Culture Seeds

Project year: 2019 to 2021

Arts Partnership Surrey provided between £300 – £1000 in matched ‘seed’ funding to artists to develop their new projects that were also supported by external funding such as Arts Council project grants. Due to Covid-19, a few of the projects were slightly re-shaped.

Becci Kenning’s Puppet Conversations (theatre / visual Arts)

Partners: Arts Council England, Walton Leigh School.

Becci’s puppet conversations used hand-made puppets to encourage communication. Accessed via online pre-recorded films, participants could access the project at a time and place suitable for the community groups involved. The participating communities create puppets and film them enabling them to have a clear opportunity to communicate their thoughts and feelings about the pandemic. The content focussed on mental health, in an inclusive and multi-generational format.

Intergenerational Music Making: Hear our stories share our song (music/singing)

Partners: Arts Council England, BBC Music, ACM Guildford, Age UK Surrey, Voluntary Action South West Surrey, Woking BC, Gordon’s School Woking.

This intergenerational project brought generations together to share their stories – reflect on the past – share cultural heritage, value their local history and then pass it onto future generations. Engaging with 3 Woking based schools and 3 care homes, day centres or sheltered accommodation. The targeted groups were girls between the age of 11 to 16 and those female elders within the senior community aged between 60 and 100 years of age.

Pied Piper Theatre’s Zoom! (theatre)

Partners: Arts Council England, Waverley BC, Mole Valley DC, Waitrose Community Fund.

Project funding: Arts Council England

Zoom! A theatre work for primary aged children, explores themes of diversity, protecting our environment, science and space. Linked to key stage curriculum the work targets schools /pupils across Surrey with highest pupil premium.