Henley Festival's SHOUT! project takes on the World
September 2008
During the week of 29th September - 3rd October, the Henley Festival Trust's schools' outreach project (SHOUT!) will once again offer young people a glorious way to become involved in the arts. Over this academic year (Sept '08 to July '09), the Trust will organise and pay for a spectacular mural-making project, 'Supersize Art', involving local schools. Ten murals will be created on canvases 20' x 6', one in each of the 10 participating schools.
In addition to the painting, there will also be a performance element to the project and, with the 2012 Olympic Games high on everyone's agenda, the theme of the murals will be based on the 5 continents symbolised by the Olympic 'linked rings' logo: Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America. Thinking about the Olympics and the Para-Olympics, schools are already gathering material from across the curriculum (sport, history, geography, language, cooking) to bring ideas that can be used in their piece of art.
Schools - which include 8 primaries and 2 secondary schools - will pair up to 'share' a continent for their mural making. Countries so far chosen to represent the continents include China and India, Ghana and South Africa, North American Indians and modern day USA, Poland and the Western European Mediterranean. Leading the project will be mural specialists Hugh Jart, who have become famous for producing their fabulous artworks at festivals such as Glastonbury (see below). Huge Jart will be visiting Henley during the week of 29th September and will be running workshops at each of the schools in turn to introduce the project.
A second exciting element to the project will be introduced in the spring term, when music and dance specialists will work with young people to create performances that will use the murals as backdrops.
Says Mandy Beard, Community Projects Manager for Henley Festival Trust, "The SHOUT! project has given so much to the community and to schools since it began eight years ago and this is going to be a very exciting year. The murals, which we hope to exhibit next summer, will be a real spectacle and I'm delighted that each will then be returned to its school of origin, as a permanent feature."
Schools involved include:
Badgemore Primary, Henley
Crazies Hill CE Primary, Wargrave, Berks
Langtree Secondary, Woodcote, Reading
Sacred Heart Catholic Primary, Henley
Gillotts Secondary, Henley
Shiplake CE Primary, Shiplake, Henley
Robert Piggott CE Junior, Wargrave, Berks
Peppard CE Primary, Peppard, Henley
Trinity CE Primary, Henley
Valley Road Primary, Henley
