Cultural Alliance Programme - research phase, 2024

The Cultural Alliance Programme is revolutionizing arts education for Key Stage 2 children in Lawrence Hill, offering free weekly dance and drama lessons that foster creativity, learning, and wellbeing

Empowering children through arts

With a mission to bridge gaps in arts access and address educational inequalities, the Cultural Alliance Programme offers students at Easton CE Academy, Hannah More Primary, and St. Nicholas of Tolentine schools the opportunity to engage in creative learning. Each week, every KS2 year group receives an hour-long session led by professional practitioners from Movema and ACTA. These classes are integrated into the school curriculum, aligning with each school’s themes and values, such as Easton CE Academy’s focus on "Belonging".

"I really missed our Cultural Alliance teachers over the holidays, but I’ve been practicing!"

Student comment

Learning from Term 1&2

The first term launched with great enthusiasm, as children eagerly met their new mentors from ACTA and Movema. The sessions quickly became a space for movement, self-expression, and relationship-building. Early takeaways included:

As the project progressed, teachers were encouraged to actively participate in the sessions, moving beyond behaviour management to engaging in creative learning techniques themselves. This collaborative approach helped embed creative strategies throughout the school environment. Highlights of term two included:

"There’s been so much creative expression and joyful connections happening in every session!"

Cultural Alliance Practitioner, Movema

Impact so far...

The Cultural Alliance Programme has already made a tangible difference:

Looking ahead

As the programme moves into Term 3 the focus will shift towards measuring individual progress and ensuring long-term impact. A mid-January planning session will refine methods for tracking measurable change. Term Four will culminate in a student performance, showcasing their creative growth and inspiring future participants.

Additionally, Trinity is collaborating with Professor Helen Manchester and Dr. Harriet Hand to co-design an evaluation framework. This will measure cultural value and assess the programme’s effectiveness in strengthening inclusion, attendance, and students' wider connectivity with learning.

Funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Cultural Alliance Programme continues to pave the way for inclusive, dynamic arts education in local schools.

Film by Latent Pictures

In September 2024 we will launch the ‘Cultural Alliance’, a two-year tailored arts-based learning programme delivered in partnership with three inner-city primary schools, Easton CE Primary, St Nicholas of Tolentine and Hannah More Primary. This new programme, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, is a first of its kind in the local area and has been co-designed to meet the needs of each school.

The primary schools in the Alliance are based within a half-mile radius of the Trinity Centre with many of the children who attend facing challenges due to health, learning needs, and socioeconomic factors.

Aligning with Trinity’s long-term commitment to combat inequality through the arts, the Alliance will utilise a tailored arts-based curriculum focused on dance and drama in partnership with locally rooted creative partners ACTA and Movema. By addressing the detrimental effects of limited arts-education, the ambition is to support children's overall development and empower them to thrive in their learning journey. Alongside the programme, teachers will be offered ongoing support in their practice, offering them the creative tools and resources to provide the best opportunities for each student to flourish within their unique situations and learning environments.

“The Cultural Alliance will allow children across our local community to connect and learn through creativity. We are looking forward to working with our partner primary schools to inspire creative thinking and allowing each child who participates to thrive” Jenny Bodnarchuk, Youth Service Manager

The Alliance has been shaped through extensive consultation with primary school pupils, teachers, governors and community organisations, conducted by Trinity since 2021. These consultations highlighted the urgency of embracing alternative measures of academic success - considering their pupils’ diverse linguistic, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds - and reported the need for new tools and practices to build trust and foster inclusivity.

The Alliance takes an investigative approach, incorporating tailored collaboration with each school, responsive to their unique needs. By integrating arts-based learning, teacher support, and initiatives addressing inclusion, the Alliance will create a transformative educational experience for educators and pupils, fostering a more inclusive and equitable learning environment.

The Alliance has been developed via initial seed funding from Van Neste Foundation and Nisbet Trust secured in 2023 to test and refine the programme through free-to-access arts-based provision for primary-aged children that included Forest School activities as well as embedding a dance programme, World in a Box, in partner schools.

Building on learning from these pilot activities, the launch of the Cultural Alliance in September 2024 has now been made possible through a two-year grant from Paul Hamlyn Foundation marking a significant step forward in local investment in children's access to arts and culture.

Find out more about our Children and Young People's programme here.

Carnival workshops at Trinity.Photo Alastair Brookes/KoLAB Studios

With the support of West of England Sport Trust (Wesport) we are expanding our creative offer for primary-aged children living/ attending school within the locality.

Through our partnership work with local primary schools, we will be working with Easton Academy to offer key stage 1 and key stage 2 children free-to-access after school activities, a summer school as well as provision for parents/carers.

Building upon previous projects, including last year's Easter Carnival workshops and 2022/23 ‘World in a Box’ programme, leading dance company Movema will embed themselves within the school to deliver the programme that aims to encourage schools to offer their facilities for activities that encourage healthy and active lives.

