Over 300 projects win Government funding Monday, September 14, 2009 - 14:58

Over 300 projects were named by BIS on Tuesday 8 September 2009, for winning funding under the £20million Learning RevolutionTransformation Fund.

West Midlands

The West Midlands was awarded £1,576,036 in total.

Birmingham projects include:

• The Birmingham Opera Company, aims to stage a performance of Verdi's opera ‘Othello'. Working in partnership with a number of the city's FE Colleges, Universities Local Authorities and Youth Services, the scheme will see over 200 participants from across the city's social and cultural divides work alongside professional musician and opera performers.
• Visual arts, literature and performing arts learning opportunities for the black community are being created by Fluid Space Arts. The main aims are for participants to explore their hopes, ideas and aspirations using a range of arts mediums to support the development of the creative thought process. Participants will work alongside professional artists who will be sharing their skills and experience to create To create an informal learning environment that encourages participation and is not output driven, by offering a person centred approach so that individuals are able to learn at their own pace, and they can develop their own ideas.
• The Birmingham Ethnic Advisory Service will be creating an informal adult learning centre aimed at Bangladeshi, Somali and Pakistani women. The centre will allow learners to create their own learning groups, therefore creating a groundbreaking and bespoke informal learning environment.

East of England

The East of England was awarded £1,677,394 in total.

Cambridge projects include:

• Arts and Minds - a scheme aimed at providing alternative choices for patients and health professionals in managing anxiety, depression or other mild to moderate mental health difficulties through the provision of learning opportunities within arts workshops.
• Cambridge African Network - aimed at promoting the personal, social and cultural development of Africans living in Cambridgeshire by organising social events, workshops, educational and recreational activities to bring Africans together to share their different cultures with each other and with the wider public.

Yorkshire & Humberside

The Yorkshire & Humberside was awarded £2,168,325.

Leeds projects include:

• A community museum will be created by Stretch, the national charity working to widen participation in the arts in conjunction with the Leeds Museum Service. The museum would be a venue for a number of informal adult learning workshops and events as well as curatorial talks, arts and crafts, discussion sessions and a whole host of informal learning platforms, and aims to reach over 1,600 people in the first six months of the project.
• Healthy Living Network Leeds in partnership with West North West Homes Leeds is running a series of workshops entitled ‘Just 4 Tenants', aimed at equipping new tenants with the skills and knowledge necessary to enjoy a successful tenancy. These informal learning sessions look to develop confidence, social and practical skills in managing a home, as well as promoting a culture of lifelong learning.

East Midlands

The East Midlands was awarded £1,317,662 in total.

Leicester and Nottingham projects include:

• Leicestershire County Council is to establish a scheme to provide county-wide informal learning provisions for rurally isolated or housebound adults and families, including those with disability and learning difficulties. The scheme will aim to network organisations which provide existing adult learning to create new places and spaces for informal learning, helping Leicestershire to become the ‘learning county'.
• B Inspired, the neighbourhood renewal company will work in partnership with De Montford University and Phoenix Arts to recruit a group of local volunteers and support them in staging a community art exhibition. The scheme aims to enhance the skills of local participants through informal adult learning so that they may be able to strengthen community groups and promote community cohesion across different cultural backgrounds and community divides.
• After a successful bid for over £200,000, the Greater Nottingham Partnership will establish county-wide informal adult learning provisions, including 50 new venues accessible to over 5,000 learners.
• Nottingham City Museums & Galleries will work in conjunction with partner organisations to create a diverse array of informal adult learning opportunities encompassing all adult skill and age groups. The results of the scheme will be displayed in the Community Gallery viewed by the 300,000 people a year who visit Nottingham Castle.
• Double Impact, the drug and alcohol rehabilitation agency in partnership with City Arts, has created a scheme aimed at offering innovative, supported, informal learning opportunities for vulnerable people from 'hard to reach' groups via the medium of arts workshops and art venue visits.

London

London was awarded £4,307,707 million in total.

