Our impact
GLOW Newcastle connects hundreds of children and young people to culture each year. We’ve engaged with 1,800 children and young people across schools and education settings, built relationships with cultural organisations, artist practitioners, and with strategic partners like Arts Council England, Newcastle City Council and the North East Combined Authority.
“The project has been carefully considered by professionals working for GLOW and really tailored to meet the needs of our pupils. The staff and professionals have been reflective and amended and refined their practice, taking on board feedback in order to achieve the best outcomes for our children. In addition, by taking part in the project, the pupils have had a wonderful, creative and enriching experience which I believe they will remember for a very long time.” – Headteacher, South Gosforth First School
Artist residencies
In the past year we have organised and facilitated eight artist residencies within education settings in Newcastle. Many of the children and young people we engaged with in these settings may never have engaged with arts or culture before.
- 340 children and young people engaged directly with artists
- 60% of participating pupils say they have had new experiences and they would like more of them
- 75% of participating pupils say they feel more confident about coming up with their own ideas and expressing them in front of others
- We connected schools with cultural organisations like Tyneside Cinema, Live Theatre, Star and Shadow Cinema and The Farrel Centre at Newcastle University. The children and young people were able to collaborate with the organisations and, in some cases, have their work shown in the venues.
Read more about our artist residencies:
Listen Up, Speak Out! With Hawthorn Primary School and Jonluke McKie
We were honoured to be invited to work with Walker Riverside Academy to develop an anti-racism project. We invited cultural organisation Northern Roots to work with us on this project and ensured we were working with a global majority artist-practitioner team.
“The young people really feel heard. They love that they’ve seen a film they have starred in and co-written, and they feel like they have written something that’s out there. They feel they’ve made a difference and had an impact” – Kate Perry, Careers Lead, Walker Riverside Academy.
Creative Careers
As part of our mission to introduce more children and young people to the scope of creative careers, we created an online gallery of interviews with people working in the cultural sector in a range of roles. To supplement this, we delivered careers workshops at seven schools in the city.
- Children and young people at eight settings learned more about creative careers
- Over 1,250 people have viewed our online Creative Careers Gallery
Educator CPD
Through workshops and events, we have delivered continuing professional development to over 100 teachers, cultural workers and artist practitioners.
The subjects of these sessions included:
- Emotional intelligence
- Play and movement
- Using craft for STEAM learning
- Music co-creation
- Ceramic sculpture
- Drama and dance
- Photography
“I loved being shown how to gather lyrics within a bank of ideas. I used it with the children the very next day” – a teacher at Sacred Heart Primary School after a CPD session on using Bandcamp software to create new music
“The session was relaxed and the artist supported all staff to take part and engage. The practical activities were fun and we were able to reflect on how we might use them with the children.
I have some new ideas to take into the classroom. I will also try to take the time to be calm and still, at work and at home.” – a teacher at Hawthorn Primary School
Connecting the sectors
At our launch event in November, we brought together 50 organisations across the education, culture, youth and other sectors. We were very pleased to have the support of Minister Catherine McKinell, who delivered a keynote speech about the importance of access to culture in early life.
At the event we launched our #GlowTogether network, which 166 individuals/organisations have signed up to so far. Over 200 people engaged with the first issue of our termly newsletter, The GLOW.
- 75% of schools we have engaged with say can see the benefit of working with cultural partners and intend to do more of it in future
- 60% of cultural organisations we’ve worked with say they now work more collaboratively with other cultural organisations
- We’ve supported the cultural workforce by contracting over 20 freelance artists and connecting them to potential new clients and income streams
