SCHOOLS
PROGRAMME
In our inaugural year, more than 3000 children and young people across Alton and surrounding villages took part in free creative workshops thanks to Alton Arts Festival and our generous supporters!
Our ambitious and inclusive Schools’ Programme reached a total of 18 schools, including 15 primary schools, two secondary schools, and Treloar’s, a special school and college for disabled children and young people.
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The programme covered music, theatre, poetry and spoken word, art, photography, silversmithing and gardening, with an emphasis on wellbeing and mental health. With funding from local sponsors and East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) Councillor Grants, the whole programme was delivered at no cost to schools or pupils.
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A core tenet of the Alton Arts Festival is that everyone deserves access to the arts, and this is especially true for children. The arts are fundamental to expanding children’s experiences, building empathy and confidence, and increasing wellbeing. We wanted to make sure that no child misses out on what the Alton Arts Festival has to offer, and we were so thrilled to be able to offer such a comprehensive programme in our first year, thanks to the support of our sponsors.”
Sara Wood, Schools' Programme Lead, Alton Arts Festival
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3000 children
experiencing the arts
Alton Arts Festival is a very special community event. It is a celebration of everything creative and all that is wonderful about being human on this great earth. It is even more special for schools, as we highly value the arts and our environmental stewardship. The budget crisis in schools means that when amazing people get together and put on amazing events like this, giving our children a truly creative curriculum, we are enormously grateful.”
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Jo Eyres, Head of St Mary’s Bentworth CE School and head of the Alton Heads cluster
The 2024 schools' programme included:
Theatre
15 primary schools and Treloar’s enjoyed workshops with local companies Yo-Chi and Flip Theatre, focused on developing emotional resilience and wellbeing using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), role playing games, yoga and mindfulness techniques.
Creative writing
Year 5 students at five schools worked with ArtfulScribe to first write a poem on the theme of ‘hope’ and then perform that poem in a poetry showcase at Holybourne Theatre on 5th July, the opening day of the Festival.
Music
Art
Silversmithing
Gardening
Photography
Nine primary schools and Treloar’s got the thrilling experience of an all-school African Drumming workshop. These lively (and loud!) sessions were designed to help children understand the use of drumming, develop their skills of rhythm, mimicking and concentration, and introduce children to the excitement of being a part of group music-making.
12 primary schools and Treloar’s were visited by local artists and art teachers for hands-on workshops exploring the joy and confidence that can be found through the act of creating something visual.
80 students from Amery Hill and Eggars Secondary Schools were invited to experience an introduction to silversmithing with local jeweller Olivia Brown in her workshop in West Meon. This was fully funded by a grant from The Goldsmiths’ Centre.
16 schools created 1x1 metre wildlife-friendly mini gardens which were displayed in a beautiful creative garden trail across the Festival footprint from Holybourne to Chawton. Download the map here.
Students from Eggars and Alton College were invited to submit photographs to an exhibition on the theme ‘perspective’. The chosen entries were displayed in a photography trail stretching from Chawton to Holybourne for the duration of the Festival.
Thank you to all our 2024 sponsors
The Alton Arts Festival Schools’ Programme 2024 was made possible thanks to generous East Hampshire District Councillor Grants from Councillors Emily Young, Suzie Burns, Warren Moore, Barbara Tansey, Ginny Boxall and Joanna Nelson, with match-funding provided by AAF fundraising activities; grant funding from The Goldsmiths’ Centre; sponsorship from CALA Homes, Aspray, Frensham Heights, the Alton Society, Atkins, and Resurrection Furniture; and workshop materials donated by Alternative Packaging Ltd.
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