Tag: Aspire Trust

Coming Closer to Home: the Prospect of the UK becoming a EU free zone.

So, we’re under starters orders; and we’re off.

The rumours are starting to circulate already at work. If we opt for Brexit, there’s a possibility that the very large EU contract we are about to have signed off by DCLG may be delayed until after the referendum. Meaning not only that over 350 creative and cultural businesses miss out on much needed business support to help them deal with the ravages of the public sector cuts of the last five years; but also, closer to home, a small group of staff are suddenly faced with potential cut backs and downsizing until such time that the contract is signed. The safety afforded by what looked like regular funding is suddenly looking very fragile. Childcare is reconsidered, holidays put on hold and we try to remember if we have any premium bonds locked up under the bed.

It’s at times like this that you realise the impact that the EU has had on the cultural sector in the UK. I worked in Liverpool for over 25 years and there wasn’t one day in that period that hadn’t benefited in one way or another from EU support. Whether this was at the Everyman Theatre in the late 1980s when the EU propped up that ailing theatre for a good 5 years (although you’d be hard pressed to find anybody in that organisation who would admit it); or at LIPA, when McCartney’s modest financial contribution to firing up the Mothership had the galvanising effect of attracting container loads of ERDF funding in through the gates; or at Aspire when EU funding in the shape of Comenius, Grundtvig or Youth in Action grants had a powerful impact on the working lives of teachers, students, families and everyone in between: the fact is that EU support has been a major source for economic, social and cultural good in Liverpool, across Merseyside and indeed the world as a whole.

And closer to home, it helped shape careers, livelihoods and families. Whilst many were leaving Liverpool in the 1980s to find work, me and many others were able to gravitate to the city precisely because of the job and training opportunities European funding generated.

There are so many stories that EU support has afforded the cultural and creative industries in Liverpool and beyond, I’ll never be able to capture them all here. But I’ll try to capture as many as I can because right now we are faced with the possibility that the respite that funding has provided in the last 30 years could now be sucked out of the sector irreversibly: and the opportunities it provided for the young people, its creative and cultural movers and shapers – and most importantly, it’s communities – could be lost for at least the next generation.

So: over the next few months this blog is going to try and remember the impact that EU support has had on us working in the arts and culture – not just in Liverpool but further afield.

One thing we do know is that working in the arts involves dropping a lot of stones in lots of ponds and that the resonances of our work are felt well beyond the streets, studios and workshops of struggling artists trying to come to terms with their practice in some quiet city back street. One thing we learnt is that EU support makes us citizens of the world, not just our local neighbourhood, country or continent. It makes coming ‘closer to home’ a much more expansive act than just acting out down our streets to a global, TV audience.

If you have any stories to share it would be great to hear and share them. If we don’t, come Brexit, it may well be too late to remind ourselves later on.

броненосец-потемкин: Творческий потенциал проекта

Об организации «Aspire trust»

«Aspire trust» – это организация, которая находится в Ливерпуле (Великобритания) и осуществляет свою деятельность в области культуры. Она была учреждена в 2002 году. С этого времени «Aspire trust» развивается, объединяя работу в таких сферах как культура и образование, реализует проекты в Великоритании и во всем мире.

Основные направления деятельности компании включают:
* создание и поддержку небольших компаний, работающих в творческих областях деятельности

* образовательные проекты для учащихся школ и университетов в таких сферах, как креативное преподавание, обучение и педагогика;

* программы по внедрению креативных методов обучения для учителей и работников творческих профессий;

* культурные проекты и организация мероприятий в сферах искусства и образования;

* научно-исследовательскую деятельность в области образования и общественных наук.

Подробную информацию о новых программах Вы сможете получить на сайте: http://www.aspire-trust.org.

