Reframe: Inspire Schools 2024-25
Helping students discover the arts and digital technology in partnership with Apple
For 2024-25’s Reframe: Inspire Schools project inspiration came from the summer 2024 Hayward Gallery exhibition, Tavares Strachan: There is Light Somewhere.
Strachan’s work celebrates unsung heroes and cultural pioneers whose stories have been overlooked due to bias. His sculpture, The Encyclopedia of Invisibility (2014-18), features thousands of historically marginalised individuals, places and events, and was a focal point of the exhibition and our young participants’ work.
Project aims and outcomes
Delivered in partnership with MAC and Factory International, Inspire Schools is a creative multimedia project for KS3 pupils. It aims to inspire young peoples’ interests in different creative fields, increase access to cultural opportunities and digital technology, and improve levels of digital literacy.
Using the latest Apple technology, the young participants worked collaboratively with each other and professional artist-educators to create a digital ‘zine’ that responded to Strachan’s art. Weaving together poetry, visual art, mixed media and digital technology their unique zines explored themes of community, culture, and identity, exploring the untold stories of people who positively impact their lives.
14schools
85workshops
382young people
The participants
Birmingham
Using different creative mediums, such as art, music and poetry, the young people of Birmingham explored themes that impact their lives – heritage, friendship, mental health and self-identity. They took inspiration from folklore, anime, superheroes and fashion history to produce zines and creative responses that convey what it’s like to be a young person growing up today.
The schools
Uffculme School
Aston Manor Academy
BOA Academy
Holte School
The artists
Rumbidzai Savanhu
Samiir Saunders
London
London’s young participants explored the different cultures and heritages of their own respective backgrounds; the languages, food, art, and hobbies that shape their lives, as well as the individuals who have influenced them. From family members to local figures, they drew upon the people, moments and places that inspire them, to devise their own ‘encyclopaedia’ which features in the zines. They also delved into the theme of invisibility, reflecting on people forgotten by history, and the spaces in which individuals can feel overlooked or unseen.
The schools
Hampstead School
Haberdashers Askes Hatcham College
The Elm-Green School
Prendergast Ladywell School
Lillian Baylis Technology School
The artists
Maryam Huq
Arji Maneulpillai
Manchester
The young participants in Manchester devised a central theme to their work – Rep Your City; a portrait of Greater Manchester as experienced through their eyes. Guided by themes of cultural bias, unheard voices, identity, and belonging, the students explored personal narratives through the mediums of poetry, visual storytelling, and digital creation. The zines they created highlight local spaces, celebrate food heritage and traditions, and showcase the dreams and aspirations that shape the students’ sense of self.
The schools
Irlam & Cadishead Academy
Manchester Communication Academy
Redwood High School
Wright Robinson College
Manchester Enterprise Academy
The artists
Courtney ‘CourtsWrites’ Hayles
Mike Emerson
Participants’ zines
Get a feel for the zines produced by our participants.
Delivery partners
Reframe Inspire Schools is supported by Apple and produced by the Southbank Centre with Factory International and the Midlands Art Centre.