I finished all my work on the competition entries now and I got to do the shortlisting for a category. Exited to see what work I’ll have to do when we go back.
There were a some differences during the group short listing for art, but it all worked itself out in the end.
During the break I am going to be working on my report and 2nd SIP.
NSI is considering a new logo so we’ve been thinking about what that could look like. The idea has changed multiple times but here are some sketches of ideas we had considered.
One of my colleagues had an event with Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent. It was a day of workshops were the year 7s were asked to take what they heard from the key note speaker and reflect on putting themselves in her shoes. The day started with us setting everything up and then the schools arrives. The keynote speaker was telling us about her experience living in Afghanistan and the how with the Taliban taking over she could no longer go to school. Explaining about secret schools and her journey as a refugee in the UK, as well as her continuing her work to help provide education for Afghan girls.
It was very inspiring and it was a very interesting day. Seeing the practitioners do the workshops was nice and will be helpful for my SIP. It was also nice to see the children engage so well with the prompt.
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The International competition is closing today. So I have been very focused on data entry and responding to questions that the participants have been emailing. We are at over 2,000 entries and they are coming in quickly, but I should be able to get the entries processed within time.
We have confirmed with the venue our dates for setting up the space and our private view.
I have applied to multiple grants and I am just waiting for them to review my application.
We meet the practitioners, we will be having a call with them soon to fully confirm the workshop schedules and to look at and help them with the content.
We are doing well with getting things done early, so that we have less stress closer towards the date.
Yesterday we went up to Manchester for the reception of the Bridge of Sunflowers Exhibition.
This exhibition displays works made by Ukrainian children about the war and how it is making them feel/ how it is affecting them. It was really moving to see all these pieces about how the war was affecting them and their families, especially with the descriptions and background information about some of the artists specific situation.
We helped set up the extra pieces for the reception and took some photos for NSI’s socials. The reception was nice, the Lord Mayor of Manchester was there, some of the local school children that took part in the workshops read their poetry out loud. Overall it was a very nice event!
This is my personal favourite piece from the exhibition. The description attached to the piece:
‘Karolina from Lviv.
The Mum of the hare family is comforting the little babies during an arial attack of the invading russian army on the ruins of a settlement.’
Last week I worked on new grant information for the organisation, wrote up some application letters, and handed the information off to my boss.
I was also given the opportunity to curate for another exhibition. For works that will be displayed during the BISA conference. This is work I’ll be starting next week as the conference is in June and I am currently quite busy.
On Thursday I will be going up to Manchester with work for the reception of the exhibition Bridge of Sunflowers. This exhibition is composed of artwork by young Ukrainian artists from the city of Lviv. The works explore the impacts of the ongoing conflict, as well as the hopes and dreams of those living through it.
Yesterday I brought in my finished model of the modular exhibition structure I designed, and Katie liked it a lot. Soooooooo, they’re going ahead with getting it built!! It’s going to be so cool to see something I designed actually being made and used, also it will look very nice in my portfolio. YAY
I also signed up for a mentorship program with James Frost a creative director, this is something I’ve been interested in recently as I want to learn more about creative direction and give it a go myself. It’s been very informative and I’ve been able to learn about industry practice and what it takes to collaborate with brands. Essentially the correct way to reach out to brands and present your ideas to them.
Before the christmas break I had started these feedback cards. I finshed them last week and they just arrived on Wednesday.
I am happy with how they turned out, they were made using students art work from a workshop done in Naples. They will be used for the summer exhibition and also as little postcards.
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Currently working on the SIP, summer exhibition structure, and grant applications for the charity.
This week I’m focusing on the grant applications, so looking into different grants and Katie is teaching me how to draft letters/ apply to them.
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At this weekly meeting we spoke about AI, and my placement provider said that they would like less AI usage to avoid work without passion or interest. I’m pretty happy about this, but I kind of am a big AI hater so maybe others in the office feel differently.
Which of the Climate, Racial, Social Justice principles does your idea align with?
Our SIP is about cultural justice and the importance in embracing diversity so it would fall under racial justice and fostering futures thinking.
What will be the next steps for your project?
We have managed to find a venue (still in the process of confirming with this venue). Our next steps are to contact schools in the local area, finalise our social media, and finalise our workshop itinerary!
I’ve been continuing to work on the structure design for the summer exhibition. This is the design that they agreed to go with. It’s modular, lightweight, and easy to rearrange. I need to make a model so that they can get a better understanding of it in a 3D space. It will be made out of wood, made up of four disassemble-able modules that can come together to form a semi-circle.
