Arts 2 Action (A2A) Rhondda Cynon Taf 2006/7
A2A has been a lovely project for us, working with young people in Rhondda Cynon Taf. It has been part of the WAG/European funded project for the objective 1 areas of the Valleys and West Wales and focusing on the extending entitlement agenda and the development of emotional intelligence. The first part of the project, saw us working for 3 day blocks with groups of young people from all over the county. These included, youth centres, pupil referral centres, young people with school phobia, looked after young people and also a group of young men from RCT, temporarily residing in Parc Prison.
During this part of the project we were able to spend time with the groups listening to their stories and exploring the difficulties that many of them encounter. Using a range of techniques, including forum theatre, we were able to provide opportunities which helped them to explore the interaction between thoughts, feelings and action (emotional intelligence) and in some instances to explore healthier alternatives. We also listened to stories about situations where the young people felt disempowered and unheard. The relationship between good emotional intelligence and having a voice that can be heard is clearly interwoven. Entitlement doesn’t just happen because of policy, it must be nurtured and pro-actively encouraged and developed.
The stories that we heard fed into the script of a DVD which will accompany a work pack that we have also been commissioned to write. This then feeds into the second part of the project which is to trial the pack as a resource for teachers and youth workers in RCT and then to use this as part of a training package.
Overall the project has been very interesting and as so often the case with our work, challenging. You will notice that the groups of young people we were commissioned to work with were disadvantaged and/or disengaged. Exactly the young people that this project was aimed at. So well done to RCT for spending the time to seek out these groups.
The only real “pain” throughout the project was the crazy amount of paperwork demanded by WEFO and WAG. Sometimes the paperwork is a real killer of creativity and a nightmare to keep when you are working with young people who are difficult to engage with anyway. There must be better ways of keeping stats and useful information. Many thanks again to RCT for helping so much with this aspect of the project. |
