Spoken Futures
Through Spoken Futures, young people from secondary schools in Tower Hamlets will explore spoken word, poetry and rap as a tool to own and craft their own narratives and express their stories. Through a series of 5 creative learning sessions, young people will learn from global majority artists and be connected to creative spaces in the borough.
The project aims to build confidence and develop a shared sense of belonging and identity through creative opportunities for understanding, knowledge and discussion between diverse groups of young people. Through a series of creative sessions, young people will develop tools to share who they are and celebrate the diverse communities of Tower Hamlets.
This project is made possible with funding from the Strategy and Communities Team.
This project is aimed at Year 8.
Objectives
- Connecting diverse range of young people sharing their voice creatively to build positive relationships and understand each other’s cultures.
- Young people to explore identity and belonging through creative mediums to develop a greater sense of community.
- Young people to build confidence to use their voice to share their thoughts and ideas on what community, identity and belonging means.
- Creative spaces in Tower Hamlets to connect with young people and schools to have more opportunities and engagement in these spaces.
What to Expect
- In-school workshops: 5 creative workshops facilitated by Global Learning London and global majority artists. The sessions will take young people on a journey to provide knowledge (poetry/themes/performance), skills (active listening/critical thinking/collaboration and teamwork) and experience (collaborating and building relationships with each other).
- Performance: a spoken word event will be organised with a local theatre/community space where the classes will showcase their work. This will also be an opportunity for the young people involved to see the work of the other groups. This will be documented in a video format.
- Post-performance evaluation and final workshop session. This debrief session will reflect on the experience and learning, as well as next steps for young people.
Timeline
- June/July 2024: schools selected
- January – April 2025: school sessions
- June 2025: young person led performance
The Sessions
Across the 5 sessions, young people will be introduced to spoken word, rap and performance poetry. With the support of Global Learning London creative facilitators and global majority artists, they’ll have the space to explore themes they’d like to share and begin to create individual work in one of the chosen styles of creative performance. The final piece will be a collaborative one to encourage young people to work together and support one another. This is a key element of this intervention and teaches young people to look out for their team, to listen and engage actively.
School will be encouraged to build in support for completion of work during the course of sessions and performance practice ahead of the final performance. Each element can be discussed ahead of project delivery with the Global Learning London Programme Manager.
Are you a school in Tower Hamlets and would like to sign up to be a part of Spoken Futures? Register your interest by 10 July 2024
Please note that we have limited capacity on this occasion and will be selecting schools that have been chosen, and we will be confirming this by early mid 2024.
For more details, please contact Fatema at fatema.zehra@towerhamlets.gov.uk
