Blog: A day in the life

The Arts for Life day starts bright and early(ish) at 9.30am. The taxis pull up and one by one the young people blearily stumble in, they are greeted by the smell of tea and toast (and apples for those interested). A group breakfast is an important part of the A4L day and is an opportunity for the young people to catch up with others from different schools and chat informally with staff about their week before the session begins.

Once everyone has arrived and is fed and watered the group sits around the table to discuss last week’s session. They are asked to discuss what they learnt and also what they thought the point of the session was and if it was worthwhile. Whilst positive responses are received gladly we welcome and even encourage criticism and suggestions from the young people as it helps us to maintain a youth centered approach to session planning. This discussion also provides a great opportunity to open debate on any issues that had arisen the week before, allowing resolutions and strategies to be suggested for the group by the group. After encountering some negative attitudes towards disabilities during the trip last session this week the discussion revolved around disability; what it is, who can be categorised as being disabled and what does this mean for them. The group engaged in a lively discussion and were genuinely interested in understanding more about disability and prejudice.

The group then took part in a series of drawing games requiring them to overcome barriers like having the use of only one arm, or drawing without being able to see. The morning session each week focuses on street art and is led by graffiti artist Felix Braun. The group is working on individual projects designing and creating a piece of their own graffiti for a range of surfaces including, walls, boards, t-shirts and even trainers.

After researching styles they liked and visiting the See no Evil graffiti project at Nelson Street, this week the group experimented with stenciling. We had some really original ideas a particular favorite was a series of purple and black cats with moustaches by Anna* who is demonstrating a real flair for the arts. On seeing Anna’s work the group all individually congratulated her, a really lovely moment to observe as one of the challenges for a lot young people referred to the Arts For life course can be a feeling of low self esteem. The mood was calm and focused in the morning session, one young person Jessie* even remarked “I’ve not concentrated this much in ages” to which another young person added “I always concentrate more when I’m here”.     

Photo: Anna’s work

Along with the highs of positive feedback and results there are also challenges during the Arts For Life day. The afternoon sessions are often more challenging as attention wavers and behavior escalates accordingly. This week we were visited by film tutor Gary Thomas who is making a short film with the young people.

Making a film is an arduous process involving meticulous planning which a lot of young people struggle with. The ideas produced by the group are exciting and imaginative however it can be a challenge to keep them all focused and engaged in the less practical side of film making. An example of this is Andy* who has been recently excluded from school.

In this week’s session Andy struggled with the process and at one point left the studio, he appeared to be disinterested however when spoken to by staff and encouraged to rejoin the session he did so and during the break he freely decided not to go outside with his friends but instead opted to sit with the tutor to explore the editing process. Once Andy had seen this process and watched the footage being pieced together he remained switched on and engaged for the rest of the session, adding ideas and suggestions for the final product. Involving Andy in this process gave him ownership and a sense of responsibility for the film and the final outcome and his engagement is a very positive sign for a young person during such a transitional period.

The session always concludes with another opportunity for group reflection and suggestions before taxis arrive to pick up at 3.00. The group’s work is then gathered into their individual folders and the session is evaluated with observations of each individual’s contribution, behaviour, and art work assessment is then made of their personal support needs.  

*names have been changed for confidentiality reasons.