Workshops at the Shipley Gallery
The project is running a series of four workshops which focus on the skills of migrant makers and the many positive contributions these have always made – and are still making – to their host communities.
The Northeast of England has several thousand years of history of migration and those who came over the centuries have made the region what it is now by contributing their labour, skills, and experience, culture, language, and art. We want to empower those who arrived more recently to tell the story of the many contributions they are making, through the objects they create.
Our series of workshops at the Shipley Gallery, part of our partner organisation TWAM, exemplifies our project’s collaborative approach which brings together academics, heritage practitioners, and community groups. These workshops with recent immigrants to the UK are organised and facilitated by the Felicia, but participant-led. We want to empower contemporary migrants and aid their inclusion, psychologically (both by making visible the historical presence and contributions of migrants and by encouraging them to reflect on and celebrate their own particular skills) and practically by improving their spoken English.
We opened by using material culture evidence from the Shipley’s own collection to illustrate our research findings, that is the contribution which migrants and their skills have made, globally and locally in the past. Over several weekly sessions we then encouraged participants to reflect on, share, and showcase their own skills and achievements. The sessions were all co-led with Multaka to help participants improve their spoken English and particularly the ability to articulate their own skills and abilities. In turn this facilitates their confidence and ability to participate in the social, cultural, and economic life of their new home in Britain.
Many thanks to all our participants, to the Shipley Gallery and Multaka, their fantastic volunteers and in particular to Ben Jones and Nichola Maxwell!
