Recycle, Rewind and Animate Project
This Arts Council funded project Recycle, Rewind and Animate involved working with mainstream and special needs children aged 5-11 to produce six, meaningful animation films during an eighteen month period. Six groups of children from three different schools took part in literature, animation, music, green screen and digital media workshops. At the end of this project the children, their parents/carers and educators attended a local screening of the films at The Ritzy Cinema in Brixton. Each child also received an Arts Award certificate. The project worked in partnership with artists, a musician, the Work and Play Scrapstore, the Ritzy Cinema, Arts Award, and the British Arts Council.
Two of the films were adaptations of the books titled One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia and Wangari Maathai - The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees, which describe true stories of empowered women who implement long lasting solutions to environmental issues. This has strong links with science through learning about the environment and provides positive role models. Another two of the films related to the subject of history, as the children learnt about Vincent Van Gogh (who briefly lived in Brixton) and Charlie Chaplin (who grew up in Kennington) and was based on stories written with the children − imagining a day in the life of each artist in these areas. The other two films were inspired by the children’s adapted versions of the books Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda and Hey, Little Ant; that focus on teaching mindfulness and empathy. This has strong links with PSHE through learning about self-awareness and emotional wellbeing. The workshops delivered; had strong links with literature, art and design, history, music, and computing. The six animation films created during this community arts project are available as free educational tools.
