Thanks for listening to The Gathering, a podcast for artists and creatives from Arts Lancashire.

This season is all about remaking and remodelling the role and work of artists and creatives in a Covid world, and the practicalities of creating and delivering at a distance.

We talk about working within the new restrictions, where the opportunities are, how to rip up the rule book and why it’s more important than ever to ensure that our artistic practice, our places and spaces, and opportunities to make and participate are consistently inclusive and representative.

In Episode 3 of Series 2, we’re joined by Karen O’Neill, Artistic Director at The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster, Sara Domville, Cultural Education Manager at Curious Minds, and Nick Haughton, Year 6 Teacher at Bowerham Primary School in Lancaster.

Our conversation focuses on creative learning opportunities during the pandemic and looks at how we can continue to provide young people with arts led – experiences through a safe, blended approach to face to face participation and distributed learning. We discuss how schools and the arts sector can work together more collaboratively. We highlight the opportunities and the challenges for freelance artists working in cultural education and how both the Dukes and schools want to work with freelancers from here on in.

Towards the end of our conversation, Nick leaves to make a call to a parent, but Karen, Sara and Alex carry on for a while longer, so do stick with it.

Things we talk about in this episode:

• The role of Local Cultural Education Partnerships (LCEPs)
• How schools have traditionally worked with artists and arts organisations in Lancashire.
• How schools have continued to offer creative learning opportunities under enhanced restrictions.
• The opportunity for arts organisations to reset engagement approaches with schools and young people as participants and audience.
• Curious Minds Bubble Up commissions
• What children and young people want to create.
• Tools, apps and technologies used and put in place by schools to support continued creative learning opportunities.
• How the Lancashire Cultural Education Partnerships can support and facilitate connections and opportunities between schools and the arts sector.
• What schools really need and want from the arts sector.
• How more collaboration between the arts sector and schools could support creative learning in schools.
• The opportunities for freelance artists to support creative learning programmes.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Arts Lancashire

Bowerham Primary School

Curious Minds

The Dukes

Local Cultural Education Partnerships

More Music

Sara Domville

Nick Haughton

Karen O’Neill