As part of my ongoing research into artist opportunities to work with young people, and specifically students are secondary school education, I decided to contact Curious Minds. Curious Minds is a 'bridge organisation' who's aim is to help facilitate meaningful partnerships between artists, arts organisations and sites for learning with the goal of expanding the arts and culture that young people receive. It is with no doubt that such bridge organisations are valuable because of their ability to at as an intermediary between the parties involved.
By contacting such a bridging organisation, I was able to gather direct information on what they do, related case studies of their work and how they directly work with schools both in normal times, and during the pandemic.
The email below details their response to myself:
"Hi Gemma,
I haven't got a quick answer for you, I'm afraid!
Curious Minds is not a [delivery-organisation]; it works strategically and at grassroots levels.
Part of our role is as one of 10 Arts Council Bridge organisations working with schools and arts organisations to ensure children and young (CYP) people experience good quality arts and culture. We are also a Sector Support Organisation (SSO). We don't deliver directly to CYP but support a network of teachers and heads and creative practitioners to do their creative jobs more brilliantly.
SLiCE and CASE are great examples of this:
There is a NE Bridge organisation that you might want to look at:
We're all different.
There's an important distinction that comes out of your question: we work at a strategic level to bring schools / creative practitioners together but it is usually schools that engage their choice of creative practitioners directly.
We do host a platform to support this networking:
When the first lockdown hit, we found that 90% (I think - don't quote me!) of arts and creative delivery in schools was done by freelance practitioners - and their work (and income) dried up abruptly as schools closed and lessons were delivered on line - and we began working more closely with freelance practitioners, and small arts organisations, to extend their range of skills, and support them to work locally within their local communities and schools. This work is ongoing:
If you wanted to explore your question more, you could contact a school with a creative practitioner, or a creative practitioner working in schools, you would be able to connect with them via the Culture Hub website.
Hope that's useful to you Gemma.
With best wishes,
Shirley @ Curious Minds" (CuriousMinds, 2021)
Curious Minds, S., 2021. Reply: Enquiry into Curious Mind's role in delivering arts education. [email].
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