Stepping Stones Creative explore exhibitions and the visual arts

We previously heard from adviser Michael Appleyard, from Stepping Stones Creative, about how they supported young people to choreograph a performance for their Explore Arts Award. Here he tells us about how they’ve worked with partners to produce visual art for their own creative festival

Stepping Stones Creative works with young people with special needs, using the arts as a vehicle for the development of personal growth, and encouraging aspiration. One way it achieves this is by identifying different locations in the community where their creative work can be exhibited, giving the young people the sense that they’re professional artists.

I had connected with the baritone David Wilson Johnson, who is the founder and organiser of Ferrandou, a summer school in France for emerging classical artists. Together, we decided to create our own arts festival in this region, exhibiting our young people’s art work in local restaurants, which we called the ‘Naïve Arts Festival’. 

Our aim was to produce work for the festival with our Saturday club for young people aged 8 – 11, who have been working towards their Explore Arts Award. The pupils were first introduced to the Ferrandou Atelier through the gallery’s website, exploring its location in France, and its links with Royal Academy of Music students. We discussed how the intention was for the children’s art work to visually support several classical performances given by the musicians to the paying public.  

Through our strong relationship with the Whitworth Art Gallery, the group were able to view an exhibition of work by artist Alice Kettle, and take part in a question and answer session with Alice at the gallery. Within the session the group explored Alice’s use of colour, and this became the stimulus for the group’s work and their festival pieces.