Jump
Photographer, activist, educator and filmmaker Kirsty Mackay has been working with our Creative Hub group, teaching them point-and-shoot film cameras to capture the world from their perspective.
The young people’s photographs are in our main studio at the moment and Kirsty will be exhibiting these images as part of a larger body of work about the cost of living crisis.
Last month we had the opportunity to run two weeks of work experience with our funders Bristol City Council Strategic Partnership. This partnership of ARUP, Arcadis and Mott MacDonald, aids the delivery of new infrastructure, homes and regeneration across the city of Bristol.
We are very lucky to have such an engaged partnership with our funders, who opened their doors to the young people and worked with them through live briefs in engineering, project managing, finance and more.
During the visit to Mott MacDonald young people helped design new developments for a secondary school in Bristol. Each team were assigned a role for example: project manager, designer, finance officer and worked on the brief.
At Arcadis, young people learnt about the developments taking place in Castle Park and helped brainstorm new developments for the project.
Young people worked with ARUP to assess upcoming flood risks to the city and design flood defences around Bristol’s harbour, working within the real budget of the live project, considering social value, budget and environmental issues.
Our work wasn’t done with those visits as throughout the week young people also went on a photography expedition around the harbour, made mixed media projects at KWMC and took part in digital fabrication learning at a Maker City Making days at The Factory.
Since the pandemic, there has been a significant increase in young people who are being home-educated. As a response to this social change, we decided to run a Maker City project throughout June. This was specifically for home-educated young people and their parent-teachers to come to KWMC The Factory and take part in alternative STEAM education. This also included offering Continuing Professional Development for the parent-teachers. Creating a space where young people and their parents could learn and create together felt truly inspirational.
We designed a variety of activities which allowed the young people and parent-teachers to learn both collaboratively and independently, experimenting with hands-on proto-typing and engineering tasks, leading to sophisticated digital fabrication.
The cohort thrived in our community Maker Space, and we witnessed the group bloom in skills, confidence and a sense of empowerment. By the end of the month, the group had 3D-designed boats using Tinker CAD, learnt how to operate Sphero robots, designed an entire city based on their personal social action passions, laser cut name badges, built propeller boats to race across a swimming pool and designed, UV printed and heat-pressed their own family flags.
We have built strong relationships with this local cohort and are hoping to continue working together in the future. Thank you for all the helpful feedback we received from both parents and young people. Here is one of our favourite quotes;
‘The combination of discussion, design and practical activities worked well. I gained an understanding of new software and different machinery which is available to use. We wish there were more home-ed sessions, we loved it – thank you!’
parent-teacher
Our Tuesday night Maker City cohort is gaining great confidence both personally and in using the software and hardware in The Factory. This has been fantastic to see. We have been focusing on social action and incorporating that into different creative sessions. Guiding the young people through the design process from generating ideas in groups to discussing them openly and presenting their ideas publicly. From sketching and prototyping to designing on software and making the final products using The Factory kit.
Through our ongoing research project with UCL, we have recruited a team of young researchers from our core cohort. They have been learning about what makes equitable maker spaces; undergoing various research tasks to help understand and develop the Maker City program. The co-researchers both participate in research studies as well as design and facilitate their own research.
As well as our after-school session, Maker City has been running weekly sessions at Knowle DGE secondary school through the winter term. Years 10 and 11 have been working together to learn digital fabrication skills. The cohort decided to use their new design skills to develop their own dungeons and dragons gaming world. One young person started designing dice on TinkerCAD which we printed on our 3D printer. The cohort also laser-cut their own personal character pieces in a variety of 2D and 3D design methods and started designing their own game board.
The young people have been thinking about how to bring the community together and this new design project has allowed them to create a new Knowle DGE gaming community with other students; creating a safe space, thriving with creativity and possibilities which benefits young people’s mental health significantly.
The young people at Knowle DGE have also learnt how to create stickers using Inkscape and a vinyl cutter. Liam is passionate about nature and green spaces in Bristol and designed squirrel stickers as part of an environmental project. Although he is worried about the climate crisis, Liam made us all smile by telling us about the squirrel near his home which he has seen navigating the zebra crossing like a human – twice!
We can bring lots of our digital fabrication equipment into schools for Maker City sessions and at the end of the term we invite our school cohorts to The Factory to experience the rest of our equipment in action. This term we also ran our school program with Parson’s Street Primary School and Holy Cross Primary School.
