Tuesday 24 September 2013

Paramedics

Mehmet is one of our Playwork Assistants. He supports the play activities at the Shop of Possibilities and the other Play Local projects. Mehmet is also very good at role play and anything that requires being dramatic! Over the time he has worked with us he has been a wrestler, a security guard, a rhino and a police officer. Unfortunately during this particular session, he was unconscious (shot down by cowboys of course). Luckily for him help was at hand with paramedics Ben and Tamzin who arrived on the scene quickly. They used a first aid kit consisting of tubes, wooden blocks, plastic cones and a keyboard to bring Mehmet back to life.  
 
Ben arrives quickly at the scene of the accident.

The cowboys run off into the distance.

Friday 20 September 2013

Barby Asante: Noise Summit

Artist Barby Asante facilitated workshops on Wyndham & Comber estate at the end of August. Called 'Noise Summit' these sessions were designed to allow children and young people to use music and sound to explore how they feel about their right to make noise in the places they live.

Barby brought along three musicians (FLOetic Lara, Donna Thompson & John Atterbury), instruments and a PA system to encourage an improvised style of performance and sound making. The equipment was set up in a public area just outside of the estates tenants hall, which is overlooked by a number of blocks of flats. This meant the children could be both seen and heard very clearly.

The children and young people wrote songs and poems, performed them, danced and sometimes played the instruments. The songs and performances came out of conversations about what they play on the estate, where they play, where they can make noise, where they can't and how others react to them when they are being noisy. Some really interesting things came out of the improvisations including a girls against the boys 'cops and robbers' inspired song.

Brainstorming... what noises do you hear? what noises do you make?






 

Tuesday 10 September 2013

differencEngine: Who is Mr White?

diferencEngine tell stories. Not in the traditional sense though. You're not quite sure whether the start has started, the middle bit goes in every direction and back again, and the ending rests on those who have chosen to get involved. They create immersive experiences using technology and storytelling, it is a bit like being in a game.
 
We felt that children who attend Play Local and The Shop of Possibilities would enjoy a bit of fantasy and imagination, so we welcomed the mysterious Mr Grey and Andrew to Sceaux Gardens estate for a bit of detective work fun.
 
The children helped the two detectives, put up posters around the estate, asking 'Have you seen Mr White?' (Mr White is an evil spy who believes he can't be caught by anyone!)
 

 
A group of young detectives are recruited and Andrew checks them to make sure that they are not working for the evil Mr White.