Early Years Everyday Art School – Energiser Fund
The Early Years Everyday Art School is a vibrant series of participatory workshops where 2–4-year-olds and their families can come together to explore creativity, wellbeing and foundational early years skills. Open only to invited families who have been referred through our partner Afrocats, this project aims to nurture language development, social-emotional growth and confidence.
Facilitated by artists, families engage in sensory-rich activities that celebrate young children as active contributors, supporting learning and wellbeing while helping the gallery to become a more welcoming and accessible space for all.
Follow our 'Gathering of Stranger' blog for updates on how the project is developing and keep an eye out for any interventions within our Everyday Art School on the Mezzanine Level.
This project has been made possible by the Energiser Fund from Youth Music.
For more information, see below.
The Whitworth x Youth Music – Energiser Fund
For the next three years, the Whitworth is exploring ways to 'Energise' Early Years practice thanks to funding from Youth Music.
The Whitworth has been chosen as one of 11 organisations nationwide to ‘energise’ early years creativity through Youth Music’s, Energiser Fund. Over the next three years, the fund will celebrate and champion creative practice with 2–4-year-olds, centring their voices, views, and lived experiences through co-design and participation.
At the Whitworth, we’ll be partnering with our longstanding partners, Afrocats, an award-winning charity supporting socially excluded communities across Greater Manchester. Together, over a ten-week period we’ll be working with ten 2–4-year-olds who are facing barriers to traditional early years provision. These barriers may include a lack of awareness about available services, shortage of free places in their area or complex legal or bureaucratic processes, to name a few.
Through playful interventions and creative sessions led by professional artists in our gallery spaces, we’ll explore the transformative power of art and play on these families’ wellbeing as well as their on their development, particularly speech and language in both 2-4 year olds and their non-English speaking care-givers.
By listening to and amplifying the skills, creativity, and voices of these children and their families, we aim to enhance their well-being, and their development and work towards enabling the gallery to be more accessible to their needs.
As we’re part of The University of Manchester, we integrate research into all that we do. This project benefits from a collaboration with our colleagues at LuCiD (The ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development), who will provide expert support over the three years. This partnership ensures that our work with families is informed by cutting-edge research, maximizing its impact on young children’s and their non-English speaking caregiver’s language development.
We believe all children, regardless of age, have the power to influence projects and organisations. No one is too young to be heard. We can’t wait to get started and will be posting regularly with updates.
Find out who the other ten Energiser Fund organisations are here
Read more about this project on the Whitworth's Gathering of Strangers blog.
With thanks to our supporters and funders: Energiser Fund, Youth Music, Groundswell Art
Image: Afrocats 2024, The Whitworth, The University of Manchester. Photo: Courtesy of Afrocats