«Сокровищница» – наша недавняя совместная театральная постановка, которая была представлена зрителям в октябре 2012 года. Представление проходило в здании Англиканского Собора Ливерпуля, и его смогли увидеть порядка 3600 зрителей. С более детальной информацией Вы можете ознакомиться на сайте: http://www.atreasuredevent.com/

Планируется, что следующим нашим проектом станет «Броненосец Потемкин»: ошеломляющая мультимедийная опера по мотивам легендарного фильма Сергея Ейзенштейна.

Ради этой постановки мы создаем уникальную творческую команду, в которую войдут: Патрик Динеен – режиссер/композитор, работающий в Ливерпуле, Кевин Гудли – один из всемирно известных создателей музыкальных видеоклипов, “Muf” – лондонское сообщество архитекторов, занимающееся городской архитектурой / художники и работники культуры, участвующие в Глобальном проекте по созданию виртуальных театральных постановок (Global Virtual Theatre Project).

Кроме того, мы хотим привлечь творческие кадры из России для участия в основных действиях постановки, а именно:

* Руководителя хора из России, который сможет приобщить исполнителей (среди которых будут как профессионалы, так и любители) к музыкальным традициям и особенностям славянской музыки и пения

* Либреттиста из России, который заинтересуется возможностью написания либретто для проекта (на русском и/или английском языках)

* Дизайнера из России, заинтересованного в создании костюмов, декораций и элементов освещения для проекта.

За более детальной информацией просьба обращаться к:

Доктору Нику Овену Кавалеру Ордена Британской Империи
Директору ООО «Aspire Trust», Великобритания
Valkyrie Lodge
30 Valkyrie Road
Wallasey CH45 4RJ

Тел. 0151 639 9231
Моб. 077422 71570
Email nowen.aspire@btconnect.com
Skype name richardnyowen

Сайт http://www.aspire-trust.org

PASCO: animating communities through the creative industries (further horizons)

 The PASCO (Performing Arts Scene in Obrenovac) project has had significant effects on the cultural infrastructure in the Obrenovac municipality since the project started in 2009. Due to generous support both locally, Buskerud County in Norway and the KS funding programme of the Norwegian government, PASCO has had demonstrable economic, cultural and social impact on the region. The Aspire Trust, together with its Serbian and Norwegian partners had a critical role to play and this post discusses how the future might unfold and what is on the planning horizon.

We propose a cultural regeneration programme across the other ‘Inner Ring’ Municipalities of Belgrade. We propose to work with the 6 municipalities of Grocka, Lazarevac, Obrenovac, Barajevo, Surcin, Mladenovac and Sopot (the GLOB-SMS Consortium) in order to stimulate and support the development of local and regional cultural infrastructures across the Belgrade City Region.

We want to contribute to the development of regional infrastructure and in doing so establish a wider gateway to Serbia and the Balkans as a whole for innovative arts and cultural regeneration practice.

We see a future time where the GLOB-SMS consortium is able to demonstrate significant growth in its tourist derived income, its economic activity from its cultural sector and a burgeoning creative industries sub-sector who are rooted in the communities, traditions and folklore of the GLOB-SMS consortium. We see the GLOB-SMS Consortium branching out to wider national and international market places and in doing so, demonstrating that the future of economic regeneration is dependent on a lively innovative and generative creative sector.

We see the GLOB-SMS Consortium removing their dependence on the presence of single regional or capital city, but that they take their energy, initiative and spirit of development from the communities and spaces on the periphery of those cities. We see the GLOB-SMS consortium demonstrating that the creative city has reached the end of its conceptual lifetime. We argue that it is the creative networked communities of those communities ‘on the edge’ which will provide the lead, inspiration and vision for the development of culture for the next 20 years.

PASCO: animating communities through the creative industries (future possibilities)

 The PASCO (Performing Arts Scene in Obrenovac) project has had significant effects on the cultural infrastructure in the Obrenovac municipality since the project started in 2009. Due to generous support both locally, Buskerud County in Norway and the KS funding programme of the Norwegian government, PASCO has had demonstrable economic, cultural and social impact on the region. The Aspire Trust, together with its Serbian and Norwegian partners had a critical role to play and this post discusses what could be provided in the short term in order to maintain the project momentum and continue to build cultural capacity.

