US/UK Exploratory Learning Partnership Project - Building a Field
An initiative by Columbia College, Chicago in collaboration with London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT)
(contacts Anna Ledgard & Andrew Siddall)

Project Background
Three initiatives form the first phase of a five year project designed to develop the arts in youth and community development in the US.
>>US/UK Exploratory Learning Partnership
Visit of US artists/arts educators to UK 1 - 15 June 2001
And
>> The Master Class - Learning Teaching in the Arts - a documentary video
March - December 2001
>>Master's Degree and Certificate Programme in Arts in Youth and Community Development - Columbia College Chicago (Department of Arts, Entertainment and Media management (AEMM) - from Autumn 2002)

US/UK Exploratory Learning Partnership 1 - 15 June 2001
This project was initiated by Shirley Brice-Heath (Professor of English & Linguistics at Stanford University) in partnership with Columbia College, Chicago with funding from the Packard Foundation. LIFT is the UK co-ordinator of the Learning Partnership programme and one the London hosting organisations. A group of experienced arts workers and young artists from the US will take part in the first of a series of exchanges with organisations and individuals involved in the arts in youth and community settings in the UK. The visitors will be partnered with a range of organisations in London, Yorkshire and Lancashire: all organisations are committed to quality production and performance, social inclusion and the engagement of disaffected groups.
Aims of the Learning Partnership
>>to familiarise participants with the arts in youth and community development infrastructure in the UK
>>to immerse participants in a small selection of organisations in which artists work with the arts and young people in communities
>>to build relationships and provide direct involvement with key organisations and individuals working in the UK to enhance the quality and level of involvement of young people in the arts

Main UK Partners
London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT)
Education Extra
Yorkshire Arts
The British Council
Contact Theatre (Manchester)
Urban Voice (Manchester)
Second Wave Centre for Youth Arts (London)
Weekend Arts College (London)
darts - Doncaster Community Arts
Redundant Technology Initiative (Sheffield)
Northern School of Contemporary Dance (Leeds)
RJC Dance Company (Leeds)
Heads Together Productions ltd (Leeds)
CAPE (Creative Arts Partnerships in Education) Yorkshire
Project Phakama (South Africa/London).

Schedule during visit
June 2 Visitors arrive in London
June 3, 4 & 5 Induction - LIFT & Phakama with Education Extra
June 6 - 12 Visitors disperse to Yorkshire, Lancashire and London
June 13 - 14 Feedback - LIFT & Phakama with Education Extra/Reception
June 15 Visitors Depart

US/ UK Exchange Visitors
Shirley Brice Heath - Professor of English and Linguistics at Stanford University
Julie Simpson - Director - Office of Community Arts Partnerships (OCAP), Columbia College, Chicago
Lara Lepionka - Programme Manager - Office of Community Arts Partnerships (OCAP), Columbia College Chicago
Vanessa Ward - Curriculum Development Associate/ School Partnership Programme Manager at OCAP.
Phyllis Johnson - Co-ordinator of Music Business and Internship programmes at Columbia College of Chicago's Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Department. Treasurer on the board of the Music Theatre Workshop.
Judith Weitz - Co-ordinator of the At-Risk Youth Projects for the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH). She wrote the report Coming Up Taller: Arts and Humanities Programmes for Children and Youth at Risk . She runs the Coming Up Taller awards for the PCAH and National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Isaac M. Colon - Performer and Film-maker, studying visual arts at Washington, DC's Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
Lucia Ramirez Gonzalez - Undergraduate at De Paul University studying Public Policy & Urban Issues, and Italian. Board Member - Street- level Youth Media, a Chicago non-profit organization focused on introducing technology and media to at-risk, inner-city youth.
Luis Hernandez - Artist and Teacher at St. John's Educational Thresholds Centre (SJETC).
Dana Nicole Robinson - Artist and student at Santa Clara University, studying Theatre and Dance, Psychology and Ethnic Studies. Also teaches dance to young men and women at Santa Clara County and San Mateo Juvenile Hall.
Giau Truong - Artist, photographer and student at Wright College, Chicago.
Carmel Avegnon Sanders - Actor, singer, director and teaching artist and Manager Director of the Youth Theater Coalition of Chicago (YTCC). C o-ordinator for Fine Arts for Kids of Logan Square (FALKS).
Lisa Pegram - Poet & writer and Co-ordinator of Washington DC Writers Corps.
Damon Butler - Associate Artistic Director for Artists For Humanity (AFH), Boston.
Robert D. Gibbs - Artist and Staff member of Artists for Humanity (AFH), Boston (a 'non-prophet' organisation with a mission to combine business, art and the creative process to improve the future of Boston's young artists' community).
Susan Rodgerson - Artist and entrepreneur and co-founder Boston Artists for Humanity.
Carlos R. Vera - Illustrator and fine artist and Director of California Artists for Humanity.
Ali Vieira - Director of St. John's Educational Thresholds Centre's Urban Institute (SJETC). She co-directs Urban Art WORKS, Urban Art WORKS Gallery, KidPOWER and St. John's Summer School.
Ehud Krauss - Dancer and Choreographer.
John McCluggage - Associate Artistic Director and Director of Outreach, San Jose Repertory Theatre.
Elizabeth Gettelman- Co-ordinator - San Francisco Dept of Children, Youth, & their Families.
Nancy Glaze -(will be in the UK in May for the initial preliminary meeting of site hosts) Programme Officer of the Packard Foundation, the major funder of this initiative

Redundant Technology Initiative / Access Space
1 Sidney St. Sheffield S1 4RG Tel: 0114) 2495588
http://access/lowtech.org