we started to discuss the outline for their accreditation on the Arts Awards, the criteria for the Bronze level being the following below. 

BRONZE

Explore the arts as a participant

·         Participate in a chosen art form

·         Ideas about how to develop in a chosen art form

·         Action – develop in your chosen art form

Explore the arts as audience

·         Attend an Arts Event

·         Review the Arts Event

·         Share your review with other people

Arts Heroes and Heroines

·         Research about a artist or art practitioner you admire

Arts Apprenticeship

·         Assist a professional arts leader with a workshop – undertaking a short task

OR

·         Share your art skill with other people through an activity

Once I have collated the information from all participants about what they would like to do for their arts award I will share with you all – so that we can build in time, capacity etc to make sure they all meet the required outcomes. Please note Kirsty and Karina have stated they would like to do the next level up – Silver arts award – myself and Claire will sit down with them next week to discuss this and see if/how we can make this happen for them (they have both previously successfully completed their bronze level).

What do you think to this?

Iain Duncan Smith is furious at this billboard campaign from the 'Church Action on Poverty' charity which suggests that many more people are being forced to use food banks as a direct result of his benefit cuts. 

Watch. Enjoy.

http://thechive.com/2013/09/18/british-woman-dances-like-nobodys-watching-video/

I've put this up for two reasons.  One, it really makes me happy, and two, it challenges our perception.  



Happy Friday x

The first foray

So today was, once again, a very enjoyable session despite both Lucy and I having interesting starts to the day, as always, when the gang troop in, one's personal traumas dissipate away like fading cigarette smoke.

What I love about being at YDC is that the room is constantly transforming from someone's living room to a theatre storage space with a slow dripping trail of unknown individuals who either find the walls/carpet extremely interesting, or just have an inability to say 'excuse me'.  

Either way, they provide momentary entertainment.

Lucy's foray into animation went down a storm.  The group are very relaxed with each other now, and were all extremely interested in Lucy's presentation without having to spend any time catching up on chit chat.

The beautiful simplicity of the style of animation allowed everyone to throw themselves into trying things out without any concerns whatsoever.  I would like to think this is because I had brought some halva with me (bear with me here, there is a tenuous link) which I tried to persuade everyone to try, unsuccessfully, thus filling the spot of 'things that will challenge me today'.  Consequently, the animation looked like a walk in the park.

It was an absolute delight to see everyone in the group enjoying creating a small scene to animate, and wonderful to see the results.  Almost instantaneous gratification. Perfect for that first foray.

Katy joined Edgar today, and they giggled like naughty children whilst setting up Edgar's film. 

This was very complimentary to the group's feel, and I think has allowed the group to feel more relaxed with Edgar, especially. To the extent that, when the conversation turned to 'what I looked like as a child', and photo's came out, everyone was genuinely interested in Edgar's very cute photo.  

The relaxed atmosphere continued through our light lunch and onto the finish with a wonderful finale of watching the animations which had been filmed, which were an absolute delight.  The group were, rightly so, very proud of themselves.

We have also sent out the three flip cameras we had, with Steph and Liam, Kirsty and Karina, and Amy.  Their brief; to film and comment on things they love and loathe about their street.

And to finish, we are having the most enjoyable of times, with everyone becoming more vocal about wanting to spend a longer period of time on the project.  I am wondering whether we need to look at the timetable for after Easter, and see whether we can have less sessions, but longer, or some other combination?  

Here are the unedited animations made today...

Stop-Frame Animation skillz!

We had a brilliant session today!
The aim was to learn a few basic stop-frame animation techniques and make some little films.
The first task was to come up with a simple scene to animate so the whole group got stuck in and started drawing and cutting out sketches for their ideas.
Karina was first up and made a lovely little film depicting a Dandelion clock being blown away.
Kirsty made a roller-coaster complete with a jolly alien whizzing down the tracks. Amy drew a fab volcano erupting with lava, smoke and a tomato fire-ball! Stephen made a brilliant sea-scape with a sailboat, sunrise and fish-stealing seagulls, and finally Brandon animated a drum kit which coloured itself in as it played. Steph and Liam started on a gorgeous jungle background too but we ran out of time before they had chance to animate it.

It was great to be focussed and working on things but to also have a really relaxed and fun time hanging out and chatting together. Claire provided a fantastic array of snacks and it was nice to hear Kirsty say "Space 2 always look after us, we love being here"

By the time we reached the end of the session there was a great vibe and hilarious chat as always. We started talking a little bit about relationships and perception in regards to gender which was really interesting. We also spoke about how we change as we get older and some people had childhood pictures of themselves on their phones which we passed around...including Edgar who will now be known at 'the little cookie stealer' due to his baby photo where he looks impossibly cute but slightly mischievous.

Edgar, Claire and I were thinking that it'd be good to build a session around bringing in some old photos and talking about how we've changed. It needs more thought but the young people did seem really keen to share stories about the past and also had a lot to say about body image etc. Definitely something to come back to...

Here's a little film from Edgar that captures a snippet of today's activities:

Nice bit of film - only one minute long

http://www.wimp.com/travelsworld/

I absolutely love this - reminiscent of Harvey Keitel's character in Smoke, where he takes the same photo at the same time in the same spot for over 20 years, just outside his tobacconist.

Watch, enjoy

Our green screen session at Leeds University

 Today went very well.  Although initially nervous and slightly unfocussed regarding the whole different location, the group very quickly relaxed into being in the green screen room.  Edgar took his place, very stoically, on the camera dolly, and the gang used various hats and glasses to discuss different topics.

Andy Thorpe was extremely accommodating, and we managed to create some lovely scenes.

