We have spent more time at home over the last few months than ever before and whilst it might feel like we have lots of time to engage with new activities it can sometimes be a little overwhelming knowing where to start. Hours browsing the internet looking for something exciting to do can leave us feeling drained and unmotivated. To help you stop searching and start doing we’ve chosen just three ways that you can spend some of your creative time and inspire your own arts projects:
New Adventures – https://new-adventures.net/reel-adventures#danceventurers New Adventures may not be touring live productions at the moment, but they have a plethora of activities to watch online. Their DanceVenturers initiative offers a range of weekly workshops on YouTube, led by Resident Dance Artist Paul Smethurst and supported by a Pdf download. Paul is full of energy and the sessions are full of exploration and challenging moves, with inspiring music to dance along too.We particularly enjoyed the Show Workshops session for ‘Edward Scissorhands BBQ Task’ as it reminded us of the fantastic project New Adventures delivered with Sunnydown School in Caterham. The students explored the characters in Edward Scissorhands during weekly sessions and produced a captivating piece that was shared with the whole school.
Surrey Arts – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx69ZUoQXb8Ri3kIJAKLAsg/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=1 Surrey Arts has a great YouTube channel with lots of free online workshops ranging from songs for parents and toddlers to online visual arts classes to repairing your clothes and learning to sew on a button. We loved having a go at Body Percussion with percussion teacher Mike Wheeler. No need to own any instruments as this whole session ‘uses your body to build up a groove.’ It certainly energised our bodies and our minds too.
Surrey Hills – Inspiring Views project – https://www.surreyhills.org/discover/arts-culture-views/?cat=artsIf you have been lucky enough to get out into the countryside over the last few months you will have noticed all of the different plants that have been growing and heard the wonderful melodic birdsong. All of this can help calm our busy minds, inspire our creativity and give us ideas for art projects, including creative writing, music making and painting. Five artists were inspired by the Surrey Hills landscape and were commissioned to create some gorgeous sculptural pieces that are free for us all to visit. We love seeing the pieces throughout the year – as the seasons change there is always something new to look at. There are several locations where artists have created these incredible outdoor artworks, all with ‘inspiring views.’ If you’re unable to get out to visit the pieces you can look at them online and perhaps create your own artworks at in the classroom or at home. Many of the artists’ lead school workshops so if you are a teacher and would like to find out more contact Surrey Hills Arts – http://www.surreyhills.org/discover/supporting-artists/
We hope that you enjoy getting creative and encourage your friends to get involved too.