Aim

Increasing confidence and life skills by giving young art students the opportunity to curate, market and host an exhibition of their work.

The Arts Education Programme:

Our Arts Education Programme started in 2008, working with students studying art at local schools and colleges.

The programme has been fine tuned to work with inner-city students taking A Level and BTEC courses and offers an exciting vocational learning opportunity, which dovetails with their college programme. It offers students the opportunity to put on an exhibition of their work at Apothecary Gallery and host a private view, thus increasing their confidence, communication and life skills and introducing them to the professional art world.

The Idea:

In 2007 Apothecary Gallery hosted the Environmental Photographer of the Year exhibition. As part of this event we ran a series of workshops for two local schools. The group from our local sixth form presented some amazingly creative work, but due to lack of opportunity had limited experience of presenting their work and of visiting art galleries. The Arts Education Programme was developed in response to this.

The Programme seeks to fill in some of the gaps. It is practice based and encourages students to participate directly in their own development as learners and professionals.

Workshops and in-gallery curation offer students the opportunity to plan, market and curate an exhibition of their own work in a professional environment which can otherwise be inaccessible and intimidating.

The private view offers students the chance to present and discuss their work, giving them the opportunity to meet members of the public, art lovers and critics and thus develop their communication skills, self-confidence and understanding of what will be expected of them as they make the transition secondary to Higher Education and the work place.

We now work with three large local colleges, running up to 7 exhibitions of Art, Art and Design, Photography and Textiles between January and March each year.

Aims and Objectives:

• The creation of an exciting and dynamic exhibition.• To develop self-confidence and communication skills, verbal and written; achieved through the process of organising and presenting the event. Displaying creative work gives the opportunity to communicate as an artist, presenting an artist statement hones written skills and hosting the private view and discussing work with visitors develops both self-confidence and verbal skills.• To Foster transferable skills; including organisational ability, time management, design, marketing, working with a group to achieve a specific aim, professional workplace behaviour and communication.• To provide the opportunity to work in a professional gallery.• To engender a sense of enjoyment, enthusiasm and satisfaction achieved from creating an exhibition in a professional space.• To promote an understanding of the art world, through discussion, exploration and the practical experience of exhibiting.• To engage the local community with the creative talent of local students. All the schools and colleges which we work with are in residential neighbourhoods and fostering good community relationships is an important aspect of this programme.Programme Format:• Stage 1: Workshop lead by the gallery director exploring the students’ understanding of the art world, galleries and exhibitions. This includes a discussion on curating and promoting exhibitions in general and their show in particular.• Stage 2: The students develop a body of work based on their coursework and select pieces which they would like to exhibit. This is guided by teaching and gallery staff.• Stage 3: Students work on promoting and marketing their show; designing flyers and engaging with social media.• Stage 4: Students come to the gallery to hang their exhibition. Here they work with our curator and explore the skills and techniques required to create a successful exhibition.• Stage 5: Students host a private view evening which is attended by their friends, families, teachers and members of the local community.Why get Involved?Over the last 6 years we have developed an effective and enjoyable programme with 3 of our local sixth form colleges, offering young, emerging artists a unique combination of mentorship and professional experience in an art gallery. Now we would like to expand this so that more talented young people can have this opportunity.

Your donation would:

• Allow us to offer the programme to more colleges and thus help more students explore strengths and weaknesses and develop their potential.• Help generate more exhibition resources for the students including frames and hanging materials.• Generate extra publicity to promote the exhibitions and this young talent.• Help to fund workshops, which prepare students for the programme.You could also support our programme and the students by:

• Coming to the exhibitions. If you live in London this is a great chance to support young talent and meet these budding artists.• By contributing expertise. We need help with promotion and marketing.The Gallery:Apothecary Gallery opened in 2006 and in 2011 we became a Community Interest Company. The gallery now has an established focus in three core areas: young artists, local artists and exhibitions which use art to raise awareness of conservation and the environment.We provide a versatile, affordable exhibition space for art, poetry, storytelling, talks and discussion forums and have a strong track record of mentoring emerging artists and providing an accessible creative environment for our local community.

Testimonials:

Previous Feedback from Staff and Students Involved in the Programme:

Staff Feedback:“The exhibition programme at Apothecary Gallery has become an integral part of our BTEC courses, providing the learners with a valuable professional experience of exhibiting their work in preparation of the end of year show in college”. Anna Marlen-Summers, Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College

Student Feedback:"Apothecary Gallery gave me experience of how a professional exhibition would work". Nour Alnaem BTEC L3 Ext Diploma

"Apothecary Gallery showed me how to be organised and how to professionally exhibit my work. It also showed me how I could improve my work and helped me to feel confident in discussing my work with strangers". Dharval Varu BTEC L3 Ext Diploma

Previous Student Work:

2014:

© Bridge Academy

© William Morris Sixth Form

2013:

© LEC

© Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College

2012:

© Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College

© William Morris Sixth Form

This project closed unsuccessfully on 16th April 2015