Classmates who have been exploring their cultural heritage will be the stars of a new exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
The Sculpture Park along with creative company Cida Co have been awarded a grant of £24,700 through the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Young Roots programme.
The cash has allowed pupils from the City of Leeds school to work with filmmaker Ken George, and artist Vincent James.
Now an exhibition of film and soft sculptures made by the young people will be exhibited at YSP from today until the end of October as part of YSP’s Black History Month celebrations.
As part of the project, 20 young people from the City of Leeds School and Almondbury High School in Huddersfield interviewed family and community members and collected objects and images reflecting the identities of their families and local communities.
Both schools visited YSP to take part in workshops with the artists, with the group from City of Leeds school exploring themes of cultural identity and the process of curating an exhibition, by looking at and discussing the recent Sophie Ernst exhibition.
The artists then followed up on the visit to the park with a series of workshops in the schools. James worked with City of Leeds school to make soft sculpture using textiles.
The workshops and the visit combined to let the youngsters develop an insight into putting an arts project together and some experience of curating an exhibition.
Pupils from the schools have also have also been involved in deciding how to celebrate their work with teachers, friends and family.
As well as their work being exhibited at the Park, a DVD will be available to other schools documenting the project.
The DVD will be used as an educational resource for starting conversations about cultural heritage and identity for schools and community groups.
Fiona Spiers, Head of HLF Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “By exploring their cultural heritage and identity, the young people involved in this project have had opportunities to gain new skills, develop a greater understanding of their heritage and share this with the wider community.”
For details about the Sculpture Park, visit: www.ysp.co.uk
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