At the end of March, we hosted the end-of-term showcase. There was a magical energy in the building as young people took their family and friends on tours around The Factory; showing them their projects and teaching them how to use the kit.
Our partners from ARUP, Arcadis and Mott Macdonald joined us to support the young people and be part of this celebration. Professionals from each organisation have been mentoring the young people throughout the year, working closely with them to help them build on their ideas and connect their projects to real-world applications. These mentors will continue working with the young people and in July they will collaborate with us to run our once-in-a-lifetime work experience program.
If you are interested in signing up for any of our after-school sessions or have any questions, please email jumpstudios@kwmc.org.uk.
KWMC Youth Council had a huge year in 2022. From meeting at the media centre where we planned, discussed and voted for real-world issues to travelling around the city where the young people represented their local community in events all over Bristol.
The young people worked with Play Disrupt and Re:create Filwood to help co-design the new developments in Knowle West by workshopping and sharing ideas in meetings as well as taking part in augmented reality on the streets to use their voice to recreate the future of their community.
The Youth Council helped host KWMC’s Our Space event in April. The young people welcomed the members of the public into the media centre; proudly giving tours around the building and sharing their stories about the Our Space project and their involvement as part of the Knowle West Media Collective.
The young people also worked with Filwood Library by taking part in a toys audit. Playing games and helping the community at the same time.
On Thursday the 23rd of June, KWMC’s Youth Council headed down to City Hall to attend a youth conference hosted by Bristol City Council. The conference was an opportunity for youth council’s from around Bristol to come together and use their voices to help build the future of youth services in the city.
The building was buzzing with excitable energy as young people gathered from all different corners of Bristol, from Southmead and Lawrence Weston to Hartcliff and Knowle West. Delicious food was provided and some inspirational videos were shared to highlight some of the amazing work being run by youth provisions within Bristol.
Bristol City’s Youth Council were hosting the event and the members came round to greet all of the young people and talk to them about their passions and ideas. Conversations flowed about diverse topics; young people shared their views on the importance of trust and respect amongst young people and staff at youth provisions. Ideas about vegetable gardens and more green spaces were discussed in the hope to help the environment and the mental health of people in the city. As the young people talked, members of the Council made notes and the young people’s voices were recorded to send on to decision-makers in the Council.
KWMC Youth Council were lucky enough to meet the Youth Mayor of Bristol, Anika Mistry and be given a tour of the Council Chamber. It was amazing to meet other young people in the city who were also keen to work together and make positive change in Bristol.
In October, the Youth Council also attended K-West Fest and helped our team at Filwood Community Centre to create a beautiful festival where the community, danced, played games and shared food together.
With so much to celebrate already, the Youth Council were generously awarded free VIP tickets to watch The Nutcracker in December at Bristol Old Vic. The young people had submitted their art as part of a competition with Bristol Old Vic and were overjoyed to be rewarded with tickets to this production. The show was phenomenal; from the amazing set design to the multi talented actors who were all singing, dancing and playing instruments! We had a magical time and we all left with smiles from ear to ear!
The young people interviewed each other before and after the show and we have since written reviews about the show which we will be submitting as part of our Arts Awards Qualifications.
“I have never been the theatre but this has to be the best one I have ever seen.”
Young person
Thank you Bristol Old Vic for this unforgettable experience.
KWMC Youth Council has reconnected in 2023 welcoming some new faces and new energy. They are getting stuck into community development straight away, helping to decide on the new Filwood Broadway logo. We also spent the first session of 2023 writing some intentions for the year. The young people have some very exciting ideas in the pipeline!
To find out more about the Youth Council please contact jumpstudios@kwmc.org.uk
This term at Creative Hub we have had the pleasure of working with an external artist; David Beech who works at Bristol’s Ken Straddling Collection. David has worked alongside the Jump Studios Staff to create an amazing 10-week programme based on his project ‘My Family and Other Objects.’
We asked the young people to select a personal object that they thought told a story about them, their family, their culture, or their community. Using this object as inspiration, they are creating their own art pieces to exhibit at our Jump Studios Showcase.
The young people have explored what ‘the arts’ means to them. Through taster sessions and self-led practice, the young people have been able to tell their stories. They have used digital drawing, animation, photography, pixel art, Minecraft, sculpture, jewellery making, and even more traditional techniques.
