Nearly 100 primary school children from Bradford schools have come together to take part in three creative workshops at Kala Sangam and the National Science and Media Museum as part of our Bradford Stories Festival.
Local artist Mo Rahman led the pupils through activities to help them learn about and value each other’s families, heritage, culture and traditions. The children brought in family photographs and items from home to help them talk about their heroes, hobbies, and what is most important to them.
The children worked on their own family trees and came together to create combined ‘Youth Trees’ based around themes of their choice including family, friendship, home and heritage.
The children will have the opportunity to present their Youth Trees and further pieces to their families and fellow pupils at exhibitions in school, and then to the wider Bradford community at a celebratory Bradford Stories Festival event in spring 2020.
Launched in October 2019, the Bradford Stories Festival is a six month project working with 12 schools, to celebrate the different backgrounds, values and cultures of Bradford’s diverse communities. Through a range of activities, the festival will provide creative experiences to help boost local children’s literacy skills.
These workshops were a brilliant opportunity for pupils in Bradford to engage with each other’s cultures, traditions and heritage. It was heart-warming to see the energy and enthusiasm from the children as they worked together to build something beautiful that represented themselves and their communities.
Nabeelah Hafeez, Bradford Stories Festival Project Manager
The festival is delivered by the National Literacy Trust’s Bradford Stories campaign and funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as part of their work to trial innovative approaches to building more integrated communities.
For more information about the Bradford Stories Festival please visit bradfordstoriesfestival.org.uk, and to learn more about the Bradford Stories Literacy Hub please visit bradfordstories.org.uk.