Hull City Council, in conjunction with The Herd Theatre Company, the University of Hull and Wilberforce College, have been awarded a grant of £120,000 from Youth Music through their new Energiser Fund.
The Energiser Fund was established to celebrate and energise creative practice with 2–4-year-olds, centering children’s voices, views and experiences. It is funded and supported by Arts Council England.
It is hoped the project will help bring about change in early years creativity and boost interest and understanding. It also aims to create more equity for an age group that is often marginalised and underestimated.
The Herd Theatre Company will work with the Octagon Family Hub to deliver weekly sessions for families on the Great Thornton estate in west Hull, encouraging play and engagement in the arts.
After establishing positive relationships with the families, other creative artists will be invited into the group so that the families can experience a range of music, movement, dance and drama.
Over the period of a year, these sessions will enable the creative leaders from the Herd Theatre company to gather the voice of the children and families using a range of creative media.
These ‘voices’ will then be used to produce an immersive experience for children which will be made available to other families in the city at a range of accessible venues, for example North Point Shopping Centre, community venues and outside spaces.
In the third year, the plan is for the immersive experience to tour the region, sharing the voices and lived experiences of families in Hull.
Research will be supported by the University of Hull and volunteering opportunities will be offered to students from Wilberforce College.
The funding is for three years from September 2024 until September 2027, with the project launching in January 2025.
Hull’s is one of 11 projects to be funded across the country alongside organisations such as the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester and the Old Vic in Bristol. Organisations will come together to network and reflect throughout the three year programme.
The project will complement the work of the city’s Voice and Influence Group. The Voice and Influence Group works on innovative and creative ways of capturing the opinions and views of Hull’s youngest children, who are often excluded because they cannot yet communicate verbally.
Councillor Linda Tock, the portfolio holder for Children’s Services at Hull City Council, said: “It’s important that all children get the opportunity to explore the creative arts, including pre-school children. I look forward to see how this project progresses and I hope it might spark some creative enthusiasm in our young children which will carry on through their childhoods.”
