Free Form latest news.

Free Form’s ‘Hothouse Flowers' Botanical Drawing Family Learning project, February 2008, brings families together at Hothouse to learn about Loddiges ‘the largest hothouses in the world’ in a fun creative holiday activity. Drawing is fun and exciting. The benefits of drawing to every other facet of learning and communication are enormous, we learn to solve problems and to think about areas of knowledge and ideas and we learn to see and make connections. Hothouse Flowers is supported by the Learning Trust, Hackney, the event attracted parents, carers and children to learn together tutored by Free Form artists to create stunning botanical artworks which will be exhibited in the Learning Trust Foyer.

‘Freedom to draw! Doing the silhouettes has inspired new ideas at home’
Quote from participant

RAP

RAP Youth Arts project finalist in 'Children and Young People's Services Awards 2007'

Free Form's RAP Youth Arts project has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Young People Now! Magazine 'Children and Young People's Services Awards 2007' in the Justice Award category.

In congratulating RAP Youth Arts participants, partners and artists, Joel Parkes, who designed and led the project said... 'of course the biggest debt of gratitude is to the young people who got involved for a short while or over the duration. I would like to extend to them my thanks and best wishes for the future and in the courses we are still working with them on.'

Deutsche Bank Arts & Regeneration Programme

‘Making Artwork’ is Free Form’s new Arts & Regeneration Programme in partnership with Deutsche Bank.

‘Making Artwork’ will involve disadvantaged young people in engaging with the wider community on a Public Art & Spaces project to create physical change on their estates.

Young people will help develop a toolkit for producing new ideas to make a creative impact on East Thames Housing estates & developments.

The toolkit will serve as a replicable model for future East Thames legacy projects within the Olympic arena, and offer a process for actively involving young people in the design & regeneration of their neighbourhoods.

The project aims to be a significant exemplar in terms of community legacy in housing growth areas within the Olympic 5 Boroughs and nationally in terms of the ‘affordable housing’ agenda.

‘Deutsche Bank is excited to be supporting this collaboration between Free Form Arts and East Thames Housing. ‘Making Artwork’ is a project which will inspire ownership amongst the young people involved, provide them with training and, so importantly, bring the arts to the doorsteps of the communities involved.’
Kate Cavelle, Director CSR UK, Deustche Bank

'Free Form is delighted to be supported by Deutsche Bank on this programme which will offer young people opportunities to become creatively engaged in their communities becoming the champions of positive change on their housing estates while exploring pathways for their personal futures'
Hazel Goldman, Associate Director

'East Thames are thrilled that Free Form has secured Deutsche Bank’s support to work with us and our residents on the ‘Making Artwork’ Programme. We’re very excited to bring arts and creative opportunities to people who might not otherwise be able to access them'
Jonathan Pauling, East Thames Housing.

Free Form launches Hackney Youth Print Project (HYPP)

Free Form’s ‘Hackney Youth Print Project (HYPP)’ has secured Team Hackney’s support to deliver a peer-led & creative ‘youth on youth’ programme to engage hard to reach young offenders or young people at risk of offending in the borough of Hackney aged between 11 -19.

The project, designed and led by Joel Parkes, is offering design training through workshops to create T Shirt & Poster designs which when manufactured will promote and be sold at festivals and events in Hackney & beyond.

Participants in the first set of workshops will be employed as workshop facilitators helping to deliver workshops in the second set of the programme, promoting these young people as responsible role models to other young people in the borough.

Team Hackney is Hackney's strategic partnership which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for everyone in the borough by bringing together the different parts of the public private, community and voluntary sectors

SYPC in the running for Big Lottery Good Causes Award.

Slough Young People's Centre's 'Afterhours Arts Academy' has reached the final round of nominations for The Big Lottery Good Causes Awards in the category of ‘Best Arts Project.’

The Afterhours Arts Academy offers opportunities for disadvantaged 16-25 year olds to learn new skills in the creative sector: from sound engineering to singing, graphic design to radio production. Many of the courses are accredited and offer performance opportunities to showcase the learning that has taken place.

Free Form established Slough Young People's Centre in 1997 after being commissioned to carry out the Slough Youth Views consultation for the successful Slough ‘Youth in Work' SRB bid.

SYPC is a flagship project of the cross-sector Nai Roshini partnership and Slough Borough Council. Free Form has mentored and advised SYPC staff since 1997.

Free Form at CIWEM Global Environment Conference 2007

'The Global Environment 2007 is the only opportunity to engage with such a wide cross-section of those leading the debate on the key challenges of our time.'
CIWEM

Joel Parkes, Project Manager at Free Form will be presenting at the 'Global Environment' - CIWEM's 5th Annual Conference at The Brit Oval, London on Wednesday 10th October 2007.

