COMMUNITY PROJECTS

Sure Start in the Park

Art in the Park is a partner in Sure Start Aylesbury Plus, Sure Start Brunswick and Sure Start West Bermodsey, offering a highly original programme of play and learning activities.

What is Sure Start? The government's Sure Start funding ensures that in a neighbourhood like ours people will be getting together to tackle the causes of poor health in babies, breakdowns in family life, social exclusion and inadequate child care and pre-school provision. Nearly 1000 families with babies and pre-school children live in the area directly to the North of Burgess Park known as the Aylesbury and nearly 800 families live in the Brunswick area to the South of the park.

Our emphasis is on discovery learning from the environment and from the rich resource of artists' studios where we have a collection of raw materials and natural history objects. Activities begin and end at the studio with books, songs, dance and art work to make and take home. Art works meant to last, such as the carved oak bench for the garden, made with the help of two volunteers with tiny babies.

We have continued to build on our Small Worlds research into the creation of outdoor places suitable for the very young and to develop plans for a discovery-landscape in Burgess Park.

In 2000 we began building and planting a safe dog free garden for children to visit beside the World Gardens. We used the gardens for growing flowers and food, drawing, hide and seek, picnics, photo-shoots, rubbings and as an endless source of interesting phenomena to sample.

In 2001 we took over the tarmac outside our studio and designed a water play place among the mini-gardens grown in planters. We will extend the short lengths of existing walking trails through the park with paving, landmarks and "magic trees". The Circle of Life in the pavement at Chumleigh Gate completed by Sue Pritchard in Summer 2000 has attracted many visitors who can be seen treading and dancing in the bronze footprints.

We are also involved in cross-professional ventures. Our ongoing reationship with the Speech and Language Therapy team: to stimulate communication in children who have delayed language development, which in February 2001 resulted in the publication of Yes!, a book of photographs about the senses, taken during play sessions with Di Harewood. Also in 2001/2002, Where do we begin? a music awareness programme, led by musicians out-reached from Art in the Park to other projects including New Pin Ante-Natal where unborn babies and their parents made music. This resulted in the publicatio of a CD and word book of songs chosen by families and representative of the broad spectrum of local population.

In early 2002 we collaborated with Corali, a dance group who usually work with disabled adults, on the Shed Project. The outcome of our workshops together was a performance piece that Corali presented at a variety of venues including the Tate Modern.

Our latest project is with Bookstart and we hope to produce another book in early 2003 which will encourage parents and children to read together. Watch this space for more information.

The main theme and aim of Art in the Park's programme is to nurture creativity in families and pre-school groups and to encourage adults, babies and children to play together using the simplest of resources.