Public engagement – Page 3 – Vital North Partnership

In search of utopia with BBC Four

What kind of utopias do children imagine? In July, Newcastle University’s Professor Richard Clay is hosting Utopia: In Search of the Dream, a new three part documentary on BBC Four – featuring Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books!

The documentary, which will begin on Tuesday 8th August at 9pm, explores the concept of utopia by looking at this from a range of different perspectives. From Thomas Moore’s sixteenth-century coining of the term, to Newcastle’s own Thomas Spence, Soviet spa towns, wikipedians, feminist theatre, Steve Reich, Minecraft, Star Trek and beyond, the series is certainly wide-ranging.

Richard Clay, Professor of Digital Humanities in Newcastle University’s Faculty of Humanieis, Arts and Social Sciences, explains how the opportunity to curate Utopia came about: “I’ve done a couple of BBC4 documentaries in the past (The French Revolution: Tearing up History and A Brief History of Graffiti) and a production company approached me and said they’d been commissioned to make some films about utopia for the BBC with me writing and presenting. At first I thought it’s just too big a topic, spanning historical periods and cultures. But I concluded that it’d be a fascinating subject to explore and an amazing experience to film – which it was, especially the time we spent with young people at Seven Stories. Their vision and principles made me wonder whether Jean-Jacque Rousseau was right back in the eighteenth century – we’re born utopian and then corrupted by society…”

He invited Matthew Grenby, Professor of 18^th-Century Studies in Newcastle University’s School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics to participate in the documentary. Professor Grenby’s research interests lie in children’s literature and culture in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Professor Grenby led a workshop at Seven Stories with a group of Year 5 children from West Jesmond Primary School to explore how both historical and contemporary children’s books influence children’s visions of alternative worlds. Using the concept of utopia as a starting point, the children created drawings and talked about the other worlds they conceived of.

Drawings by children from West Jesmond Primary School. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books — Drawings by children from West Jesmond Primary School. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books

Professor Grenby said: “Seven Stories was the perfect venue for filming, being itself a sort of utopian vision of what a child-friendly museum of children’s books can be.

The children from West Jesmond Primary School were fantastic. We asked them to draw pictures of their own personal utopias. The results were really wonderful. Waterworlds, worlds floating in the air, a city situated on a gigantic flower, with different zones for different grades of celebrities. When we asked the children what the rules would be in their utopian societies, there was a definite air of radicalism. One girl said that cars would be against the law. Another said there’d be no kings or queens! One of the boys said that everyone would have to do at least half an hour’s sport every day.

But not all of these fantasy worlds were happy places. In one girl’s vision of the future, all the people were sad because they had to live in the sea, and all the fish were unhappy because they had to live on the land. It was a remarkable insight into how utopian thinking gives a really direct insight into people’s most pressing concerns in the now.”

Filming takes place for Utopia: In Search of the Dream at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books — Filming takes place for Utopia: In Search of the Dream at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books

John Beattie, Business Development Manager at Seven Stories, worked with Professor Grenby and the production company, Clear Story, to set up and support the filming. John said:

“Dystopias are a trend in contemporary children’s literature – with titles like The Hunger Games and Divergent dominating bestseller lists – so it was really interesting to watch the young people discussing utopias with Professor Grenby. Books can help children to identify with and shape the world around them, and exploring utopian worlds provides positive models for children to explore how society might develop in the future.”

And I’ll leave it to Professor Richard Clay to have the last word: “the whole crew loved filming at Seven Stories. So big thanks to your team, that great school, and those fab youngsters. The sequences we shot look wonderful!”

I’m looking forward to watching the documentary, and if you miss it tonight, then make sure you catch it on BBC iPlayer!

Newcastle University and Seven Stories win prestigious THELMA award

I’m absolutely delighted to blog today about this year’s Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards (THELMAs), where Newcastle University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books won the Knowledge Exchange / Transfer Initiative of the Year prize for our Knowledge Transfer Partnership.