'In this presentation, I will be using Free Form projects to illustrate how art can be used to engage people, living in different communities, in identifying and exploring the issues which face them day to day, and to draw out their innate creativity and inspire ideas which are put to direct use as solutions to every day physical and social problems.'
Joel Parkes, Project Manager

Hot News HOTHOUSE, London Fields OPEN HOUSE LONDON

Venue: Hothouse, 274 Richmond Road, London Fields, London, E8 3QW
Sunday 16th September
By appointment at 11am/1pm and 3pm.
Free Admission

The award winning Hothouse is Free Form’s specialist centre for regeneration through the arts and creative industries. Designed by Ash Sakula Architects, the imaginative new building has transformed a derelict and contaminated brown-field site and adjacent railway arches into a vibrant new creative cluster for artists and design professionals. The result is a sweeping boomerang shaped building, punctuated with Free Form amoeba shaped windows, over looking London Fields Park.

Free Form Arts Trust will be holding three special preview tours of the new Hothouse. There will be a presentation on the building and development. If you are interested in a hotdesk or workspace please make an appointment by contacting Erika Chivers on 020 7249 3394 or email erika@freeform.org.uk

Hothouse
274 Richmond Road
London Fields
London
E8 3QW

Tel 020 7249 3394
Fax 020 7249 8499
Email erika@freeform.org.uk

Hackney’s first ever Resettlement and Aftercare Provision (RAP) creative arts programme

Designed by Free Form Arts Trust, in partnership with Hackney Youth Offending Team this year long course offers a variety of creative activities for local young people as part of the Youth Justice Board’s RAP initiative - introduced as a resettlement provision for young people in custody with specific misuse/ mental health difficulties.

11 artists are working with 30-40 participants, providing them with an introduction to practical artistic techniques, including body casting, screen printing, cartoon drawing, animation, graphic design, digital imaging, photography, pewter casting, film and video.

Christmas Rapping
RAP Youth Arts Winter Showcase
18 December 2006

Free Form Arts Trust and Hackney YOT present an exhibition of artwork created by young people from the Hackney Youth Offending Team as part of the RAP Youth Arts course.

On show: Masks and Body Sculptures, Illustration, Digital Graphics, Video and VJing, Image Manipulation, Pewter metal casting, Music, Projections and Screen Printing

For more information about the course or to come along to 'Christmas Rapping' exhibition contact Joel Parkes on 020 7241 7480 or email joel@freeform.org.uk

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Creative Olympics 2012
Legacy Now!

Hackney's young people had the opportunity to see creative industry specialists at work when they joined Free Form artists Claire Lazarus and Linda Culverwell at Inspire! 'CRE8 Your Future', a Creative Careers Fair at the London College of Fashion, January 2006.

Free Form devised the workshops with young Hackney residents on the theme of 'Olympic Inspirations & Aspirations'. Participants produced photographs of each other and reflected on their opportunities and aspirations towards and beyond London 2012.

'.it was really interesting, especially the way the photography was so successful.it gave me higher hope'
Workshop participant

Dogday event.

Shoreditch Park Dog Day, 13 August 2005
The Shoreditch Park Dog Day was packed with fun and activities to celebrate the positive relationship between dogs and people.

The event was organised by Free Form Arts Trust and supported by Shoreditch Trust in response to concerns raised about 'dogs in the park' from feedback given by local people who attended The 'Shoreditch Park Improvements' consultation day on Saturday 4 June 2005 .

Many innovative aspects of Dog Day, includ ed making the unpleasant aspects of dog ownership fun and involving owners in creating solutions that could be applied t o the whole park, where dog fouling is seen as a n environmental health priority.

Goddard Vetinary Group was on hand to give free advice on how to care for pets. Whilst Blue Cross and Pets as Therapy promoted animal welfare and the therapeutic benefits of dog ownership.

Over 50 dogs were entered for the popular Dog Show Contest. Winners included: Jo Banter and her dog Cherokee who was named 'Dog Judge would most like to take home'; 'The Best Dressed Dog' went to Honey, owned by Carol Sylvestre and Luna wo 'Prettiest' Bitch, owned by Kumiko Shimizu.

Park users were also given the opportunity to have their say on improvements to park including the location of dog litterbins in the park.

Dog Day is part of a wider programme of improvements to improve the green spaces in Shoreditch Park and Free Form is working with Shoreditch Trust and London Borough of Hackney Parks Department to carry out this work.

Free Form is currently setting up a Shoreditch Park User Group - a forum for people to share ideas about Shoreditch Park and how it can best serve the local community. If you would like to join the user group, please contact Joel Parkes at Free Form on 020 7249 3394 or email joel@freeform.org.uk .

Location for proposed mural at Casa Loana.

ACE: Bucharest
Arts Cultural Enterprise: Bucharest is intended to provide a model to show how creative entrepreneurs may develop their roles through cultural exchange in the context of gallery education and vocational training.