There are three important processes we believe could be undertaken to embed the work of PASCO in Obrenovac and further afield:

* Accrediting practitioners as qualified community artists – a process which will give them credibility and visibility nationally and internationally;

* The provision of professional development programmes (both accredited and unaccredited) for teachers who are looking to develop their own skills in the field;

* The development of enterprise and small business start up skills in the region, particularly focused on the development of the cultural sector and creative industries.

Details of these proposals are as follows.

Accredited Courses: Foundation Degree in Community Arts (FDCA)

The FDCA places a significant emphasis on developing collaborative skills in interdisciplinary arts practice through drawing on, extending and focusing professional arts skills and applying them in a range of community contexts.

Designed by Aspire and accredited by the University of Chester in the UK, the course provides the knowledge, understanding and work-related skills required to play active and proactive roles in the community arts industry. Students reflect on their work and develop the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills required to work as arts practitioners and team members.

Modules are offered at either Level 4 within the UK Higher Education Qualification framework and can be offered at two levels (Level A for beginners Level B for those with more experience.)

Module titles at Level 4A include:

Workshop Skills                  Workshops form the foundation of all community arts practice. Gaining an understanding of the different approaches to running workshops, the theories that underpin the workshop process and how they can be applied in different contexts is essential to the work of the community artist.

Creative Process                  Successful community arts projects rely on a finding a concept which can be developed and realised through the integration of a number of art forms. At the core of this process is a creativity that permeates the progress of the project enabling a variety of practitioners and participants to make their contributions.

Research Skills                                    Gaining as detailed a picture of the landscape and environment as possible, both past and present, will provide a firm foundation for community arts projects. Developing and interest in finding out and the skills with which to do it form a significant part of the community arts process.

Project Development                  Like any other activity community arts projects require good management and administration. Clearly defined aims and objectives need to be planned, budgets and timetables identified and information communicated to all those involved in the safe delivery of a programme.

Module titles at Level 4B include:

Workshop Leader                  Practical experience of running workshops for as many different kinds of groups and in as many different situations as possible is the best way to learn how to become a workshop leader. Starting with the aims and objectives of community groups, working to a plan, improvising if circumstances arise, being able to recognise and correct errors are all part of the process.

The Creative Practitioner                  The work of the creative practitioner in the community is to respond to the aims and objectives of that community. Responses could be based on a single art form, but community arts projects that are based on a combination of art forms have more chance of attracting a range of people to participate, and therefore have a greater likelihood of being inclusive.

The Researcher                   Community Arts work is being practiced by individuals and organisations locally, regionally and nationally. A starting point for both finding employment and creating work has to be a sound knowledge and understanding of what work has happened recently and is happening at the moment.

Further details are available upon request.

The MPPACT Programme: Methodology for Pupil and Performing Arts Centred Teaching 

The involvement of teachers from Obrenovac in PASCO has been another essential element in the project’s success: we would suggest that should other municipalities develop their own PASCO type programme, that accredited CPD programmes for teachers could be established early on in the process.

Aspire  together with a number of other European partners have designed and delivered  the MPPACT project: the Methodology for Pupil and Performing Arts Centred Teaching  Project.   MPPACT was designed and developed by a range of experienced educational partners from around Europe and co-ordinated in the UK by the University of Winchester.  Other project partners were: VIA University College, Viborg, Denmark:  the European Performers House, Silkeborg, Denmark; the Hellenic Theatre / Drama & Education Network, Athens, Greece; the Directorate Of Secondary Education Of Eastern Attica, Greece; the University Of Peloponnese, Greece and  the University of Cyprus.

The purpose of the programme is to foster new teaching practices that engages with contemporary social realities and their reflection in the classroom, and recognises a new broader role for the teacher as pedagogue and works from pupils own creativity, imaginations and criticality.

