A project introducing pupils from Brunswick Park Primary School in Peckham to the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly
Having worked with this group of London-based artists over a number of years we were delighted to have the opportunity to be part of this project in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts. Using our knowledge of public engagement, audience development and outreach, we were able to build in elements of sustainability and legacy, as well as promoting and publicising the work.
Young Visions is a group of artists who have developed a unique method for teaching art. Young Visions works in a variety of settings and have a long association with South Bank ,and with Southwark Excellence in Cities, both of which Dovetail has also collaborated with for the past 3 years. Peckham meets Piccadilly was the idea of Young Visions Director Phillippa Clayden who is also chair of the Royal Academy’s alumni association (RASA). Her vision was to bring nineteen Year Five children from Peckham into one of the UK’s most prestigious artistic institutions. Dovetail's role was to maximise the opportunity presented by this initial connection. The pupils spent the day doing a life class in the Academy's iconic Life Room, which is unchanged from its inception in the eighteenth century and normally only accessible to Academy students. Through demonstrating the benefits of this project to all the partners involved, Dovetail was able to present the work to its maximum advantage, and lay the foundations for its future development.
‘This is what the Academy aspires to, to be a place of thinking and manufacture, and yes, then display. Gilded rooms can daunt and discourage and that is not how art gets made. The Royal Academy is the opposite of that in reality, though people could naturally be forgiven for being a little intimidated when they walk into Burlington House, but it is merely a platform. All you need is a glimpse into what it takes, and you have stirred those young minds.’
Humphrey Ocean, Chair of Education Royal Academy of Art
Client: Young Visions
Partners: Royal Academy of Arts, Southwark Excellence in Cities
What we did: Consultant for project development, PR.
Photographs by Beth Evans: www.bethevans.com