Making the bid
Youth Music will be enabling the established Gallery 37 model to be replicated in 5 areas of England in addition to the programme already running in Birmingham.  The partner areas of Bristol, Leeds, the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, the district council of Newark and Sherwood and the Roundhouse in London will provide summer schools over 2007/2008 for young people deemed to be ‘at risk’. The bid, which was led by David Sulkin Director of Policy & Programmes, included two application stages spanning several months and involved wide consultation with young people and other partners.

The Idea
The idea for the youth arts programme was spawned from Gallery 37, an arts training programme which has been running every summer in Birmingham city centre since 1998.  The project was initially delivered in a spectacular ‘tented village’ in Birmingham’s Centenary Square.  The project is devised in partnership with the city’s leading education and arts organisations and each year encompasses an exciting variety of arts programmes, ranging from music and performance arts to textiles and jewellery making.

Working alongside professional artists, 16 to 24 year olds, who may have faced challenges such as a learning difficulty or exclusion,
become ‘apprentice artists’ and are given the chance to learn new
skills and develop existing ones in a supportive and dynamic environment.

History of Gallery 37
Gallery 37 was founded in Chicago in the United States where it has proved a hugely successful cross arts programme enabling many young people to enter education, training or employment as a result of their involvement in the summer programme.  It is now not only replicated in Chicago’s sister city Birmingham, but also in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Launch of Gallery 37 Plus
It was the most obvious time to launch Gallery 37 Plus at the end of June during ‘Chicago Week’ in Birmingham.  The event brought with it some eminent officials and a celebrity chef.  The launch took place in the heart of the city on Victoria Square with the famous Gallery 37 tents being whipped by the out of season winds.  Micheal Pivoney (Chef at the Signature Room at the 95th in Chicago) prepared a delicious bbq lunch.  He was accompanied by a slapstick team of clowns and street performers from Chicago to add fun to the occasion.

All members of the partner organisations as well as staff from Youth Music were at the launch, organised by Pat Dixon at Birmingham’s Creative Learning Team.  Councillor Mike Whitby opened the event and greeted Claribel Rodriguez from Chicago.  Claribel is the Director of Program Development and Partnerships at After School Matters in Chicago, an organisation modelled on Gallery 37.

Other speakers included Christina Coker OBE, CEO of Youth Music, David Edgar, playwright and Creative Patron for Gallery 37 in Birmingham and finally, Diana Choudhury, a graduate of Gallery 37 spoke eloquently and confidently of how positively the programme had impacted on her life.

www.gallery37.org.uk