digital works Participation Through Creative Skills digital:works is a group of artists and trainers who work with local communities, providing training and creative assistance, to produce arts and media projects. We are committed to a participatory approach. Creative arts are an exciting way for people of all ages and backgrounds to engage with and learn more about others from their local community – especially if they are the ones shaping and leading the creative process. Thanks to our breadth of experience and expertise, we can provide training and creative support in a wide range of media, from web development, video and digital animation, to textile and oral history projects.
Accessible Projects for All Our commitment to participation means we place great emphasis on inclusivity. Our projects actively involve people from all corners of the community – be they young or old, visually or hearing impaired, or someone for whom English is not the first language. The skills required in taking part in our projects do not depend on advanced media literacy or prior experience with digital equipment.
Community Ownership Our goal with all projects is to encourage and maintain participants’ sense of ownership of both the process and the final product. This, we believe, is the guiding principle of true participation work.
Background In 2007 digital:works became constituted and run by a group of trustees. Charitable status was gained in 2008.
Chair’s Report This last year has seen a surge of successful projects that have gained wide exposure and overwhelmingly positive feedback both from participants and in the press. The success of these schemes has spawned subsidiary projects that are continuing to expand and flourish and the increasing scale of works undertaken reflects the ambition of our team. All indications are that forthcoming budgetary reforms are likely to impact on the voluntary and charitable sectors however we feel that our expertise, adaptability and ethos make us well prepared to meet these challenges. We can take a great deal of satisfaction from our achievements and ideas in development suggest that we will make further progress in the year ahead. A fuller record of this years’ work and a Financial report are attached. Peter McKenna, Chair
Projects Review Older People and Professional Participatory Arts
Rowley Way Speaks for Itself
digital:works was mentioned in a Baring Foundation publication (it lists a 100 organisations that work with older people in an arts context). Ageing Artfully: Older People and Professional Participatory Arts in the UK by David Cutler.
In August 2009 we were informed of our successful bid to Awards for All to make a documentary film with residents living on the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate - locally known as Rowley Way. We worked with residents on this landmark estate to make a film exploring the ideas behind the forward thinking design which led English Heritage to give it Grade II* listing, and what it is actually like to live there. An intergenerational group of 11 residents took part in workshops to decide the direction of the film and to learn film making skills. They then went on to interview 35 fellow residents as well as the architect who designed the estate, the chief engineer, and the landscape designer.
www.baringfoundation.org.uk/ AgeingArtfully.pdf
My Place in Weymouth & Portland digital works worked with young people in Weymouth & Portland to help them dramatise their experience of homelessness and produce a film. Too many people don’t realise that youth homeless exists, or think we have chosen to leave home, when the reality isn’t that clear-cut. A lot of people assume that only adults can be homeless, and that everyone on the streets has a drug or drink problem.
August 2009 - May 2010
Our Working Lives This Heritage Lottery Funded project finish date was extended to April 2011. The reason for this is mainly that Poole museum got more excited about the work undertaken and have now given us an additional room to hold the final exhibition in. This will make it twice as big. They would also like to look at commissioning a film, making it a richer exhibition. Along with the film, the museum will also provide more input from the Museum Service and contribute extra staff time to the project. This extension has also relieved the volunteers on this project in reaching our target of 100 interviews; we have currently undertaken 80 interviews. www.ourworkinglives.org
Over 200 people came to a lovely launch event at the Tricycle Cinema which was followed by a Q & A. The film got very good press, and a great review in the local press. DVDs along with booklets were delivered to all 520 homes on the listed part of the estate and the film is also available to watch online. To date the film has been viewed here over 2,000 times. The film was also shown at the Portobello Film Festival.
Surrealism Animation Project In November 2009 we worked once more with year 10 Art students at La Sainte Union school in London. Looking at the topic of Fantasy and Fairytales this year’s groups used stop motion animation to create short films including an interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray. http://www.digital-works.co.uk/surrealismanimation-project-2/
50 Ways to Change the World digital-works worked with a group of children to produce short films exploring the concepts of change and sustainability, linked directly to their own living environment (Camden), with the help of experts in the fields of environmental science, art interpretation and film-making. The children developed their understanding of the impact of climate change on their local environment using film as a vehicle to communicate their ideas and extending their visual and verbal literacy skills’ through interpretation, script writing and film-making.
Spirit Spirit was a year long arts project based in the London Borough of Camden with young people with learning difficulties and young carers. We made a documentary film of the process which included interviews with the participants, artists and organisers. The film and accompanying educational resource pack was launched at Haverstock School in March 2010. http://www.digital-works.co.uk/ spirit-film/
Spirit
Financial Report Our yearly accounts cover the year 6 April 2009 until the tax year end of 5 April 2010. Our total income for the period was £11,051 made up mainly from Restricted Funds (successful funding applications) £9,740 of which accounts for the Rowley Way project funding from Awards for All. The second instalment of the Our Working Lives Heritage Lottery Fund award will be coming in 2010/11 as the project timescale has been extended. The balance is made up from admin and management fees and investment income. Our total expenditure for the year was £9,552. Our balance at the end of the financial year is £10,688 of which £9, 925 is designated for projects and £733 which is undesignated and will be used to run the organisation. We have no fixed assets as yet so are not affected by depreciation. We have no current liabilities but have agreed to continue our public liability insurance with AON and have appointed Ioannou & Co Chartered Accountants to conduct our independent financial examinations. Please contact us by email if you would like a copy of the full accounts.
Trustees Peter McKenna (Chair) David Rogers (Treasurer) Sally Booth Sue Ingham
Workers
Sav Kyriacou Matthew Rosenberg Lindsay Starbuck Joe Stevens 10A Rowley Way, London NW8 0SF Tel: 020 7372 6992 info@digital-works.co.uk | www.digital-works.co.uk Registered Charity No. 1124659