Every year hundreds of people get in touch to let us know that they have been using the Creative Community Model in their work. Once people graduate from our trainings they are free to use and adapt the model in any way they wish.
We asked our online community to let us know about some of the ways the model had been used in 2012. Here’s what they told us:
Sanchaita Roy Gupta – Migrant Children in India
I am a teacher at the SAMRIDHDHI trust in Bangalore and I participated in a Partner Training with Dream a Dream in November 2012. My school provides opportunities for out-of-school children migrant children to get access to basic education.
Before I attended the Dream A Dream training program I used to complain about my students listening, engagement, concentration level etc. Today I see a change in me as well as an improvement in my students. As a result of the changes I have made students now approach me more freely and they are more engaged in our class. It’s thanks to Dream A Dream that, today I am much more self-aware and eager to listen to the children. I am taking initiatives to make the learning interesting and fun with the help of the creative arts tools provided during the training.
I now see the importance of a teacher transforming into a facilitator of learning. I understand that it is important to invest in my own life skills in order to develop life skills in children. I hope that Dream a Dream and Partners for Youth Empowerment can bring this work to many, many more schools and organizations.
Patti Kurtz – Hult Business School
During my masters of social entrepreneurship program at Hult International Business School we had a one-day training workshop with Partners for Youth Empowerment. We learned how to use the Creative Community model throughout our action learning project in which we served as teams of consultants for social enterprises in the UK and around the world.
From the workshop, we were able to use new and innovative techniques for brainstorming and we learned new ways to encourage one another to think outside of the box. Later, we used these techniques to come up with creative business solutions for scaling social enterprises. We also learned useful tools to improve team dynamics and communications with our new teams – the overall experience was incredibly engaging and fun!
Gwyn Wansbrough – School Leaver’s Goodbye Day
In July our trainer Silvia Giovannoni and I led a session for my son’s school year group of 55 11-year olds. The aim was to help support and prepare them in their transition from primary to secondary school. Along with 8 volunteer moms we led a group song, played magic clay, did a dance circle and organized a “Hidden Talents” show.
The young people helped to lead activities and shared some pretty deep reflections about how they were feeling about all of the changes that were about to unfold in their lives. Toward the end of the session in a sudden moment of loss of self-confidence one of the classmates decided not to share her tap dance performance with the rest of the group. It was incredible to see how all the entire group of 54 kids rallied around her and in the end she performed. In the closing, one of the kids remarked, “I have been in the same class with the other kids for years and today I realized how creative we all are”.
Tiffany Purn – Leading Women’s Groups in Nepal
I worked in Nepal as a VSO volunteer. While I was there I used my Partners for Youth Empowerment training to lead several different groups with a range of backgrounds. For a while I was working with women who were illiterate. The arts-based approach was really effective as a way to allow them to express themselves. Instead of using words I would set up our agreements using pictures and we would do a lot of talking about what was going on for people and what difficulties they faced. The arts were a tool for me to allow people to become really expressive and to be part of the conversation. This approach really allows me to meet people where they are at.
Cathy Wood – Training Elite Athletes in Social Media
I attended the Creative Facilitation 2 (CF2) in London just a few months ago. I found It incredibly helpful and inspiring so I started implementing the things I had learned immediately. First of all I used the tools with a learning difficulty group that I work with in East London and shortly after I used them with a group of elite athletes when I was delivering a social media workshop.
The games and tools that we had learned in CF2 really energized and enlightened my work and I can see the difference. We learned a technique called ‘milling’ which is really simple, but I’ve used it in several different situations to great effect. Thank you Charlie Murphy and Partners for Youth Empowerment.