From October 2015 to December 2016, Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books and Newcastle University’s School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics collaborated on an innovative Knowledge Transfer Partnership, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and InnovateUK. I blogged about the Seven Stories KTP, which is believed to be the first English Literature KTP in the UK, back in January, where you can read all about the project.

The Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Award trophies. Image: Times Higher Education

The KTP was a flagship project for the Vital North Partnership, so I suggested that this should be put forward for the THELMA Awards, and worked closely with colleagues in the University’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership Team and the Press Office to make the award submission.

We were lucky enough to be shortlisted amongst some amazing entries – and on 22nd June, it was announced that Newcastle University had won the Knowledge Transfer / Exchange Initiative of the Year! Dr Lucy Pearson, one of the KTP’s academic supervisors, and Kate Edwards, Seven Stories’ Chief Executive, collected our THELMA trophy at a glittering award ceremony in London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The Knowledge Exchange / Transfer Initiative of the Year. Image: Times Higher Education — Comedian Bill Bailey announces the Knowledge Exchange / Transfer Initiative of the Year. Image: Times Higher Education

The judging panel said that this collaboration was “an exemplar of how a school of English could engage in knowledge exchange. The initiative has transformed the way staff seek to apply their knowledge and unlocked a number of additional collaborations in the area of English literature.”

Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Julie Sanders, said: “I am immensely proud that the work of the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics with Seven Stories has been recognised in this way. The KTP project is a model of what purposeful partnerships and collaborative working can achieve.”

Kate Edwards and Dr Lucy Pearson collected the award. Image: Times Higher Education

For Kate Edwards, this award “recognises that Seven Stories and Newcastle University are leading the way in bringing together research and engagement expertise to create rich, authentic and people-centred experiences that explore literature for children.

Dr Jessica Medhurst, our KTP Associate, took the application of research and interpretation of Michael Morpurgo’s archive to a different level, culminating in a landmark exhibition, that opened at Seven Stories in 2016. Our unique collections and curatorial experience, alongside the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics’ subject knowledge and research rigour are opening up new opportunities for experimentation, with the goal that research and our collections are shared with the public in ways that are relevant, accessible and engaging.”

Many congratulations to all of my colleagues – an amazing award for an amazing project!

Seven Stories showcases new student artwork for The Late Shows 2017

In May, cultural venues across Newcastle Gateshead participate in The Late Shows, part of the Museums at Night initiative. For this year’s Late Shows, Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books presented new artworks by students from Newcastle University’s MA in Creative Arts Practice, a postgraduate programme which focusses on creativity, interdisciplinary projects and digital technologies.

The MA in Creative Arts Practice programme director, Dr Tom Schofield, suggested the collaboration as part of an existing module around Enterprise and Research Methods. Dr Schofield said: “In our programme, we think about professional practice in terms of the way that our work makes sense in public. What does it mean to work with others? What do you need to make your work work in this environment?” This fitted with Seven Stories’ commitment to supporting emerging arts professionals, and presenting art and engaging audiences are core activities for the organisation.

Following a successful application for Teaching Development Funding from the University, module leaders Dr Schofield, Tim Shaw and Professor John Bowers, the Seven Stories team and I discussed a programme of activities that would lead to the MA in Creative Arts Practice students presenting a new artwork for The Late Shows 2017, when Seven Stories offers free entry late into the evening and attracts a large and diverse audience. The starting point was collaborating to come up with a suitable commission brief for the students to respond to.

MA in Creative Arts Practice students at Seven Stories for a site visit. Image: Newcastle University

In March, the MA in Creative Arts Practice students came on a site visit to Seven Stories, where Seven Stories’ staff explained the commission brief, talked about our experience of The Late Shows, and the students had the opportunity to explore the different spaces at Seven Stories. They even took part in a story time!

The students had around a month to respond to the brief with a costed artistic proposal. All the proposals submitted showed creativity, and the students had clearly thought about Seven Stories as an organisation, and what might be suitable for our spaces and audiences.

Will Finn and Rosie Calvert perform at Seven Stories.

