Office Day

The main task today was assisting with the collation of project monitoring forms; taking the information from them and displaying it on the Excel spreadsheet. This was quite a satisfying task, and allowed me to see the statistics of various Cartwheel projects that I have been involved in, including participant numbers and audience numbers.

It was a little challenging, as different people have different ways of filling out the monitoring forms, and different forms showed the information in different ways, so a bit of digging around was sometimes necessary to copy all the necessary information across.

Today I also photocopied the required amount of Proxy Voting Forms, minutes from the previous AGM, and directions to the venue of the upcoming AGM. 

Office Day

Amongst the usual mini-tasks of shredding, photocopying etc., I was asked to organise/update the Cartwheel Arts Office Manual. Previously, I hadn’t known this file existed, so it’s good to know that this point of reference is available should it be needed. I retyped pages with hand-written amendments, and generally organised the file. While updating the copies of company policies, ensuring the most recent version was present, I took the opportunity to read through them, as I had not looked at them since first applying for my Traineeship. It was useful to look at these again having gained experience working with Cartwheel, as I was able to see how they apply to real-life situations, why they are needed etc.

I also typed up minutes from a meeting about writing workshops, making things into full sentences where possible.  

Barnardos Art Club

Never having worked this closely with disabled children before, I was really looking forward to this session, and was not disappointed. This week at Barnardo’s Art Club, the first session (for 5-10 year olds) was dedicated to painting a giant Union Jack onto fabric, and the second session (11 – 19 year olds) was dedicated to making British themed decorations to stick onto it.

With the sessions running from 9:30, and me arriving at 10:00, I was thrown straight into the controlled-chaos that is children painting. By 12pm attentions had wavered from the crafts, and were redirected into indoor football, ping pong, paper plane making etc., so I gained a good range of experience with the kids.

The lead artist, Joanna Ricketts, is currently an Art Technician at Oldham College as well as a freelance artist. Since assisting Adel at Siddal Moor School for the Darnhill Festival parade decorations, this is a job I have been seriously considering, so it was fantastic to be able to talk to someone that has experienced this first hand, and to discuss the day-to-day duties etc. She was very positive about the role, and is obviously able to engage in other projects alongside this position, so I will be on the lookout for similar vacancies.

World Mental Health Day in Rochdale

Kerry and I ventured over to Rochdale to promote Cartwheel at the World Mental Health Day event in The Wheatsheaf Centre. We engaged people in the String of Change activity, in which participants thought about change in their life, wrote an example of this onto a triangle of paper, and then rolled this into a bead for the String. We filled the length of rope easily, as visitors were quite willing to get involved, and sometimes make more than one. Looking back it might have been nice to make the paper for participants write the changes on more co-ordinated, or make a pattern from the varying sizes of the beads to make it more visually appealing for when it is photographed. (Could still be possible to re-arrange the beads prior to this?)

I had never manned an informational-type stall before, and most people were chattier than when there’s the possibility you might try to sell them something. When visitors asked me questions about Cartweel’s projects/aims/history I was mostly able to answer them, which made me feel like a real part of the team and added a great feelgood factor to the day. 

Office and digital

Vik and I had a chat about ways of engaging participants on a more digital level, encouraging them to use the Cartwheel Facebook and Twitter accounts to their full potential as a way of information sharing.

Today I finished digitising the BACS records to date. 

Filming Meeting and Staff Charabanc

Meeting Kerry at the Heywood Sports Village for a meeting with James Statham about the filming for In The Loop. On returning to the office I summarised points made in the meeting to be included in an email. I also created the following flyer with In the Loop session dates to be handed out to participants.

For the Staff Charabanc, we went to find Vik and her poetry group that were out testing the new smart phone app at Healey Dell.

On returning from the outing, I began to digitise the BACS records, which Lucy had previously kept in a notebook. This was mostly an inputting task, copying information from the notebook onto an excel document, where the records can be referred to easier. 

Art and Soul

After meeting Kerry at the Cartwheel office, we walked down to the Art & Soul venue in the Heywood Market meeting rooms. The group were at various stages with their current pieces, some were finishing off and some were starting brand new pieces. I helped with the sorting of the Art & Soul folder - returning pieces of work to their owner and organising paper and other materials that are kept there. 

Fitton Hill Story Group

In the office I collated the attendance numbers for the Tell Us Another One groups, and worked a little more on the Baseline questionnaires.  

Emma drove us over to Fitton Hill for the Tell Us Another One story group that takes place in the library. This was a great opportunity to see an example of how these story groups operate, as well as taking part myself. Though creative writing has never been a regular activity of mine, I felt completely comfortable having a go in this environment, and imagine that most participants would feel the same. 

Office Day

Today I used examples sent to Cartwheel by other freelancers to make my own invoice, and sent it to Lucy for processing. I also began to collate the information in the Baseline questionnaires that the young people had filled out prior to and after the activity. This information shows how the activity has affected them in terms of confidence in various situations, abilities, and how they relate to adults and their peers.