We took a visit to the Ken Straddling Collection on Park Row this November. Everyone got a coach from Knowle West with cameras at the ready and sketchbooks in their hands to capture the experience and use it to inspire their projects.
As part of this project, the young people have had the opportunity to start their Bronze Arts Awards as an exciting way to show their participation in local creative arts as well as gain a qualification. The young people have created such a marvelous variety of work.
On Monday the 12th of Dec we invited friends, families, artists, and associates to join the young people for a beautiful end-of-term celebration. The young people gave tours around the exhibition space and shared their creative journeys with their guests. Families and friends were able to enjoy all of the art being exhibited, join in with some creative activities, as well as try out KWMC’s new Virtual Reality headsets. There was an incredibly special atmosphere as the community came together to share this celebration and we were touched to hear feedback from everyone who came.
Thankyou for this amazing club and fantastic opportunities.
parent
Thank you for giving my children the creative outlet – they love it here.
parent
This term at Maker City, we wanted The Factory to become a space that the young people trusted, felt ownership over and felt inspired by. We wanted to build their confidence around the programme, around the space and within the new group dynamics.
The term started with lots of fun opportunities to learn how to use different digital design programs like Inkscape, Sketchbook, and TinkerCAD. They then used those programs to start making products with different briefs using the laser cutter, 3d printer, digital embroidery machine, UV printer, and vinyl cutter.
Throughout the term, the young people were able to meet their mentors from Arup, Arcadis and Mott Macdonald and have their say on the design of Bristol’s Castle Park. The young people thrived using their knowledge and opinions in this real world application and we saw the relationships between the young people and the mentors develop throughout the term as they worked together to tackle the brief.
A group of young people also onboarded the Maker City Youth Council who have been working with our partners and researchers; UCL and attending research sessions this term which will be continuing throughout the year. The young people have been proud to share their Maker City stories and help design their own research to understand Maker Spaces like The Factory. Last year Maker City young people co-designed a survey with UCL, which the current cohort filled out this term.
Using the theme of recycling and upcycling, we planted a social action seed that the young people explored with seriousness and curiosity. The young people were able to bring in items from their homes; using their new digital design skills to upcycle them. We wanted everyone to start understanding the design process this term and through, master classes and permission to fail, the young people practised; researching, prototyping, designing, redesigning, working independently, as part of a team and creating using all of the tools available to them at The Factory.
When we asked young people what they had learnt this term we were told; ‘I have learnt about the environment,’ ‘I have learnt how to use Inkscape,’ ‘I have learnt that the laser cutter is incredibly useful when cutting intricate pieces,’ ‘I feel excited,’ ‘I want to do more.’
The young people took ownership of their projects and as their designs started unfolding they worked together incredibly as a team to help get everyone’s products finished. By the end of the term, some of the young people were able to use the machines confidently and could help each other to print their work.
The young people chose to come to Filwood Community Christmas Market with the KWMC staff on their weekend to show their work to the community and tell other people what they had been working on this term. It was amazing to see the pride and excitement the young people had over their work and how confident they were to talk to the public about Maker City.
The end-of-the-term showcase was another beautiful celebration where friends and families came together with the young people to enjoy an exhibition of their upcycling projects as well as take part in some digital fabrication activities with the young people. The young people took ownership of the space; giving tours of the building and showing their friends and families how to use the machines to print off Christmas stickers and baubles to take home.
Some of the parents left feedback on the question: What have you noticed since your young person started at Maker City?
It’s amazing what we can see, how happy my daughter is here. She’s enjoyed every meeting with KWMC. Thank you all!
parent
My child is always excited to come to Maker City, very enthusiastic about all the activities and very lucky to have participated in it. It has been an amazing experience. – thank you!’
parent
Across this term in Sound Wave, the young people have been exploring different creative activities around music. A few weeks ago, they planned and recorded their own podcasts that looked at a range of topics including music, football, and the climate crisis.
As well as creating their own music using software such as Garageband and Sound Trap, they also designed their own album artwork through Canva. We had a fantastic range of designs that really showed the young people’s creativity and personalities. As well as this, they created their dream playlist of songs and shared this with the group.
