Below are four case studies from current projects running at The Urban Arts Centre:Applied arts department.
UNIT7, ISA Project Case study
Sex: Male (I1)
Nationality: English
Age: 56
Educational
background: (I1) has not attended
education since Art College where he achieved B-tech arts and design he is also
self taught in music and music theory.
Since
having a breakdown brought on by stress (I1) has not been in education or work
and this has lead him into long term unemployment for at least 30 years. (I1)
has suffered from depression and an inability to socialise with others which he
claims has lead to alcohol problems, relationship problems which have added to
his self image of person- as he puts it... ‘...with little ore no future’
(I1) motivation for coming on the course was to ‘record music and make a CD to give
to people he met...’ and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of practical performance work in
the course, which he relished as he finally had a platform for his musical
talents... ‘a place to express my musical feelings.’ Which he tells me has improved
his performance to the extent where he feels able to develop an initial CD of 6
tracks ‘from training in how to record in a sound studio, a book of his lyrics
and through his training on computers- Microsoft word and publisher and
marketing and presentation skills he has been able to have published his book
through a local publisher to whom he was sign posted through the Change for
Change course.
The process
of product development has been reinforced with another aspect of the course
which has suited (I1)immensely. He has honed his performance skills and taken
all performance opportunity which as he said is an opportunity for him to sell
his CD.
(I1) has
learnt some valuable lessons through enrolling on the Chance for change course
and states that being on the course ‘...has made his dream come true. He is now
running his own music and arts group with others who have had a break down. He is planning to tour further a field with
his music and produce another album which he hopes will be released by a
national record company
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UNIT7, ISA project: Case Study
Sex: Male
Nationality: English
Age: 18
Background: Individual 2 (I2) has found life difficult to come to
terms with since his mother died and his father went to prison. Cared for by a
Step mother from his early childhood he took his family angst out on the world,
his local community and neighbourhood, following in his older brothers foot
steps, a prolific criminal, (I2) became a street gang member hanging out on
street corners committing petty criminal acts for fun or gang respect.
Educational background: (I2) has not
attended education since leaving school where he achieved no formal educational
qualifications. Since then Dean’s
achievements have been limited, he went on a project management work scheme but
failed to complete however he did learnt some skills as a brick layer.
(I2) has always wanted to be a rapper
and make it in the music business and by his own admission his motivation for
coming on the course was to record his lyrics and make a CD. Upon finding that
there was a little more to it than met the eye,(I2) at first struggled. He then
discovered his skill for writing lyrics which he went on to relished as he says
he finally had a platform for his talents... ‘It is a way of dealing with my
mum’s death and understanding my emotions and how to express my feelings in a
good way.’ Which he tells me has improved
his rapping to the extent where he felt able to develop an initial CD of 15
tracks.
The process of product development
has been reinforced by other aspects of the course which has suited (I2)
because as he states, ‘I can see now how it is done’. (I2) has made three
videos to accompany his songs and these have been posted on U-tube and he is
looking to prepare the music videos for a appearance on terrestrial television
on Channel U, he has performed in public several times and in front of the
Chief Constable and made a number of radio appearances on local radio. He has
honed his technical skills in the studio to a semi professional level working
with other young acts as a producer.
Through this process (I2) has
learned how to record in a sound recording studio, write his lyrics with proper
punctuation and rules of literature, use video editing and camera and through
his training on computers- Microsoft word and publisher and marketing and
presentation skills he has been able to have published his CD through a local record
company to whom he was signposted by the DJ School
(I2) has learned some valuable
lessons through enrolling on the Summer Start course in his own words he is
more disciplined and a lot more focused on achieving in life and states that
being on the course ‘...has made his dreams come true.’ He is now working on
his second album and with others youngsters to help them out of gang culture.
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UNIT7, ISA Project
Cast Study3 (I3)
Sex: Male
Nationality: Welsh
Age: 47
Educational background: (I3)has not attended education since high school
where he took examinations in English and maths and achieved four GCSEs and
also achieved a grade three music theory with the trumpet.
However since those achievements (I3)
has not been in education and following a string of one off manual labour
employments he has been unemployed for at least ten years. Previously (13)
has suffered from an alcohol problem and social relationship problems which
have added to his self perception as an unemployable person- as he puts it... ‘...on
the scrap heap.’
(I3) originally came on the
course to ‘improve his writing skills’ and was initially overwhelmed by the
amount of practical performance work in the contents of the course, which he
admitted challenged him in terms of to taking on board others views, criticism
and appraisals of his work. This he says helped to improve his work to an
extent where he felt able to develop a book of poems and through his training
on computers- Microsoft word and publisher and marketing and presentation
skills he was able to have published a book of poetry through a local publisher
to whom he was sign posted through the course. Also from
training in how to record in a sound studio he has made an accompanying CD to
sell with his book.
This product forming was reinforced
with another aspect of the course which helped with performance skills and gave
a performance opportunity which (I3)took advantage of and this was a perfect
opportunity, as he put it, for him to sell his books. (I3) took this on board
and has since gone onto enrol on to a computer course at Stoke –on-Trent College,
gained a Part time job producing a newsletter for a local charity and performs
his poetry at local venues, events and recitals where he sells his books and a
CDs.
(I3) has taken the change for
chance offer by Unit7, the DJ School and NDLC and turned his life around. He
hopes to tour further a field with his poetry and achieve formal educational
certifications in computers and English language; also he hopes to have another
book published and write epic Celtic poetry and perform his poetry.
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UNIT7,ESF/CFC Project
Cast Study4 (I4)
Sex: Male
Nationality: ENGLISH
Age: 27
(I4) has been in institutions all his life, he has
tourettes which he was only officially diagnosed with in his twenties although
there were indications of it previously. (I4)had a very low self image and when he enrolled
on the program always looked at the floor refusing to look anyone in the eye. (I4)
has no formal education and attended a special school from which he was expelled
during his final year. K’s motivation for attending the program was to improve and
publish his animation skills (I4) had been drawing and writing Manga-style comics
since the age of 14 becoming inspired by watching cartoons and animations, and
later by reading Manga comics, which partly influenced his unique style. (I4) also
sings and wanted to learn guitar. He wanted to perform music and his dream was
to start a Metal band and perform on an amateur scale locally. He also
expressed and interest in learning voice acting.
(I4) used meditation techniques he learnt to reduce
stress ‘I hope it will help me to combat
most of the stresses and strains of modern life.’ (I4) used the skill he learnt
in IT, social Media and digital art to thrive building a website, twitter
following of thousands and face book page. (I4) has grown in confidence and self
image stating ‘I if feel better than I
ever have in my life.’ (I4) has found a way of coping by using somewhat dark
and tongue-in-cheek humour to make light of difficult situations. He is
currently working towards being a fully published cartoonist through the
program and has an interest in one day becoming an animator with an independent
UK company.
