Creative Freedom

What is this project about?

Creative Freedom offers creative and cultural opportunities to schools in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire by facilitating a long-term artist-in-residence-style programme within up to 10 schools. Each school will have up to 10 days of contact time with a creative partner, collaborating with the same group and co-planning activities with teaching staff. The programme is structured as an enquiry-style approach, providing schools with the opportunity to creatively explore challenges within their setting. It presents an opportunity for schools to collaborate long-term with local artists or creative practitioners to deliver engaging creative activities within their educational environment.

Where does this project take place?

This project operates within Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. Each school works closely with a local artist or creative facilitator to embed creativity into their classrooms, prioritising cultural engagement, especially for students with lower levels of involvement in cultural activities.

What difference does the project make?
Key issues identified by schools include well-being, confidence-building, communication skills, physical/haptic skills, and collaborative work. Through the programme, schools and their creative partners will collaboratively address challenges creatively, fostering a culture of creativity, amplifying youth voices, and embracing creativity and culture within the educational landscape.

Programme Partners

In the programme’s first year (2023/24), we partnered with 9 creative practitioners and schools to co-design bespoke creative activities to take place during the academic year:

• Sally Fitchard & Carmountside Primary

• Jenni Spangler & Sandford Hill Primary

• Letting In the Light & St Marks (Hanley) Primary

• Mark Riley & Ciceley Haughton Special

• Rumbidzai Savanhu & Merit PRU

• Alice Thatcher & Sir Stanley Matthews Ormiston Academy

• Rich Franks & Haywood Academy

• Martin Gooding & Madeley School

• Kat Hughes & Newcastle Academy

Funded by

Creative Freedom is funded by Arts Council England and the UK Government