‘We are thrilled to be supporting local partners through our place-based work. Through supporting schools to open their facilities outside of the school day to both school and community users, we hope to create sustainable change in increased physical activity levels in communities where they are needed most.” Nicole Emmanuel, West of England Sport Trust

Shaping the offer to reach children, who may be living in under-resourced communities, Movema will host after-school clubs that will include dance and movement workshops. They will also work with teachers and children to shape and deliver a creative offer for free activities during the summer break.

Our Children and Young People's team will collaborate with parent/carers at Easton Academy to develop free to access sessions that will take place within the school to encourage movement, active lives and improve wellbeing.

The programme will run until March 2025 and will further support our ‘Cultural Alliance’ a partnership with three-local schools. Developed through conversations with primary school pupils, teachers, governors and community organisations, the Alliance aims to address existing gaps that many children experience in accessing creative activities as well as strengthening the educational growth and wellbeing of children.

You can find out more about our Children and Young People's programme here or sign up to our mailing list to keep-up to date.

Igloo - Image Credit: Alastair Brookes

As part of our Children and Young People’s programme, we brought Igloo, an interactive early year's performance, to Trinity. Igloo was created by Barton Hill-based Travelling Light Theatre. The company created the show specifically to tour to non-traditional theatre venues with the aim of breaking down barriers to accessing theatre.

We connected with our partners, Central Bristol Children Centre, to offer children (and their grown ups) who attend the centre’s weekly Stay & Play at Trinity, the opportunity to watch the show for free. Igloo was shared in a separate space running alongside Stay & Play, allowing families to choose if they wanted to give the performance a try during a familiar group session. In total we welcomed over 100 families/carers to two performances of Igloo.

Through feedback from conversations between children, families and local community groups and building upon our pledges we are looking at ways to create a responsive programme that aims to offer young children the opportunity to take their first steps in their creative journey.

Coming up in the summer we are pleased to host theatre company Tidal Tales who will be bring their latest show, Fairy Forest: Stories from the Trees, for an outdoor performance. This follows the 'The Hare the Moon and the River' that we programmed as part of our Summer Sessions last year.

You can keep up to date with our our Children and Young People's programme here or to hear about upcoming events and activities sign up to our mailing list here

Nature Play After School Club - Image Credit: Alastair Brookes

As part of our children and young people's programme offer free after school provision for children who attend local primary schools. Children who attend are aged 8yrs-11yrs and many may limited access to any green space at home. We caught up with Liam Callaghan, who delivers the Nature Play sessions to find out more.

Hi! Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background

I’m Liam, the Nature Play lead at Trinity – I have a passion for youth work, having written and illustrated my first children’s book, worked with SEND children for several years and facilitated a variety of workshops for young people.

A How did you get involved with Nature Play at Trinity?

I've been leading the Nature Play project since its beginnings in September 2023. I spent a lot of time at Trinity Centre attending various events before I became a part of the team – I first helped with a Nature Play workshop over the summer of 2023 and through this, Trinity reached out with the opportunity of working together long-term on a similar project, and here I am!

What is the Nature Play project?

The after-school Nature Play sessions we run are a perfect opportunity for local 8-11-year-olds to spend some quality time out in nature, thanks to our beautiful garden space in the heart of Bristol. We operate a walking bus from 3 local primary schools to maximise our outreach and have seen amazing results. We began by having the children create a set of ground rules, which they all agreed on, based around respect and getting involved.

So what do the sessions involve?

After introducing the children to the garden space at Trinty, there was still fruit growing in the garden, so the children would pick apples from the apple tree when they arrived as a tasty snack. Most weeks they would forage flavours to make their own tea, learning about when certain plants fruit, the physics of heat drawing out the flavours and nutrients to make the tea, as well as the communal nature of making and sharing tea together. The group are always very happy to show any newcomers around the garden space – they have found a real sense of security and belonging in the garden and have a great sense of agency within the space.

As the nights grew longer, the children learned about how winter is a necessary part of the life cycle, and how we can relate to the seasons within our own lives, have ‘sunny seasons’ and ‘chilly spells’. They also learned how to safely make a fire to get us through the wintry weather, with some children helping others overcome their fear of flames. The children loved sharing stories around the fire (some scarier than others!), instilling a warm sense of community.

What's the plan for Nature Play going forward into the spring?

As we Spring into 2024, the children have begun making use of their raised bed, dedicated to the after-school club (which they have nearly finished decorating) as well as space in the polytunnel, where the children have been learning how and when to plant different veg (and why) and learning about seasonal changes and the effect climate change is having on us and other parts of the world. Some children have some prior knowledge which they have been happy to share with others during the sessions, building a sense of communal skill sharing.

What benefits do you think the children involved with Nature Play gain?

The children who attend the sessions  have really blossomed over the months, and there’s been noticeable growth in individuals’ confidence, knowledge and overall wellbeing as well as seeing friendships being formed. I can’t wait to see how the children grow over the coming months.

If you are a parent/carer of a primary aged child (8yrs-11yrs) who would like to attend Nature Play click here to find out more and sign up.

Nature Play is held on Monday's during term time and is made possible due to funding from Quartet Community Foundation, WESport and Bristol City Council.