Creative Practitioner

creative agent delight

As a creative practitioner, I use the vehicles of film, photography and visual art to facilitate creative expression, thinking and learning. I do this by adopting more of a mentoring approach to facilitate safe environments where problem solving, risk taking and team building can take place. In working with groups and individuals, I can combine this approach with Action Learning Set facilitation in collaboration with Jen Sumner; opening up enquiries into ways forward, without giving advice. The aim is to empower individuals to find their own solutions, new perspectives and commitment to action.

I use creative activity and process to develop increased engagement in lifelong learning; working with young people to enable them to have a greater understanding of how they learn and to build self-confidence. I work with all ages and abilities including Secondary and Special Educational Needs and have developed a model that enables young people to tell the story of their learning experiences – I am keen to explore this model in different settings. Examples of previous projects that involve film and digital media as vehicles for achieving specific aims:

Building Relationships

Lead Artist, Glenbrook Action Research Group,  Creative Partnerships, Nottingham
As a group and over a period of nearly 2 years, we researched how 4 schools could develop an integrated model of creative learning that extended across all age ranges, types of schools and the full range of needs and abilities, using the unique opportunities provided by the future Oakfields campus development.

Empowering Young People

Artist in Residence , Wilsthorpe Community School , Long Eaton
Over a period of 3 years, Fi helped to develop new and sustainable ways of using film and other digital mediums for creative teaching & learning. The ethos was that all films would be student led and Fi would be the facilitator to enable students to make the films that told their story, in their way by working as professional film crews. Film was the vehicle for building the self-confidence, independence and risk-taking. Some of these films have received National Awards and the model was later adopted by Derbyshire Cinehubs.

Young Filmmakers being commissioned

Chatsworth House : Wilsthorpe Community School film crews worked with Chatsworth House and Fi to develop films for other learners that looked at the creative educational opportunities available at this Derbyshire site.

Derbyshire Crimebeat: Wilsthorpe film crews made films for other young people on the subjects of mobile phone theft and drink-driving . Fi facilitated the process and learning from conception to the finished DVD and resource pack.

Problem Solving

Selston Primary School, Nottinghamshire: Fi worked with year 2 students on a film programme that developed their problem solving and risk taking skills through an indoor seaside!

Enquiry

Griffe Field Primary, Derby: exploring how digital media can develop enquiry skills in all year groups with particular emphasis on the Science curriculum.

Global Citizenship

Dunkirk Primary School, Nottingham and the Lahore Lyceum, Pakistan: Creation and editing of films designed to build creativity and relationships between the two schools. Funded by the British Council and Creative Partnerships.