The short review of the last days

How are looking my work experiences? I think I should explain now how they are arrange. Sometimes I spend the whole day on shooting or in the office but from time to time I spend it (or a few days) with another organizations  which work in community arts. I like that days very much, because in short time I can see how the another company works. It's not possible to describe each, but for example in the last time I was in...

Ingestre Hall. Residential Arts Centre.

What's this? It's a place where pupils from schools, which are not so far, are coming for one week to have some artistic experiences. Something like our "Zielona Szkoła", but in one place and with whole-day workshops. When children not are interesting in art, they can choose similar centres, where they can learn about environment, science, history, adventure... I think something similar should be in Poland. I spend three days in Ingestre Hall and I saw how young people (about 16) were interested in workshop, how hard they worked. Each week finishes with show on the last day.

I was there with Suzanne from my work, because she made there workshops for staff about how to make animations, how to use green screen. I learned how to do this things and I helped her, but also I watched drama and dance workshop. I was impressed how they prepared it, because the effect was excellent.

Urban Vision

It's an architecture and urban design centre. They promote high quality architecture and urban design in and around the North Staffordshire. I was really happy that I can spend a day with them, because I'm interested in urban's space.

I was with them in Liverpool, and we saw how to connect the new architecture with monuments, how shop's gallery should look, the possibilities of including green areas into urban's space.


Together with Ola W.:

Photographic workshop:

We took part in the photographic workshop, which was prepared by Tony Jones. We helped and watched on. I'm sure I will have possibility to write something more about it, because I'm planning to go on it one more time.

Tour of cultural venues in Stoke-on-Trent

Paul Bailey prepared for us the fantastic day. We was in two really important cultural places in Stoke-on-Trent. One of this is the Regent Theatre, where we saw backstage and the fly tower. We know now why a green room is called green, and how look like safety curtain. The second place was The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, where we was showed round. We had possibility to come back to the Regent Theatre one more time, because we got tickets for  the Rambert's Dance Company's show. It was amazing.

The great escape

English trains are really fast, comfortably, but also... expensive. Fortunately from time to time there is a very good offer in London Midlands  - you can take yourself off for just 10 pounds for a days's unlimited travel on this network. The offer is short - about one week, but often comes back. In this way I was with Ola in Birmingham and twice in London.

o.o.

courses

I spend a lot of time attending, supporting and listening about coures run by CCU: a group about 10-15, whole day session (workshop) a few times during a semester, folder with all the materials you need (handbook, workbook, handouts...), a team work as a method of teaching and learning...

Get Talking
The very basic course for CCU. Sometimes I get the impression that everything starts with the Get Talking module... As a part of my job I investigate it's roots interviewing members of CCU's staff. The very initial version of my conversation with Kate Gant:

Kate runs the special shorter Get Talking module for members of My Health Matters. During the course they learn the Participatory Appraisal methods (that are usually illustrated by colourful notes sticked to a board)  and work on their own projects. All of them are about community consultations and improving peoples' well-being in the local area. The results before the end of November.

Volunteering
Volunteering sector is more and more important - as the authors of the 'Big Society' idea convince. During the first session it turned out that the most experianced member of the grup has volunteered for about half a century whilst the least experianced (it was probably me...) 1/10 of this time... At the end of every course students have to give a presentation and a piece of 'reflective writing'.

Speaking Up
The very special course that helps people to... speak up. The good example for how a univeristy can be inclusive for poeple with different learning disabilities (using pictures, graphs, games, work in group, support from volunteers...). For the Wednesday 3rd of November I prepared questions about Stoke-on-Trent for "Who wants to be a millionaire" - Miniature of Stoke-on-Trent helped me a lot (done by Junction 15, with whom o.o. works).

Getting Communities Involved
This is the course that we all (o., o.o., and j.) can take part in and the one that I partcipate as a student only. General introduction (what is a community, why and how to involve people), case study, lecture about social exclusion (that was the first session), than: a bit of the political history of UK, workshop about a participation and afternoon with the community arts. And it was enought to see about a half of CCU's staff as the lecturers :)

I also sit in some lectures from Department of Drama, Performance &Treatre Arts that I really enjoy:
Theatre Production (a lot of new words in English that I do not know how to translate into Polish)
Reading Theatre - The Semiotics of Performance (sounds familiar, however it took me a while to realise that Checkhov The Cherry Orchard = Czechow Wiśniowy sad...)
From Anger to Politics: Post-war British Drama (thank Derrick Cameron for introducing myself...)


