WELCOME TO
CAPA
CENTRE OF APPLIED AND PERFORMING ARTS
The Centre for Applied and Participatory Arts (CAPA) is an exciting new venture which develops socially-engaged arts practice with partners in publicly-funded services in Education and the NHS, third sector, non-profit organisations and NGOs. CAPA will deliver consultancy, research, training and CPD in a range of settings within the University and beyond
WELCOME TO
CAPA
CENTRE OF APPLIED AND PERFORMING ARTS
The Centre for Applied and Participatory Arts (CAPA) is an exciting new venture which develops socially-engaged arts practice with partners in publicly-funded services in Education and the NHS, third sector, non-profit organisations and NGOs. CAPA will deliver consultancy, research, training and CPD in a range of settings within the University and beyond
PROJECTS AT CAPA
CENTRE FOR APPLIED AND PERFORMING ARTS
This page details current socially-engaged research and evaluation projects led by Performing Arts staff.
Martin Heaney has recently completed a role as evaluator on the My Creative School (MCS) programme which has transformed teaching and learning experience in 13 schools in London and the Medway area of Kent in a two-year period from 2016 – 2018. Funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the programme was delivered in partnership by A New Direction (AND) and The Education Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Southwark. It aimed to embed the arts as drivers of powerful learning experiences, unlocking the potential of developing teachers’ practice through a new model of relationship between artists and school. In its second year, the programme developed a model where the arts became a catalyst for developing whole school cultures and community relationships through the arts with impacts on pupil, teacher and artist skills development. The MCS programme has engaged with over 2,600 primary school pupils, 280 teachers and senior staff leaders and 15 artists.
Newham Speech Bubbles is a university-wide civic engagement project providing student-led interventions in local primary schools to raise achievement levels for children aged 5 to 7.
Adapted from the national project, Speech Bubbles, conceived by London Bubble Theatre Company, the University of East London version trains student facilitators to use story-drama to build children’s communication, confidence and wellbeing.
Speech Bubbles offers a flexible approach to learning, making it less confusing and disorientating for children with communication difficulties. The children thrive because the project places their own stories at the centre of the experience, while the UEL students develop their skills through community-based learning.
A sustainable model of delivery, where the schools make a contribution to funding the programme, has allowed the programme to grow, providing a value for money service reaching 80 children across Newham last year with plans to grow the number of children participating each year.
Verbatim Formula: A residential Theatre Project with Newham care-leavers, July 2018
UEL is a partnering with Queen Mary University on an AHRC funded project. This residential project will involve Newham looked-after young people in a verbatim theatre project at the University. The project hopes to generate new knowledge and affect policy surrounding the support for care-leavers at Universities. We hope to be delivering this project annually.
Coaching Creatives with Kazzum Theatre Company.
Sheila Preston is working with the theatre company’s artists running creative 1-1 coaching and group sessions with them. Kazzum’s artists are undertaking work with a range of settings sometimes with vulnerable communities in hospitals, in schools, and with refugee communities.
CAPA are hosting the ‘How to Kazzum’ training programme for its associate artists, 3-7 September 2018. Kazzum are pioneering the prioritisation of the development and support of its artists. Sheila Preston will be contributing a session on Emotional Labour and the Facilitator.
This is an exciting collaboration with M-Set (Multi-Sensory Educational Theatre), organised by Liselle Terret. M-Set's starting point for planning this project was to identify creative and innovative ways to introduce and explore the concepts of biomedical science to young people who would not normally have access to these topic areas. This has been achieved through close consultation and collaboration with the Neuroscience department at the University of East London, science teachers, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists.
The title “Open Minds” reflects the projects’ emphasis on exploration and scientific enquiry as well as the aim to raise awareness of disabilities and mental health issues.