It does this through the application of arts based disciplines which can develop new means of learning for children and adults, can provide new forms of knowledge and can be instrumental in catalysing personal and social transformation. The emphasis of the programme is on the creativity, imagination, resourcefulness and inspiration that teachers bring to their classrooms and how this can be enhanced, developed and celebrated.

MPPACT’s objectives are:

1. To evolve an integrated arts-based approach to teaching through the sharing of disciplines;

2. To foster educators abilities to revive pupil’s motivation to learn, using participatory performing arts practices and exploring young people’s own creativity and criticality;

3. To develop new practices that foster a ‘co-intentional’ synergy between pupil and teacher;

4. To develop a training course offering an alternative classroom strategy for achieving a critical understanding of relevant social issues;

5. To support and document the process and publish its outputs through web, DVD and printed media.

Further details are available upon request.

Informal Courses

We recognise that full time or long programmes may not be suitable for some artists or teachers so would also recommend providing short, focussed interventions for practitioners as follows:

The Creative Entrepreneur:                  A week long course will provide participants with the skills to become a provider of websites, photographic services, corporate and community video, and graphic design. It will provide the learner with the essential skills they need to successfully create websites for online businesses and develop their abilities as an all round producer of media. During the project, participants will create their own online portfolio for their own website which they can then use to promote themselves and their services. The course consists of the following modules: WordPress and e-commerce; Photoshop Essentials for Graphic Design; Making promotional videos; Photography: product, portraits, websites; Creative Writing.

 Visual Artists in Early Years:                   a 2 day programme which introduces Early Years practitioners to working with visual arts skills in order to develop creative practice of both practitioners and very young children between 3 and 5 years old.

 Rhythm and Things:                   a 2 day programme of training and skills development in singing, musical composition and percussion for Early  Years practitioners; and a parallel 2 day programme of skills and knowledge development for  musicians who wish to work in the Early Years sector, taught by Early Years practitioners.

 Creative Writing in Schools:                   a 4 day programme which develops teacher’s creative writing skills in order for them to develop their own pupils writing abilities.

 Film in a Day:                    a day long programme which introduces learners to the skills of film-making, both in front of and behind the camera.  Each learner ends up with their own copy of their own film at the end of the day!

Cultural Leadership and Enterprise Programme (CLEP)

CLEP would aim to provide knowledge, skills and expertise to new business developers who are working in the field of culture and the creative industries in Obrenovac and the surrounding municipalities in the fields of creative  and cultural leadership and enterprise.

CLEP would provide leaders in the fields of creative industries and culture a programme of activity which will contribute to developing a sustainable cultural and creative sector in the region.  This will include the fields of film, media, theatre, dance, music, visual arts, web design, graphic design etc.

CLEP will be structured around the following programme:

Business Start-Up Weekends – for those who are interested in starting up their businesses but have yet to take the first step

Entrepreneurship Bootcamps – for entrepreneurs who need additional focused advice and guidance on specific entrepreneurial issues

Enterprise Learning Programs – a suite of activities which provide specific skills to business developers who are interested in specific areas of expertise e.g. fund raising, Intellectual property, project management etc

Enterprise Clubs – social events in which members of the PEP network are able to share experiences, expertise, advice and contacts

Mentoring – Building A mentoring Network – for all leaders who want to learn at their own rate and in their own time, e.g. through on-line mentoring services

Sectoral Start-Up – workshops which focus on specific sectors e.g. film, graphic design, theatre

Business Networking & Other Events – opportunities to meet other business leaders from other sectors and other countries to share knowledge, contacts and expertise.

Future posts suggest long term strategies and possibilities.