Weekends (with o.o.):
Birmingham: nobody on the streets + Pen Room Museum (in the old manufacture of nibs - you can do one by yourself; hidden place worth visiting)
London: forgotten during the last month spirit of metropolia; half a day in Tate Modern.

o.o.

Further economic education:
I spent one of the mornings with the economic developement officer from the City Council (thanks to Paul) talking about the economic department, the economic problems in the area of Stoke-on-Trent and having a tour around the city (I had thought that I know Stoke quite well just now, but I was wrong: Festival Park, commercial district, Keele Univeristy...)

o.

medley

Weekly workshops:

1. ESOL - the group of young immigrants from different countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Poland, etc.) who are studying at Stoke-on-Trent College. We have workshops with them every Monday for an hour.

2. Strathcross- the group of adults with learning difficulties. 2hours workshop every Tuesday.
3. YPTC - (Young People Theatre Company) the group of young people from difficult backgrounds, with complicated life stories who where working with the Borderlines before.2 hours every Wednesday.
With all three groups we are working on a Lost Boys project connected to the Peter Pan performance in the theatre. We are playing various games trying to explore the idea of being lost (in many senses) and the story of Peter Pan and the ability of storytelling and improvisation.

Extra projects:
1. Yizkor - Project about Holocaust.
a) We had workshops in primary schools based on the Legend of Lódź Ghetto. We were working on drawings made for children from the Glezer factory.
b) we are preparing performances for high schools.
So for the last two weeks I was watching "Peter Pan" (1953 & 2003) "Hook", reading about Peter Pan's syndrome and about Lodz ghetto, the holocaust, Auschwitz, and the Jews. These two things got mixed up in my head in a very strange way.

Other things in a theatre:
1. I have seen The Game
2. Rehearsals for Peter Pan just began and I'm happy to have warm-ups every day with actors, I have even tried "silk" with them.

3. We had auditions for the Yizkor performance, and now rehearsals have begun.

4. For one week we had in Borderlines Aiden - a young boy, who came for his work experience. When you are 15 in the UK you have to go and work somewhere for a week or two- we should have the same thing in Poland.
5. We are preparing ourselves for a Halloween event.

Weekends:
1. I went to London.
2. I went to the Peak District with my landlady. We visited Eyam - a small village best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in August 1665, rather than let the infection spread. 

 





Bonus:
We taught Loud Mouth Women a Polish song.
And there are pictures from World In Our College on NULC website:

http://www.nulc.ac.uk/pages/school_leavers/life_at_nulc/the_world_in_our_college.aspx#m0

REACH, Quality Streets and a bit of economics

Both of the names in the title I mentioned in one of the previous posts. Now I can and I sholud write a bit more about these projects, because I am more and more familiar with them.

REACH is a very special project and a self-advocacy part of ASIST (Advocacy Services in Staffordshire, choose 'projects' on the website to find REACH). Generally speaking it 'supports poeple with learning disabilities in Stoke-on-Trent to speak up about their lives and the services they use to help them live the life they want'. One of the Mondays I took part in 10th anniverary of this project. I met than people that work in REACH, many of them are/were the REACH MPs (Member of Parliment - one of the abbreviation I have already learned). This parliment is one of the most immpressive parts of REACH: it was set up for poeple with learning disabilities, it's members are voted in by poeple they speak up for to the local Government MPs. During the meeting I could read also the last and challenging piece of work: a strategy about sevices delivered for poeple with learning disabilities for the next years.

It is reasonable to add that CCU delivers the course called 'Speaking Up' - that is one of the connections between REACH and the uni I found and I will be looking for during the next two months. And I am sure that REACH members will help me in my job :) .

Quality Streets is a name for the broad project that started last year. The main points of the project have been already fulfilled, but you can still observe new results. Everything happened in the University Quarter: students and local residents used participatory appraisal methods (very important phrase!) to change their place of living/learning (when you think about community here you never forget about conditions of living that impact it's capacities). Some thing happened as a part of after-project-results during my staying in Stoke. I took part in a walkabout in Hanley Park (that is very close to the uni and I pass it quite often) with a police officer and a council officer who is responsible for delivering services in this area. I was also on the meeting, where Quality Streets arose to be a part of a broaden local policy, involving City Council and local housing associations.

