The Arts Excite CIC have been commissioned by the community development team at Slough Borough Council to deliver an arts and well-being project for adults with learning differences in the community and we have been blessed to work with service users from Phoenix project.
The project was a six-week project which worked with a small cohort of young people on an Arts Award Bronze Project during the summer. We chose to use Arts Award Bronze because it provides an excellent framework for developing young artists.
Following on from phase one of the project, which we delivered during the spring term, we supported students in brainstorming ideas for their film project. They decided to interview fellow pupils from across the school on what the theme of identity meant to them.
Using the characters created the students had been supported in developing a story using their created characters that would help them unlock the lead characters identity.
During May half term we delivered a 4-day intense photography project in partnership with Slough Youth Offending Team.
On this project we delivered workshop sessions on a 1:1 basis and support a young person to achieve Arts Award Bronze through participating in the project.
In recognition of completing the Slough Quality Assurance Programme The Arts Excite CIC is pleased to announce that we have achieve the Gold standard for the excellence award.
The Arts Excite CIC Founder Jordon Maynard-Daley collected the award on behalf of the organisation at the Slough Council for Voluntary Services annual AGM on 21ST March 2018.
We are excited to have reached this level as it demonstrates our commitment in delivering the best services and projects for children and young people in our region and we hope this award will help to propel us forward so we can continue to bring life changing opportunities to or beneficiaries.
Thank you to everyone who has helped make The Arts Excite CIC a success and we look forward to continuing the good work in the future.
The Arts Excite C.I.C are pleased to announce that we have had a recent Arts Award Moderation and all of the young people we had supported on Arts Award Projects this year have passed!
This includes young people from The Princes Trust we worked with in May 2017 and young people we worked with on iFilm MK Canal Project in July 2017.
This is fantastic news, which we will be sharing with all project partners and participants over the coming days but from everyone here at The Arts Excite C.I.C we would like to say a big well done to all the young people involved. We provide the background support but it is you guys and the effort you put into workshop sessions which enable you to achieve your Arts Award so congratulations to you all.
The Team at The Arts Excite C.I.C
On Wednesday 19th July The Arts Excite C.I.C were invited to Milton Keynes Academy to celebrate the completion of the recent iFilm MK Canal project and to see other projects the school has been involved with.
Students from our project presented their experiences to the audience.
At the event The Arts Excite announced that the students and project participants had achieved their Arts Award Bronze and gave students attendance certificates.
We would like to use this opportunity to thank Milton Keynes Academy for hosting this project and given us access to the schools edit suite. The project was a huge success thanks to the school and we look forward to continuing a working relationship with the academy.
This work has been supported by funding from MK Community Foundation.
We want to share with our friends, stakeholders, young people and families some recent feedback we received from the latest group of young people we have worked with.
Have a read and enjoy! :)
Here is an image gallery of some of the best images taken by students on a recent Get Started in Photography project which we ran with the Princes Trust in Slough.
On this project we helped to harness the creativity of the young people involved and we think you’ll agree, their talents were realised though this project.
We have had an influx of Arts award certificates this week, could it be because all the children who took part in our summer puppet project passed? Yes, of course it is.
The Arts Excite would like to say a huge congratulations to all the children we worked with this summer who have now achieved their Arts Award. You all worked extremely hard on this and deserve it.
If you have not yet seen the video of the puppet performance click here to watch it now.
The Arts Excite Team.
Thursday 4th August was the final day of our exciting project with Parasol Project and here are some highlights from the project.
The children worked extremely hard to put together an adaptation performance of the story of The Broken Bird.
Working alongside artist and puppeteer Kirsten Friedrichs, the children were supported through a three-week project, which began in May half term 2016, and continued over two weeks in the summer holidays of 2016.
Starting from the basics, the children learnt the craft of puppet making, performance, scene creating, filmmaking and video editing. They also worked toward achieving Arts Award Discover and Explore as part of the project.
Below are some images from the project. Click here to see a video of The Broken Bird performance.
This project is supported by Oxfordshire County Council with investment from Artswork Ltd, the Arts Councils South East Bridge organisation.
This half term we ran the first phase of our puppet project in partnership with Parasol Project in Oxford.
On day one of the project we introduced the children to the art of puppet making. Our newly recruited workshop leader Kerstin Friedrichs led this project. Kerstin ran a short introduction session at the start of day one and the set the students with the task of creating their own puppets using the materials she provided.
By the end of day one the children had created the heads for their puppets and some had given them names. Day two began with painting and decorating the puppets, some of the participants were able to create clothes for them.
On day three we began working on backstories for the puppets, and the children started to interact with the puppet theatre that we have commissioned to be built to support the project.
Day four was our last day and we were able to showcase our puppets to parents and put on a small showcase of the stories the children have made.
The project session run during the half term have given us an insight on how we can develop this project further and incorporate the lessons learned into our plans for the summer phase of the project. We are having discussion on how music, film and other bits of media can be incorporated into a final performance.
To keep up to date on how this project develop please visit our website at where we list all of out latest news and updates.
This project is supported by Oxfordshire County Council with investment from Artswork Ltd, the Arts Councils South East Bridge organisation.
The Arts Excite is pleased to announce that we have recruited a new artist to work on our Puppet Project with Parasol this summer. Her name is Kerstin Fredrich’s and she ran a fantastic taster workshop with The Arts Excite and our project partners from Parasol Project.
This summer The Arts Excite has been commission by Oxfordshire County Council and Artswork Ltd to deliver an Arts Award programme for disabled children and young people in Oxfordshire, by partnering with Parasol Project.
Kerstin has a great track record in her practice and a rich level of experience in working with young people Parasol support.