PASCO: animating communities through the creative industries (the Aspire role)

The PASCO (Performing Arts Scene in Obrenovac) project has had significant effects on the cultural infrastructure in the Obrenovac municipality since the project started in 2009. Due to generous support both locally, Buskerud County in Norway and the KS funding programme of the Norwegian government, PASCO has had demonstrable economic, cultural and social impact on the region. The Aspire Trust, together with its Serbian and Norwegian partners had a critical role to play and this post discusses how that role was played out and what specific approaches were taken to achieve that success.

The Aspire Trust: a brief introduction

Aspire is dedicated to touching lives through creativity. Whether 3 or 93 years old, we offer a range of stimulating, innovative and challenging arts based programmes which will help people tell new stories, create new opportunities and learn new skills.

We were founded in 2002 as an Education Action Zone (EAZ) in the Wirral, UK  to help students in schools in deprived communities increase their educational attainment, attendance in school and attitudes to learning. It was so successful that when the EAZ funding ended in 2004, the Trust continued as an independent social enterprise and registered charity.  From its local beginnings in Wallasey, the Aspire Trust has grown into a truly international enterprise with links in India, the Middle East, Nigeria, and across Europe: most notably in Serbia, the Balkans and South East Europe.

What does  Aspire do?

The methodology informing our core activities is based on community arts based practice: a form which has been proven over many decades, in many different cultural contexts to have significant economic, social and cultural effects on local communities and economies across the world.  Whilst visible in the UK, the USA, Australia and many other countries across the world, it is also frequently prevalent in many parts of the world although its adherents and practitioners would not necessarily name it ‘community arts’ as such.

Its identification is made more difficult as its practice is hard to pin down and determine with any degree of clarity; it is  a concept which many people find hard to understand, sometimes equating it with amateur arts, arts activism or arts therapy.

However, we are quite clear about what we mean by ‘community arts’: it is arts practice which has a social purpose, uses high quality participatory techniques and is presented in a wide range of public spaces.   It uses creative and collaborative arts practice to identify the things that matter to people, to engage them in connecting them to their communities and the wider world and to tell tales that need to be told.

There is necessarily a fundamental connection between professional artists and communities in this process and that connection is characterised by people working together for a common good  – whether this be cultural, social or economic. It is not just about professional practitioners doing something ‘for’ or ‘to’ people; it is not just about teaching and learning new skills and it is not just about developing products and services which reflect particular issues that a community may face – although it may involve all of these things to a lesser or greater degree.

Rather, Community Arts practice emerges from the combination of social purpose, purposeful participation and production and promotion in public spaces: it is not a definable product or service which can easily be packaged up but a phenomenon which arises when a combination of people, places and politics coalesce at a particular point in time, space and history.

It is this methodology and approach we introduced to the PASCO project in 2009 and which we would suggest has been an important element of the success of the programme since then.

How did Aspire contribute to PASCO?

Aspire contributed knowledge and expertise through the following elements of the PASCO project:

Web design (Morning Movers) and Marketing workshops (October 2010)

Advice and Guidance on production of Christmas Show (December 2010)

Production of 2 short films made by PASCO participants (PASCO Film School, December 2010)

Delivery of workshops in performing arts for disabled people (December 2010)

Course design and delivery of the Autumn School, Buskerud (October 2011)

Shadow Theatre and Puppets workshops (May 2012)

Workshop on Partnership and Collaboration (November 2012)

Performing Arts workshops for UK based site specific production, Treasured (May 2012)

Cultural Exchange in Liverpool with students from FYR Macedonia (October 2012)

Furthermore, the results of other elements of the programme can also be viewed online:

Morning Movers short documentary film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky209K2JdqQ

Visit to Liverpool as part of the Treasured project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJWiwDoSilg

Short film: Kuda Ide Ovaj Zivot (Where Is This Life Going?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYrTC_zTbVM

Short film: The Book of Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21HpzRJXtck

Thursday Beatbox short documentary film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuajksxYFN4

Short film: Anti-Dream Candy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WXrKYeDlxk

How did Aspire contribute to the success of  PASCO?