[Note: Quality Streets is not a Quality Street that you can find now on every shelf with Halloween sweets]

'Housing association' is one of the institutions/ideas that I found interesting from economic (my second faculty at Warsaw University) point of view. Have you ever heard about it? I had to ask my English friends (at last wikipedia can help as well...). Some other:

• social enterprise e.g. shops, travel agencies and other things called 'Co-operatives'
• the national trust 
• charity shops 

 ... for further reflection.

o.

Wake up at 5 a.m.

Shooting...each days started about 5 a.m. and finished about 6 p.m. On location we were waiting and maiking replays all the time. In fact, it is true about making movies, but making movie is also a joy when we shot a great moment, and an integration with very nice and interesting people. Movie we made is about a domestic violence and I hope it will be really emotional. The premiere will be on 24 of November during the International Day for the
Eliminations of Violence.
But in last days I took part not only in shooting. I haven't had time earlier to write about this:
I spent one day with another company called Inspired, which majors in documentary and promotional films. We made of course...a documentation, because documentation is that what for British people is really important. Everything must have good documentation. In first week I was really surprised when with Junction 15 we went  to primary school and made documentation of ...very small reception after renovation. With Inspired we were shooting recollections of hospital's staff, because this hospital will have a new building, and that old will be destroyed.

On Friday I had a day off, so I go at the University and took part in a lecture: From Muybridge to Murch: Film History and Technology – it was really interesting, I hope I can take part in it each week. Together with Ola W. we were on two courses what we will immediately describe.

Summing up: really many thinks went on the last days, but I had a moment to went to Manchester. Really fantastic city! After weeks in rather not big town, I needed  urban clamour. In Warsaw I’m a tourist guide and I’m appreciating how friendly is Manchester for tourists.  Entry to each museum, gallery is free. What is more on a tourist track are many signposts, so it is really difficult to lose one’s way.

o.o.

next week

We worked with Aspire
To help people aim higher
We swatted and toiled
And made our blood boil
But found us a play *
That made people’s day..
And then we all slept the weekend away...
Apart from Yula
Who was not through ya!
She went over to Wolves **
Answering her friends calls
Wound up with eyes, big black and tired
But an interest in England that is still well-fired
Now I’ve *** written her blog, in 2 minutes flat
So she can play KickBall ****, and that is that!!!!

* We prepared play on improvisations and stories about unemployed people. Two young people (Gareth and Elizabeth) were working with us and two volunteers (Sid and Mirka)

** Wolverhampton (through Birmingham). I visited my polish friend and her husband. Dorota prepared very tasty lunch, and we went for a walk to small "Łazienki" (Łazienki - old big park in Warsaw)

*** Chris L.

**** We added new leisure activity (zośka, but in a Chinese/ Vietnamese version)  

On Friday I went with my landlady and her friend for a performance to Regent Theatre in Hanley. We saw Calendar girls -  my flatmate act in this play.

And I'm now on a table with New Vic theatre staff pictures!

weekend

We do not have a weekend any longer, but we still have this lovely (yes, Jula, lets get used to this word) Monday. In fact we have something like "złota polska jesień" ('gold Polish autumn' in a direct translation) and I shuold write about it before it finishes.

I started last weekend with yoga classes and I have never heard so many times in such a short time that something is 'lovely' and 'well done' (and that is also why I do not really believe...). Than I went for a trip on the countryside. To be precise: I was (thanks to my host, who gave me a lift) in the Cheshire. I visited Little Moreton Hall - the icon of English Tudor domestic architecture. I continued my trip walking through the fields (not exactly fileds of gold - it is too late, but nearly) and the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk.

I could have sung (and I did) one of the songs I learned at Loud Mouth Women meetings (that we three anjoy every week):
I walk to the end of the road
And I look in both directions
As far as the I can see
I have a blue sky, sun shine
There's nobody here, but me
(something like this...)

How suprised I was today when it turned out that walking by the canals is becoming my favourite free-time activity... (It is something that no well-mannered and timid girl like me has ever done by the bank of Wisła / Vistula river) This time I walked by the canal in the center of Stoke-on-Trent (visiting also Hanley Cementary). I could not have stopped taking photos...

Do not I live in a lovely place?
o.