OUR MOUNTAIN

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VISION FOUNTAIN CIC

£1,250 – MICRO FUND – FEB 2017

Vision Fountain came to us for a small grant of £1,250 to top up a £10,000 grant from Arts Council Wales. The Project involved 40 children from Pen Pych Primary (Rhondda) and Rhigos Primary (Cynon) to create a unique film about the Rhigos mountain that connects the two schools. The children told the story of the mountain’s importance to the community as a whole through time, including its energy heritage, from coal to wind. The story told by the children involved them taking part in film and photographic workshops, advanced photographic creative and in editing and audio workshops.

This was an exciting proposal involving young people not only in skills development, but in helping them to really look at, consider, understand and value their local surroundings, communities and heritage.  It brought together children in two valleys on either side of a mountain, hopefully making connections of all kinds that will endure” – Barbara Anglezarke (Executive Director Pen y Cymoedd)

The project was a progressive multi-media filmmakeing project that brought advanced techniques, image animation and discussion into the schools. The 59 children created all of the audio and visual assets that were used within the film. Within the workshops children looked at historical books and documents and were encouraged to ask their parents for family stories. The children were the creative practitioners in the project.

The final result of project was a screening in the Parc and Dare for the 59 participants, their parents and teachers and you can watch video here: https://vimeo.com/260797926. We were so pleased with the reaction of the younger learners and the comments from the teachers and feel that project achieved more in terms of literacy and general well-being than we expected. There was less parent involvemnet than we had anticipated and if we run similar project again we will run workshops prior to project to help people understand the multi-media techniques being used.

We believe the legacy of the project was stimulating an interest in digital ceativity, especially photography, drawing and animation for the children. Another important legacy wa sto spark an interest in local heritage, history and geography. – Richard Jones, Vision Fountain CIC

“The children experienced the arts in a way that is not normally accessible in our school.” – Mrs Morgan

Quotes from the children: I loved it when I could see the pictures of my best friends on the screen / I enjoyed the chance to use the cameras / I enjoyed the photography because it was fun / I learned that photography is very easy when you learn and understand /