Seven Stories chose to commission two of the students, Lewis Brown and Mike Hirst, to deliver new works. We worked closely with the students as they planned their Late Shows activity over the weeks leading up to Friday 19th May, so that all of the partners were fully prepared.

Lewis curated a series of pop-up musical and poetry performances around Seven Stories, which responded to the building’s spaces and themes. Lewis said: “With Seven Stories’ support, I was able to facilitate a diverse programme of local performers popping up throughout the venue for guests to discover. Working with Seven Stories has been a pleasure and a great opportunity to apply my creative practice on a larger scale than I ever had previously!”

Dr Schofield observed that “audiences formed naturally around the events and they gelled nicely with the spaces… the performers referenced parts of the exhibition around them, using props and standing in different places, which contributed significantly to the integrated feel of the performances.” From Seven Stories’ perspective, Lewis’ programme really brought the bookshop, café and galleries to life. Operations Manager Jayne Nicholson said: “It was all very well planned – the whole building was buzzing!”

Mike presented an interactive artwork in Seven Stories’ Studio space, inspired by early children’s books. Over the course of the evening, he pulled together social media posts about Seven Stories and The Late Shows to create new chapbooks, which he printed and constructed with visitors. For Mike, taking part in The Late Shows “allowed me to fuse contemporary experience with archive content to create new and exciting possibilities.”

Mike’s artwork was complemented by a display of historic chapbooks from Seven Stories’ Collection, led by Collections Officer, Paula Wride. Paula said: “Having the old and new chapbooks together really worked well – and it was the first time we’ve really explored chapbooks at Seven Stories.” Dr Schofield echoes that sentiment: “Mike’s work felt like a very natural complement to the Studio activities. The work took on a recursive aspect as people started to tweet pictures and descriptions of the chapbooks themselves which were then reincluded!”

Mike engages with Seven Stories' Late Shows visitors. — Mike with Professor John Bowers and Seven Stories Chief Executive Kate Edwards.

From the perspective of the MA in Creative Arts Practice, this filled the programme’s objectives by encouraging the students to respond to the challenges of a space and event format. Dr Schofield said: “I thought they stage managed the evening extremely competently and really added to the event at Seven Stories. It was a great success.”

Over 800 people visited over the course of the evening and Seven Stories were very happy with how the event went. Chief Executive Kate Edwards said: “What a fab time we had at The Late Shows! Loads of happy visitors, a great atmosphere and something going on everywhere you looked. The MA in Creative Arts Practice students were great!”

Lewis Brown performs in the Michael Morpurgo gallery at Seven Stories for The Late Shows 2017. — Lewis performs in the Michael Morpurgo gallery at Seven Stories for The Late Shows 2017.

What is freedom? Community Curriculum Making, Seven Stories and Mountfield Primary School

As Newcastle University’s Research Centre for Learning and Teaching publish their Schools’ and Partners’ Guide to Community Curriculum Making Through Enquiry and Project Based Learning, this post investigates a recent example of this research in practice. Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books worked on an archive-based project in partnership with Mountfield Primary School in Newcastle using a drama and arts approach which explored the question: ‘What is freedom?’

Professor David Leat and Ulrike Thomas describe enquiry and project based learning as an approach which “encourages schools to use the resources for education that exist in their community and locality.” Engaging with the community “takes students to new places, allows them to meet new people… this gives them raw material from which to construct more positive identities, overcome stereotypes and prejudices and inform their aspirations.”

This research aligns with Seven Stories’ approach to creative learning and engagement and their objective ‘to explore how to empower children to better shape their own worlds’. It also has synergies with the ‘immersive curriculum’ that Mountfield Primary School are embedding. Seven Stories introduced partners at Mountfield to the Centre for Learning and Teaching’s work on Community Curriculum Making, and together they embarked on a new project exploring this framework.

What is freedom? Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy — What is freedom? Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy

The starting point for the project was an essential question that the children would explore: ‘What is freedom?’. The project built on Seven Stories’ programme of engagement around the Beverley Naidoo collection, and framed the children as ‘researchers in their own journey’.

