Since its inception in September 2006 the Film Agency for Wales has offered project funding to organisations in Wales which aimed to enhance film literacy for children and young people aged 19 and under and stimulated an appetite for specialised, cultural and non-mainstream films.
This project funding allowed the Agency to assess the landscape in terms of the breadth of film education being offered across Wales, to identify those practitioners who excel in their field, and to pinpoint where the gaps are in the sector.
Based on these findings the Film Agency devised a programme entitled “The Wales Wide Film Education Partnership”, which consisted of a 2 year pilot programme funded by Film: 21st Century Literacy and the Welsh Broadcasting Trust, designed to create an effective, sustainable strategic infrastructure to unify, promote and improve film education in Wales to the benefit of all its young people and practitioners.
The outputs/activities of the pilot programme are split into 3 distinct areas:
- Capacity Building
- Profile Building
- Knowledge Building
The strategic programme has successfully implemented the following projects over the last 2 years:
Wales-Wide Film Education Network:
A networked group of film education practitioners and children and young people film festival directors who meet up to 4 times a year to explore best practice and discuss specific issues around film education. Members are also assigned specific tasks on which they report back to the group.
Practitioner Database
Working with the Network, the Film Agency has developed an online practitioner database which is in the final stages of development.
The online database has been designed to meet the priorities identified by practitioners and will facilitate communication in the sector and increase awareness of film education among non-specialists who work with young people.
The database will store information on film education practitioners working in Wales ranging from their specialism’s to geographical location, along with downloadable resources provided by the Film Agency developed from our own feature film productions or those donated to us through education project funding.
Once established, the database will contribute toward a more comprehensive and coherent infrastructure for film education in Wales.
The database can be accessed here: http://cpd.filmagencywales.com/
Continuing Professional Development for Welsh Film Education Sector:
The Film Agency awarded a tender to 2 Welsh Film Education organisations, Media Education Wales (MEW) and Reel Education, to successfully implement the recommendations of a CPD feasibility study funded by Film: 21st Century Literacy, entitled “A Feasibility Study into an Accredited CPD Training Pathway for Film Education Practitioners in Wales”, which MEW delivered at the end of 2009-10. The study identified three main priorities for practitioner training.
- Increase the skills and capacity of existing providers;
- Increase awareness of film education among non-specialists who work with young people;
- The future development of providers in areas that lack provision.
The broad aim of this project is to design and carry out pilot activities providing Continuing Professional Development to existing film education practitioners in Wales and identify and train new practitioners in underserved areas to a standard the Film Agency endorses.
2 One-day courses have already taken place in North and West Wales as well as a one-day conference in Cardiff, which brought together 43 film educators, film practitioners, youth workers, teachers and education advisory staff from across Wales to share experiences and learn about the different ways of using film with children and young people..
A further training workshop for youth workers and cinema education officers will take place in Spring 2011.
Reach the Heights
Following the Film Agency’s successful application to the Welsh Assembly Government’s Reach the Heights programme, as managed by the Arts Council of Wales and funded by the European Social Fund, we have been working closely with partners on delivering an ambitious programme of film education activity for up to 200 young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs), which commenced in June 2010.
Cinetig, a Cardiff-based animation company, worked on two projects. The first involved 12 young Travellers aged 11 to 14 based at the Priory Project, Monkton Priory Community Primary School in Pembrokeshire, to create an animated film about the impact of tourism on the local area. The project also included a film literacy strand delivered by Reel Education. The finished film, funded by the Sustainable Development Fund and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, is being used in the National Park Visitor Centre in Newport and also forms part of a teachers’ resource pack used by the Park Authority education team to raise awareness in local schools of sustainable tourism. The second project involved eight young people aged 11-19 who attend the Forsythia Youth Group in Gurnos, Merthyr Tydfil. They made three films with a sporting and healthy lifestyle theme, once again informed by film literacy workshops delivered by Reel Education. Seven participants successfully completed the OCN Level One certificate in film making techniques. Seven participants were also awarded OCN Level One certificates in film making techniques.
Film education providers Reel Education offered film literacy sessions and other opportunities for young people to watch and critically engage with films from around the world. They provided film literacy workshops to participants in the Cinetig projects, to broaden and enhance their creative decision-making, as well as a stand-alone series of film literacy sessions in the Young Person’s Unit, Parc Prison in Bridgend. These challenging workshops stimulate discussion around film and its wider issues amongst participants.
Film 15, a film production and education company based in Machynlleth that offers young people unhappy with formal education a learner-centred opportunity to study with film professionals, provided 24 young people (aged 14 to 18) in Gwynedd and the surrounding area with filmmaking opportunities coupled with a programme of film viewings. Eight participants were entered for the Extended Project Level 3 qualification with WJEC, and have successfully completed portfolios of work for accreditation. The completed films were screened at the annual Pinks film festival held in venues at Machynlleth, Tywyn and Barmouth.
One participant from FILM 15 was even considering dropping out of college. Unable to access training opportunities because of rural isolation and feeling that he had no prospects, he completed his first year of AS levels with very low attendance and was recommended by his college as “at risk”. After joining the Reach the Heights project, this exceptional young person has since enrolled at University to study film production and screenwriting, commenting on his own development as “so satisfying, and I’m so proud of myself (…) it feels like the springboard for getting to new places. With this behind me, I have a lot more of a chance in life”.
Finally Undercurrents, a production company and media charity based in Swansea, made documentaries with 62 young people aged 11 to 19 involved in three local groups: Down to Earth, a sustainable living educational charity in the Gower; I Can, a youth project run by the African Community Centre in Swansea; and Wise Up, a support group for families who choose to home educate in Neath Port Talbot. In each case the young people had creative control over their films, taking roles in front of and behind the camera, supported by industry professionals. In this way, Undercurrents was able to support marginalised and otherwise hard-to-reach young people in their creative endeavours and provide them with a chance to show something positive about their lives.
Jim Barrett from Bigger Picture Research is conducting a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the project, which will be utilised by the Film Agency in the on-going advocacy campaign for increased investment in and the broader application of film education. Following the conclusion of the project, the Film Agency showcased the completed films to an audience of over 130 guests at Cardiff Cineworld in April 2011. They have also been screened at other youth film festivals across Wales.
Advocacy: E-bulletin/Ffilmschool 2
A major part of the Agency’s focus within the pilot project has been on developing a communications strategy and profile raising campaign to advocate the benefits of film education to stakeholders and the wider audience.
In 2010 the Agency launched its Film Education e-bulletin, which goes out bi-monthly and reaches up to 180 people across a broad range of sectors.
Within this strategy the Film Agency also commissioned the University of Glamorgan Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries to conduct an impact study of Ffilmschool 2, a year long project developed and implemented by Media Education Wales in conjunction with Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, a Communities First area of South-East Wales.
The study looked at the impact of Moving Image Education on supporting literacy and wider skills development with years 6 and 7 (9 – 11 year old children) over the course of the year and is available to download here: http://www.filmagencywales.com/documents/2009-09-moving-image-education-in-wales-the-impact-of-ffilmschool2.pdf
Over the course of the 2 years the associated activities have directly reached 680 young people and 264 teachers/youth workers and educators across Wales.
In the future we anticipate thousands of young people will benefit from the infrastructure developed through the pilot partnership programme.
