PICL

“If culture and learning are about the same thing – making meaning of the world we live in – what does that mean for lead learners and cultural providers?”

CONNECT FORWARD is an innovative series of professional development opportunities designed and supported by Partners in Creative Learning. Our aim is to bring together teachers with leaders from the local cultural and creative sector to form a network of professionals interested in exploring the contribution of their practice to improved outcomes for young people.

Through a series of thought provoking cultural visits and symposia we will explore and challenge our thinking and examine how we might best work together to provide rich learning opportunities for our young people. Each visit will aim to develop reflection on professional practice through structured dialogue between participants at both the symposia and on route to and from the cultural events. The idea is that reflective dialogue allows us to question and develop our own thinking and practice at a deeper level.

CONNECT FORWARD AIMS TO:

encourage development of supportive, sustainable relationships between the schools and the cultural sector

make clear that schools and cultural providers are in the same business – improved outcomes for young people as they make meaning of their world

provide developmental experiences for network members in order to further raise the level of debate around creative and cultural learning

broaden the cultural horizons of network members and open up new trains of thought, make new connections and challenge preconceptions about the role of culture

How can I get involved?

Participants can determine their level of engagement with CONNECT FORWARD by choosing from a ‘Pick and Mix’ menu of events and cultural visits, which will run between July 2011 and January 2012. Events are subsidised by Partners in Creative Learning and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Participants that sign up to a cultural visit will automatically receive a free place at the two symposia sessions in July and January.

There will be bursaries available for creative practitioners for more information please contact info@picl.uk.com

Challenge

Event 1: Saturday 2nd July at Partners in Creative Learning, Newcastle-u-Lyme

Symposium – Keynote Professor Rob Pope, Oxford Brookes University

“If culture and learning are about the same thing – making meaning of the world we live in – what does that mean for lead learners and cultural providers?”

An opportunity for teachers and creative practitioners to come together to explore, discuss, debate and begin to shape our perceptions around the links between culture, learning and education, led by Professor Rob Pope.

Inspire & Provoke

Event 2: Saturday 10th September

The God of Soho – The Globe Theatre, London

A thief in heaven steals the divinity of the gods. Meanwhile down on earth some fetish items have been nicked from a reality TV star and she's facing exposure in the tabloids. Sex shops and comedy, gods and homeless people, all collide in a fierce, hectic and hilarious story about people looking for the divine. In Essex.

Chris Hannan is one of the UK’s leading playwrights. His previous work includes the award-winning The Evil Doers at the Bush Theatre, Shining Souls at the Old Vic and Gamblers at the Tricycle Theatre. He has written extensively for television and has published two novels.

As bracingly modern as Che Walker’s The Frontline, which thrilled Globe audiences in 2008 and 2009, The God of Soho is not for the faint-hearted. Bursting with dirty language and filthy content.

Event 3: Friday 23rd September

Rambert Dance Company – The Lowry Theatre, Salford

In 2011, the award-winning Rambert Dance Company celebrates 85 years at the heart of British dance, and returns to its partner theatre, The Lowry, with a breathtaking new programme.

Don’t miss the world première of Artistic Director Mark Baldwin’s magical and playful new work, Seven for a secret, never to be told, inspired by the music of Ravel. The programme also features Siobhan Davies’ award-winning The Art of Touch, gorgeously athletic and cool. Plus the return of Itzik Galili’s multi-coloured and sensational samba-inspired A Linha Curva, which continues to wow audiences wherever it is performed.

No two performances from Rambert are ever the same, with a constantly changing repertoire and 22 of the world’s finest and most versatile dancers. All three works feature music played live music by the Rambert Orchestra, adding a thrilling new dimension to each performance.

Event 4: Saturday 15th October

TATE Liverpool collection – DLA Piper Series

This is Sculpture takes an ambitious and challenging look at the rich history of modern and contemporary sculpture, presenting major works of art from the Tate Collection across two floors of the Gallery.

The display is divided into three sections: 'Sculpture: The Physical World' on the first floor, 'Sculpture Remixed' and 'The Sculpture of Language' on the second. Each section has been developed collaboratively by Tate Liverpool curators and leading cultural figures from a range of disciplines, each invited to bring their own unique vision to sculpture in the Collection.

René Magritte (1898 to 1967) is one of the most revered and popular artists of the 20th century. During summer 2011 Tate Liverpool will present René Magritte: The Pleasure Principle, the first major exhibition of the Belgian Surrealist in the UK in almost 20 years.

The Pleasure Principle aims to focus on the less explored aspects of Magritte’s life and artistic practice, and will focus on themes including the artist’s use of pattern and artifice, ideas and revelation, and visual fracture and eroticism. The exhibition will also investigate the relationship between Magritte’s painterly work and commercial design, and the inspiration he drew from mass market literature and popular culture.

Event 5: Friday 18th November 2011

Opera North at The Lowry : “The Queen of Spades”

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1890)
New production

Herman is desperate to discover a secret which will guarantee him eternal wealth – the secret of the three cards. But when fate deals against him, desire turns to compulsion. Gripped by madness, he gambles with both love and life, and loses at both.

Opera North's prestigious new production is conducted by the Company's acclaimed Music Director Richard Farnes, and directed by Neil Bartlett, one of the country's leading theatre-makers, with set and costumes designed by Kandis Cook . It has a stellar cast which includes Dame Josephine Barstow, Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts, Orla Boylan and Jonathan Summers.

A work of vast emotional scope, The Queen of Spades displays the full breadth of Tchaikovsky's genius in music brimming with colour, drama and passion.

Event 6: Saturday 14th January 2012

Cirque Du Soleil: “Totem” at the Royal Albert Hall

TOTEM traces the fascinating journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly. The characters evolve on a stage evoking a giant turtle, the symbol of origin for many ancient civilizations.

Inspired by many founding myths, TOTEM illustrates, through a visual and acrobatic language, the evolutionary progress of species.

Somewhere between science and legend TOTEM explores the ties that bind Man to other species, his dreams and his infinite potential.

CONNECT FORWARD

Event 7: Saturday 21st January at Partners in Creative Learning, Newcastle-u-Lyme

Symposia: Keynote: Professor Rob Pope, Oxford Brookes University

“If culture and learning are about the same thing – making meaning of the world we live in – what does that mean for lead learners and cultural providers?”

How has our thinking changed, shifted or developed further through our exposure to new cultural and learning experiences? How can we build on our thinking and explore how we might move forward together?

An opportunity for teachers and creative practitioners to make connections and explore possible future links.

How to apply: please download the booking form here

www.piclabs.uk.com/ConnectForwardBookingForm.doc (please cut and paste this link into your browser)

and return by email to info@picl.uk.com or by post to the address below by the 27th May 2011.