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'Hidden Histories Trail' : Sacred Voices Millennium Music Village

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In response to the United Nation's call for an International Year for a Culture of Peace, the Tower Hamlet's arts charity Cultural Co-operation devised an interactive education trail in partnership with the Imperial War Museum which ran from June 28-July 16, 2000.
Participating schools: Over 1700 pupils from 57 schools took part, including the following schools from Tower Hamlets; St. Paul's with St. Luke's, Swanlea School and Canon Barnet.

Aims and objectives
Main beneficiaries
The initiative
Outcome
Evaluation and assessment opportunities
Challenges encountered
Cross curricular links
Links with other schools and groups
World wide links
Supporting resources
Project contacts
National Curriculum relevance

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The aims and objectives
"This year's Millennium Music Village Schools' Programme takes up the themes of Peace and Healing through vocal music. We have taken up the United Nation's call for An International Year for a Culture of Peace and developed a Hidden Histories trail in partnership with the Imperial War Museum.

This trail highlights the need to reject violence, to act for peace as individuals and to respect our commonalities as well as our differences. Through role play activities, object handling and art appreciation sessions along the trail, the pupils will explore the causes and consequences of military conflict…Young people will be encouraged to take personal steps to create a culture of peace.

Our aim is that through this education work young people will gain a greater understanding of each other and develop their abilities to contribute in a creative and meaningful way to our increasingly complex and interdependent world."
Elena Yuan. Education Co-ordinator

Aims

  • To give young people an understanding of the consequences of intolerance and cultural misunderstanding.
  • To provide opportunities for pupils to voice their ideas and develop an awareness of the rights and responsibilities of individuals in government.
  • To encourage young people to think about steps they can take to create a culture of peace, prevent violence, on a global scale, and on an individual day to day basis.
  • To use the Imperial War Museum exhibits to explore the impact of conflict and suffering on civilians, soldiers and families. To give pupils an insight into the importance of personal action and participation.
  • To fulfil National Curriculum goals in History, English, Art & Science.
  • To provide young people with opportunities to explore history, science, maths, creative writing, drama, the media, the role of women, moral questions and the consequences of conflict.

Objectives

Pupils will identify at least 3 out of the 6 ingredients listed by the United Nations as essential for promoting a culture of peace:

  • Respect
  • Sharing resources
  • Participation
  • Rejecting violence
  • Conflict negotiation
  • Celebrating differences

Pupils will identify at least 2 of the causes of armed conflict e.g.

  • Lack of respect - prejudice
  • Inequality and injustice
  • Competition for resources
  • Apathy
  • Cultural misunderstanding
  • Lack of communication

Pupils will have opportunities to:

  • identify how scientific development has affected warfare in the 20th century.
  • discuss and understand the impact of wars on civilian populations, soldiers and subsequent generations.
  • investigate the suffering and contributions of individuals during conflict.
  • discuss how events can be interpreted from different viewpoints.
  • use imaginative language to describe feelings in response to artefacts.
  • explore the use of language and imagery in a war poem.
  • use language for persuasive purposes, analyse artistic images and structures for artistic intention, audience impact, historical "veracity".
  • understand how visual images can be manipulated to represent ideas, beliefs and values in addition to provoking strong reactions.

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The main beneficiaries
The young people and teachers from participating schools, world musicians who worked with the young people during the day at The Imperial War Museum, Hidden Histories Trail volunteer leaders, The Imperial War Museum, future schools and visitors.

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The initiative
The Hidden Histories Trail was an hour long guided trail with cross-curricular peace education activities around 3 or 4 of 13 exhibits at The Imperial War Museum. The specific exhibits focussed on 20th century conflict from WW1 up to the Gulf War and were modified according to age appropriateness. The activities met National Curriculum 2000 goals in History at Key stages 2 and 3 and introduced concepts integral to the new Citizenship Curriculum.

Activities included:

  • Drama activities including role play, still pictures, forum theatre.
  • Simulation Games, e.g. conflict negotiation in the Line Activity
  • Question & Answer sessions.
  • Discussion
  • Problem solving, e.g. what happens to the moisture in a person's breath at high altitudes.
  • Image analysis and art appreciation, e.g. comparing propaganda posters with action photographs or paintings.
  • Creative writing: letters, poetry and prose.

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The outcome
The concluding section of the trail, an interactive installation project, "Peace Tree", provided pupils with the opportunity to make recommendations on how to achieve peace. These recommendations, written on the "leaves" of the peace tree were forwarded to the International Peace Bureau and the United Nations.

