Schools Renegeration Creative Producing


SCHOOLS

Nimble Fish has major experience working in schools, from primary to sixth-form. Whether your school is in special measures or has just achieved Academy or Arts College status (we’ve worked in all of the above and more), we’d be glad to work with you to develop:

• Professional Development or Inset days with a creative twist
• Performance work that bridges gaps in school culture, or between schools and their communities
• New ways of using the arts to teach and learn

For an example of recent Schools work, please check out Einstein’s Dreams, a unique school-based performance work fusing science, history, literature and performance.

Generation London

In June 2007, the Architecture Foundation (www.architecturefoundation.org.uk) sponsored Debate London, a four-day series of debates and events focusing on the future of London’s ‘built environment’. High profile participants included Zaha Hadid, Sir Richard Rogers, Boris Johnson, and Alex James.

The Architecture Foundation selected Nimble Fish to develop and deliver an event on this subject involving a cross-section of London young people. The resulting event, Generation London, convened nearly 200 London secondary students in the Tate Modern for an afternoon of energetic discussion and dissent on topics ranging from housing shortages to youth crime to how (and if) the Olympics will benefit London.

For more on Generation London and Debate London, go to www.debatelondon.com

Einstein’s Dreams
Einstein’s Dreams was a multi-media performance work developed by Nimble Fish with students and teachers at Woodlands School in Basildon. The project was commissioned by
Creative Partnerships Thames Gateway.

Inspired by Alan Lightman’s book of the same name, Einstein’s Dreams explored concepts of time and space through the prism of Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity. The project aimed to:

• Forge stronger links between Performing Arts and other subject areas, notably Science, Maths and English, in support of the school’s recently attained status as a Performing Arts College
• Inject a new and broad sense of creative possibility at Woodlands by ‘re-imagining’ non-performance spaces throughout the school
• Help Woodlands School enhance its status in the greater Basildon community as a beacon of innovative performance

It took over four months to produce Einstein’s Dreams, however this was the culmination of a much longer period of preparation and research that began in 2005. Nimble Fish co-ordinated Creative Change workshops for core members of staff from the Science, Maths, English and Performing Arts departments that ran for four months. Sessions were designed to have maximum impact in their exploration of how creativity can benefit the whole curriculum and not just the traditional ‘arts based’ subjects.

The Einstein’s Dreams performances ultimately involved more than 200 students as performers, designers and crew. Each hour-long show took audience members on a surreal journey through seven distinct spaces in the school, most of which were not intended for performance. Students were scheduled into Einstein’s Dreams in two-period blocks; the first period was a performance, the second being an exploration of the ideas behind the production, which spanned history, science, geography, literature, and the arts.

Einstein’s Dreams was performed in July 2006 over the course of four days, with several performances each day. An estimated 1600 students, teachers and community members experienced the show, which has had a lasting effect on the pedagogy, culture and self-image of Woodlands School.