Aspirational Futures
St Edmunds Catholic School, Wolverhampton September 2009
Aspirational Futures is a collaborative project developed by Performing Arts Teacher Sarah Cole, artist Vicki Stinchcombe and myself to create a celebratory event around inspiration, ambition and the future. We wanted to develop a project that would have an impact across the school and create a memorable event that everyone could get involved in.
Our first step was to create an online film that combined a range of thought-provoking quotes, powerful imagery sourced from the internet and a strong supporting sound-track by the Malian-born artist Rokia Traoréto. We used this to help stimulate pupils to reflect upon their lives and consider what dreams and hopes they may have for the future. You can see the film below.
Following on from this we worked with the staff and pupils to design the mass balloon launch. Everyone would design their own label with a personal message that captured the wishes and dreams of the staff and pupils.On the 25th of September we spent 4 hours blowing up over 1000 balloons ready for the celebratory launch in the afternoon.Following an inspirtional speech by headteacher Deirdre Finucane we played Fanfare for the Common Man composed by Aaron Copland over a high-power address system to accompany the launch. You can see images of this amazing event below.
