Developing Young People’s Skills in Digital Media - School of Art Media and Design | Wired Sussex

The digital and creative economy is one of the fastest developing sectors in the UK so it’s vital that we support our young people locally to gain the skills they’ll need to be part of that workforce.

This project developed the digital media skills of pupils in local schools, as well as developing the mentoring skills of University of Brighton students on the MA Digital Media Arts course and also forged new links with the community organisation Same Sky to help this happen. There were two Brighton schools involved in a digital media cultural exchange with three schools in the Cherokee Nation, USA who trialled the use of digital media in the classroom to communicate with each other.

A particular aim of the project was to co-produce some digital art and display this at the Children’s Parade in May 2013 organised by Same Sky. This art took form of flags and t-shirts that were simple, yet beautiful and stylish. To produce the designs for the banners and t-shirts each student chose two letters from the English alphabet. Once all the 26 letters of the alphabet were picked each student then thought of a word which started the chosen letters then produced two images which would represent the word. The completed images were then sent to the schools in America for the students to translate into Cherokee and the corresponding designs would be sent back. All the work then culminated in banners for the children to hold in the procession while wearing matching t shirts.

To do this the pupils and teachers were supported to develop their skills in digital media and to use these skills with Same Sky to prepare artefacts for the Children’s Parade.

The result of this project can be viewed in the below You Tube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z49vS1J-hEA&feature=em-share_video_user

Contact Sue Gollifer [S.C.Gollifer@brighton.ac.uk] for more information