Sector News

FREE Game Jam Resource, Kazzum Arts

A 36 page guide of tips, techniques, practical exercises and professional standards for online arts facilitation.  

FREE resource

Posted: 01/08/2021


When Lockdown began in March 2020, Kazzum Arts were delivering the peak of their yearly activity, with 15 groups running each week across 4 major programmes.  Their participants, with whom we had been collaborating and co-creating for months, became abruptly unavailable. Grounded at home and isolated from their peers; they were suddenly out of reach.

During those initial days and weeks of raised blood pressure and sleepless nights, it became imperative to all at Kazzum Arts to work their way back towards social connection with our participants.  Their role as the bringers of play, creativity, laughter and joy felt more important than ever; in order to support community partners and some of the UK’s most isolated and excluded young people. 

What was required was adaptation to an online practice which embodied their values and unique, trauma-informed approach.  What was necessary was the space and time to advance skills, make changes and understand the unique position that Kazzum could occupy for young people during these stressful and uncertain times.

With generous support from Arts Council England and the City Bridge Trust, they started to research and develop our  new approach, providing a weekly space for the practitioners within our team who needed to immediately upskill in the art of delivering safe, containing and creative online workshops for young people.  They named the process ‘GameJam’ – a space for participatory arts practitioners to gather, connect and grow.  

Over 8 sessions Kazzum Arts’ Artistic Director held the space for 15 professional Artists and Kazzum team members to reflect upon the nuances of facilitating through a screen.  Together we adapted our embodied, sensory methods to advance elements of our multidisciplinary approach.  We claimed our practice in new forms and structures: checking in/out, guessing games, improvisation, movement, storytelling, visual arts and wellbeing.  

As an integral part of the process they wanted to find a unique way of bringing learning to life – in order to share some of the skills, activities and key professional standards of delivering arts based activities with Children and Young People online.  They worked with the incredible illustrator Robin Lane-Roberts, whose process of deep listening, participation and drawing, captured their shared experience and brought the guide to life.  

Through this activity they have developed a guide to capture some of the complexities that a facilitator may encounter when holding space for young people online – They are now ready to share it with the world, to benefit individuals and organisations within the youth and arts sectors who could use a little inspiration, professional development or encouragement to know that their work has value and importance in the lives of young people.   

Kazzum Arts are offering this Gamejam guide for free to all who need it… A 36 page guide of tips, techniques, practical exercises and professional standards for online arts facilitation.  

Artistis involved:

Arjunan Manuelpillai, Amanda Mascarenhas, Caley Holmboe, Camile Dawson, Jack Pryor, Jon Van Beek, Lisa Hayes, Maria Askew, Paul Andrew, Robin Lane-Roberts, Tunde James.  

If you would like to find out more about the approach or share your experiences of the guide in action, get in touch: hello@kazzum.org

 

To access the guide, visit the website.


"Just to say a huge thanks ... I am looking forward to progressing with this project thanks to your support, advice and guidance"

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