Aspire’s arts based methodology is based on community arts principles: arts practice which has a social purpose, uses high quality participatory techniques and is presented in a wide range of public spaces.  There are several implications of this practice for artists, teachers, practitioners and participants which we aim to address when it comes to participating or leading a project.  These are as follows.

Social purpose

Community arts practice is driven by a social agenda: this may involve attempting to address a number of social ills such as unemployment, social exclusion or cultural intolerance.  Whatever the motive, it is the social agenda that provides the ‘call to action’ for community artists, not the cultural agenda implicit in an ‘arts for arts sake’ model.

Participation

Community Arts practice depends on the ability of its practitioners to engage a wide range of people in a diverse range of settings, spaces and cultural contexts.  Frequently, they may be working with people for whom school and traditional, didactic ways of teaching and learning are not appropriate. Consequently, they need to understand that their strategies of engaging people in the creative process rely heavily on constructivist forms of learning: forms which are experiential, value the voice and experience of the participant and which are about facilitating peoples expressiveness and creativity, as opposed to instructing them.

Presentation

Without the element of presentation in community arts projects,  work becomes too process orientated and means that the audience from whom the work stemmed are unable to comment on or feedback to the artists and participants who were responsible for generating the work in the first place.  This issue is constantly referred to in debates of whether ‘process or product’ is more important in the community arts field:  our view is that both elements are equally important.  Presentation however does not have to happen in traditional platforms of the theatre or gallery; they can also take place in the housing block, the day centre or increasingly on-line via blogs, YouTube, Facebook or other social networking sites.  What is critical in this part of the work is that whatever is produced or published to the wider public has to be of the highest quality: not just its production values but with the necessary frameworks around the work which help contextualise the work to audiences who may not be  familiar with the background to a particular context.

Partnership working

We aim  to build effective partnerships between  artists, educators and participants.  By ‘partnership’ we mean the development of relationships which are based upon principles of co-constructing, co-delivering and co-assessing unique, challenging and innovative creative arts educational projects in which all participants’ voices are heard.   The principles we aim to adhere to behind effective partnership working are available on line at https://www.dropbox.com/s/na92hsteaiu2yef/effectivepships.ppt

Commitment to Professional development

We believe and are committed to delivering practice which extends and enhances teachers own  skills, expertise and approaches: if this occurs in a project, then the work has more likelihood of being sustainable in the future.   Therefore, where-ever practical, we offer  sustainable, innovative and rigorous continuing professional development  (CPD) programmes for teachers which focuses on the application of arts disciplines and techniques for the greater purpose of  pupil attainment, attendance in school and attitudes to learning. Arts practice in this context is of an instrumental nature, not an ‘arts for arts sake’ practice which values and privileges the voice of the artist over all others.

Programmes in which all partners learn from each other

PASCO programmes have not simply been a model of importing a UK skill set into a particular cultural context in Obrenovac: an essential part of the process for us has been the learning by our practitioners of other knowledges, skills and expertise which our Serbian and Norwegian colleagues have bought to us.  The process has particularly added to the richness of our experience and knowledge of Eastern Europe and this has been a vital element in the ongoing success of the project.

Programmes which challenge participants with high quality intellectual resources

Where-ever practical, we have aimed to critically challenge and support new approaches to theatrical and media production by all participants.  This entails a pedagogical approach which doesn’t just accept ‘first choice’ material when it comes to creating new work but continues to ‘raise the bar’ for participants and offer new and innovative methods of creative practice.

Offer long term relationships with partners

It has been important for us from the onset to see the PASCO project as a long term commitment by us to all the partners.  This has meant that we have been able to build on the work achieved and plan for different opportunities e.g. when funding streams come to an end.

Recast learners in new roles and identities whilst offering them new ways to articulate learner voice

This is perhaps the most critical part of the methodology we use: the need to allow other participants to redefine themselves and ‘find their voice’ in ways which have not been traditionally available to them.  This was most noticeable in the workshops run at the Disability Day Centres in Obrenovac and Belgrade in May 2011.