We have now planned our project and will begin with delivering 4 days of project activity during May half term and then a further two weeks of delivery during the summer holidays. We will be aiming to support the children through Arts Award Discover and Explore.
Keep an eye on our website to see how this project develops.
This project is supported by Oxfordshire County Council with investment from Artswork, the South East Bridge
Do you like our new logo?
We are excited about the launch of our new branding and want to shout about it!
Over the past few months we have been refining our brand and have begun the metamorphosis of transforming The Arts Excite into a functioning social enterprise.
Our new logo contains 3 circles which each represent the core values of The Arts Excite. Those values are:
· The Arts Excite Inspiration
· The Arts Excite Education
· The Arts Excite Celebration
Our approach to working with young people is just this, we begin by inspiring them, then we educate them and after that we celebrate them and their achievements.
Some projects run by The Arts Excite will fall completely under one of the above categories rather than span all three. In these instances those projects will be branded as follows:
· Inspiration projects will have the blue circle in the centre.
· Education projects will have a green circle in the centre.
· Celebration projects will have a red circle in the centre.
We are confident that our new branding will give The Arts Excite a strong presence wherever it is displayed. We would like to take the time to thank Simon Minter from NineteenPoint Ltd for all his hard work on redeveloping our branding.
The Arts Excite have been featured in an article in the Slough Express newspaper on Friday 18th April 2014 for our recent Project Two. Here is what was said.
"The Arts Excite is a youth project founded by local Social Entrepreneur Jordon Maynard-Daley who, in the wake of the recent closure of youth centres like Slough Young People Centre developed his own project to help nurture the creative talents of young people from Slough.
This Easter The Arts Excite ran its second youth project entitled Project Two: In Focus, which was a photography project that commissioned local young people to produce a digital image slideshow for Age Concern Slough highlighting their service users getting involved in the activities they provide.
As part of the project the young people involved worked toward achieving an Arts Award Bronze qualification for their efforts. In order to do this they have spent the week working with Jordon Maynard-Daley learning photography, researching artists, visiting galleries and photographing local people."
The project concluded with a sharing event on Tuesday 15th April at Slough Foyer who were key partners in contributing to the success of this project.
Lynette Richardson ETE worker at Slough Foyer said “This project has been amazing, it has been really engaging for the customers that live at the Foyer. The fact that they will receive a qualification for completing the project is an added bonus.”
Due to funding received from Arts Council England, Oxford Brookes University, Slough Borough Council and Mr Maynard-Daley’s own company JMD Media Lab, The Arts Excite will continue to deliver further accredited creative arts projects for young people in and around Slough throughout 2014.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has supported The Arts Excite since its conception, the funders, community partners, artists and most of all the young people. The Arts Excite is committed to providing access to high quality arts and creative learning experiences for children and young people as well as enhancing learning experiences for schools and colleges” said Mr Maynard-Daley.
If you’d like to find out how you can get involved please email info@theartsexcite.org and visit www.thearts-excite.org to keep up to date with up and coming projects.
To see the images that the young people took the Project Two page.
We are looking for 10 people aged 16–25 to take part in a photography project this Easter.
Working in a team, you will learn photography and create a series of cool portrait photos of yourselves and people from Age Concern for an end of project exhibition.
Everyone who completes the project will get an Arts Award Qualification, which will look great on your CV!
The project will take place weekdays 11am–3pm from Monday 7 April 2014–Tuesday 15 April 2014.
All equipment will be provided! Just bring yourself and a friend.
Sessions will run @ Slough Foyer, 52 Stoke Road, Slough, Berkshire, SL2 5AW.
The project is free to attend, lunch will be provided and we are also including a free trip to see an arts event.
Contact Jordon at info@theartsexcite.org
We are excited to be able to announce that The Arts Excite has won two awards from Oxford Brookes University to support the business development of The Arts Excite and help us make the transition from social project to social enterprise.
Toward the end of 2013 project founder Jordon Maynard-Daley entered The Arts Excite into the Oxford Brookes Social Enterprise Award (OBSEA). After applying and delivering a fantastic pitch to a den of dragons, he was able to secure two pots of funding to further develop the project.
In November 2013 The Arts Excite was awarded £500 for a try it award to conduct business research, and then in February 2014 we managed to secure £5,000 for our business development.
The Arts Excite is ecstatic bout receiving this award. We can now begin to put plans in motion to create a sustainable social project for young people and the communities they live in.
Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this possible. We continue to appreciate your support and vow to honour our commitment to making change happen.
– The Arts Excite Team.
The Arts Excite is pleased to announce that our recent grants for the arts funding bid to Arts Council England has been successful!
In November 2013 The Arts Excite finalised its plans for next stage development, which included submitting a funding bid to Arts Council England to extend its work. Following on from the success of Project One: See it clearly, The Arts Excite has been able to draw upon financial support from Slough Borough Council, Oxford Brookes University and JMD Media Lab to secure enough funding to begin the metamorphosis from social project to social enterprise.
Our grants for the arts funding will be used to work with disadvantaged 16-25 year olds, and provide them with real world project arts projects briefs that will benefit their community. The projects we offer will be Arts Award accredited and the produced project pieces will be exhibited when the learning curve opens to celebrate youth arts in Slough. At the same time as running these projects The Arts Excite will also be developing the enterprise side of our business plan, so stay tuned for further updates.
Finally, we would like to say an additional big thank you to organisations in and around the Slough area that took the time to write letters of support for our bid. Those organisations were Creative Junction, Slough Library, Women’s Aid Berkshire East and NACRO, and a special thanks you to Kam Bhatti, Alisha Kadri, Alison Honour, Victoria Bosher and Simon Walls for helping us to broker key relationships and giving vital feedback on the development of the funding bid.
It is now time for the arts to excite the community!
– The Arts Excite Team!
