Calling Schools and Community Groups To Look At Room 13

19th May 2015

Recently Wick councilor Bill Fernie had the opportunity to hear about Room 13 an organisation offering to help groups do arts and learning in a slightly different way taking a more business like approach. So here some information and web site to look at.
If schools or community groups want to look into it further get in touch with Bill on 01955 604648 or email bill[AT]caithness.org

http://room13international.org/

Working together.

We want to develop our work with the business and community sectors in the following ways -
 
Provide interactive workshops - these can focus on individual or organisation creative development, as well as communication and/or team-building.

Provide bespoke projects and commissions - we can work in partnership with your organisation to help you plan and produce participatory artworks.

Unique products - we can facilitate working with young people to provide limited edition designs, artworks and publications for your organisation eg. posters, greetings cards, calendars etc.

Continuing Professional Development for professionals.
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Working with Room 13 will provide your organisation with -

- increased publicity and profile raising for your organisation
- a sense of giving something back
- an opportunity for creative development and diversification
- the chance to strengthen your links with the local community
- participation in a community project with lasting impact

Past clients include: The Tate Galleries, the National Gallery of Scotland, Highland Council, Voluntary Action Lochaber, Montrose Centre, An Cala, the Shirlie Project, Stramash, the Scottish Social Enterprise Academy, TBWA and Unilver.

Talk to us today about what we can do for you. Call us on 07784 677672 or email admin[AT]room13international.org

More information from the room 13 leaflet.

What happens in Room 13?
Anything can happen in Room 13! Over the years, our young artists have produced drawings, paintings, photographs, films, collages, sculptures, poetry, dance, drama, music, sound, performance and much, much more. We have philosophical debates, cut hard-nosed business deals, and welcome guests from around the globe, and around the corner. Being part of a community is one of the most important things that we seek to promote in Room 13. Our work can be divided into three main areas: art, enterprise and learning.

Welcome to Room 13
We are an international network of independent art studios run by young people. In Room 13, artists of all ages are encouraged to be creative, and to think for themselves. Room 13 offers a different kind of creative education: students have the freedom to pursue their own interests, rather than a prescribed curriculum.
Room 13 studios are run by the young people who use them. Each studio has an Artist in Residence who acts as a mentor to the students. But it is the young people who are running the show. The result is an exciting creative environment, which allows for a stimulating exchange of ideas, skills and experience.
The network of Room 13 studios is supported by an international community of artists, educators, thinkers, business people and other professionals who believe in our work and principles.

Art
Most Room 13s are visual arts studios. Whatever medium the students choose to work in, they are free to follow their own ideas and creative projects, at their own pace.
Each studio appoints a professional Artist in Residence who is key to the project's success. They help facilitate and support the students' artistic, intellectual, and emotional development. This exchange of skills and experience across the ages means that our Artists in Residence benefit from being in Room 13 just as much, if not more, than the students do.
Room 13 artists have an international reputation for creating high quality work. Across the UK and beyond, we have taken part in exhibitions, commissions, residencies and collaborative work; and in presentations, films, radio programmes, publications and other media work.

Enterprise
Each Room 13 studio is run by a group of young people, who are elected onto a management team. With support from their Artist in Residence, they work together to order art materials, manage the studio space, deal with correspondence, bills, visitors and media requests, and make decisions about the studio and its development.
Each Room 13 is run as a business, generating income to pay for art materials and equipment. There are almost as many money-making ideas as there are studios. Some Room 13s make cards to sell, others run shops selling stationery and other small items, and some take and sell the school photographs.
Some studios provide services, deliver commissions, or raise investment through grants and sponsorship.

Learning
A different kind of learning happens in Room 13. Everything begins with an idea. In Room 13, young people have the creative freedom, resources and support to follow their ideas and interests through. Questioning, exploring and constructive criticism are actively encouraged!

In this way, Room 13 is not just about art, but about creativity and learning in its broadest sense. Room 13 demonstrates that young people can be responsible and achieve things way beyond the usual expectations that people have of them.
Independent research, including an evaluation by NESTA in 2006, confirms the positive impact that Room 13 has on children's lives and learning. Many elements of our approach have been borrowed, adapted and applied by schools and other projects. Room13 plays its part in promoting the application of creativity in the wider educational context, and is highly influential in the fields of arts education and enterprise for young people.

Outside the classroom, our approach can be applied in training and aspects of industry where creative thinking is necessary. Young people, students, school leavers, educators, artists, the wider community and corporate professionals are among the wider public who contribute to and benefit from working with Room 13.

It is this combination of creative thinking, enterprise and arts practice that has been integral to the success and longevity of Room 13.

We are on Facebook &Twitter, follow us to stay in touch with the latest developments:
/Room13CommunityStudio /room13international
[AT]room13int Web: room13international.org
Email: info[AT]room13international.org Tel: 01397 705703

Room 13 is taking over the world!
The original Room 13 started in Caol Primary School in the Highlands of Scotland in 1994. Now, with more than 80 studios all over the world, the idea has spread a long way since then!
Room 13 studios exist in all types of schools and in community centres. One is even in a shed! You can set up a Room 13 wherever there is space for people to come together to think and practice art.
We have growing networks of studios in the UK, USA, India, Nepal, and South Africa. There are also many more individual studios dotted all over the place - in Hong Kong, Turkey, China, France, Canada, Austria and many more. All are independent and self-organised.
Room 13 studios may all be based in different places and do different projects, but we all share the same principles. This means that every Room 13 ‘feels' the same, and it is easy for us to feel at home in one another's studios. Through Room 13, young people in different countries interact and learn more about each other's cultures.
Room 13 International

In 2009, we set up Room 13 International: a charity to support and facilitate the growth of the worldwide network of Room 13 studios; and to promote the value of a higher quality of creative, entrepreneurial education with particular emphasis on philosophy and the arts.

Room 13 International is governed by a board of trustees and run by a small team of part-time staff. Like the studios themselves, the organisation has grown organically, getting by on a great deal of dedication and few resources. We link with and advise local supporters and agencies around the world to develop new projects and studios. We help to ensure that these are relevant, practical and sustainable for the communities and cultures in which they are based.
We are working to develop the organisation of Room 13 International, so that we can facilitate more contact, collaboration and information sharing between studios and better support the network across the Highlands, the UK and the rest of the world.