World Festival Day at the Public
Year 7 pupils from Shelfield Community Academy in Walsall took over ‘The Public’ in West Bromwich for a day of culture from around the world. The day allowed pupils to take part in a series of workshops throughout the day.
An older pupil from Oldbury Wells School observing the day remarked “I went to the Native American storytelling workshop, not at all knowing what to expect. I walked in to a semi-circle audience, dressed up as Native Americans, and making dream catchers. I listened in as Terry told them about medicine bottles and charm necklaces. Talking to Terry, he told us that with necklaces like that, you can add special charms given to you by people who you are close to, or maybe even only an acquaintance; but you could as easily take the charm off if you had a fight or argument with the person who gave it to you, they were known to be lucky… I was pulled into a red native American style tunic with black patterns, and to the groups great amusement, a skunk hat… a real skunk hat. I hope everyone gets to experience wearing a skunk hat, it really doesn’t smell like you think it would.”
Another workshop option was the Bright-lighting and Hip-Hop workshop, where Money, a member of Wolverhampton based street dancing group, Transit Trix, was teaching a new group of students a simple dance routine they’d later incorporate with the bright-lighting - which you will recognise from the ‘Talk Talk’ advert. Another pupil from Oldbury Wells School commented “We watched from the sidelines as they learnt the moves and then all picked up a torch, and covered it with a piece of coloured cellophane, bright-lighting doesn’t look like much when it’s a mess of neon squiggles, but once the pictures are taken it does look pretty cool. Andrew from The Public told us that they were trying to mix Hip-Hop and Bright-lighting together, to fuse dance and photography, allowing people to make new things; everyone who took part said they enjoyed the workshop because it was interactive and fun to do.”
The range of workshops and activities was amazing and the difference between each one, there was an art gallery, panoramic drawing, and African drumming workshop too and many more- each one different in its own way. All of the pupils came out buzzing and can’t wait to experience more events like that in the future.
Pupils taking part in the Bright-Lighting workshop
