How can we work creatively to find out what young parents want from support services? How can we give young parents a voice? How can we help young parents to develop their creative parenting skills? These were some of the issues we focused on as part of our work with Green Gables, a local supported housing project for young mums. Working at The Point, artists introduced the young parents to a new creative space and worked to build positive new relationships with staff and other clients from Green Gables.
gabba gabba hey - tell us what you want!
gabba gabba hey - tell us what you like!
gabba gabba hey - let's go and play!
...Tell us what you want!
The project ran in two phases, first focusing on working with the clients as individuals, to write, record and create a short, animation film. The group chose to create a piece about their experiences as young parents and their ideas about Green Gables. The funky, punchy film introduced the group to clay and animation techniques and provided an opportunity for them to say what they thought about the services and their experiences... Tell us what you like!
...Let's go and play!
Messy and creative play was on the menu for the second phase of work! The young mums and their babies worked together and got stuck into their own sticky experiments, created work around spooky stories, tried yoga and wrote their own musical lullaby! Playing and experimenting together, the work aimed to inspire the young mums to develop creative free play with their babies and encourage them to explore the techniques at home.
This piece of work encouraged the young parents to access the Green Gables service and build positive new relationships with their staff. The participants developed their confidence by meeting new people from the service and making new friends. The participants learned new creative parenting skills and were able to share their views about being a young parent in Doncaster.