Amy’s birthday cake went down a storm, and Edgar had saved some bits and pieces of food from an event yesterday for the gang, which was a lovely thing to do.  Very proudly, they almost all tried food they were unsure of, although the crab bites are still repeating on me now…

However, a short walk to the M & S exhibition [are we nearly there yet, how much further] ten minutes round the corner, and we looked at pants through the ages.  I would like to revisit this a little in a small discussion next week if possible, so that the whole purpose is explained i.e. small business man with no money does good. 

We all had lunch in the refectory, although we almost lost Lucy which the gang were concerned about, an unknown man magically seemed to fit the conversation I was having on the telephone with the one Lucy was having, to expose the fact that she was approximately four metres behind me. 

Very interestingly, everyone, barring Stephen, said they felt as though they fitted in to the environment, and by the time we were walking out for taxis, Liam was rather enjoying being the group comedian.

I think this may be something to do with all the people surrounding them were of a similar age, although we could do with exploring this further.

The green screen, although not an immediate film format that Lucy or I would veer towards, had it’s benefits stretching far beyond the film structure.  I also feel that the group have a great bond, and have integrated Amy, Stephen and Brandon right in. 

Claire x

Some pictures from the M&S Archive ...

We had an interesting interlude at the Marks & Spencer Archive today.
The Archive is in a modern sculptural building nestled in between the red brick residential streets around Leeds University. Inside, we were given a tour explaining the humble beginnings of Mr. Marks selling his wares out of woven baskets and his eventual partnership with Mr. Spencer who gave him £5 to kick start the business!
It was great to see how the merchandise changed from the 1880's to now but most fascinating was how the M&S ethos and marketing strategies have evolved in order to reach different social classes of customer.
There was definite agreement from the group that M&S is 'posh' and it would be good to use the visit as the basis for some future discussions.

Food for Thought

"A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

 Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

 A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time.

 This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. 

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context? One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?" Share if you took the time to read this 

Benefits Street? It's nothing like the James Turner Street we researched

The fieldwork we did in Birmingham produced a picture of a community very different to that portrayed in Channel 4's series

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‘None of us would have suggested it was a cosy neighbourhood, but it was far from the hell hole portrayed on Benefits Street.' Photograph: Christopher Thomond for The Guardian

"James Turner Street? I'm sure I've heard of it," I mused, when watching the trailer for the first episode of Channel 4's Benefits Street. But it didn't look like or seem to be the same street that I was soon to recall. Within a few seconds we had statistics quoted by a narrator – "only 5% working … almost everyone on benefits" – and residents to set the scene. Images of rubbish piled high were provided backed by a collection of dysfunctional individuals paraded in front of the cameras. And then it clicked.

I first went to James Turner Street in 2008 for my company, Vector Research. Specialising in researching what are known as "hard-to-access" groups and neighbourhoods, we had been commissioned by the city council and Urban Living, one of the government's housing pathfinder organisations seeking to improve communities in north-west Birmingham, to produce a report on the area. The project, conducted in partnership with Ark Housing Consultancy, was a neighbourhood renewal study to look at the conditions of properties and to gather a range of data from residents to identify their priorities for future intervention.

The neighbourhood we were covering consisted of James Turner Street, Foundry Road, Perrott Street and Eva Road. Before the initial household survey I took two of our executives down for a quick recce. The three of us agreed it was quiet, non-threatening, not particularly untidy, just a bit rundown – and obviously a very low-income area. Typical "terraced melting pot", as such streets are known in one of the key neighbourhood classifications that social researchers use. One or two houses with loud music or rubbish in front, possibly a noisy neighbour or two, but hardly an unpleasant environment.

A month later we had interviewed 321 households in the neighbourhood – more than 60 of which were in James Turner Street. We were pleased with managing to get more than 70% of households to take part in our survey. A certain amount of credit for that was due to our proactive promotion and use of multilingual field staff. But the response rate also tells us something about the neighbourhood.

And the neighbourhood told us a few hard facts, too. The respondents were a mixture of friendly, suspicious and cynical; just one or two were more difficult and had a substance problem or other issues. Not hugely different from middle-class areas from a field perspective – other than the fact that a high proportion were prepared to participate!

More important though, the results for James Turner Street showed that at the time, just under four in 10 (39%) of adults were working – more than were unemployed or on disability or sickness benefit (35%). In excess of 100 residents came to consultation event at Foundry School, in James Turner Street, and took part in an interactive exercise in which they identified priorities for the future. If only we had filmed the event: it featured a slightly different group to the characters that Channel 4 has focused on.

In 2009 we returned to the street as part of a sub-regional study that produced data for the whole of north-west Birmingham and West Bromwich/Smethwick. The 2,500 household interviews showed just how typical the James Turner Street neighbourhood was – with similar rates of unemployment and benefit claims across the area, which housed a third of a million people.

In 2011 we returned to James Turner Street for a case study on low levels of access to the city's cultural services. Once again we found a group of obliging residents in a largely unchanged neighbourhood. None of us would have suggested that it was a cosy neighbourhood we would seek to live in, but it was far from the hell hole portrayed on Benefits Street.

Indeed, the programme misrepresents the true conditions of James Turner Street and ignores objective evidence. Claims of more than nine in 10 not working and on benefits ("based on informal door-knocking") are ludicrous. I appreciate that my company's data is from 2008 and 2009, but conditions locally have not changed drastically since then. Indeed the cost of an independent household survey to update our outputs would have been tiny in relation to total production costs for the documentary series. But perhaps hard data would spoil the story. Instead unsubstantiated figures are being banged out and going unchallenged. The end result is a biased and misleading picture which is damaging for a fragile community.