Projects include:

• Point Blank - An initiative to engage more than 2,000 adults who are not currently in training, employment or education, through celebrity-led creative music and media tasters, master classes and workshops, led by a partnership which includes Global Radio, the parent group of Heart FM, LBC and Galaxy stations.
• A project to reach out to the low income residents of Barbican's council estates through the Museum of London. The scheme looks to enable adults to gain new skills, share life experiences, gather knowledge and feel better connected to London.
• BookTrust - A scheme aimed at improving the reading and creative writing skills of the over 60s, working to inspire people to take up reading or creative writing for pleasure and will be accessible through GP's surgeries, communities, libraries and Adult Education centres.
• A database of all informal adult learning activities across London enabling voluntary and community self-organised groups to publicise their activity through the medium of community radio and media companies. This will not only provide users with greater information on what is on offer across the capital, but will also enable local authorities to map existing provision, identify gaps and inform strategic planning across the boroughs.
• A collaboration between Barnet Primary Care Trust and a top arts venue aimed at providing opportunities to improve the quality of life of elderly participants through artistic, educational and therapeutic activities.

North West

The North West was awarded £1,558,177 in total.

Manchester projects include:

• A scheme to create a community horticultural informal training centre to engage and develop the skills base of local people. The Groundwork Manchester initiative will work in conjunction with a number of local partners, including Manchester City Council and Reddish Vale Technology College and aims to deliver a sustainable centre delivering a wide range of training opportunities to participants in the Manchester area.
• North West WEA's ‘Just The Ticket' initiative, will work in partnership with GMPTE and Merseytravel as well as a number of Manchester's cultural organisations. The aim of the scheme is to take each learner on a journey away from classroom environment and out into the exciting world of the city's museums, art galleries and libraries. Each participant will receive free day bus passes that will take them on themed learning adventure routes around the city, where they will enjoy tours and workshops at some of the city's cultural and historical venues of interest.
• Homeless service users in Manchester will have the opportunity to raise their Information Computer Technology (ICT) skills through an initiative created by NEARIS and a number of partners, including Manchester City Council Shared Housing. The scheme aims to help break down the barrier that low ICT skills can create to participation in learning activities and looks to provide accessible opportunities for adult learning and community involvement.

North East

The North East was awarded £2,171,044.

Newcastle projects include:

• Better Days, aimed at encouraging Newcastle adults with learning disabilities to broaden their local knowledge and skills base. The project will provide students with learning difficulties the opportunity to visit local and historical sites, and communicate their learning by incorporating singing, song writing, creative writing and photography.
• The emerging communities of Newcastle's East End including Byker and Walker will be offered the opportunity to become involved in the ‘East End People's Story'. The project aims to encourage community cohesion through a selection of workshops and activities ranging from helping residents learn to trace their family history to learning to resolve conflict amongst different ethnic groups.

South East

The South East was awarded £2,304,198.

Oxford projects include:

• A scheme to provide parenting courses to young parents who previously have been homeless and have high support needs which could include learning disability, drug addiction, self-harm, mental health issues. Rachel House will work in partnership with Sanctuary Supported People and The Nationwide Community Learning Partnership, to create the ‘Parents with Prospects' course provides flexible, non-judgmental parenting education programmes for teenage and vulnerable young parents.
• Oxfordshire Minds' ‘Get Reading' project aims to target adults with mental health problems with reading workshops and taster sessions. The scheme looks to provide innovative learning opportunities and therapeutic benefits which will support the wellbeing of people experiencing or at risk of experiencing common mental health problems.

South West

The South West was awarded £1,935,415 in total.

Bristol projects include:

• A project aimed at improving the science learning opportunities for the visually impaired. Add-Venture in Learning will be working in partnerships and education providers to develop informal short courses on selected science topics. These will be exciting, engaging and involve the students in active, hands-on learning which they would not otherwise get the opportunity to fully participate in locally.
• Gloucester Community Learning Champions, will be working to increase the contact between the Learning Champions and the community by providing access to local information on lifelong learning opportunities and peer support for first steps. Champions will be holding a series of events, to demonstrate its website as somewhere to get local news about as many different kinds of learning opportunities as possible. This should encourage more and different people into learning, especially those who would not usually participate due to lack of confidence in taking first step and lack of information.