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Nine Elms cultural regeneration opportunities for young people

Published on
April 22, 2016

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More than £100,000 has been allocated to help increase access to culture for hundreds of young people in Wandsworth.

The money has been earmarked for projects commissioned by the Nine Elms Vauxhall Partnership through the new Cultivate programme, which is designed to make sure seven to 19-year-olds share in the cultural legacy of the major redevelopment of the Nine Elms site.

As the transformation of Nine Elms on the South Bank unfolds, a cultural strategy is creating vibrant new venues, creative workspace, public art and festivals.

Cultivate will support this work through art and design-led workshops and hands-on projects, designed to raise young people’s creative aspirations.

Cultivate is designed to support the relationship between this rapidly evolving area and the young people living in and around the site, to ensure opportunities to be involved in the arts are shared by all. This will result in a place that is seen as both a cultural destination in the making and a starting point for a future creative generation.

The Cultivate programme is one of seven “Cultural Education Challenge” projects around London part-funded by the charity A New Direction, following a successful bid for a grant.

The programme has been awarded two year’s funding, matching contributions from Wandsworth Council.

Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth Council and co-chair of the Nine Elms Vauxhall Partnership, said:  “The Cultivate programme will help us shape and harness the cultural impact that this regeneration work will have on local young people. The project will involve them in the creation of a new cultural district, engage them in the arts and help them to discover the many career options the creative sectors have to offer.”

The funding has enabled a dedicated focus on collaboration with developers, cultural organisations and schools to offer project coordination, quality guidance, evaluation support and relationship brokerage as well as sharing learning and best practice.

The project is led by Enable on behalf of Wandsworth Council and the Nine Elms Vauxhall Partnership. It is hoped to expand the project into Vauxhall in the near future. For more information contact Ana Ospina: ana.ospina@flowassociates.com or 07732 787 423.
Notes to editors:

For more information contact Henry Ellis at henry@nineelmsonthesouthbank.com

For more information about Enable Culture and Leisure see here

Projects already commissioned by Cultivate include:

• Moving Walls – St Mary’s Primary School have worked with artist Orly Orbach to create striking layered images exploring the changes in nature, the built environment and the impact on their lives. The work will be exhibited on hoardings at their school.
• Edible Avenue – Thessaly Road will be transformed into an ’edible street’. Teaming up with the charity ‘Edible Bus Stop’ fruit trees and herbs will be planted to celebrate the nearby New Covent Garden Market. Longside, for Cultivate, St George’s Primary School will be exploring citizenship in a changing environment and adding to the street improvements.
• Nine Songs for Nine Elms – is a collaboration between Lucy Cash, Freya Thomsen and children from Griffin Primary School. Children are writing and recording nine songs reflecting Nine Elms’ stories and heritage.
• Exploring Nine Elms – Chesterton Primary School, St John Bosco College and John Burns Primary School will be working with three creative practitioners to look at Nine Elms in different ways and devising their own creative responses
About A New Direction:

A New Direction is London’s flagship cultural education agency, helping London create, think and learn. We work to ensure that all children and young people get the most out of London’s extraordinary creative and cultural offer. Through our partnerships we create positive change across schools, education and communities to ensure that young people get the most out of London’s extraordinary creative and cultural offer.
www.anewdirection.org.uk


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