Attenborough Arts Centre presents a journey into learning with Unlocking The World
(Credit: Attenborough Arts Centre)
Unlocking The World
8 March – 26 May 2024, Gallery 2
Attenborough Arts Centre is proud to announce our new exhibition Unlocking The World which showcases the artistic processes and explorations of young people from 9 Leicestershire SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) schools as part of Attenborough Arts Centre’s award-winning SENsory Atelier programme, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Since 2016, Attenborough Arts Centre’s SENsory Atelier programme has developed an innovative model for SEND education by putting arts, creativity and culture at its heart. SENsory Atelier works in partnership with nine Leicestershire Special Schools and their teachers, support staff and leadership, to support teachers without specialist arts subject or cultural education expertise. The programme works to give them the skills, confidence and capacity to devise creative programmes informed by children themselves and in doing so reframe our understanding of how they learn.
The programme also works with artists who bring varied sensory practices based on sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, proprioception, interception and vestibular senses to collaborate with young people and their families through artistic residencies and visits to our art galleries and performances at Attenborough Arts Centre.
Inspired by the pedagogical approach of Reggio Emilia, SENsory Atelier sees young people in SEND schools as experts in their own lives and learning journeys, working collaboratively with artists and educators to explore creativity and unlock the wider world. This innovative model has won the HEIST Gold Award for Best Widening Participation Initiative 2023 and the international Falling Walls Science Engagement Award 2023.
Unlocking The World is a showcase of the work created through the SENsory Atelier programme, celebrating the incredible range of creativity that is led by the children themselves. The exhibition shares the traces of young people’s experiences through snapshots of the process of creative learning including photographs, video, and physical assets captured across 4 years of artist residencies.