It has been great to see what the young people have made and see their confidence grow through the term. It had also been amazing to see them explore all the creative aspects of music from the recording and songwriting to the designing and sharing of music in the group.
It’s been great to learn and improve music making skills.
young person
Our Soundwave showcase was really fun. We prepared the space together with the young people showing their songs on laptops and their songbooks out for viewing on tables. When the parents and caregivers arrived, the young people took pride in showing them around the space, playing them songs and reading them lyrics from their songbooks.
Ben’s dad was the first to arrive and he spent over an hour together talking through Ben’s process and listening to his songs. It was really special to see how engaged they were with the process and Ben’s Dad left us with some wonderful feedback.
“Inspiring how the young adults have expressed themselves so artistically and clearly. Thank you for all the support and enrichment!
ben’s dad
Lily came in just for the showcase. It was so nice to have her come as we had so much of her work on display. Her parents were really in awe of the space and what she had made over the weeks here with us. Lily wrote a beautiful song about her best friend who has been in hospital. We were so impressed when she wrote it and her parents were also really amazed at the vulnerability she showed in her writing.
“Thank you for helping Lily to better understand music and song writing! She has loved coming here and is keen to come back!
lily’s parents
A huge thank you to all of our funders for making this term possible.
Interested in registering for after-school sessions and more next year? Click here or follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
We had the pleasure of running Maker City with the year 6’s at Oasis Academy Connaught this school term.
Maker City is a STEAM (science, tech, engineering, arts and maths) programme aimed at inspiring young people to design and create products using state-of-the-art technology such as laser cutters, 3D printers and sticker machines. We focus on collaboration, creative problem solving and social action to work together to design something that would be useful for ourselves and our community!
It is amazing for us to be able to meet young people in their school environment and offer a different approach to education; broaden their horizons and show them what is available in their local area and how they can be involved.
For the school sessions, we brought iMacs, drawing tablets, and robots to work with. At the end of the term, we bought the young people to KWMC The Factory where they could see their work being made using our other equipment, have a tour of the space, and get stuck in with our hands-on engineering activities.
This term we have run three Sound Wave taster sessions at Parsons Street Primary School with two year 6 classes. We were able to bring in percussive instruments and laptops for the young people to use in the sessions. In our first session, we kicked things off by playing a conducting game where everyone in the class would have a piece of percussion and one young person would come to the front to conduct the room. They could affect when people played and how loud or quiet, they played their instrument. The enthusiasm from the year 6 classes was great to see and we had multiple volunteers all wanting to have a go at conducting.
We introduced the young people to composing and creating their own music using loops on Garageband. In a short period of time, the young people showed their amazing creativity and quickly took to building their own songs with loops and were really excited to show the rest of the class what they had been working on in the session.
Our Sound Wave taster school sessions have also included young people creating their own podcasts! In these sessions, the young people worked in groups to come up with a theme for their podcast, something that they are passionate about or want to talk about. Then after some planning, and writing down a few key points they moved on to recording their podcast on software such as Garageband or Sound Trap. They also looked at creating some theme music or a jingle for their podcast which could be from loops or recording an instrument. Again, we saw amazing creativity from the year 6 classes at Parsons Street and a willingness to share their work with us which we always love to see at the end of sessions.
If you are interested in having any of our sessions at your school, please contact jump@kwmc.org.uk.
If you are interested in signing up for any of our after-school sessions or have any questions, please follow this link or email jumpstudios@kwmc.org.uk.
On Wednesday the 9th of November, WECIL came to Knowle West Media Centre for the first of two sessions focusing on Social Action and Social Media. The aim of the first session was to introduce the cohort to the space and dive into the world of Social Action; exploring the group’s passions and concerns about their local area and society while learning about previous strategies used to promote positive change. Through interactive discussions and activities, the group narrowed down their focus and decided on a topic that they would each like to research and plan a way to start turning their social concerns into actions.
On the 23rd of November, WECIL returned to KWMC to continue with the second part of their workshop. This time they were looking at how they could use social media to promote the social action plans they wanted to communicate. The group learned new information regarding social media platforms and audiences whilst picking up skills such as designing social assets on Canva.
From this point, their social media posts were starting to form. With text and assets at the ready, the group was able to post what they had created readying them for creating content and posting outside of the workshop.
We had a blast running this workshop for WECIL and we hope with all they have gained, they can spread those all-important messages far and wide!