My Brief

Background

Silent Cities is looking to expand throughout the nation and get people to realise what is really going on in their communities and cities. Silent Sheffield is trying out a range of creative services and products to disadvantaged groups and the organisations who support them. The aim is to trial projects and programs over the next two years with our local pilot, silent Sheffield. They then aim to take what works and roll it out to other cities. 

Outline 

I have not decided which month during the summer the event will happen yet but it will be a (one day) main feature event.

Everyone who has had an involvement in the Silent Cities fundraising scheme throughout the year will come together in one main event to be held in the centre of Sheffield (could be in their local community area?)

They can sign up to the Silent Cities website or visit the local Silent Cities office 

(I presume this is at Clarence works) they can sign up to help their community and be involved in making people feel welcome by participating in or organising an event. 

Possible activities:

- Having a coffee morning (similar to the Cancer research coffee morning event in 

  September or visiting and coordinating a similar event for the elderly, 

  (perhaps getting them talking to their neigbours again.)

- Giving a space where young musicians can record royalty free albums. 

  (recording studio or  similar)

- Local artists given the opportunity to exhibit their work in a local gallery 

  for the community to see what they do.

- Boards are placed around the city where graffiti artists can express themselves 

  and communities see it as “art” rather than vandalism.

- Schools can get involved and hold fun days where the parents/children bake for 

  the elderly or for the local community, or possibly make and serve food from their 

  cultural backgrounds (Asian, Chinease, Somalian, African, Mexican food etc)

Outcomes. 

- Create the campaign logo utilising the Silent Cities theme and develop design proposals

   for at least 2 or 3 different events.

- Produce a promotional newspaper where those involved are highlighted to show how their 

  contribution has helped Silent Cities.

Charities in Sheffield

Roundabout have been working with young homeless people in Sheffield since 1977. We have an emergency Direct Access hostel, a Dispersed Housing Scheme and are also the lead agency for a city-wide tenancy support scheme (Stencil). Roundabout puts the needs of young people first.

Aims

• To support and empower young people who are homeless, to recognise, develop and take advantage of the choices open to them.
• To encourage and assist young people who are home less, to act upon issues that affect them and to participate fully as confident citizens in their communities.
• To provide high-quality, effective and flexible housing, care and support services to meet the diverse needs of young people who are homeless and to develop appropriate new services as those needs change.

Values

• We believe that young people have the right and ability to make their own choices.
• We believe that young people have the ability, given the opportunity to make changes to their lives and those of others.
• We believe that young people have the right to and should be treated with respect, honesty and fairness.
• We believe that issues faced by individual young people must be viewed within a wider social, political and cultural context and not as a personal failing.
• We believe it is vital that young people are included fully in the decision making process within Roundabout and the community at large

http://youtu.be/DSxfa1JQVjs

A video which outline what they do and how they help people in Sheffield.

Roundabout Annual Report:

The 2008-9 Roundabout annual report incorporates a unique photographic collection of some of the young people who use Roundabout’s hostel. Created by The Work shop.

Silent Sheffield

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_xkb_PvAkQ

Silent Sheffield will be a website which tells the silent stories of our city. It gives silent talent creative assignments designed to engage people in minority issues and help them take action

My general thought to this is that it gets everybody involved and shows people what the silent talent (designers, artists, dancers etc) can do to help the minority.

Sheffield Research

Through research into problems in Sheffield and asking people who are living in the city centre I have come across a few problems which i'm sure you will find throughout the country in many different cities and society:
- Drugs 
- Kerb-crawlers 
- Respect, neighbours, elderly, surroundings
- Meeting your neighbours
- Alcohol abuse on the streets
- Youths vandalising.

Who are Silent Cities

Previous projects 

Intergenerational IT project – Neighbours Can Help/RMBC

A collaboration between three social enterprise start ups, us and Neighbours Can Help and SilenceBreakers, and Maltby Academy school, and funded by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. We recruited a group of young volunteers, aged 11-16, and helped them develop learning materials, then unleashed them on three groups of older people, to teach them how to get online. The course sold out. We had to run it three times. Check out our video to see the process and some pics from the first session. The results speak for themselves, highlights included: 100% of older people said that their opinion of young people had been improved by the project. Nearly half said the project made them feel less socially isolated. 91% of young people said their confidence had improved as a result of the project. You can see all the results in the results video, some of which was filmed by the young people. Boyed by the project’s success, the school have secured some funding to continue the project, and are hoping to open a drop in cyber cafe for older people, run by our young volunteers.

Comments towards the project

"This project has started to bridge the gap between generations, facilitated the transfer of important skills between residents, and brought the local community and statutory services together."

– Councilor Doyle, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

User led film making – Roundabout hostel tour

Residents at Roundabout’s hostel for young people had identified the need for a ‘hostel tour’ on the Roundabout website. This was so that new residents would be more familiar with where to go, and less scared when they arrived. We worked with residents in a workshop to storyboard the film, then the residents did the filming the next morning. Many thanks to Sheffield talents Richard Hawley and The Unfortunate Incident for use of their wonderful soundtracks

Formally incorporated in March 2010. We are a grass roots organisation, that is driven and shaped by the need of the people we work with. We work with isolated and disadvantaged individuals and groups who do not have a voice and where appropriate, we help them develop skills to support them into work into the creative industries.

Brief

Timescale

20/4/12

Brief in

Getting general ideas on paper 

Mind Mapping 

23/4/12

Look into Silent Cities

Look into charities in Sheffield and problems in the area

30/4/12

Explore different ways to promote problems 

Initial ideas

7/5/12

Further development

Prepare for half way crit, a few on screen layouts and the idea laid out clearly

14/5/12

Half stage crit 

21/5/12

Make changes suggested 

Finalise ideas

28/5/12

Print and present

Deadline 

Silent Cities- a non-for-profit organisation, to empower disadvantage or 'silent' communities through creativity.


Brand values
creative manifesto (rules of engagement)
1. Challenge assumptions
2. Be receptive to new ideas
3. Recognise similarities or differences
4. Make unlikely connections
5. Build on ideas to make other ideas
6. Look at things in new ways
7. Take risks
8. Take advantages of the unexpected
9. Surround yourself with difference
10. Write your own here......


Project 4 
Silent Cities/Silent Sheffield general promotion 
-Annual report for AGM for stakeholders, volunteers and funders (was wanting to do as a short run newspaper) 
- The board want something to give out when they're out and about with Silent Cities address, web and contact details on
- A way of celebrating and thinking all the volunteers who get involved in Silent Cities 
- Silent Cities flag for flagpole