snow ! again ! there’s a bitter wind blowing too. i had to get out into it with the dog to get some perspective on my week and my weekend. i take a customary moment to stare out the window to try to collect my thoughts and i’m distracted by cars driving past with quite deep snow on their roofs.
one aspect of my practice this year has been the conscious transference of skills between settings. the most recent is with the young coproduction network (ycpn) at derby museums. in its pilot phase funded by the artist rooms bursary, the network met again yesterday and i’m there to help facilitate, link to the museum and generally do my best to be involved.
the last action might seem an unusual thing to say however as its the network for young people – i’m still negotiating how i am part of it with out being over baring. the result is i’m getting to hear honest views of the museum and what the young people in the network aspire to seeing. credit needs to be given to the tate and the v&a as these three locations are doing for young people what the young people of derby want to be part of in derby.
i’m transferring into my practice at the network training from a mentoring setting and in a few weeks i’ll start to see if my theories are working.
i’ve spent parts of the last 24 hours reflecting about the session. i think everyone in the room is getting to know everyone else and i’m doing my best to feedback to the museum staff about what we’re learning and flagging potential areas in which the museum can help and support the actions of the group.
at a personal level i do wonder just how easy the current societal position makes it to be a young person.
24 hours on and i think i have more feedback for the museum staff involved with the project – yes email written and ready to be reviewed.
my weekend is sandwiched between a couple of emotional times. on one side was the leaving do for a member of staff of the museum and the other – tomorrow – a two day outdoor first aid course. a necessary part of my forest school practice. it’s emotional because it puts me into a learning environment where i get anxious about what information i can retain – given my learning difficulty.
the ycpn has expressed a lot if interest in getting hands on with collections and interacting in some way. a question i had for myself earlier was at what point do i take in components of interactivity i use on my own projects ? this is where i think we get to explore what the co-production aspect of the network means. its something i’m still exploring and i think once the group have had some weeks to settle in and get to know each other i can start to bring aspects of my practice that i think might help the network.
maybe its easy to underestimate how important it is to make time for comfort and trust building at the beginning of a project with young people.
having written this post and my email to the museum – i now feel happier about about i can do better next week.