As a result of the trails success, the Imperial War Museum's education department have now included the Hidden Histories Trail as part of their schools and families education programme.

Cultural Co-operation are now extending their education programme into schools outreach collaborations with world music artists. This work is ongoing and interested schools should contact the Education Co-ordinator for further details.

The next "Music Village" will take place 26 June-14 July 2002 with the theme Diaspora. This festival will explore how cultures and faiths adapt through migration and how new cultural forms emerge. It will look at the themes of tradition, cross-fertilisation and identity and encourage positive perspectives on Britain's increasing cultural pluralism.

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Evaluation and assessment opportunities
All participants involved in the trail and education projects were asked to complete an evaluation questionnaire. The following quotes are taken from the participant's feedback.

Teacher's Comments

"Using the photos of children affected by the war and asking the children to compose a letter from the children in the picture was brilliant. I'd love to come again."

"Couldn't do the whole trail because of lack of time. But idea is excellent."

"Focus on more recent conflicts of relevance to the children".

Pupil's Comments

" When we went on the History Trail I understood about wars and how many of them can start because of people's religions. "

"The exhibit with the paintings was the most meaningful because now I know what children do in war."

"I remember having to do the pose [still picture] and saying what we were thinking if we were going off to war."

Trail Leaders' Comments

"The most powerful story I have to tell came from a quiet girl talking about someone in her class from Kosovo after we saw/passed by a picture of WW1 battlefield/No Man's Land."

"Looking at the two paintings of trench warfare, one student imagined the green fields, birds that had existed before war- very moving. There wasn't one exhibit/activity that did not produce a profound response, comment and 101 questions!"

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Challenges encountered
Cultural Co-operation who organised Music Village have encountered some problems in maintaining links with some of the schools who participated in the Hidden Histories Trail. This has been due to the huge turn over of teaching staff in London which has made long term relationships with schools more difficult, as committed and enthusiastic staff met through the trail have since moved on. Cultural Co-operation's education team are currently forging relationships with schools through an active outreach programme in London.

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Cross curricular links
In addition to fulfilling Citizenship and PSHE objectives this initiative also meets guidelines for the following National Curriculum subjects - English, History, Art and Music.

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Links with other schools, community groups and organisations, local and national.
Project partners for the 2000 Music Village included; George Tomlinson School, The Africa Centre, The Nehru Centre, Liberal Jewish Synagogue, Egyptian Cultural Centre, Yaa Asantewa Arts Centre, Union Chapel, The October Gallery, The Brady Centre, The Imperial War Museum, Richmond Riverside, Regent's Park, Greenwich Park and The Roundhouse.

The festival gave voice to 24 groups of UK artists from diverse faith communities including; The London Jewish Male Choir, Igbo Voices, Byzantine Choir, Al-Achwaq Group and Sri Saddhatissa.

Cultural Co-operation are currently engaged in the research and network-building project, Transnational City, a cultural audit of London's diverse non-western communities.

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Links with any schools, community groups and organisations in the wider world
International artists involved in the 2000 Sacred Voices from numerous diverse faiths included those from Bosnia, Croatia, Egypt, France, Georgia, India, Jamaica, Japan, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Pakistan, Tibet, South Africa and Vancouver. These artists led music workshops during the Hidden Histories day exploring music as an expression of healing, peace and humanity. These workshops culminated in informal performances for the schools involved.

Supporting resources
The full teaching scheme with support materials and activities are available from Cultural Co-operation. Activities can be adapted to other museum collections or for use with artefacts and pictures in the classroom.

For more information contact the Education Co-ordinator, Cultural Co-operation.

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Project contacts
Cultural Co-operation is an independent arts charity with a track record in promoting international and intercultural understanding through the arts. Cultural Co-operation has been running in Britain since 1987 and has comprised festivals of world culture, research projects, conferences and educational exchanges.

Elena Yuan. Education Co-ordinator
Music Village/ Cultural Co-operation
Toynbee Studios,
28 Commercial Street,
London E1 6LS
Email: musicvil@dircon.co.uk

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Key Stage 2 Citizenship
and PSHE National Curriculum relevance

Pupils should be taught:

  • to talk and write about their opinions, and explain their views, on issues that affect themselves and society (1a)
  • that resources can be allocated in different ways and that these economic choices affect individuals, communities and the sustainability of the environment (2j)
  • what makes a healthy lifestyle, including the benefits of exercise and healthy eating, what affects mental health, and how to make informed choices (3a)
  • to make real choices and decisions…about issues affecting their health and well-being…[and] on the use of scarce resources (5d)

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