Being a
Change Maker

Marking the 100 year anniversary of suffrage and the Representation of the People Act in 1918, the residency will celebrate the rich feminist heritage of Barking & Dagenham, exploring the female heroes that have come to define the borough’s past and present - and boldly imagining how its young people will go on to define its future and become the change makers of tomorrow.

Working with different classes from Sydney Russell School for a whole academic year, artists/companies including leading theatre company Complicite, beatboxer Bellatrix and award-winning filmmaker Eelyn Lee, will work with students and teaching staff at the school to deliver an ambitious and wide-ranging programme of creative projects.

Change Makers is a unique addition to our work supporting creative arts practice in schools and colleges.

Now six months in, we caught up with some of the students involved to hear from them on the project and ask what they think it takes to be a change maker...

Bex Hand, the Barbican’s Schools Engagement Manager also shared some thoughts on the project and what she’s most looking forward to over the remainder of the project.

How does Change Makers fit into the Associate Schools programme?

'I've been lucky to work with closely with our three remarkable Associate Schools over the last couple of years. This pilot programme is a chance for us at Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning to work in depth in three completely different schools to better understand and support our work in the education sector. In year one our focus was to get to know each other, finding out how best to work in collaboration and build towards experimentation and trying new approaches in year two. And so, Change Makers, our year-long artistic residency in one of Britain’s largest secondary schools, Sydney Russell School was born. The Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning team have taken the Barbican’s The Art of Change theme for 2018 and transferred it to a schools context, creating a bespoke programme in partnership with the school.

Working with different classes from Sydney Russell School for a whole academic year, the Creative Learning team have commissioned artists and companies including leading theatre company Complicité, beatboxer Bellatrix and filmmaker Eelyn Lee, to work with students and teaching staff at the school to deliver an ambitious and wide-ranging programme of creative projects. The Museum of London has also been leading suffrage workshops in the school with an entire year group.

What has been your favourite moment so far?

Having the opportunity to work with so many different students across the school, exposing them to what is possible using the arts and using Change Makers as a starting point for activism and everyday change, has been a joy to watch.

Seeing creative lightbulbs being switched on was particularly obvious at the start of the Barking Nuns programme when we've activated a group of student researchers to find out their own facts about the first abbess at Barking Abbey in 666AD with the help of Valance House and St Ethelburga's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation. This is ahead of an intense rehearsal period with international acclaimed Complicité and they have been scribbling down information ever since. You can't underestimate the power of handing over that ownership, and giving these unique opportunities to creatively explore female heroes. As one student told me, 'in order to be a Change Maker you need to do something big enough for everyone to listen. Projects like this though inspire us to try and change the world.'

Tell us about what’s coming up over the next few months?

We'll be sharing the work so far at Change Makers at the Broadway with an exhibition of young photographers, a screening of the film a Futurist Women of Barking and Dagenham; a collaboration with Eelyn Lee and a group of Y9 photography students and of course Barking Nuns at the end of June. But it doesn't stop there - the next few months are full with an artist residency at The White House in collaboration with Create London, herstories poetry exchange with a school in Cape-Town, in collaboration with poet Toni Stewart, as well as a two month exhibition at Valance House celebrating the programme which will open in December 2018.