We have just completed our second interim report of the Serpentine World without Walls programme. This featured research into the first stage of Youth Forum, a programme conducted with Westminster Academy high school students. The artists commissioned to run the programme are Barby Asante and Teresa Cisneros.

We report that:

In this project, young people were encouraged to draw on their own experiences, resources of knowledge and skill to develop ideas, to plan, to make and to show and share artefacts they had made. If the ‘discipline of form’ provided a framework and required the patient development of craft skills, it also allowed the young people to draw substantially on, and to contribute to, their ‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll, 1990).

Observation, discussion with the young people, Education Curators and the commissioned artists gave clear evidence that art-making activity was greatly valued by the young people. Levels of concentration (or distraction from some) were indicators of levels of engagement and involvement in the project. Overall, a palpable sense of purpose and progress was evident in the various 8 studio spaces at the Cockpit when the young people were making things. They garnered opinions from others, negotiated and reflected. The young people generally felt that they permitted to give voice to their ideas, opinions and concerns.

The full interim report is here as a downloadable PDF

worldwithoutwalls_youthforum_interimresearchreport_march2017