VERY RARELY DO we design writers get to experience a notable building, institution or space long after they have opened, to see what impacts they have had on their residents and stakeholders. But just such a happy occasion was provided at the South London Gallery (SLG) in March, with an event to celebrate continued – in fact, boosted – funding to run its pioneering Art Block outreach space, which has engaged, entertained, educated and inspired hundreds of local young children. It has run well over 1,000 supervised sessions over its eight-year lifespan, with most of the recipients coming from the surrounding Camberwell and Peckham area, which is listed among the UK’s 20% highest for deprivation.
And, yes, having a decent-sized, dedicated space in which to conduct after-school activities that range from foosball to pottery, cooking to printing, is very much part of the magic. But so is the care and collaborative spirit with which the education and outreach team have decorated, kitted out and programmed this sequence of simple rooms, together with the youthful participants, at the foot of one of the Sceaux Estate tower blocks behind this iconic London institution.
Under the bold stewardship of its longstanding director Margot Heller, the SLG has given first UK shows to many of the most exciting names in international and UK contemporary art, often long before the mainstream gets wind of their talent.
But it’s the gallery’s commitment to art education, and especially outreach to its local community, that helped to secure a joint win of the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize, back in 2020. The judges called it a ‘worldclass contemporary art space, built for and with its culturally diverse communities’, and praised it for ‘promoting inclusion at the heart of its mission’
Which is why there were so many of us, on a sunny spring morning, packed into one of their meeting rooms to hear that, at the end of a period of vital sponsorship from the Freelands Foundation, the gallery had secured a further two years of funding from the Bukhman Foundation, and enough of it so that Art Block can operate 52 weeks a year, rather than just during term time. This is game-changing, both for the team and how it operates, but also for the surrounding children and families, who benefit from its gentle stewardship towards creative self-expression.
On the panel speaking at the event we had Heller and Paul Crook, a former youth worker who heads the communities and learning activities, but also sound artist, Hannah Kemp-Welch, who has been working closely with Art Block to realise a project; it’s a major feature of the programme that the young people, aged 6-16, get to work with and alongside leading contemporary artists, to provoke their curiosity and experimentation.
First, Kemp-Welch praised the sense of ownership and engagement among the young participants. She said: ‘I do a lot of work in a lot of different places – with young children, older adults – and these young people really love Art Block. They feel excited about the space. They are always really looking forward to coming here.’
She’s a conceptual artist. So she was wondering how to approach the commission. Her answer: ‘It’s about asking questions and testing new ideas, opening new areas of curiosity, thinking about sound as a material, testing possibilities.’ She chose a selection of moving image works and asked them to create a soundtrack. ‘Some people were immediately fascinated by the technology. So we just gave them free rein.’ One young participant immediately seized a microphone and started creating her own podcast. She was a natural. ‘There was a segment about telling their stories. I wanted to introduce them to analogue technology. So we made handheld radios. We did a session looking at what is a radio. How does sound travel through the air?’ They made their own radios, incorporating loo roll cones and wire, and we were shown footage of these youngsters walking around the estate holding their handheld radios as if they were celebratory, symbolic, treasures. ‘It made these young people think differently about technology.
‘I have a geeky love for analogue film – you only get three minutes on a roll, so you have to think very carefully about what you want to shoot. They really took to using it. They made a film that documents the experience.’
Also on the panel was Sarah Onile, who is a long-time beneficiary of SLG’s outreach activities. She started with their Saturday school (the Shop of Possibilities), then joined Art Block around aged 15. She signed up to their older youth programme (Art Assassins, ages 16-21). And now, though she has a job as a prison nurse, she also finds time to work at Art Block as a community and learning assistant. She says: ‘Through my work at SLG I’ve (seen the benefits of) engaging with young children to express their creativity in a positive way. Something like Art Block offers skills and experience they can carry far beyond the gallery walls.’
As we explored the Art Block, I chatted with Leighann Morris, communities and learning programme manager. She had previously worked as a teacher at a local secondary school. Some of the same young people she had encountered there turned up to Art Block, and in this open, informal, childcentred space, their behaviour is transformed, she says. Many come through Art Block to end up in the creative professions, some even as gallery assistants here.
A favourite Art Block anecdote for me was that, when a pot of funding materialised and the youngsters were given a choice of either having a permanent flat-screen TV, which they could keep, or a swimming pool for just 24 hours (due to health and safety it had to be temporary), they went for the swimming pool. I call that thinking like an artist. It will live in their memories for ever. Whereas TV… they can get that at home.
It’s clear that, as Heller said at the event: ‘The presence of (this space) has made a visible and significant difference.’ But she knows this is just a drop in the ocean – or in what is currently a desert of arts provision at all levels of state education. ‘What this project has demonstrated is that there is huge scope for social change through art. But it does need investment. Without core funding from government the whole thing collapses.’
