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So what is the CEP anyway?

A few years ago, the Arts Council (ACE) launched the Cultural Education Challenge which was a “call for the art, culture and education sectors to work together in offering a consistent and high quality art and cultural education for all children and young people.

In order to deliver this, ACE created Bridge organisations, such as Artswork, which runs the SE Bridge, who were tasked with facilitating Local Cultural Education Partnerships or LCEPS.

CEPs are less about culture in terms of different global cultural groups (although that might form part of music, drama, dance, art, etc), and more about ensuring that schools are able to deliver a well rounded, creative curriculum (plus extra-curricular experiences) in partnership with excellent cultural (arts and heritage) organisations.

The Isle of Wight CEP meets monthly to discuss how they can work together through funded projects to support schools. It is through these partner projects that fantastic opportunities can be delivered, such as:

  • Lift the Lid –  Access to Arts Award and Artsmark opportunities
  • Museums and Schools – Free workshops and travel
  • Mardi Gras – Free workshops, opportunity to join in an Island-wide celebration

We welcome Isle of Wight teachers and other arts and heritage organisations (with an educational offer) to CEP meetings and would like to encourage you, if you are able to join us on the second Tuesday of every month. We have regular representatives from Medina College and Christ the King. You can find out who is part of the CEP and when the next CEP meeting is on the Lift the Lid website.

We recently explored what the CEP actually is as a group, and this is a list of the responses:

Partners working together so that all children and young people on the Isle of Wight can have great cultural education.

The CEP is a partnership of places that provide culture on the IOW. The CEP aims to help young people access culture on the IOW.

A cooperative group of museums, schools and cultural organisations, working to enable young people to access the fab cultural opportunities on the IOW. Giving support to each other, sharing ideas and information.

The CEP is an informed partnership of arts organisations, schools and educators whose aim is to champion cultural learning for CYP on the Ilse of Wight. Its purpose is advocacy for cultural learning and PRACTICAL offering support to all practitioners.

An organisation which brings together cultural organisations that support culture with young people who work together to improve this offer to young people on the Island.

Raise profile of Arts in the IOW community.

Engage children/teachers/parents to participate on what we have to offer through arts projects, Lift the Lid, etc.

The Joys of Art in our life.

A group of ‘champions’ from a variety of cultural backgrounds/organisations on the IW who are working collaboratively to engage children and young people in arts/heritage, by

  • Improving knowledge & understanding
  • Access

Collaboration of like-minded professional with the common interest of progressing and developing the arts and cultural activities on the Isle of Wight.

A group trying to help children engage with their local heritage whether science, arts or history. Active, Involved, Fun.

A partnership of arts, heritage and cultural organisations that work together to offer schools Great opportunities in the Arts.

A meeting of representatives from various ‘cultural’ organisations across the Island – meeting, collaborating, sharing ideas, trying ti improve Arts (cultural) provision for young people on the Island.

Lift the Lid - Back & Forth - East Cowes, Lift the Lid - The Great Light & Dark Show - Totland, Lift the Lid - The Ventnor Giant - Ventnor, Lift the Lid - We that Breathe - Newport, Lift the Lid Project

Announcing the Lift the Lid art commissions

I can now tell you that the selection panel met on Thursday 1st November at the John Hansard Gallery, in Southampton, and chose the three remaining artists commissions for Lift the Lid, which will be completed in 2019.

Ventnor Giant Mural by the artist Phlegm
Photograph by Julian Winslow

A multi-channel film installation, a piece of community theatre and the launch of a community lecture series will all be created to celebrate the unique cultural heritage of three towns on the Island in 2019 as part of Lift the Lid. This follows the highly successful street art of The Ventnor Giant by Phlegm, commissioned in partnership with Ventnor Exchange and launched at the Ventnor Fringe in August 2018.

As part of a rigorous process, led by a selection panel of renowned curators; Jo Bushnell from Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, Stephen Foster from John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, Georgia Newman from Quay Arts, Newport and Lucy Day from A Woman’s Place project, the following artists have been chosen:

A combination of Arts Council England, Artswork and Isle of Wight Council funding will enable these projects to go ahead, resulting in community art works that can be accessed by a wide range of people.

Artist, Julie Myers explains her proposal for Totland: “Live from The Parish Hall – Totland is a series of thematic performance events. Inspired by the format of the Victorian popular science lectures the series presents current social and environmental concerns through the stories and experiences of local people, including, a child’s fossil collection, a walk with an astronomer, a slide show about light pollution, a set of old postcards, pin hole cameras, forgotten songs, a cup of tea at the old lifeboat house. Hosted by local residents the talks combine video, photographs, personal artefacts, archive material, music and refreshments. The inaugural event: LIGHT AND DARK will be presented and broadcast live from the Parish Hall in May 2019.”

BearFace Theatre CIC will be developing a co-created piece of theatre with the communities of Pan that will focus on its layered heritage. BFT said:

“Using participatory arts based workshops to discover and co-develop narratives as well as make material for the performance, we will be delving into Pan’s past, its present and importantly its future and our part within it… with our new project ‘We that breathe…’. With a mix of playful interaction, puppetry, original soundtracking and live music and a Dragon thrown in for good measure, BearFace Theatre will bring the finished performance collaborated with all who we have met to a space near you in Pan in September 2019.”

Dmitri Galitzine will present a new multi-channel film installation, shown in an old shipyard in East Cowes, during Heritage Open Days 2019 (from 13 to 22 September 2019). The film will be based around the Red Funnel Ferry and East Cowes dockyard.

Working over several months, the artist will document all aspects of the ferry’s day to day crossings, the harbour, passengers and crew. And in doing so, he will attempt to unravel what the ferry means to the people of East Cowes and the symbiotic relationship between them.

The artist writes,

“The ferry has been the island’s gatekeeper for over a century. And it is part of the fabric of East Cowes, its history and heritage. The identity of any islander depends upon the body of water which engulfs them. And it’s the Red Funnel that can get them across it, in East Cowes. For some, every day back and forth. And back and forth again.”

 

LtL Project Manager, Sarah Girling said:

“The hope is that all of these new art works will excite and inspire the people of the Isle of Wight to find out more about their cultural heritage. There is opportunity for lots of local people to get involved through schools and community groups, let alone being audience members. 2019 is going to be a fantastic year for arts and culture on the Island.”

Lift the Lid - The Ventnor Giant - Ventnor, Lift the Lid Project

First Artists Commission – Phlegm!

The very first artists commission has been created as part of the Lift the Lid project, during Ventnor Fringe 2018. On the main road into Ventnor, keep your eyes peeled for the three-storey high mural, sprayed on the side on a building.

What is it? Who is he? The Ventnor Giant… a new legend perhaps? We think that there is a story to tell here!

A short video of the creation by Glasshouse productions can be seen above.

Read more about Phlegm’s mural for the Ventnor Fringe 2018.

Photographs by Julian Winslow.

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Phlegm’s mural, the Ventnor Giant
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The Ventnor Giant by Phlegm
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Phlegm’s Ventnor Giant