The Through Our Eyes Heritage Project has been created by end2end TV CIC who will be managing it in partnership with Bexley Council Archives, Bexley Music and Hall Place & Gardens, Bexley. The project will run from May 2023 – December 2024 and has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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As more and more young people become immersed in digital social media, their relationship with heritage around them is changing. This project will raise awareness of local history and enable multiple groups of young people to research, identify and engage with the heritage of their schools. Working with four diverse schools across Bexley will connect young people geographically and enrich their experiences, resulting in various artistic outcomes that will culminate in a digital interactive exhibition bringing local history to life at Hall Place & Gardens (managed by the London Borough of Bexley) for local communities to engage with.

 

The recent pandemic has heightened the interest young people have about the past, such as other world events including wars. Indeed, for some schools the Pandemic was the first time ever they had to close for any period of time. As time goes on fewer and fewer people will be able to recollect their earlier memories; we are keen to reach the last generation of people who remember being at school in WW2, as well as it being relevant for children who still take the entrance examinations in Bexley Borough.

 

Collaborating with different artists and arts organisations, we will work with young people to create a package of heritage outcomes, including live performances and the production of legacy films which will be made by the young people and others about their schools. Using archive materials and preserving memories by interviewing past and present pupils, they will create a lasting record of the history of local people and schools. Combining heritage and the digital world will bring schools, communities and multiple generations together, in both the production and the celebration of the live and digital outcomes.

 

The legacy films and innovative green screen technology feature will be publicly available in a designated exhibition at Hall Place & Gardens. Following on from this, our aim is for the exhibition to tour the 'four corners' of Bexley Borough in local libraries and partner schools. All assets created during this project will be donated to Bexley Archives, providing them with new digitised heritage which will be online for everyone to access.

 

As the digital world becomes increasingly dominant and accessible to young people, combined with the fact that virtually every member of our community has attended a school at some point in their life, it is the right time to create a new collection of heritage resources digitally, that multiple generations can engage with. Young people will work with older generations to clearly articulate and produce new heritage that will fill a gap in our current archives.

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• Young people will plan and film documentaries about their schools' histories from WWII to the present day

• Young people will work with Bexley Council Archives to explore archives already held and enrich their research skills to discover more, using school archives if possible

• Young people will interview multiple generations of Alumni to record memories of their school days. This will include the social impact of WWII, and entrance examinations to the present day

• Young people will work with the end2end TV Crew and Media Teams to record photography and film of the project, including behind the scenes

• Each group will have at least one Green Sustainability Champion to ensure the project is managed in as sustainable way as possible

• Young People will work with Bexley Music using the research to create musical performances which will be shown at the Grand Launch in February

• The project will lead to the first digital exhibition of its kind to be held at Hall Place & Gardens in February/March 2024. During the exhibition there will also be weekly workshops held their about the heritage of their schools

• Following this the exhibition will go on tour to the four corners of the borough via local libraries, schools (and other), with the project finishing in December 2024

• Every young person taking part in this project will achieve an introduction certificate in the arts: Arts Award Discover. They will also have the opportunity to work towards an entry level certificate: Arts Award Explore, which are moderated by Trinity College London