The Canterbury Project
The project was led by the Museum of Canterbury and brought together young children, college graphics students from Canterbury College and elderly people.
This project aimed:
- to collect at least 10 stories and fairytales from local older people, for use with young Sure Start families over a 10-week period;
- to engage families and older people in designing, making and using story sacks related to the 10 stories; and
- to develop skills sharing during the 10-week project between the older people and young parents that help them continue creative outputs at home.
The stories were shared with parents attending a 'Sure Start' Children's Centre, who then worked with the elderly individuals, who contributed traditional crafts such as embroidery, selling and model making, to the development of the story sacks.
The project also staged a final event where older people assisted by the 'Sure Start' parents read their stories and recorded them to CD-ROM.
The project developed good partnerships with the local 'Sure Start' Children's Centre and the Umbrella Centre for elderly people, which allowed them to access expensive facilities and resources. The project outputs included photographs of project activities and a CD-ROM of Stories read by elderly volunteers.
Creating Story Sacks is a longer term commitment. Story Sacks can grow over time and be contributed to by parents borrowing them. Story Sacks also require maintenance because elements will go missing or be misplaced.
During the project a partnership developed with the local college which provided teenage graphics students at the college with an opportunity to work with real clients and young parents and to understand issues that relate to children, learning and play. This also raised the profile of the College and its community engagement.
Museum of Canterbury with Rupert Bear Museum
Stour Street
Canterbury
Kent,
UK.
Peter Davies (Cultural Policy Advisor) peter.davies@canterbury.gov.uk 01227 862 085
Neil Kelly (Freelance Lead Artist Project Coordinator) nedkelly1987@hotmail.com 07909 542534
