EXCHANGING PLACES was a Creative Partnerships Manchester Salford project led by the Royal Exchange Theatre and Cornerhouse, working with Year 8 History pupils from Newall Green and Chorlton High Schools (Manchester). The two schools were looking for a new way to bring history to life through a multi-media arts project, as they felt that by encouraging students to engage in the subject matter through performance, a better level of understanding and empathy might be attained.
Both schools were studying the history of cotton, but from two very different perspectives. Newall Green were studying the history of the black slave trade, and Chorlton High learnt about the mill work in Lancashire. Each school received three days of workshops led by a team of arts professionals (a filmmaker, a visual artist, a musician, and a theatre director), during which the pupils were encouraged to draw on their knowledge from their history lessons to create a narrative through music, drama, film and artwork.
The project finale was a multi-media performance held at the Royal Exchange Theatre on Friday 7th April 2006. The animated films and artwork were also exhibited separately at Step Up: The North West Schools’ Arts Festival 2006.
CHORLTON HIGH SCHOOL
Students: Azad Ahmed, Sophia Burns, Carina Caufield, Levi Clements, Annie Dixon, Bianca Eaton, Charlie Evans, Robbie Gennery, Cara Ghoshal, Jake Greenhaigh, Joel Hammond-Gant, Tom Higgins, Josie Howl, Corey Hunt-Casey, Ayesha Javid, Gwen Jones, Owain Jones, Sangetta Kaur, Holly Kendrick, Sonia Latif, Rachael Marriot, Luke McDonald-Taylor, Daniel McLaughlin, Tom Ochinson, Hayley Roberts, Molly Rourke, Tahir Saleem, Kiren Sethi, Amy South, Hannah Thompson, Edith Zajac-Jones
Staff: Fay Beach, Diane Clavin
NEWALL GREEN HIGH SCHOOL
Students: Jack Abbott, Frank Bovey, Shauna Critchley, Chloe Cunningham, Amy Davenport, Myles Dudley, James Edwards, Sarah Glynn, Laura Hamer, Faye Harris, Connor Harrison, Charlotte Horridge, Jacob Jarratt, Jessica Leaver, April Robertson, Sean Rowe, Vicky Sullivan, Sophie Tattersall, Lewis Taylor, Michaela Walker, Lauren Ward, Rebecca Wright
Staff: Ruth Drury, Beth Ingham
PRACTITIONERS
Visual artist: Adela Jones
Animation filmmaker: Mark Haig
Cornerhouse Education contact: Sarah Perks
Theatre Director: Amy Leach
Musician: Tayo Akinbode
Cornerhouse Education contact: Sarah Perks
Royal Exchange Education contact: Liam McCormick
Project Assistants: Marisa Draper, Alice Harland
LINKS:
Creative Partnerships Manchester Salford http://www.creative-partnerships.com/ManchesterSalford
Royal Exchange Education Department http://www.royalexchange.co.uk/education_home.asp