The Year 6 class spent their first school term studying Beverley Naidoo’s book, Journey to Jo’burg, which has been in print for 30 years and is represented within the Seven Stories Collection. The book was released during Apartheid and banned by the South African Government. It tells the story of black South African siblings, who risk an illegal, 250km journey to find their mother, a servant in a white household in Johannesburg, because their baby sister is gravely ill.

The students, led by Seven Stories’ Learning & Participation Manager Debbie Beeks, explored the themes of the book through drama and writing, examined related items from our archive and enjoyed an opportunity to Skype with author Beverley.

Seven Stories Learning and Participation Manager Debbie Beeks. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy

The children made mining heritage connections between the North East’s coalmining tradition and the goldmines of South Africa that feature in the story. They met Dave Temple, an ex-miner who led the South African miners’ solidarity campaign with the National Union of Mineworkers. This helped them to make connections between the local and global communities.

The project culminated in the Year 6 children inviting Year 5 and Professor David Leat to visit their pop-up ‘Museum of Freedom’ in Seven Stories’ Attic, which they curated themselves. The objects that they displayed in the Museum of Freedom were created using Seven Stories’ Artefictions approach, which sees the creation of artefacts from fiction, to tell the story in exhibition-form.

Seven Stories' Collections and Exhibitions Assistant, Danielle McAloon, shows the children items from the Beverley Naidoo Collection. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy — Seven Stories’ Collections and Exhibitions Assistant, Danielle McAloon, shows the children items from the Beverley Naidoo Collection. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy

“Interesting. It made me want to learn more.” Year 6 student, Mountfield Primary School

“I feel proud, back then I wasn’t that ‘into it’. Reading Journey to Jo’burg got me into our project.” Year 6 student, Mountfield Primary School

“The Naidoo archive offers such rich and powerful source material for children to explore literary heritage and world history. It’s vital that Seven Stories is able to open up the archive for children to make sense of the world and have ownership of their future narratives. It was a privilege to be part of this project and to research and learn alongside year 5 students and their class teacher at Mountfield.” Debbie Beeks, Seven Stories

Mountfield Primary School children with their Museum of Freedom. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy — Mountfield Primary School children with their Museum of Freedom. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy

In evaluating the approach and impact of this project, Debbie Beeks and Gary Robson (Year 6 Teacher at Mountfield Primary School) found that the Arts Council England Quality Principles and Newcastle University’s Community Curriculum Making research had complementary characteristics. These gave them a common language and frameworks to explore the rich artistic opportunities that the collaboration presented. The children were able to navigate literature and the arts, from the local to the global, through their own learning journey.

“From talking to and watching the students I am certain that many of them will remember this project into their adult life. This is a brilliant illustration of how ‘going places, like Seven Stories, meeting people like Dave and Debbie, and doing and making things, like the pop up museum’ takes the curriculum onto a another level of meaning.” Professor David Leat, Newcastle University

The Schools’ and Partners’ Guide to Community Curriculum Making through Enquiry and Project Based Learning guide was supported by ESRC Impact Acceleration funding. With thanks to Laura Barrett and Debbie Beeks at Seven Stories, and Professor David Leat and Ulrike Thomas at Newcastle University, for their help with writing this blog post.

Music students deliver enterprising event at Seven Stories

In March 2017, a group of third year students on Newcastle University’s third year Music Enterprise module delivered a Musical Creepy Crawlies event at Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books. Here’s the full story…

With rhythm and rhyme being a key feature of picturebooks, there’s an interesting synergy between children’s books and music. So it seemed only natural to me to explore collaborations between Seven Stories and Music at Newcastle University. Meeting with Jane Nolan, Teaching Fellow in Enterprise in the School of Arts and Cultures, her Music Enterprise third year module sounded like a perfect way to start working with Music. Jane says: ‘In music and the creative industries, students need to prepare for self-managed, freelance and portfolio careers as well as for employment, and the Music Enterprise module helps students do this through the challenging and authentic experience of creating, organising and delivering a musical event, working in small teams.’

