V & A
Design For Life is a national initiative led by the V&A in partnership with five regional museums and galleries. In 2009-10 these are: Bolton Museum and Archive Service; Brighton Museum & Art Gallery; Manchester City Galleries; Museums Sheffield; and the Shipley Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums. All the museums work with Action for Children to reach informal education groups. The project seeks to develop new ways of engaging young people in design. It provides them with opportunities to work alongside professional designers and gain inspiration from museum collections.
The project began in 2008 and is now completing its second year. It forms part of the Government’s ‘strategic commissioning’ scheme for national/regional museum education partnerships, and is funded jointly by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. It aims to identify ways in which museums can support young people in developing their talents and becoming active in the creative economy as adults. Design For Life builds on the success of the V&A’s Image & Identity partnership project which was funded under the same scheme in 2007-2008.
Students from Thomas Hepburn Community School and Heaton Manor School worked with designers Dan Civico and Carolyn Handley to design and create a collaborative light installation. Thomas Hepburn created the ceramic light coverings. Heaton Manor’s brief was to design effective solutions to display these ceramic light forms. Their work was inspired by historic and contemporary lighting designs featured in the Shipley’s collections.
Links
http://www.vam.ac.uk/school_stdnts/schools/projects/design_your_life/index.html