Commonwealth Connections was a partnership between the British Council and the Birmingham Organising Committee for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, delivered by Birmingham Arts School as part of BEP.
120 Schools from 7 West Midlands Authorities linked with arts partners including Sampad, the Birmingham Rep, Birmingham Royal Ballet and a range of freelance arts practitioners. As part of the programme clusters of schools partnered with schools in ten Commonwealth Countries: Ghana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, and Zambia. The project used sport and art to connect children and young people in classrooms across the Commonwealth.
On 13th January, Birmingham Arts School organised a gathering of participants of Commonwealth Connections schools and arts partners at BOA Stage and Screen Production Academy where they shared and celebrated the projects and explored next steps.
The event included inspirational presentations of completed projects, including East Meets East dance projects and Mela led by Hillstone Primary School with partner schools in New Delhi; music and fabric printing workshops inspired by the South Cluster’s partnership with Trinidad and Tobago and the South West Cluster’s project with schools in Pakistan which involved transforming a school minibus into a jingle bus.
The external evaluators reported that participating students had an increased interest in the arts and creative activities and in learning about different cultures. There was great enthusiasm to build on what has been achieved by creating a lasting legacy of the year the Commonwealth Games came to the region.
There are still exciting opportunities on the horizon. The UK Teachers have not only committed to carry on working with each other, but also the school in the country they are matched with. There has also been talk of teacher exchanges between the UK and Commonwealth countries. Watch this space for news on what has happened next!
Watch the video below to learn more about this fantastic project.