19 September - 2 October 2005

Free Form artists will be taking their UK expertise to Bucharest to work alongside Romanian artists from Galeria Grigore Mora to coordinate 2 innovative arts projects with Santa Macrina Foundation a Street Children and Homeless Shelter and Casa Ioana (the only night shelter in Bucharest)

Unlike Britain, Romania has little experience of community arts and will benefit from the support and training from experienced project artists. The two projects are;

- A mural project with Santa Macrina Foundation
- A textile based workshop project with Casa Ioana

This project is the first step in building a long-term partnership between two leading European arts venues, Hothouse and Galeria Grigore Mora, Romania's newest Contemporary Art Gallery. It will support Santa Macrina Foundation and Casa Ioana by providing the venue for a practical community arts project.

"There has been very little funding for community arts in Romania and so very few opportunities for Romanian artists working alongside the UK artists and in areas which are much in need of such creative schemes. For the UK artists it would be an opportunity to work in environments where there have been few arts activities before and to experience a different cultural context for their work which, quite often, will be one of acute needs." Moses Anibata, Director, British Council

Stand Up Tall Final Show.
4 July 2005
Showcasing work from Free Form's 'Stand Up Tall' programme - an award winning, accredited photography and digital animation course, for young people at risk of being excluded from Hackney Secondary Schools.

This year's groups have been outstanding participants including award-winning Chris Williams and William Au who received Hackney Youth Awards for hard work on the project.

Alan Wood, Chief Executive of the Learning Trust, presented each student with a certificate. Congratulating them, he said: "I am very impressed with the work produced. The standard is exceptional, this wouldn't look out of a place in a commerical gallery or office space."The course run in partnership with Bootstrap Enterprises offers students an introduction to photography, image manipulation and animation.

Now in its third year, the training course has seen 53 young people achieving Entry Level 3 Arts and Media vocational training. Image - L to R, Alan Wood (Learning Trust), Stand Up Tall students, Meg Aubrey (Project Manager), Joel Parkes (CourseTutor).

The Creation of Adam. A sculptural collaboration between Daniel House School & Free Form Arts Trust.
Supported by Creative Partnerships, London East.

Students from Daniel House School, Hackney have collaborated with community arts organisation Free Form Arts Trust to create a site-specific sculpture for the school’s Peace Garden to be unveiled next week at Daniel House School.

Daniel House appointed artist Alastair Lambert from a short list prepared by Free Form to carry out workshops with Key Stage 3 children, as a foundation for the sculptural piece.

Adam has emerged as a composite sculpture of different techniques including body cast, concrete and resins.

Free Form made it clear from the outset that this should be a collaborative rather than a prescriptive approach and students were therefore encouraged to experiment and engage with the artistic process and the materials used.

“A creative relaxed atmosphere developed in time as the students became more confident and engaged with the potential materials and the non prescriptive direction of the project.” Alastair Lambert, Project Artist

Daniel House is a school for children aged 11-16 years who have been excluded from mainstream education. Headteacher Annie Cornbleet believes the Arts to be an integral part of her students’ development. She saw the opportunity to create site specific sculpture in the Peace Garden at Daniel House that would be of an educational and as well as artistic benefit to the pupils.

Jason Magloire at the New Roots Workshops.

New Roots, Young Hackney Voices

Congratulations to New Roots Young Hackney Voices participant Jason Magloire who is through to the semi finals of The Respect Poetry Slam following his performance at Theatre Royal Stratford East on April 25 2005.

Click here for more info.

Radio 1 DJ Trevor Nelson with Students from Hackney Free & Parochial School.

Radio 1 DJ Trevor Nelson opens Wall of Fame exhibition

Radio 1 DJ Trevor Nelson MBE was special guest at the opening of Hackney Free & Parochial School’s Wall of Fame project on 28 January 2004.

The Wall of Fame is a 3D artwork designed by Year 10 students and inspired by their research into local modern day heroes. The results show a creative blend of figures from the fields of art, literature, music and fashion.

The project is a partnership between Free Form Arts Trust, B6 Sixth Form College and The Learning Trust, Hackney.

Barbara Wheeler Early and Canny Ash recieve the Award from Ken Livingstone

Free Form Director Barbara Wheeler Early and Architect Canny Ash recieve the award from Ken Livingstone.

Hothouse wins Mayor’s top prize at London Planning Awards

Free Form is delighted to announce that Hothouse has scooped two awards in the first London Planning Awards at City Hall 3/12/2003 - Best Planned Building Project Contributing to London’s Future and the overall Mayor’s Award for Planning Excellence, which is given to the entry that symbolises the finest example of planning in the capital.

The Hothouse was chosen from a shortlist which included Norman Foster’s Swiss Ré (Gherkin) building and the Royal Arsenal Woolwich. The Awards, run jointly by the Mayor of London, London First and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), recognise outstanding planning achievements by individuals or organisations and celebrate the very best of planning in the capital.