Interfaith Arts project  September 2015, on-going, December 2017

The Interfaith Arts project is in its third year and now involves two North Leeds schools.

The relationships between staff and children of  the schools, one Jewish and the other Church of England, continues to develop.

To mark their exploration of "Festivals of Light", in December 2017, the children of Allerton C of E Primary school made "Lanterns of Hope" for the Children at the Brodetsky Jewish Primary school.

A highlight of the year two was a visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for the 164 children involved in the project to see the KAWS exhibition. His huge 10 meter high wooded sculptures dovetailed well with one of the project themes of fear and vulnerability.The education staff from the YSP explained some of the sculptures to the children and encouraged them to draw and discuss the works. Project staff, teachers and parents further encouraged the children to explore and discuss the sculptures in groups of children from the different schools. The children then picnicked together in the beautiful grounds surrounded by the sculptures. 

During the second year of the project art and dance works were devised and made around the theme of Walls. Some of the work was done in the schools separately and some jointly. This combination of joint and individual school working allowed more work to be produced and best use to be made of the joint school working sessions which were limited by the pressures on school timetables. The art work and dance encouraged the children to explore themes of identity and difference.  

In year one of the project "Safe Spaces" were made by year 3 pupils from the three North Leeds primary schools participating in our Interfaith Arts project. Designing and creating these personal art works is an initial stage in the project, which aims to use art to encourage school children from diverse backgrounds to look at their own identities and then explore the identity of "the other".

As part of this process the 8-year-old students shared their "Safe Spaces" with pupils from the other schools.

Below is a link to a proof of concept 360 Degree image of a sculpture we intend to make from the "Safe Spaces ". The sculpture will form a part of the end of project exhibitio

view the 360 Degree Model here