All ready for the percussion workshop. Image: Newcastle University

After discussing the opportunity with Seven Stories’ Programming team, I delivered a short presentation to the Music Enterprise cohort back in October to tell them a bit more about Seven Stories, the sort of event we would be interested in, and the spaces available. And I was really pleased when a group approached me a couple of weeks later!

Amy, Lucy, Aimee-Beth and Gina were interested in hosting their event at Seven Stories because ‘we knew that they would be really supportive of our event’ (Lucy), ‘it allowed for our event to be different from typical gig nights’ (Amy) and ‘the rooms were perfect for the workshops and the final performance’ (Gina) that the group were planning.

The group came to Seven Stories to pitch their event to us before Christmas. They proposed running vocal and percussion workshops on the theme of bugs and insects. Aimee-Beth says: ‘Creepy crawlies tied in with Seven Stories’ insect theme for spring.’ Lucy adds: ‘It also meant we had a really good choice of children’s books to work with.’ It sounded really interesting, so Seven Stories gave them approval to go ahead…

The students used picturebooks as the inspiration for their workshops. Image: Newcastle University

Following that meeting, the group developed their workshops, planned logistics for the event and organised communications to promote Musical Creepy Crawlies. Jane says of this process: ‘Students’ reflections and feedback confirm that the experience of organising and presenting a musical event during the module enhances skills and confidence, personal resilience and professional development, and can also add to their CVs.’

On Sunday 5th March 2017, Amy, Lucy, Aimee-Beth and Gina delivered their event. Amy says: ‘I felt like overall the event ran well, even though I was a bit nervous on the day. But we had great support from Seven Stories which was a massive help.’

Preparing for the Musical Creepy Crawlies vocal workshop. Image: Newcastle University

What did participants think? ‘From the parents’ feedback, it seemed like everyone who attended really enjoyed it,’ says Aimee-Beth. And the parents themselves told us that ‘it was very good for all young children – ours is 6 is and it was good for her age range – but little ones were enjoying it too!’ Another parent commented: ‘thank you – my son loves creepy crawlies so good topic!’

And what did the students learn from the experience? Gina and Aimee-Beth reflected on having to ‘make on the spot decisions’ as the event progressed; ‘no amount of organisation / preparation can leave you totally equipped for things.’ And Lucy and Amy both commented on ‘the importance of communication – I think this is one of of the most vital components of running a successful event and working in a team.’

The children deliver their final Musical Creepy Crawlies performance. Image: Newcastle University

Lorna Duncanson, Seven Stories’ Programming Co-ordinator, said: ‘It was lovely to have such fun and accessible musical workshops at Seven Stories!’ And from Jane’s perspective, ‘the Musical Creepy Crawlies team put a huge amount of thought, imagination and hard work into their workshop, which was clearly very much enjoyed by the children and well received by the parents. Congratulations to the team on a great event!’

Seven Stories and Street Scientists celebrate British Science Week

From 10th – 19th March, schools, community groups and organisations around the UK celebrated science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) as part of British Science Week 2017. This year, Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books took part in British Science Week for the first time – with a little help from Newcastle University’s Street Scientists…

Experimenting in the Studio. Image: Street Scientists at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books, Photography by Richard Kenworthy — Experimenting in the Studio. Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books, Photography by Richard Kenworthy

Seven Stories’ mission is to celebrate and share children’s books, and there are some amazing children’s books all about science. From books like Carnovsky and Rachel Williams’ Illuminature, where you can discover different animals using a three colour RGB lens, to books like Andrea Beaty and David Roberts’ Rosie Revere, Engineer, which comes with engineering activity kits, there are lots of titles which encourage children to think about science and provide STEM role models.

The Street Scientists at Seven Stories. Image: Street Scientists at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books, Photography by Richard Kenworthy — The Street Scientists at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books, Photography by Richard Kenworthy

When I heard that Seven Stories were thinking about taking part in British Science Week, I recommended that they connected up with Newcastle University’s Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering. What better way to explore science with our visitors than inviting some real scientists to celebrate with us?