This has really emphasised the point that in the arts sector, a substantial amount of time, especially where funding is concerned, is dedicated to statistics and showing the effect that ventures have had on their intended audience.  

Siddall Moor Sports College, Part 4

With this being the final session, Adel and I had agreed to get there as soon as possible so that we could fulfil our ‘finishing off’ time before the session. We had a good number of students again, and were able to finish the hoops easily, and store them ready for the festival.

I am disappointed that due to other work commitments I will not be able to attend the festival itself, but look forward to being able to see photos of the hoops in the parade.

Mosaic Install, Office Work and Touchstones Preview

Meeting Kerry and artist Chrissy Webster at the Darnhill planters that Lucy showed me on my first day, we arranged the mosaics alongside the tops of the planters while they were drilled into place.

Back in the office, I typed up the outcomes from the TUAO trip to the Hay Literature Festival, including Phrases from the Weekend, and more detailed poems. I also finished the poems for the Darnhill festival, before going over with Kerry, Rick and Emma to the Art & Soul preview event at Touchstones.

The preview was a good chance to meet members of Art & Soul that were not at the Willow Workshop, and others involved with the group. I spent time discussing the work and techniques with various participants and generally getting to know them.

Siddall Moor Sports College, Part 3

Today we had quite a few students, so were able to make fantastic progress, including securing the sticks to the sides and mostly completing the central decoration of the hoops. This was good practice at finding the balance between the participants enjoying themselves and actually completing the exercise, which I imagine is a regular issue with this age group.

Siddall Moor Sports College Part 2

Today Adel and I worked with two children to continue with the hoops, so they were able to put their ideas into practice, including using more than one strip of crepe paper for a medal ribbon, which I feel really gives that particular hoop an eye-catching focal point. 

I worked to add more flowers to the outer ring of the hoops, and rolled crepe paper balls for the union jack flag and letters, so that the participants could experience the more interesting side of arranging the balls and sticking them down faster than they would have normally. Speed was still a slight issue, as Adel’s plans and time allocations were made with 10 participants in mind. However, we have made good progress today, so we are not worried about meeting the deadline.

Siddall Moor Sports College

This was the first of four sessions working as an Assistant Artist to Adel Abbey, making parade items for the Darnhill Festival.  Kerry was there for the beginning of the session to introduce Adel and me. Unfortunately there seemed to have been an error in communication on the school’s part, and with it being Parents' Evening that night, there were no children to participate in the activity. 

Adel and I still made the most of the time, and began to work on decorating the five hoops. This was actually quite beneficial, as the fabric netting on the hoops needed to be quite taught, and letting the participants do these themselves may have produced inconsistencies that caused problems at a later date. We began making flowers for the outside of the hoops, as this is likely to be the action that takes the longest, and we need to stay roughly on schedule in order to ensure the hoops are ready for the festival.

Willow Workshop and Office Work

Art and Soul were in the Cartwheel Office garden today, making various things from willow branches, which are to be sprayed gold and used in the Darnhill Festival. I spent some time with them talking to the group and having a go at making a fish myself! The session was great fun, and it was brilliant to finally meet some of the people that were involved with Art & Soul. 

New Ghosts Exhibition at Falinge Park High School

For the New Ghosts project, children had made a variety of items that were to be exhibited in the school hall. These included zines, shields, books and games. Vik and myself worked with the artists involved and school staff to arrange the exhibition, before the children came in to view the exhibition as a whole. Due to the vast amount of artwork, displaying it all well was a challenge, but we managed it in the end.

This seemed to be a great resolution that all the participants could share together, with the smoke machine and dim lighting really making it a special experience. 

There's more about the project here http://bit.ly/ZqlMPq

Office day

Today was my first full office day, and it came with many cups of tea! J I edited the templates of a bunting-based evaluation form to make three different questions for each activity stall at the Darnhill Festival. This should be a way of gathering opinions in a more interesting way than a questionnaire. I also made Attendee Tally sheets for each of the workshops too.

There were also around 20 poems from Tell Us Another One story groups for me to type up to be made into posters for display, and to be performed at the festival. 

Delivery of work to Touchstones

We delivered the work that was picked up from the framers last week to Touchstones Art Gallery in Rochdale ready for the upcoming exhibition. Prior to this, I foam mounted and cut out the descriptions for the work in the exhibition, and the informational panels.

Afterwards, I mentioned the day’s activities on Twitter, and Touchstones followed me! 

First Day

The day began with a quick tour around the office, and an introduction into Cartwheel Arts, including new and on-going projects. Lucy and I then went over to Heywood Sports Village to take down the Art and Soul exhibition that had been situated there.  It was good to be able to see some of the outcomes from the Art and Soul sessions, as up to now I had no idea of the mediums, size, etc. of the work that was produced. After removing the work and making good the walls, Lucy and I returned to Cartwheel, via picking up work from the framers, and Darnhill, where I was shown the festival locations for future reference, and the planters that had recently been added.

I’ve got my own in-tray, which I’m probably a bit too excited about, but it really makes me feel like I’m going to be a proper part of the team, rather than just an add-on. All in all a very nice first day, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the Traineeship.