Since 2012, we have developed an excellent relationship with the University of the West of England having 3rd year History students on placement with us each year as part of their History in the Public Realm module and teams of Masters Architecture students developing significant elements of our projects as part of a Live Brief. University placements and community volunteers underpin our projects and are a valued asset.
Many of our projects address contentious issues and as with A Fine Balance telling the story of abolitionist, philanthropist and tight rope walker, Carlos Trower we gather together a team of people to help tell the story in a sensitive and appropriate manner. Since 2016, we have been collecting true stories from people who have lived, worked and grown up in Southmead to inform a community soap opera, Meadows to Meaders that is written and performed by local residents. We have used the soap opera as a vehicle to explore the sometimes challenging histories that emerge such as the unlikely friendship that was formed in 1947 between Bristol and Hannover, the first twinning of an English and German city post World War 2. Co-writing the scenes collectively as a cast allows for some searching conversations to take place and for us all to reconsider previous certainties and attitudes.
We ensure that all our projects offer sustainability and provide a legacy that can continue to be applied and shared long beyond the lifetime of the original project. It is the process as much as the final outcome that matters to us, and though all of our projects culminate in some form of final presentation bringing together all of the elements into a celebration, we place equal emphasis on the shared journey.
There are all kinds of opportunities for UWE students to volunteer with Local Learning.
- We work with students to shape a brief together, taking in their capacity, interests, expertise and experience and make sure with all of our volunteers that we never lose sight of the fact that they are giving up their time to work with us.
- We maintain an ongoing dialogue throughout their time with (and sometimes beyond), continuously assessing and evaluating our work together and ensuring best practice.
Upcoming Local Learning projects and placement opportunities
| Project overview – all starting autumn 2024 | Potential UWE involvement |
| Meadows to Meaders 5: Fab Living on the Mead (stage 2) Building on the 5th episode of our Southmead community soap opera (currently unfunded with Local Learning delivering voluntarily). This episode focuses on the post war pre-fab exploring the correlation between health and housing including the post war emergence of the Welfare State. After the initial performance at the Greenway in the summer of 2014 with funding from Southmead Development Trust we are exploring opportunities to work with the communities of the new Brabazon estate and the Aviation Museum. | Opportunities for History students and volunteers to: – Gain research experience using archive materials to learn about the post-war pre-fabs in Southmead, interwar council housing and inform project design – Participate in intergenerational conversations with the community cast to co-design a fully accessible performance – Consider imaginative and innovative ways of presenting audio playscripts to audiences – Potential to gain experience in writing funding bids – Document the process including project blogs |
| Bristol 650 Local Learning website: As part of a National Lottery Heritage Funded project coordinated by Bristol Ideas celebrating the 650th anniversary of Bristol as an independent county, Local Learning have been working with communities across the city exploring our local heritage to create a community atlas showing how Bristol has grown. The community atlases are going to be on display in libraries across the city and we want to create an exhibition in Central Library to continue to tell the story of how a union of unique neighbourhoods has created an overarching city identity today. As part of Bristol650 we want to capture stories about friendship with Bristol’s 7 twin cities and building on a previous intergenerational activity would like to create a podcast to accompany the exhibition in Central Library. We will be exploring some of the friendships for the first time, but will also draw on previous projects: | Opportunities for Volunteers, History & MArch students to: This would build on an event we delivered last year and revisit the people who are keen to share their experiences. Students can get involved with the interview process and gain research experience and learn about the history of Bristol’s international twin cities. We will provide training in interview skills, questionnaire design and explore opportunities to co-create the exhibition in Central Library Working for a week in October with students from Bordeaux visiting UWE Architecture dept, there is also an opportunity to get involved in creating the exhibition for the Central Library alongside UWE Masters Architecture students. |
| Bristol/Bordeaux Also twinned in 1947, with funding from Bristol Bordeaux Partnership we will be working alongside a Year 6 class from St Barnabas Primary School with a separate intergenerational sharing memories event that will inform playscripts capturing some of the stories shared about the exchange. Bristol/Hannover Building on the original In Someone Else’s Shoes project celebrating the first twinning between an English and German city post WWII. | Opportunities for Volunteers, History & MArch students to: – Gain research experience and learn about the history of Bristol’s international twin cities; Bordeaux, Hannover, Porto, Tbilisi, Beira, Puerto Morazán and Guangzhou – As well as the skills listed above |
| Disability Activism Disability Activism Bristol aims to tell the story of the Disabled People’s movement in Bristol from the 1980’s to 2010. Bristol was a central place for Disability activism during this period and National Lottery Heritage have funded a group of young Disabled people to gather the stories of Disabled activists who campaigned for equality and independent living. Local Learning was commissioned to co-create learning resources informed by these stories. This project is in Phase 2 – where we will be working in 3 educational settings to test out the resources and create accompanying films for the resource with filmmaker, David Ellington. | Throughout the autumn term, there are opportunities to · participate in school activities and help to create activities for the digital learning resource · potentially to shadow and learn from the project filmmaker promote the project through social media and potentially create a dedicated online presence for the project |
| Carlos Trower Carlos Trower (1850 – 1889), known as ‘The African Blondin’, was one of the world’s greatest high-rope walkers at the height of their death-defying popularity. Carlos fled institutional slavery and civil war in America to begin his solo career in England, where he overcame many dangerous obstacles while challenging the prejudices held by Victorian audiences. Carlos’s spectacular stunts included crossing the high-rope shackled in chains and carrying a stove on his back to cook a steak. His performances raised money for many charitable causes including famine relief, hospitals, and supporting widows and orphans. When the rope broke beneath him 50 feet above the Beverley Cattle Market, news of his accident travelled around the world. Carlos survived his injuries and returned to performing months after the accident. In his personal life, Carlos (aged 14) married Myra Clay (aged 17), daughter of a Stoke-on-Trent bricklayer. They had a son, Carlos Jr. After recovering from the fall at Beverley, Myra and Carlos separated. Aged 25, Carlos married Annie Emmett (aged 19), daughter of a London coachman. They moved to Bristol’s historic Christmas Steps, where their daughter Celia was born at 7 Christmas Steps. | Throughout the autumn term, there are opportunities to; · participate in community research at Bristol Archives using the Black Presence in the City Catalogue · participate in community research at the Theatre Collection exploring circus in Victorian Bristol · consider imaginative and innovative ways of presenting research findings in an exhibition on Christmas Steps promote the project through social media and potentially create a dedicated online presence for the project |