Here, in North Lincolnshire we're lucky enough to have Takeover run as a week long event, for young people to get the maximum experience out of the opportunity.
20-21 were really keen to be involved in such an exciting week, so asked art students from John Leggott College and North Lindsey College, to come along to our centre to help us think of new ways to bring young people into the centre, and encourage students to use our facilities in their studies.
Biffy and Aiden, wrote a report about the sorts of things they got up to and what they think to 20-21. Below, is their article and a few photos taken during their time here:
During takeover week we have had discussions about the progress of 2021 Visual Arts Centre and how it could be improved to accommodate for teenagers. The ideas that we came up with were student open, competitions/fundraisers for charity, photography and fashion exhibitions and more publicised workshops.
On the first day we discussed the ideas above and how we would improve the amount of visitors to the centre. A variety of problems such as publicity of the centre and its location mean that the general public are unaware of its presence. The need for convenience means that the centre is not an ideal place for people to congregate and it is hidden by the library. We suggested that ‘posts’ could be placed in front of the library and at the bus station in order to draw attention to what the centre has on offer.
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| First impressions of 20-21 |
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| Why people maybe don't come to the gallery |
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| An idea to drive forward? |
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| Ideas for targeting young people |
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| Activities and events suitable for young people |
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| Pros and cons |
Tomorrow we plan to present our findings in ‘The Great Debate’ to other young people. We would like to inform people of our opinions that will hopefully make the 2021 Centre more successful as it is an important part of our community. Offering expressive freedom to the general public, from children to adults 2021 enables community integration but also the ability to explore thoughts and ideas.
The atmosphere at 2021 is relaxed and professional which allows for comfortable viewing of exhibitions (of contemporary artists), which are refreshed every few months to maintain public intrigue/interest.
The students Christmas tree is on loan to the stand at Great Debate, before coming back to 20-21 to be included in our Winter Wonderland exhibition, alongside some prestigious local artists.
The staff at 20-21 really value the input of our group of Takeover students, and were suitably impressed with some of their creative talent! We are looking to develop a few of the key points raised during their time with us. If you are interested in being a part of the student focus group, or have any ideas for the name of the group, please get in touch with our Education Officer, Hayley McPhun: hayley.mcphun@northlincs.gov.uk