Future posts describe the development of the programme in Serbia and beyond and suggest possible horizons of what might happen next.

PASCO: animating communities through the creative industries (Introduction)

The PASCO (Performing Arts Scene in Obrenovac) project has had significant effects on the cultural infrastructure in the Obrenovac municipality since the project started in 2009. Due to generous support both locally, Buskerud County in Norway and the KS funding programme of the Norwegian government, PASCO has had demonstrable economic, cultural and social impact on the region as follows:

Economic impact

* Increased numbers of young people trained in the creative industries;

* Increased mobility of young people and professional practitioners across Europe;

* Increased skills of teachers in the creative industries and performing arts;

* Increased numbers of small businesses and sole traders who are working in the cultural and creative sector;

* Increased use of the facilities at the Obrenovac Culture House and a consequent increase in spending on local facilities such as restaurants, bars and clubs etc;

* Increased funding released from the municipality on culturally related programmes

* Increased funding applications to European funding sources e.g. European Collaboration Fund, Balkans Incentive Fund, Youth in Action

Social impact

* Increased activities which increase self esteem, confidence and sociability of young people attending centres for disabled people in the town;

* Increased social activities for young people both in and out of school;

* Increased interest from other municipalities in the PASCO model from neighbouring municipalities which has led to extension activities with other European partners e.g. in Grocka, Belgrade, Nis and other Serbian towns and cities.

Cultural impact

* Increased learning opportunities for young people and teachers in schools in matters relating to the creative industries e.g. film, performance, project management, fundraising;

* Increased production capacity of films, theatre productions, dance productions and visual arts exhibitions;

* Increased audience numbers at the Culture House.

PASCO has had this impact due to several key factors:

* An economic commitment to the programme by the municipality;

* The willingness by key local organisations to support the programme e.g. schools, cultural organisations, municipality departments;

* A commitment by the Norway and UK partners to sustain the programme over a 3 year period and beyond;

* A flexibility in project delivery which is responsive to local need and requirements.

This and future posts describe how these outcomes were achieved and to assess what contribution the UK partner, the Aspire Trust, made to the project. It also aims to provide recommendations on how future urban regeneration programmes might be designed, the kind of partnership profile required of partners and the knowledges, skills and attitudes that practitioners require in order to effect the kind of changes that have been witnessed within PASCO.

The transformation witnessed in Obrenovac has not however been a one-way street; Aspire itself  benefitted significantly from participating in the programme in the following ways:

* Increased work opportunities for young practitioners working in Aspire to apply their knowledge and skills within a European context;

* Increased mobility professional practitioners across Europe;

* Increased financial turnover of the company, helping to secure its long term future;

* Increased funding from UK based organisations to assist in the long term strategic development of the company across the wider region e.g. Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Bulgaria

* Increased applications to European funding sources e.g. European Collaboration Fund, Balkans Incentive Fund, Youth in Action.

* Increased activities which engage UK practitioners with other practitioners from Serbia, Norway and other European countries, helping to locate their practice within a wider European context;

* Increased cultural partnerships established with other cultural and educational organisations in South East Europe and the Balkans e.g. FYR Macedonia, Bulgaria and Croatia.

* Increased knowledge and understanding of the history and culture of Serbia and the region as a whole.

This and future posts are intended for the benefit of teachers, academics and professional arts workers who wish to learn from the PASCO experience and adapt it for their own purposes.

We hope too that it acts as an inspiration for future graduate students who wish to animate and activate their own communities through the application of the arts and creative industries.

Calling Small Business in St. Lucia: Website Design and Development for E-Commerce

We’re delighted to announce that following support from the Ministry of Commerce and Business Development in St. Lucia, Aspire will be providing a five-day training programme in Website Development to be held at the GAMA Learning Institute located at L’Anse Road, Castries, St. Lucia.