String theory? Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books, Photography by Richard Kenworthy — String theory? Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books, Photography by Richard Kenworthy

So on Saturday 11^th and Sunday 12^th March 2017, the Street Science team took over the Studio at Seven Stories to celebrate British Science Week 2017. The Street Scientists are a group of current students studying STEM subjects at Newcastle University. They bring science to life using ordinary household items – bottles of water, drills, toys… even toilet seats!

Happy British Science Week! Image: Street Scientists at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books, Photography by Richard Kenworthy — Happy British Science Week! Image: Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books, Photography by Richard Kenworthy

Street Scientists James, Jenny, Kathryn, Nina, Pete, Jessica, Lysander, Nimarta, Phoebe and Rachel talked to our visitors and showed them lots of fun experiments. I think it’s evident from these photos how much fun the families had and how engaged even our youngest visitors were – a very happy British Science Week!

The Research Excellence Framework and the Vital North Partnership

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Newcastle University submitted an Impact Case Study about the Children’s Literature Unit’s work with Seven Stories: Promoting the preservation, presentation and public understanding of children’s literature with Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books.

This Impact Case Study received a 4* grading, defined as ‘outstanding impacts in terms of their reach and significance’. This contributed to Newcastle University ranking first out of all UK HEIs for impact in English Language and Literature.

REF2014 really highlighted the excellence of the partnership between the two organisations and what we could achieve together. Following this REF2014 success, Newcastle University and Seven Stories’ Vital North Partnership programme began in 2015, and aims to strengthen and scale up our collaboration.

So, how did this partnership lead to a REF2014 Impact Case Study, and what have we been doing since then? Well, I gave a paper on that very subject back in October as part of a panel on REF Impact and the Heritage Sector at The National Archives and Research Libraries UK’s Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities conference. Take a look:

From Warhorse to the Wombles: Seven Stories and Newcastle University

Of course, Newcastle University has a number of strong partnerships with the cultural sector, and Seven Stories’ weren’t the only museum mentioned in their REF Impact Case Studies. And this reflects the submissions of HEIs across the country: 837 of the submitted Case Studies mentioned ‘museum/s’ and 40% of all arts and humanities Impact Case Studies involved museums in some way.

The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement, reviewing this data, reflects that there are opportunities here to widen both the discipline base, create collaborations in new areas of museum practice, and broaden the approach to impact; I think that the Vital North Partnership is really helping Newcastle University to grasp the range of opportunities that working with Seven Stories presents.

Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities conference. Photo by Matt Blair.

Now, higher education funders and institutions are looking to the next REF in 2021. Lord Stern’s independent review of REF2014 was published in July 2016, and the four UK higher education councils are currently consulting on detailed arrangements for a second REF. We don’t know the details of REF2021 just yet, but the focus on research having impact beyond the academic environment and assessing this through Impact Case Studies looks set to continue.

Excellence in children’s literature is central to the Vital North Partnership’s vision. And thinking about the collaboration between Newcastle University and Seven Stories from the perspective of REF Impact, it seems to me that sustained and embedded partnership activity is an effective way of achieving and evidencing this.

The Seven Stories Knowledge Transfer Partnership

From October 2015 to December 2016, Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books and Newcastle University collaborated on an innovative Knowledge Transfer Partnership, or KTP, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The Seven Stories KTP is believed to be the first English Literature KTP in the UK!

InnovateUK’s KTP scheme helps businesses to develop and grow by linking them with a university. The aim of our KTP was to help Seven Stories develop a research-led approach to their exhibitions and collections, and enable them to attract adult audiences.

Dr Jessica Medhurst, our KTP Research Associate, was embedded within Seven Stories’ Collections and Exhibitions team during the 15 months of the project, supervised by Collections Director Sarah Lawrance and Dr Anne Whitehead (PI) and Dr Lucy Pearson (Co-I) from Newcastle University’s School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics.

The KTP has had some really interesting and tangible outcomes for Seven Stories. And, by establishing research pathways into Seven Stories’ amazing children’s literature archive and evidencing the benefits of collaboration for both organisations, it’s informing our understanding about how the Vital North Partnership could work in the future.

