22nd October, The Showroom, Sheffield: Special film screenings for Black History Month. Click here for more information.
We Are Here is a ‘widening participation’ project based in the School of English at the University of Sheffield. It aims to utilise pedagogical devices and strategies drawn from research in the Arts and Humanities in work with school children of a predominantly BME background. The project aims to support aspiration and widen access to culture, and seeks to develop new models of and approaches to outreach.
Since January 2012, students and staff have provided structured support to a young writer’s group at Fir Vale School and the Year 9 Black Pupils’ Achievement Programme at King Edward VII Lower School through a series of classroom workshops and campus visits.
This ground-breaking programme aims to raise the aspirations of BME pupils, promote the study of the Arts and Humanities and encourage pedagogic diversity in the higher education curriculum. School pupils are given the opportunity to develop their personal interests in writing and culture and hone interpersonal skills that they can take forward into their future studies and careers.
The King Edward School group have created a documentary film featuring interviews with staff and students at The University and in May 2012, Year 9 pupils Yousif Hassan and Sosan Ismail shared their views on the project by delivering a presentation to a capacity audience at the Sheffield Together community showcase in Firth Hall.
Inspired by the theme of ‘Being Unique’ and assisted by Project Officers Ruksana Majid and Dr. Ingrid Hanson, The Fir Vale group developed an online creative writing magazine which they will now manage and develop themselves. Halimah Khan, a Year 10 pupil said, ‘our magazine will be a small step, a nervous dipping of the toe into the sea of publishing.’
Lecturer David Forrest and Project Officer Janine Bradbury will continue to expand the scope of the project over the next 12 months, developing furthers workshops on African American literature, creative writing, literary theory and Black British film. There will be a celebration of the inaugural cycle of We Are Here during Black History Month in October 2012.
For more information, please email Dr. David Forrest at d.forrest@sheffield.ac.uk or Janine Bradbury at janinebradbury@sheffield.ac.uk