The course will provide learners with a step by step guide that will enable them to get online cheaply and easily, with minimal cost and provide impressive, trustable websites that will enable you to trade on-line securely, confidently and with style. They should be tutored through WordPress: a free, open source content management system that enables them to build your own customisable, updateable websites. Using professional templates, they will, by the end of the programme, be able to set up the appropriate website for their online shop, venue, restaurant, creative enterprise, church, school, charity or any sort of business.

Small business owners will develop the capacity to create and maintain their own E-Commerce website using a software package that will enable them to update their website as necessary. It will also facilitate online transactions or payments.

All eligible businesses are encouraged to register early as limited spots are available. For further information, feel free to contact me at nick@aspire-trust.org

Lest we forget: dear departed arts and culture organisations who won’t be remembered in despatches (unless we remind people)

As the recession continues its grip on arts companies, small businesses and sole traders up and down the country, its noticeable that many of them are slowly disappearing without a murmur. We don’t think that’s a fitting way to say farewell to those many organisations who have contributed to our national cultural health – whether they’ve been around for 1, 10 or 50 years.

If you’d like to commemorate any arts organisation’s demise, please let us know here and we’ll compile a list of unfortunate souls who didn’t make out of the credit crunch, recession or economic downturn or whatever it’s called today. We’ll make a list which we’ll send onto the relevant organisations (local authorities, arts funders, charities and so on) to put them in the picture of who we’ve lost. If you can add details of a website, numbers of jobs lost, matched funding opportunities missed – and other useful, public quantitative data – that would be great too.

In memoriam:

A-Foundation, Liverpool

Activ8 Success, Birkenhead

Aspire Trust and Aspire Creative Enterprises

Audiences Central

Brewery Theatre, Taunton.

Contemporary Urban Centre (CUC), Liverpool

Durham City Art

The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs

Flambard Press

Foursight Theatre Company

Jazz Action

Lanternhouse, Cumbria

Matthew Street Festival *gone but not forgotten, even though some of us would love to forget it and all it stood for”

Pacific Road Arts Centre, Birkenhead

Pele Productions

Quicksilver Theatre, London. Lost the funding after 34 successful years.

7 Sefton Libraries

Theatre Writing Partnership

Urban Strawberry Lunch

Wolstenholme Creative Space

Whilst other organisations are not yet extinct, the combination of funding cuts at national and local levels is putting them under immense strain. Many organisations have seen massive staff cut backs or remaining staff giving their time for free in order to save the long term health of the company. Their efforts should not go un-noticed.

More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17536195

Lifelines – how to use arts based research to help improve local health services

We’ve all been ill at some point in our lives and many of us may have called on the help of the NHS to help us through those difficult times.  Even if we’ve been lucky enough not to have to needed their help, we’re all too well aware these days of the importance of staying fit, keeping healthy and doing the right thing for our health and wellbeing for ourselves and our families.

But sometimes this is more difficult than it sounds. Sometimes the services  we need are difficult to access; sometimes it seems that health professionals aren’t listening to what we’re saying; sometimes we know more about our health than those professionals do and it can be frustrating for our experiences not to be heard and acted upon.

Lifelines was a  South Liverpool research project has a made a modest contribution to changing all that.  Working with artists from the Aspire Trust and health professionals from Liverpool Primary Care Trust, we ran an arts based research programme across South Liverpool which listened to residents’ experiences of  local health care services: and are now using those experiences to improve the health for future generations in the community.

We generated story telling, poetry and arts techniques  to  understand critical moments in the health experiences of South Liverpool residents. We produced into a book, audio recording and exhibition which toured South Liverpool and went onto the Bluecoat Arts Gallery in Liverpool, as well as a formal research technical report for the policy makers.

As well as some important findings which have been reported back to the PCT, GPs and other health professionals in the region, the project identified some important aspects of why arts based research is useful in health contexts: its non-invasiveness, its ability to generate responses from participants rather than interrogate – and its ability to co-construct data with research participants rather than mine it from their souls.

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