The University of Bolton and Bolton Lads and Girls Clubs have joined forces to celebrate and reward the creativity of some of the town’s young people.
BLGC members received certificates of achievement for their creative this was the work after taking part in photography project inspired by the Worktown images of Bolton, taken by Mass Observation photographer, Humphrey Spender.
The project was taught by University of Bolton MA Photography graduate, Richard Gaskil. He met with the club members weekly to teach photography techniques and take them to relevant exhibitions.
He said: ‘It has been a really fun experience working with this group. They’re a great bunch of individuals and have been really enthusiastic from start to finish. We’ve had some challenging sessions as well, but they’ve done really well to grasp the concepts I’ve been teaching. Some of their pictures are really top quality.’
The photography project was part of the Bronze Arts Award, a recognised academic certificate that carries UCAS points. The University of Bolton is an Arts Award Centre and delivered the programme in collaboration with BLGC’s Enterprise Coordinator, Gemma Potter.
Said Gemma: ‘It was great to get the young people involved in something creative as it gave them the chance to express themselves in their own individual way. Not only did it give them the chance to explore their creative side, but also learn a new skill or build on limited previous experience.’
Becky Johnson was one of the young people involved. She said: ‘I found it really interesting and enjoyed it. It was like nothing I’d ever done before. I particularly liked the session where we went around Bolton town-centre photographing different things in day-to-day life.’
Jordan Harnett was also new to photography. He added: ‘It was the first time I’d learned about photography properly. Each session was different but I enjoyed the one on light drawing, that’s when you use lights to create shapes in your photographs. Some of the images we made that session really stood out for me.’
This has been the first Arts Award project delivered by the University. Creative Industries Project Manager, Rebecca Albrow, and Creative Industries Liaison Officer, Jane Stuart were the University’s Arts Awards Advisers for the project.
Jane said: ‘We've obviously been delighted with the project and would love to build on the success of this, offering further awards in the future.’