The Way I See It: The Project

For some children and young people, being away from school meant no access to basic art materials. Working in collaboration with Bridge organisations, local charities, community groups and local authorities, Arts Council distributed over 44,960 Let's Create Packs to children. Across the country kitchen tables, living rooms floors and garden paths were deployed as spaces to facilitate creativity. 

We were inspired by the Kirkleatham Museum, who worked in partnership with Tees Valley Museums and local schools during lockdown to produce an online gallery filled with thoughtful entries on the theme of kindness from pupils of all ages. 

Museum staff were so overwhelmed with the response and the number of submissions, they had to create a second gallery. The full collection can be found here: Museum of Kindness. 

From online choirs to pavement chalk, people found joy in creativity during lockdown. There was a need to connect with each other and all kinds of creative ways to do it. Creative activities can play an important role in helping young people deal with anxiety, stress and social isolation. 

BALTIC in Gateshead creates and produces exhibitions, events and learning opportunities that explore the role of art and artists and the world around us.  

BALTIC hosted free workshops as part of the Foundation Club and ArtLab. Working together with artists, young people explored and created sculpture, poetry, film, spoken word and animation to share the things they care most about in this world. 

Company Three, a youth theatre company based in Islington, North London, is a leading force for change for teenagers in its community and around the world.   

For The Way I See It they created a new challenge based on the success of their Coronavirus Time Capsule. One Minute in the Middle of a Pandemic, invited young people to use video, audio, performance, visual arts, writing and music to capture a minute from the perspective of a teenager living through the momentous Summer of 2020. 

Dancefest is a dance development organisation in the West Midlands, using the power and joy of dancing to enhance people's lives. They challenged young people to create a Half a Minute movie that was inspired a new skill, a new experience or a life lesson learnt during lockdown. 

The Way I See It collection also presents work from their Reimagine Lockdown challenge which invited young people to reimagine the rooms and spaces around them through dance and photography. 

English National Opera is the national opera company dedicated to one simple aim - making opera for everyone. 

Their challenge was for young people to make work inspired by the concept of Aria - a single character sharing their inner emotional world and thoughts with an audience.

Heart n Soul is a London-based award winning creative arts company that promotes the talents and power of people with learning disabilities.  

Throughout lockdown their digital Do Your Own Thing sessions supported young people to take part in music, dance, radio, DJing and visual and digital arts to help them express themselves. 

Thanks to Google Arts & Culture and our partner organisations, this project allowed the work of children and young people to reach a global audience whilst the events, performances and displays that would normally provide a platform for their creativity were cancelled. We hope that it can continue to inspire and to live on as a snapshot of that remarkable summer.

So, get inspired and Let’s Create.