Arts-Based Events

cre8.ed has expertise in developing, strategising and staging of events linked to educational themes locally, regionally and nationally. This is available in consultation and/or in execution of performance-based events or art exhibitions to Local Education Boards, Diocesan Boards, regional, national or international groups.

Key elements include:
Directing, production, compéring, stage craft, composing, performing,
moderation, planning and execution of visual arts projects and exhibitions.

cre8.ed aims to be totally inclusive. Events must aim to include special needs students, minority groups and pupils of all faiths and none.

Current work includes:

Exploring Reconciliation – An Arts Festival for Schools

The Festival is a unique and exciting year of curriculum-linked arts based activities in schools. It includes schools (whatever their background) and their communities, as they creatively explore the theme of ‘Reconciliation’.

The Festival engages children and young people of all faiths and none, in the use of contemporary drama, dance, visual art and music. The project enables children to apply the revolutionary values encountered in the Bible and those drawn from the ‘Statement of Values’ by the National Forum for Values in Education in the National Curriculum Handbooks for Teachers (SCAA 1999) to the issues facing them, their families, their communities and the world, today.

The schools are able to create and perform their own presentations or performances around the theme ‘Reconciliation’. These can be performed in their own school assemblies or collectively in their local communities. Teachers are supported through Teacher INSET Workshops, written resources and by professional actors, dancers, musicians and visual artists visiting their schools.

Participants are encouraged to draw upon and involve their local communities. Diversity is encouraged so as to embrace all aspects of the cultures that may prevail.

Each Festival culminates in a spectacular multi-media presentation produced by Karen Underwood and supported by Mark Wallace (as Technical Director), one of the country’s leading ‘Live Events’ commercial producers, thus ensuring they will be truly impacting and memorable for all those taking part.

What are the aims of the Festival?

The festival seeks to:

• Develop new life skills in young people; using the expressive arts as a medium in which to help children develop into responsible citizens.
• Offer new inclusion practices; presenting imaginative and constructive ways to include others who are different from ourselves.
• Raise self-esteem and mutual respect; through working together and sharing talents.
• Introduce new ideas and methods of teaching, and encourage teachers to continue developing their pupils’ imaginations.
• Implement schools’ developments plans; by helping to identify specific points that will allow the introduction of moral values in order to help the school function more effectively as a community.
• Continue to build on relationships forged in local communities, nationally and internationally.

Where has the Festival taken place?

In the academic year 2004-2005 a festival was held in Rochester (known as CC2005), and in the academic year 2005-2006 a further festival took place in Coventry (known as CC2006). See film of CC2006 below.

JC2000, The Millennium Arts Festival for Schools

The cre8.ed team were responsible for producing and directing the JC2000 Regional Arts Festivals held in major concert venues throughout England and the grand finale at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2000.
cre8.ed has developed from JC2000, the Millennium Arts Festival for Schools. In September 1999, JC2000 invited schools throughout the UK to create an arts presentation. This could be art, dance, drama or music or a combination of those disciplines. It was to be based on the pupils’ response to the life and teaching of Jesus and its relevance today, as part of their millennium celebrations. It was an education project, gaining the endorsement of the Department of Education, and 18,300 schools registered – over half the schools in the United Kingdom.

Schools were invited to take part in the project on whatever level they felt able. This could be in the classroom through RE, the arts, or across the curriculum; it could be developed further into a school production or by joining together with other schools in their area to form a JC2000 local festival.

JC2000 resourced the participating schools through a book and a CD of specially composed music, to support all of the example themes within the book. (The JC2000 Resource Book, published by Harper Collins, is now available from cre8.ed.)

Karen Underwood drew together a team of artists which developed a common teaching methodology across the artistic disciplines that led to an active response to the biblical texts on the life and teaching of Jesus. A team of professional artists, with educational expertise, offered schools two-day, in-depth JC2000 Teacher Workshops. Forty workshops were held, training over 2,500 teachers in six months. The attending teachers’ creative response to the texts was astounding, the evidence seen in whole school projects and artistic presentations at Local and Regional Festivals. Teachers expressed they felt re-energised both physically and emotionally in the supportive environment at the workshops, gaining confidence to experiment creatively and work in collaboration with other teachers across the curriculum.

“The Teacher Workshop I attended earlier in the term at Falmouth, was an inspiration. Fun, informative and stimulating, the two days were a treat. I learned so much from the professionals and have tried out several activities with my KS3 classes to great effect. Keep up the good work!”
Chris Vaughan. Falmouth Workshop.

“I am fired with enthusiasm and can’t wait to pass this on to my colleagues”
Hazel Smith. York Workshop

The project culminated in a JC2000 UK Festival at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2000. This finale brought together outstanding performances and art from the twelve Regional and National Festivals in a multimedia show and exciting art exhibition. Part of the JC2000 art was also on display in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral.

JC2000 proved a wonderful opportunity for schools to work together. Primary and secondary, state and independent and special schools (so often overlooked in mainstream regional and national competitions) participated on an equal footing.

As a result of both teacher enquiry and their positive response to the written resources and training workshops, it was decided to launch a new charity called cre8.ed, Creative Resources in Education. cre8.ed continues to develop new themes and training opportunities across the curriculum.