Here’s a visual summary of the project:

Explore the AHRC’s image gallery for Michael Morpurgo: A Lifetime in Stories, read our KTP case study on the Culture Forum North website, or find out more about Knowledge Transfer Partnerships at Newcastle University.

The Vital North Partnership Pecha Kucha

New year, new blog post. And for my first post of 2017, I thought I’d bring you something a little different – a video! Here it is:

The Vital North Partnership (+19 other ways Newcastle University and Seven Stories are collaborating)

In 2016, I presented this Pecha Kucha about the Vital North Partnership between Newcastle University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books at two events; the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Common Ground event in June, and Newcastle University’s Working Together: Bringing About Change event in November. Both events explored collaborations and engagement in the humanities.

Pecha Kuchas are short, visual presentations. As you talk, you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. Your slides change automatically. And they’re more than a little tricky to deliver…

The Vital North Partnership (+ 19 other ways Newcastle University and Seven Stories are collaborating) is exactly what the title suggests: a presentation about 20 current Partnership projects. And what are those projects? Well, watch the video and find out!

With thanks to Jeff Wilson from the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, who produced this video.

Being part of Being Human 2016

The concepts of fear and hope are central to children’s books.

The Vital North Partnership is part of Newcastle University’s Humanities Research Institute.

So when Being Human, a national festival of the humanities, announced their 2016 festival theme of Hope & Fear, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Vital North Partnership to get involved!

Dr Lucy Pearson introduces Hope and Fear in Children's Books. Image: Newcastle University — Dr Lucy Pearson introduces Hope and Fear in Children’s Books. Image: Newcastle University

On 24th November, Newcastle University’s Children’s Literature Unit hosted a Being Human event at Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books.

The aim of Hope and Fear in Children’s Books was to engage non-academic audiences in children’s literature research in a fun and interesting way.

After an overview of how children’s books engage with hope and fear by Dr Lucy Pearson, Lecturer in Children’s Literature, our first stop was the Michael Morpurgo: A Lifetime in Stories gallery.

Dr Jessica Medhurst giving a guided tour of the Michael Morpurgo: A Lifetime in Stories exhibition. Image: Newcastle University

Dr Jessica Medhurst, Knowledge Transfer Partnership Research Associate, gave us a guided tour of the Michael Morpurgo exhibition. Dr Medhurst has been working with Seven Stories’ Collections Team to uncover the treasures within Morpurgo’s archive, and her tour highlighted the themes of hope and fear within Morpurgo’s work. One visitor said:

“The Michael Morpurgo exhibition was really visually pleasing. The person who took us around was really passionate and informative.”

Seven Stories' Collections Assistant Danielle McAloon talks to visitors. Image: Newcastle University — Seven Stories’ Collections Assistant Danielle McAloon talks to visitors. Image: Newcastle University

Next, we headed up to the Attic, where the Seven Stories Collections Team and Dr Pearson facilitated a hands-on session with original material from Seven Stories’ Catherine Storr, David Almond and Judith Kerr collections.

Our visitors really appreciated the chance to explore this original material in detail:

“The chance to look at the objects / drawings from the collection / archive was great.”

Then, Seven Stories’ Storycatchers Jayne and Lawrence introduced us to the Rhyme Around the World gallery, where we had some self-led time to explore hopes and fears in nursery rhymes. And to have fun with the interactives… “I dressed up as a sheep!”

Dressing up in the Rhyme Around the World gallery. Image: Newcastle University

The evening closed with a drinks reception and quiz in the Attic, sponsored by Newcastle University’s Humanities Research Institute. My knowledge of hope and fear in children’s books was certainly tested, anyway!

Commenting on what they thought was most successful about Hope and Fear in Children’s Books, I was really pleased to see that a number of our visitors said they liked the opportunity to ‘chat to experts’. And I think this piece of feedback from a participant about the impact the event had on them sums the evening up for me, too:

“It’s made me think about how literature can help children (and adults!) cope with fear, and indeed hope.”

Being Human is the UK’s only national festival of the humanities and took place this year between 17^th – 25^th November 2016. The festival is led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy.