16
Oct
Harrogate schoolchildren to get creative with local disabled artists
Dozens of Harrogate children will express their creativity while learning more about the lives of people with disabilities thanks to a local charity and a regional developer.
Artizan International will be running its free Mosaics for Schools programme in three local primary schools over the coming academic year.
Artists with different disabilities will be paired with each school and will work with Year Five and Six pupils over a six-week period to develop mosaic art that the schools will be able to keep and display when it’s finished.
The project is designed to give the young artists a hands-on chance to develop a greater understanding of the talents and abilities of people with disabilities, as well as of the challenges they face.
It is being funded through a £1,956 grant from the Banks Group, which is covering the cost of staffing and materials in each school.
Artizan International, which transforms the lives of people with disabilities through social enterprise, hospitality, and community inclusion, runs a range of sustainable programmes in the UK and South America.
Its Harrogate premises provide therapeutic arts and crafts workshops and workplace skills training opportunities for over 50 people with disabilities from across the region, with all the food at the popular Artizan Café on Cambridge Road being made by its trainees with the support of a team of staff and volunteers.
Liz Cluderay, chief executive at Artizan International, said:
This programme has been one of our most successful projects over the years and there are already some wonderful pieces of art on display in schools around the region, ranging from stepping stones and friendship benches through to welcome boards and even a playground wall.
Primary school children may not yet have had the chance to spend much time with people with disabilities and we aim to use art as a way of helping them build their understanding about them as both people and creative artists.
It’s a real creative journey for everyone involved, and our experience is that, while the first week can sometime be awkward as everyone starts to get to know each other, the artists and children quickly begin to work very well together.
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