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This year marks the 30th Anniversary of Hull and East Yorkshire Children’s University, and we’ve had the pleasure of spending the year forging a joyful working relationship with their team and children’s board to stage a celebratory takeover exhibition (the first of it’s kind here at the gallery!) – Powered by Smiles. The exhibition showcases new artwork bringing together the voices and experiences of those who have been part of the HEY Children’s University journey – from their children’s board and groups representing primary schools across the city, to alumni and beneficiaries, and business partners, with a diverse range of techniques and processes introduced through a series of workshops with eight local artists. Uniquely, the children’s board – their steering group for events and learning experiences– co-curated the exhibition and led on the themes and ideas, including hopes and dreams for the future as well as the marketing materials to encourage visitors to the gallery. One of the guiding principles of our learning programme is to provide valuable practical experiences that help make it real for children and young people at an early age: to give opportunities for understanding creative career pathways and working realities of being an artist or designer by collaborating with practitioners locally, as well as regionally and nationally. Powered by Smiles has taken this a step further to working with the gallery team in the same way we work with each of our exhibiting artists, having the same conversations about how a collection of work develops over time and the way it is presented. Workshops across the year have focused both on the development of artworks (from photography to print-making, and flipbook animation to structure building) and introductions to the role of a curator, and a producer in a professional gallery.
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